title: National Standards 2016: Retrospective insights, continuing uncertainties and new questions

authors: Thrupp, Martin

subjects: national standards

abstract: New Zealand’s National Standards policy has been deeply controversial in the education sector, especially amongst primary teachers and principals. This article provides a view of the National Standards from their introduction up until 2016, nearly a decade after they were first mooted. The issues covered: (i) offer retrospective insights, (ii) acknowledge continuing uncertainties, or (iii) ask questions that had become newly relevant by 2016. They include processes within the Ministry of Education, the role of advisory groups, the public release of National Standards data, and the origins and impact of the National Standards. They also include whether teachers and principals have been gradually won over to the National Standards, use of the National Standards in ‘social investment’, the Progress and Consistency Tool and possible wider political purposes of headline policies like the National Standards. A theme that connects the issues is concern about policy processes. The article concludes by calling for a more genuine commitment by Government to evidence-informed policy.

text: National Standards 2016: Retrospective insights, continuing uncertainties and new questions New Zealand’s National Standards policy has been deeply controversial in the education sector, especially amongst primary teachers and principals. This article provides a view of the National Standards from their introduction up until 2016, nearly a decade after they were first mooted. The issues covered: (i) offer retrospective insights, (ii) acknowledge continuing uncertainties, or (iii) ask questions that had become newly relevant by 2016. They include processes within the Ministry of Education, the role of advisory groups, the public release of National Standards data, and the origins and impact of the National Standards. They also include whether teachers and principals have been gradually won over to the National Standards, use of the National Standards in ‘social investment’, the Progress and Consistency Tool and possible wider political purposes of headline policies like the National Standards. A theme that connects the issues is concern about policy processes. The article concludes by calling for a more genuine commitment by Government to evidence-informed policy.

year: 2017

title: Can you feel the pressure? Examining the effects of anxiety in elite netball shooters

authors: Tong, Georgia Terri

abstract: Netball is an increasingly popular sport for women in New Zealand, with the national league competition being fully professional. One important skill within netball is goal shooting, as the goal volume and accuracy ultimately decides the outcome of the game. Therefore, it is critical that shooters are able to perform this task well under pressure. The first part of this thesis reviews the literature on the effects of anxiety on sport performance. The second part of this thesis includes two studies. The first study, Study A (Chapter 2), was an observational, retrospective analysis of performance of 15 shooters in the top New Zealand competition at different score-lines and time points throughout netball games. The analysis showed that when one and two goals ahead, as well as other specific time points such as first shot of the quarter, the shooters shot significantly worse than the individual mean accuracy, but when three or four goals ahead the opposite effect occurred, a performance decrease. The fluctuation in performance demonstrated the possible influence of anxiety and individual differences on performance under pressure, along with the need to examine performance under pressure in a controlled setting in elite netball shooters. The second study, Study B (Chapter 3), was an experimental study designed to investigate the anxiety-performance relationship in elite netball athletes. Eleven elite netball shooters performed 100 shots at goal under four conditions: high-pressure defender present, high-pressure defender absent, low-pressure defender present, and low-pressure defender absent. Increased perceived anxiety, heart rate and task completion time occurred in the high-pressure conditions; however trait anxiety, concentration disruption in particular, predicted performance under low-pressure but not high-pressure conditions. In conclusion, the outcomes of these studies demonstrate that performance fluctuation occurs under pressure and that there may be individual differences in performance under pressure. The need for greater investigation of anxiety induced by high-pressure in elite professional netballers is apparent.

text: Can you feel the pressure? Examining the effects of anxiety in elite netball shooters Netball is an increasingly popular sport for women in New Zealand, with the national league competition being fully professional. One important skill within netball is goal shooting, as the goal volume and accuracy ultimately decides the outcome of the game. Therefore, it is critical that shooters are able to perform this task well under pressure. The first part of this thesis reviews the literature on the effects of anxiety on sport performance. The second part of this thesis includes two studies. The first study, Study A (Chapter 2), was an observational, retrospective analysis of performance of 15 shooters in the top New Zealand competition at different score-lines and time points throughout netball games. The analysis showed that when one and two goals ahead, as well as other specific time points such as first shot of the quarter, the shooters shot significantly worse than the individual mean accuracy, but when three or four goals ahead the opposite effect occurred, a performance decrease. The fluctuation in performance demonstrated the possible influence of anxiety and individual differences on performance under pressure, along with the need to examine performance under pressure in a controlled setting in elite netball shooters. The second study, Study B (Chapter 3), was an experimental study designed to investigate the anxiety-performance relationship in elite netball athletes. Eleven elite netball shooters performed 100 shots at goal under four conditions: high-pressure defender present, high-pressure defender absent, low-pressure defender present, and low-pressure defender absent. Increased perceived anxiety, heart rate and task completion time occurred in the high-pressure conditions; however trait anxiety, concentration disruption in particular, predicted performance under low-pressure but not high-pressure conditions. In conclusion, the outcomes of these studies demonstrate that performance fluctuation occurs under pressure and that there may be individual differences in performance under pressure. The need for greater investigation of anxiety induced by high-pressure in elite professional netballers is apparent.

