title: Book review: Flora's Empire: British Gardens in India

authors: Beattie, James John

abstract: This article reviews the book “Flora’s Empire: British gardens in India”, by Eugenia W. Herbert.

text: Book review: Flora's Empire: British Gardens in India This article reviews the book “Flora’s Empire: British gardens in India”, by Eugenia W. Herbert.

year: 2012

title: The problem of the essential icon

authors: Legg, Catherine

subjects: icon

abstract: Charles Peirce famously divided all signs into icons, indices and symbols. The past few decades have seen mainstream analytic philosophy broaden its traditional focus on symbols to recognise the so-called essential indexical. Can the moral now be extended to icons? Is there an “essential icon”? And if so, what exactly would be essential about it? It is argued that there is and it consists in logical form. Danielle Macbeth’s radical new “expressivist” interpretation of Frege’s logic and Charles Peirce’s existential graphs are mobilized in support of this claim.

text: The problem of the essential icon Charles Peirce famously divided all signs into icons, indices and symbols. The past few decades have seen mainstream analytic philosophy broaden its traditional focus on symbols to recognise the so-called essential indexical. Can the moral now be extended to icons? Is there an “essential icon”? And if so, what exactly would be essential about it? It is argued that there is and it consists in logical form. Danielle Macbeth’s radical new “expressivist” interpretation of Frege’s logic and Charles Peirce’s existential graphs are mobilized in support of this claim.

year: 2008

title: Listening to the voices of Year 13 Māori students: A case study in a New Zealand secondary school

authors: Kay, Joan-Marie

subjects: Maori Achievement

abstract: This research focuses on listening to the voices of Year 13 academically successful Māori students in a large, urban, mainstream, co-educational, decile 4, New Zealand secondary school. Traditionally, researchers have tended to emphasise the poor academic performance of Māori students in New Zealand. In contrast, this qualitative case study, however, seeks to understand what influences and motivates the academically successful Year 13 Māori students who have gained the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Level 2 and who returned to school to study for NCEA Level 3.

Semi structured interviews as conversations with all thirteen Māori students who had achieved NCEA Level 2 formed the basis of this research. Five of their parents, seven of their teachers and the principal were also interviewed.

The findings show that these students all stress the importance of their family, in particular, one family member or significant adult in their lives who valued education and supported the student, influencing and encouraging their motivation and self-efficacy. Building positive relationships with their teachers was the next strongest influence on their academic success followed closely by the positive influence of their friends. Self-motivation was mainly extrinsic. The students perceived that the principal had little effect on their individual achievement.

The teachers also acknowledge the importance of building positive relationships with their students and acknowledge the benefits of the reflective practice provided by the Te Kotahitanga project in highlighting this factor.

The findings suggest the excellent initiatives currently taking place in the school need to be continued or strengthened and that further interventions which target particular Māori students, rather than are global across the school, should be introduced.

text: Listening to the voices of Year 13 Māori students: A case study in a New Zealand secondary school This research focuses on listening to the voices of Year 13 academically successful Māori students in a large, urban, mainstream, co-educational, decile 4, New Zealand secondary school. Traditionally, researchers have tended to emphasise the poor academic performance of Māori students in New Zealand. In contrast, this qualitative case study, however, seeks to understand what influences and motivates the academically successful Year 13 Māori students who have gained the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Level 2 and who returned to school to study for NCEA Level 3.

Semi structured interviews as conversations with all thirteen Māori students who had achieved NCEA Level 2 formed the basis of this research. Five of their parents, seven of their teachers and the principal were also interviewed.

The findings show that these students all stress the importance of their family, in particular, one family member or significant adult in their lives who valued education and supported the student, influencing and encouraging their motivation and self-efficacy. Building positive relationships with their teachers was the next strongest influence on their academic success followed closely by the positive influence of their friends. Self-motivation was mainly extrinsic. The students perceived that the principal had little effect on their individual achievement.

The teachers also acknowledge the importance of building positive relationships with their students and acknowledge the benefits of the reflective practice provided by the Te Kotahitanga project in highlighting this factor.

The findings suggest the excellent initiatives currently taking place in the school need to be continued or strengthened and that further interventions which target particular Māori students, rather than are global across the school, should be introduced.

year: 2008