title: Alum dosing at Waitangi Soda Springs – bioavailability of aluminium in 2016

authors: Ling, Nicholas

abstract: Continuous alum dosing of the Waitangi Soda Springs at Lake Rotoehu commenced in 2010 to reduce inflows of dissolved reactive phosphorus to Lake Rotoehu. Analyses of bioaccumulation in the tissues of kōura and goldfish from Lake Rotoehu were undertaken on animals collected in November 2016 for comparison with data from previous years and control locations to determine the bioavailability and bioaccumulation of aluminium to satisfy annual resource consent conditions 11.7 and 11.8 of resource consent 65966. Lake Rotoehu goldfish showed slightly elevated aluminium concentrations in the gills indicating enhanced exposure to aluminium as a result of alum discharge from the Waitangi Soda Springs but no evidence of significant bioaccumulation in internal tissues.

text: Alum dosing at Waitangi Soda Springs – bioavailability of aluminium in 2016 Continuous alum dosing of the Waitangi Soda Springs at Lake Rotoehu commenced in 2010 to reduce inflows of dissolved reactive phosphorus to Lake Rotoehu. Analyses of bioaccumulation in the tissues of kōura and goldfish from Lake Rotoehu were undertaken on animals collected in November 2016 for comparison with data from previous years and control locations to determine the bioavailability and bioaccumulation of aluminium to satisfy annual resource consent conditions 11.7 and 11.8 of resource consent 65966. Lake Rotoehu goldfish showed slightly elevated aluminium concentrations in the gills indicating enhanced exposure to aluminium as a result of alum discharge from the Waitangi Soda Springs but no evidence of significant bioaccumulation in internal tissues.

year: 2017

title: Democracy through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in an Early Childhood Setting: A Case Study

authors: Archard, Simon

subjects: democracy

abstract: ICT is regarded as playing an ever increasing role in the lives of people and this includes young children.

This case study, to be called the research project hereafter, focuses on how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) might facilitate democratic child directed learning. This is defined by examining the ways children, and other people involved in their lives as learners, might use ICT as a tool for directing learning and what other features can support this. 

The research project is a case study involving one early childhood centre and draws upon data over a one year period. The data was collected using interviews with teachers at the centre, questionnaires from family whānau of children currently attending the centre and documentation of learning episodes of children that involved ICT. A qualitative methodology was used to capture experiences, attitudes and opinions of the participants and these were analysed by thematic analysis.  

The research project identifies the types of uses and purposes that children, their family whānau and their teachers have for ICT. It also identifies and examines the attitudes toward, and impacts of, ICT on the children, family Whānau and teachers taking part in this research project. This is explored by drawing on socio–cultural learning and defined features of democratic education practices. 
The project also examines ICT contributions to learning and teaching within the pedagogical and professional commitments of Te Whāriki, the Early childhood curriculum in Aotearoa New Zealand ( Ministry of Education, (MoE) 1996).

The findings of the research project clearly identify with the literature and educational policy that recognises ICT as prominent and relevant to peoples lives and that includes young children and their learning.  The findings also indicate that ICT in early childhood education is positively received by participants in the research project. There are also clear examples in the findings that affirm democratic features of education and reflect aspects of child initiated and directed learning. 

What supports child initiated and directed learning , and importantly its consistency, is identified in the findings and conclusions that consider the need to develop stronger, more informed and  more collaborative pedagogical conversations between teachers and family/whānau. Such pedagogical understandings would have to come from teachers engaging in more ICT policy aligned planning and reflective practice on the place of ICT and their understanding of democratic teaching and learning.

text: Democracy through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in an Early Childhood Setting: A Case Study ICT is regarded as playing an ever increasing role in the lives of people and this includes young children.

This case study, to be called the research project hereafter, focuses on how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) might facilitate democratic child directed learning. This is defined by examining the ways children, and other people involved in their lives as learners, might use ICT as a tool for directing learning and what other features can support this. 

The research project is a case study involving one early childhood centre and draws upon data over a one year period. The data was collected using interviews with teachers at the centre, questionnaires from family whānau of children currently attending the centre and documentation of learning episodes of children that involved ICT. A qualitative methodology was used to capture experiences, attitudes and opinions of the participants and these were analysed by thematic analysis.  

