title: Primary teachers, policy, and physical education

authors: Petrie, Kirsten Culhane

subjects: physical education

abstract: This article focuses on the challenges arising for primary school teachers who have responsibility for teaching physical education (PE) and who are working in particularly complex and contestable policy contexts. In New Zealand provision of physical education is identified as occurring amidst multiple, and not necessarily compatible, sets of expectations, associated with government priorities, initiatives focusing on children’s health, sport, and improved national achievement outcomes. This article examines the contemporary educational policy landscape, and the effect constantly shifting policy initiatives have on teachers’ work in physical education in primary schools. Key themes characterizing primary PE teaching/teachers’ situation currently centre on pressures to adhere to policies that have stricter accountability measures, the utilization of ‘external providers’, limited time for teacher learning and what appears to paralysis by policy. Discussion considers possible alternative approaches to the development of policy that would arguably better support teachers of physical education in primary schools.

text: Primary teachers, policy, and physical education This article focuses on the challenges arising for primary school teachers who have responsibility for teaching physical education (PE) and who are working in particularly complex and contestable policy contexts. In New Zealand provision of physical education is identified as occurring amidst multiple, and not necessarily compatible, sets of expectations, associated with government priorities, initiatives focusing on children’s health, sport, and improved national achievement outcomes. This article examines the contemporary educational policy landscape, and the effect constantly shifting policy initiatives have on teachers’ work in physical education in primary schools. Key themes characterizing primary PE teaching/teachers’ situation currently centre on pressures to adhere to policies that have stricter accountability measures, the utilization of ‘external providers’, limited time for teacher learning and what appears to paralysis by policy. Discussion considers possible alternative approaches to the development of policy that would arguably better support teachers of physical education in primary schools.

year: 2011

title: Exhausted men: Making fatigue visible in The Metamorphosis and At Swim-Two-Birds

authors: Burnette, Jessie

subjects: Fatigue

abstract: Though not always immediately recognizable, fatigue and tiredness play a central role in modernist literature. As society placed increasing value on productive, strong, energetic bodies, the growing presence of bodies tired from the effects of overwork, rapid social progress, illness and post-war malaise posed a threat both to society and ideas of the 
able-bodied self. Recumbent bodies challenge expectations of productivity; they remindus of our own bodily fallibility and blur the line between life and death as a visual 
representation of our own mortality. Further, the fatigued body at rest is predominantly associated with the feminine, as has been reflected in much prior academic engagement 
with neurasthenic women in modernist literature. What then are the implications for fatigued men? This thesis traces the previously overlooked depictions and uses of fatigue in two texts that have been the subject of significant analysis: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O’Brien. Though neither of these texts are inherently medical in nature, I show how fatigue nonetheless plays a central role in each, albeit in quite different ways. By unpacking these contrasting engagements with fatigue and the simultaneous lack of critical interest in fatigue in these texts, I uncover stigmatizing social perceptions of fatigue as deviant, burdensome, and indicative of emasculating weakness. Further, such depictions seem to go unquestioned, suggesting that these beliefs are largely naturalized within Western society. In the current time of pandemic, as society is again increasingly confronted with very visible exhaustion in the form of Long Covid amongst other fatiguing conditions, modernist fiction from the early-twentieth century offers valuable insights into how we engage with fatigue.

text: Exhausted men: Making fatigue visible in The Metamorphosis and At Swim-Two-Birds Though not always immediately recognizable, fatigue and tiredness play a central role in modernist literature. As society placed increasing value on productive, strong, energetic bodies, the growing presence of bodies tired from the effects of overwork, rapid social progress, illness and post-war malaise posed a threat both to society and ideas of the 
able-bodied self. Recumbent bodies challenge expectations of productivity; they remindus of our own bodily fallibility and blur the line between life and death as a visual 
representation of our own mortality. Further, the fatigued body at rest is predominantly associated with the feminine, as has been reflected in much prior academic engagement 
with neurasthenic women in modernist literature. What then are the implications for fatigued men? This thesis traces the previously overlooked depictions and uses of fatigue in two texts that have been the subject of significant analysis: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O’Brien. Though neither of these texts are inherently medical in nature, I show how fatigue nonetheless plays a central role in each, albeit in quite different ways. By unpacking these contrasting engagements with fatigue and the simultaneous lack of critical interest in fatigue in these texts, I uncover stigmatizing social perceptions of fatigue as deviant, burdensome, and indicative of emasculating weakness. Further, such depictions seem to go unquestioned, suggesting that these beliefs are largely naturalized within Western society. In the current time of pandemic, as society is again increasingly confronted with very visible exhaustion in the form of Long Covid amongst other fatiguing conditions, modernist fiction from the early-twentieth century offers valuable insights into how we engage with fatigue.

