title: Early childhood teachers partnering with teacher educators to connect children to taiao (the natural world) through place-based learning

authors: Postlewaight, Gillian

abstract: Initial cycles of an action research project brought together local early childhood (ECE) teachers, and tertiary ECE teacher educators, to explore possible uses of the Ōtātara Outdoor Learning Centre (ŌOLC), adjoining the campus at Hawke’s Bay’s Te Aho a Maui Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT), Napier, New Zealand. EIT is situated below Ōtātara Pa, a historic site that holds cultural and historical significance for local Māori, specifically Ngati Pārau Hapū and Ngati Kahungunu Iwi. Education in New Zealand is underpinned by commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi), ensuring that the principles; partnership, participation and protection of kaupapa Māori are supported through bicultural curricula. Māori holistic perspectives strengthen this focus and shifting understanding that place-based learning authenticates environmental approaches to education and cultural knowledge. During the first meeting, participants walked the hillside site and shared group discussions. From these conversations, the teachers identified three main themes: establishing connections between children and the physical place, new opportunities for teacher learning and challenges to implementing spontaneous teaching and learning in this unique environment. Future cycles of the research will focus on workshops for teachers to address these themes for teachers’ working with children in the space.

text: Early childhood teachers partnering with teacher educators to connect children to taiao (the natural world) through place-based learning Initial cycles of an action research project brought together local early childhood (ECE) teachers, and tertiary ECE teacher educators, to explore possible uses of the Ōtātara Outdoor Learning Centre (ŌOLC), adjoining the campus at Hawke’s Bay’s Te Aho a Maui Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT), Napier, New Zealand. EIT is situated below Ōtātara Pa, a historic site that holds cultural and historical significance for local Māori, specifically Ngati Pārau Hapū and Ngati Kahungunu Iwi. Education in New Zealand is underpinned by commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi), ensuring that the principles; partnership, participation and protection of kaupapa Māori are supported through bicultural curricula. Māori holistic perspectives strengthen this focus and shifting understanding that place-based learning authenticates environmental approaches to education and cultural knowledge. During the first meeting, participants walked the hillside site and shared group discussions. From these conversations, the teachers identified three main themes: establishing connections between children and the physical place, new opportunities for teacher learning and challenges to implementing spontaneous teaching and learning in this unique environment. Future cycles of the research will focus on workshops for teachers to address these themes for teachers’ working with children in the space.

year: 2023-04-27

title: Protecting the heartwood: How can tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori inform the construction of digital identities and relational responsibilities to data in Aotearoa New Zealand?

authors: Lucas, Danielle

abstract: A report prepared by Danielle Lucas as part of the Tikanga in Technology research project

text: Protecting the heartwood: How can tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori inform the construction of digital identities and relational responsibilities to data in Aotearoa New Zealand? A report prepared by Danielle Lucas as part of the Tikanga in Technology research project

year: 2025-02-11

title: Understanding Socio-Cultural and Organisational Constraints on Women's Leadership: A Case Study in Indonesian Higher Education

authors: Amalo, Elizabeth Anggraeni

subjects: Women's leadership

abstract: In Indonesia, especially in Java, in a range of time, the numbers of women occupying senior leadership positions in state higher institutions are low. My experiences working in such institutions supported this phenomenon. This caused my curiosity to find out why female lecturers did not occupy higher leadership positions. I also wanted to know about the nature of the institution operating towards this situation. I assumed that there were barriers from Javanese culture and from their workplaces. In order to find out whether my assumptions were the case, I conducted case study research in an engineering higher education institution in Indonesia to find out why this situation existed, given that one of the articles in the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia states that every citizen has the rights to work and earn money.
Data from this case study research were collected through interviewing sixteen   senior teaching staff comprised 12 female lecturers, 6 of them were in the lower level of leadership positions, and four men in senior managerial positions. Data were also obtained through accessible documents of the institution, and also from direct observations. 
The key findings revealed that the involvement and interactions of the research participants in their social fields, at macro, meso, and micro levels, influenced the way the participants made decisions and acted towards each level. Especially, it showed how habitus played out in their lives, affecting their thoughts, behaviour and actions, and leading to their perceptions and beliefs about who could be senior leaders in this institution. It revealed that there were tensions and contradictions the women participants experienced due to the expectations from each level of social field. In the meso level of social field, that is their workplace, the tensions and contradictions amplified.

text: Understanding Socio-Cultural and Organisational Constraints on Women's Leadership: A Case Study in Indonesian Higher Education In Indonesia, especially in Java, in a range of time, the numbers of women occupying senior leadership positions in state higher institutions are low. My experiences working in such institutions supported this phenomenon. This caused my curiosity to find out why female lecturers did not occupy higher leadership positions. I also wanted to know about the nature of the institution operating towards this situation. I assumed that there were barriers from Javanese culture and from their workplaces. In order to find out whether my assumptions were the case, I conducted case study research in an engineering higher education institution in Indonesia to find out why this situation existed, given that one of the articles in the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia states that every citizen has the rights to work and earn money.
Data from this case study research were collected through interviewing sixteen   senior teaching staff comprised 12 female lecturers, 6 of them were in the lower level of leadership positions, and four men in senior managerial positions. Data were also obtained through accessible documents of the institution, and also from direct observations. 
The key findings revealed that the involvement and interactions of the research participants in their social fields, at macro, meso, and micro levels, influenced the way the participants made decisions and acted towards each level. Especially, it showed how habitus played out in their lives, affecting their thoughts, behaviour and actions, and leading to their perceptions and beliefs about who could be senior leaders in this institution. It revealed that there were tensions and contradictions the women participants experienced due to the expectations from each level of social field. In the meso level of social field, that is their workplace, the tensions and contradictions amplified.

year: 2014