The research project identifies the types of uses and purposes that children, their family whānau and their teachers have for ICT. It also identifies and examines the attitudes toward, and impacts of, ICT on the children, family Whānau and teachers taking part in this research project. This is explored by drawing on socio–cultural learning and defined features of democratic education practices. 
The project also examines ICT contributions to learning and teaching within the pedagogical and professional commitments of Te Whāriki, the Early childhood curriculum in Aotearoa New Zealand ( Ministry of Education, (MoE) 1996).

The findings of the research project clearly identify with the literature and educational policy that recognises ICT as prominent and relevant to peoples lives and that includes young children and their learning.  The findings also indicate that ICT in early childhood education is positively received by participants in the research project. There are also clear examples in the findings that affirm democratic features of education and reflect aspects of child initiated and directed learning. 

What supports child initiated and directed learning , and importantly its consistency, is identified in the findings and conclusions that consider the need to develop stronger, more informed and  more collaborative pedagogical conversations between teachers and family/whānau. Such pedagogical understandings would have to come from teachers engaging in more ICT policy aligned planning and reflective practice on the place of ICT and their understanding of democratic teaching and learning.

year: 2012

title: Collective Indigenous approaches to centring Pacific voices of leadership for our futures

authors: Uasike Allen, JM

abstract: Education systems in western nations are often built on a long history of centralising the western canon of knowledge and colonial norms. These norms are perpetuated and reinforced via western research which amplifies the voices of the dominant, while working to silence the values, practices, and knowledges of minority groups. As a colonial nation, Aotearoa New Zealand continues to be impacted by its colonial histories, where colonial (read white) ways of being, knowing, and understanding dominate initial teacher education, schools, tertiary institutions, research, and our everyday lives. However, within education and research more generally, Indigenous and Pacific researchers and practitioners have been working hard to carve out space in institutions to challenge colonial hierarchies of knowledge and make space for Indigenous ways of being, knowing, seeing, doing, and feeling. This article contributes to the work being done by Indigenous and Pacific scholars in Aotearoa New Zealand by detailing our collective, relational approach to convening the special issue of Shifting the System for the Ethnographic Edge journal. Convening a special issue is not unique and groups of academics do it regularly across a range of academic journals and fields. However, our experiences of convening this special issue were quite different. Here we share the journey and reflect on how our focus on privileging the often-marginalised voices of Pacific school leaders was underpinned by an Indigenous, collective approach embedded in the pedagogical practice of Indigenous Storywork. Employing collaborative critical autoethnography, we articulate the ways in which our engagement with each other and the authors within this special issue disrupted western power relations often present in interactions between ‘researchers’ within the university and ‘practitioners’ at the coalface. Furthermore, we demonstrate how engaging in relational practices builds a space that encourages the principles of respect, responsibility, reverence, reciprocity, holism, interrelatedness, and synergy.

text: Collective Indigenous approaches to centring Pacific voices of leadership for our futures Education systems in western nations are often built on a long history of centralising the western canon of knowledge and colonial norms. These norms are perpetuated and reinforced via western research which amplifies the voices of the dominant, while working to silence the values, practices, and knowledges of minority groups. As a colonial nation, Aotearoa New Zealand continues to be impacted by its colonial histories, where colonial (read white) ways of being, knowing, and understanding dominate initial teacher education, schools, tertiary institutions, research, and our everyday lives. However, within education and research more generally, Indigenous and Pacific researchers and practitioners have been working hard to carve out space in institutions to challenge colonial hierarchies of knowledge and make space for Indigenous ways of being, knowing, seeing, doing, and feeling. This article contributes to the work being done by Indigenous and Pacific scholars in Aotearoa New Zealand by detailing our collective, relational approach to convening the special issue of Shifting the System for the Ethnographic Edge journal. Convening a special issue is not unique and groups of academics do it regularly across a range of academic journals and fields. However, our experiences of convening this special issue were quite different. Here we share the journey and reflect on how our focus on privileging the often-marginalised voices of Pacific school leaders was underpinned by an Indigenous, collective approach embedded in the pedagogical practice of Indigenous Storywork. Employing collaborative critical autoethnography, we articulate the ways in which our engagement with each other and the authors within this special issue disrupted western power relations often present in interactions between ‘researchers’ within the university and ‘practitioners’ at the coalface. Furthermore, we demonstrate how engaging in relational practices builds a space that encourages the principles of respect, responsibility, reverence, reciprocity, holism, interrelatedness, and synergy.

year: 2022