title: "All the Stuff" is Different: A Mixed Method Study of Continuity and Discontinuity During the Transition to School in New Zealand

authors: Hayes, Joanne Maraea

subjects: Transition

abstract: This study investigated multiple perspectives on continuity and discontinuity during the transition to school in New Zealand. The transition to school has been identified as an important time in the life of a child which has the potential to impact social, emotional, and academic outcomes. Starting school involves a shift into a new environment where change must be navigated. Earlier studies have investigated the discontinuities between prior-to-school and school contexts, and it has been suggested that increasing continuity is a way to ease the transition experience. However, policies and practices change over time, therefore the continuities and discontinuities children experience when starting school may differ from those experienced in previous time periods. This research sought to explore the continuities and discontinuities children experience on transitioning into play-based new entrant classrooms in New Zealand, identify which may be significant, and investigate practices teachers use to support transitioning children.
The study adopted a social constructionist framework and used a sequential, explanatory, mixed method research design. Phase one consisted of an online survey of early childhood and new entrant teachers which collected both qualitative and quantitative data. Preliminary statistical and thematic analysis of this data informed planning for the second phase of the study which involved case studies in three schools. Each case study included the perspectives of parents, children, and new entrant teachers. Parent perspectives were gathered through questionnaires and teachers’ views through interviews. Child perspectives were elicited through paired child led tours and photographs taken by children. Data from case studies were analysed thematically. Findings from both phases were used to inform the answers to the research questions and the discussion of how the research objectives were met. 
Findings revealed three key themes relating to the continuities and discontinuities children in this study experienced on transitioning into the play-based new entrant classrooms. These themes were: people and relationships, teaching and learning, and expectations, structure, and environment. Each of these aspects of continuity and discontinuity interacted with and influenced the others, highlighting the importance of paying attention to all three aspects when considering how best to support transitioning children. Data revealed that there were differences between the perspectives of participant groups, particularly between the views of teachers and children. This may mean that teachers are not aware of what matters most for children during this time of change and may not put in place strategies that address these aspects of continuity and discontinuity. The study also identified a range of influences on teacher practices which impacted on what happened in the classroom. These included factors in the wider school and national environment such as intake policies and expectations for showing children’s progress against standards. It was found that while teachers espoused a belief that schools should be ready for children, they held underlying beliefs about child readiness which influenced both their practice and the reasons for their practice. The study highlights the importance of new entrant teachers knowing about each child and of teachers in each sector having relationships with and knowledge of the other sector. Teachers can then understand how to prepare children for the changes they will experience when transitioning and plan induction programmes which are relevant and purposeful.

text: "All the Stuff" is Different: A Mixed Method Study of Continuity and Discontinuity During the Transition to School in New Zealand This study investigated multiple perspectives on continuity and discontinuity during the transition to school in New Zealand. The transition to school has been identified as an important time in the life of a child which has the potential to impact social, emotional, and academic outcomes. Starting school involves a shift into a new environment where change must be navigated. Earlier studies have investigated the discontinuities between prior-to-school and school contexts, and it has been suggested that increasing continuity is a way to ease the transition experience. However, policies and practices change over time, therefore the continuities and discontinuities children experience when starting school may differ from those experienced in previous time periods. This research sought to explore the continuities and discontinuities children experience on transitioning into play-based new entrant classrooms in New Zealand, identify which may be significant, and investigate practices teachers use to support transitioning children.
The study adopted a social constructionist framework and used a sequential, explanatory, mixed method research design. Phase one consisted of an online survey of early childhood and new entrant teachers which collected both qualitative and quantitative data. Preliminary statistical and thematic analysis of this data informed planning for the second phase of the study which involved case studies in three schools. Each case study included the perspectives of parents, children, and new entrant teachers. Parent perspectives were gathered through questionnaires and teachers’ views through interviews. Child perspectives were elicited through paired child led tours and photographs taken by children. Data from case studies were analysed thematically. Findings from both phases were used to inform the answers to the research questions and the discussion of how the research objectives were met. 
Findings revealed three key themes relating to the continuities and discontinuities children in this study experienced on transitioning into the play-based new entrant classrooms. These themes were: people and relationships, teaching and learning, and expectations, structure, and environment. Each of these aspects of continuity and discontinuity interacted with and influenced the others, highlighting the importance of paying attention to all three aspects when considering how best to support transitioning children. Data revealed that there were differences between the perspectives of participant groups, particularly between the views of teachers and children. This may mean that teachers are not aware of what matters most for children during this time of change and may not put in place strategies that address these aspects of continuity and discontinuity. The study also identified a range of influences on teacher practices which impacted on what happened in the classroom. These included factors in the wider school and national environment such as intake policies and expectations for showing children’s progress against standards. It was found that while teachers espoused a belief that schools should be ready for children, they held underlying beliefs about child readiness which influenced both their practice and the reasons for their practice. The study highlights the importance of new entrant teachers knowing about each child and of teachers in each sector having relationships with and knowledge of the other sector. Teachers can then understand how to prepare children for the changes they will experience when transitioning and plan induction programmes which are relevant and purposeful.