year: 2023

title: Me ko Māui: Harnessing the sun to provide better outcomes for marae and communities

authors: Greensill, Waikauri

abstract: Marae are the cultural centres of Māori communities, providing a space for important gatherings both joyful and sad. With the advent of solar energy capture technologies and rising electricity bills, many marae are becoming interested in whether a solar powered system will be beneficial for them. However, marae have unique electricity demand profiles, distinct from commonly modelled building types such as residential or commercial buildings. It is thus difficult to estimate an appropriate solar and battery system size based on annual or even monthly electricity usage data, which may be the only data readily available, requiring more in-depth analysis at a highly site-specific level to find an answer. This thesis aims to increase understanding around how solar power could benefit marae, first by investigating the characteristic electricity demand profile of marae, then by observing how proposed system configurations meet the demand. The potential community benefits arising from such a system was also investigated. Using a year’s worth of half-hourly data from three marae, five characteristic day types were found in the analysis of the demand profile, namely a “Non-Event” profile that maintained a low baseload and accounted for 70% of the days in a year, a “1-Day Event” profile that lasted only a few hours, and for events spanning multiple days a “Start”, “Middle” and “End” day profile that varied greatly in demand magnitude. The demand profiles were then used to develop an annual demand profile for an average marae that was broadly representative of a wide range of marae. Different configurations of solar and battery powered systems were then applied to the annual demand and a technoeconomic analysis performed to determine whether a specific configuration met the needs of the average marae or not, which then produced a range of acceptable system sizes based on the needs specified. Not many solar and battery configurations resulted in positive economic returns for the marae alone, but widening the scope of the analysis to the surrounding community allows other interests such as local grid resilience to be considered, some of which may justify a marae’s decision to invest in a non-economic system to gain better community benefits. While investigating the use of peer-to-peer energy trading and community energy scenarios, sharing excess energy generated by a system with the wider community was also found to improve the economic outlook of solar for marae.

text: Me ko Māui: Harnessing the sun to provide better outcomes for marae and communities Marae are the cultural centres of Māori communities, providing a space for important gatherings both joyful and sad. With the advent of solar energy capture technologies and rising electricity bills, many marae are becoming interested in whether a solar powered system will be beneficial for them. However, marae have unique electricity demand profiles, distinct from commonly modelled building types such as residential or commercial buildings. It is thus difficult to estimate an appropriate solar and battery system size based on annual or even monthly electricity usage data, which may be the only data readily available, requiring more in-depth analysis at a highly site-specific level to find an answer. This thesis aims to increase understanding around how solar power could benefit marae, first by investigating the characteristic electricity demand profile of marae, then by observing how proposed system configurations meet the demand. The potential community benefits arising from such a system was also investigated. Using a year’s worth of half-hourly data from three marae, five characteristic day types were found in the analysis of the demand profile, namely a “Non-Event” profile that maintained a low baseload and accounted for 70% of the days in a year, a “1-Day Event” profile that lasted only a few hours, and for events spanning multiple days a “Start”, “Middle” and “End” day profile that varied greatly in demand magnitude. The demand profiles were then used to develop an annual demand profile for an average marae that was broadly representative of a wide range of marae. Different configurations of solar and battery powered systems were then applied to the annual demand and a technoeconomic analysis performed to determine whether a specific configuration met the needs of the average marae or not, which then produced a range of acceptable system sizes based on the needs specified. Not many solar and battery configurations resulted in positive economic returns for the marae alone, but widening the scope of the analysis to the surrounding community allows other interests such as local grid resilience to be considered, some of which may justify a marae’s decision to invest in a non-economic system to gain better community benefits. While investigating the use of peer-to-peer energy trading and community energy scenarios, sharing excess energy generated by a system with the wider community was also found to improve the economic outlook of solar for marae.

year: 2024