year: 2019

title: Kimihia, rangahaua ngā tikanga heke iho. He taonga huahua e riro mai: Exploring whakapapa as a tool towards a kaupapa Māori assessment framework in early childhood education

authors: Paki, Vanessa Anne

subjects: kaupapa Maori assessment

abstract: This study explores whakapapa as a tool, which can be used as a kaupapa Māori assessment framework in early childhood education, positioning kaupapa Māori theory as a paradigm base underpinning a philosophical and theoretical discourse towards assessment for children's learning. This thesis represents the culmination of a personal and professional journey, derived from the writer's longstanding interest in and commitment to kaupapa Māori early childhood education, and more specifically, philosophies and practices for assessment in this context. The study has canvassed a vast terrain of kaupapa Māori philosophy in its search for a theoretical grounding for a kaupapa Māori assessment framework for early childhood education.
Foundation to the study has been the premise that the notion of whakapapa serves as an overarching philosophical matrix, encompassing the interconnected realms of genealogy, spirituality, and knowledge that precede, surround, and embrace the Māori child. Throughout the thesis, diagrams are employed to demonstrate and model the whakapapa underpinning the conceptualisations being explored. After contextualising the study within a historical overview of the impact of colonisation of kaupapa Māori education and research, it is suggested that a re-examination of key concepts from tikanga Māori will illuminate transformative possibilities applicable to the study's focus on the development of a theoretical base for an assessment tool within kaupapa Māori early childhood settings. Drawing from the literature, the thesis re-positions the view of the Māori child to one of being nurtured within a philosophical construct underpinned and immersed in tikanga such as whakapapa, ira tangata, whanaungatanga, mana and tapu, and ako, providing a strongly Māori theoretical base for the envisioning of the assessment process. The outcome of this study is to propose an assessment framework, which embodies and reflects these core kaupapa Māori philosophies as praxis.

text: Kimihia, rangahaua ngā tikanga heke iho. He taonga huahua e riro mai: Exploring whakapapa as a tool towards a kaupapa Māori assessment framework in early childhood education This study explores whakapapa as a tool, which can be used as a kaupapa Māori assessment framework in early childhood education, positioning kaupapa Māori theory as a paradigm base underpinning a philosophical and theoretical discourse towards assessment for children's learning. This thesis represents the culmination of a personal and professional journey, derived from the writer's longstanding interest in and commitment to kaupapa Māori early childhood education, and more specifically, philosophies and practices for assessment in this context. The study has canvassed a vast terrain of kaupapa Māori philosophy in its search for a theoretical grounding for a kaupapa Māori assessment framework for early childhood education.
Foundation to the study has been the premise that the notion of whakapapa serves as an overarching philosophical matrix, encompassing the interconnected realms of genealogy, spirituality, and knowledge that precede, surround, and embrace the Māori child. Throughout the thesis, diagrams are employed to demonstrate and model the whakapapa underpinning the conceptualisations being explored. After contextualising the study within a historical overview of the impact of colonisation of kaupapa Māori education and research, it is suggested that a re-examination of key concepts from tikanga Māori will illuminate transformative possibilities applicable to the study's focus on the development of a theoretical base for an assessment tool within kaupapa Māori early childhood settings. Drawing from the literature, the thesis re-positions the view of the Māori child to one of being nurtured within a philosophical construct underpinned and immersed in tikanga such as whakapapa, ira tangata, whanaungatanga, mana and tapu, and ako, providing a strongly Māori theoretical base for the envisioning of the assessment process. The outcome of this study is to propose an assessment framework, which embodies and reflects these core kaupapa Māori philosophies as praxis.

year: 2007