year: 2024

title: Transient geographies: 50:50 sharemilking in the Waikato

authors: Adams-Hutcheson, Gail

subjects: assemblage

abstract: Spacings of mobile farming in New Zealand: Assemblages of cows, bodies, farms and the weather Weather changes moods – Nirvana, “In bloom” (1991) Cresswell (2011) broadens mobility studies to include non-human objects and structures, but rarely, non-human animals and the weather. I add here both livestock and the more literal atmospheric conditions of sun, wind and rain which are largely missing from mobilities studies. Weather is ubiquitous, yet hard to ignore – it impacts on both researcher and the researched. I visited farms and was: jumped-up-on by dogs, rode on 4-wheel bikes, got licked by calves [happy/sunny], felt hot, got covered in dust [tired/sweltering], stood still in the milking-shed [tension/cold], and was blasted by freezing winds and slopped through thick mud [depression/winter wet]. For Ash (2013a, 35) “the body is a kind of living or somatic memory, which is composed of various retentional apparatuses”, which become ignited by alignment of senses. In this paper I argue for attention to be paid to sharemilking and the materiality of atmospheres to draw attention to the ‘centrifugal’ forces of mobile rural dwelling. Sharemilking is a largely unique agrarian practice in New Zealand which is embedded in the notion of mobility. Sharemilkers typically own the livestock and machinery, but not the land and enter into contract with landowners on a share profit basis. Contracts are finished and new ones are taken up on a set day, the 1st June which is often termed colloquially as ‘Gypsy-day’. The contract nature of sharemilking stimulates a cascade of mobilities and enabling infrastructures (assemblages) as farmers move on a stuttering schedule of contract renewals. The frequent upheaval of hundreds of large animals and sheer amount of equipment moved, which is needed to run a sharemilking operation, does warrant further consideration.

text: Transient geographies: 50:50 sharemilking in the Waikato Spacings of mobile farming in New Zealand: Assemblages of cows, bodies, farms and the weather Weather changes moods – Nirvana, “In bloom” (1991) Cresswell (2011) broadens mobility studies to include non-human objects and structures, but rarely, non-human animals and the weather. I add here both livestock and the more literal atmospheric conditions of sun, wind and rain which are largely missing from mobilities studies. Weather is ubiquitous, yet hard to ignore – it impacts on both researcher and the researched. I visited farms and was: jumped-up-on by dogs, rode on 4-wheel bikes, got licked by calves [happy/sunny], felt hot, got covered in dust [tired/sweltering], stood still in the milking-shed [tension/cold], and was blasted by freezing winds and slopped through thick mud [depression/winter wet]. For Ash (2013a, 35) “the body is a kind of living or somatic memory, which is composed of various retentional apparatuses”, which become ignited by alignment of senses. In this paper I argue for attention to be paid to sharemilking and the materiality of atmospheres to draw attention to the ‘centrifugal’ forces of mobile rural dwelling. Sharemilking is a largely unique agrarian practice in New Zealand which is embedded in the notion of mobility. Sharemilkers typically own the livestock and machinery, but not the land and enter into contract with landowners on a share profit basis. Contracts are finished and new ones are taken up on a set day, the 1st June which is often termed colloquially as ‘Gypsy-day’. The contract nature of sharemilking stimulates a cascade of mobilities and enabling infrastructures (assemblages) as farmers move on a stuttering schedule of contract renewals. The frequent upheaval of hundreds of large animals and sheer amount of equipment moved, which is needed to run a sharemilking operation, does warrant further consideration.

year: 2016

title: Māori education as justice and reckoning

authors: Hemi, Keakaokawai Varner

abstract: Hypothetical musings on what constitutes justice have been taking place at least since the ancient Greek philosopher Plato recorded the above debate between Socrates and Cephalus in Republic circa 380 BCE. Modem philosophical notions of justice have also often been heady stuff relying on heuristic "device[ s] of representation"², "thick and thin"³ theories and other abstract conceptions to untangle real-world inequalities. In comparison, current questions of access to justice are earthy, grunty and real. Increasingly vociferous access to justice claims cite the actual injustice-laden histories of particular groups, speak in terms of harm already inflicted and call for reparative, restorative or healing justice. Indigenous peoples, African-Americans and other disenfranchised, excluded and oppressed groups quote dates, casualty numbers and the legislative section or treaty responsible. For many indigenous people, any single incident is always just one among many in the collective memory; there are always more dates, cases,⁴ facts and figures in the "litany of injustices"⁵ which evidence denial of justice. Gritty statistics in one area of well-being flow into another and over generations. This is justice in the trenches, a place where numbers and statistics are what they are.

text: Māori education as justice and reckoning Hypothetical musings on what constitutes justice have been taking place at least since the ancient Greek philosopher Plato recorded the above debate between Socrates and Cephalus in Republic circa 380 BCE. Modem philosophical notions of justice have also often been heady stuff relying on heuristic "device[ s] of representation"², "thick and thin"³ theories and other abstract conceptions to untangle real-world inequalities. In comparison, current questions of access to justice are earthy, grunty and real. Increasingly vociferous access to justice claims cite the actual injustice-laden histories of particular groups, speak in terms of harm already inflicted and call for reparative, restorative or healing justice. Indigenous peoples, African-Americans and other disenfranchised, excluded and oppressed groups quote dates, casualty numbers and the legislative section or treaty responsible. For many indigenous people, any single incident is always just one among many in the collective memory; there are always more dates, cases,⁴ facts and figures in the "litany of injustices"⁵ which evidence denial of justice. Gritty statistics in one area of well-being flow into another and over generations. This is justice in the trenches, a place where numbers and statistics are what they are.

year: 2017