title: Quality early childhood education for under-two-year-olds: What should it look like? A literature review

authors: Dalli, Carmen

subjects: early childhood education

abstract: Recent years have seen increasing participation of under-two-year-olds in early childhood education. This literature review draws together relevant research evidence to better understand what quality early childhood education for children under-two-years of age should look like.
The results of this literature review provide strong incentives for policy-makers to maintain optimum ratios of adults to infants, ongoing training including in the specialist area of infant pedagogy, and environments which facilitate low levels of stress. Research shows these variables to be of particular importance in the education and care of infants under two years of age for two key reasons. Firstly, with responsibility for a smaller number of infants, and ongoing training that keeps abreast of specialised knowledge and skills, adults are more likely to be attuned to very young children. Secondly, attuned adults and quality environments are now understood to have a marked impact on the development and learning of infants. Some of these impacts are felt immediately whilst others emerge in adolescence; all have long term implications for individuals and society. The evidence demonstrates that quality early childhood education at this very early age has lasting benefits for infants and their families – especially those from disadvantaged sectors – and for society. The high quality education and care of infants therefore constitutes a key investment in the future of Aotearoa New Zealand.

text: Quality early childhood education for under-two-year-olds: What should it look like? A literature review Recent years have seen increasing participation of under-two-year-olds in early childhood education. This literature review draws together relevant research evidence to better understand what quality early childhood education for children under-two-years of age should look like.
The results of this literature review provide strong incentives for policy-makers to maintain optimum ratios of adults to infants, ongoing training including in the specialist area of infant pedagogy, and environments which facilitate low levels of stress. Research shows these variables to be of particular importance in the education and care of infants under two years of age for two key reasons. Firstly, with responsibility for a smaller number of infants, and ongoing training that keeps abreast of specialised knowledge and skills, adults are more likely to be attuned to very young children. Secondly, attuned adults and quality environments are now understood to have a marked impact on the development and learning of infants. Some of these impacts are felt immediately whilst others emerge in adolescence; all have long term implications for individuals and society. The evidence demonstrates that quality early childhood education at this very early age has lasting benefits for infants and their families – especially those from disadvantaged sectors – and for society. The high quality education and care of infants therefore constitutes a key investment in the future of Aotearoa New Zealand.

year: 2011-03

title: The Social Construction of Bottled Water Consumption in New Zealand

authors: Kunze, Isabelle Miriam

subjects: Geography

abstract: This thesis examines the ways in which bottled water consumption is socially constructed and associated with place, nature, gender and health. Consuming bottled water is related to ideas of both sustaining the environment and the body. I explore how performances of both the environment and consuming bodies constitute each other. Consumer performances in Hamilton and various visual and textual representations illustrate spatialities, socialities and subjectivities of bottled water consumption.

Geographies of consumption and feminist geographies and methodologies provide the framework for my research. I conducted eleven semi-structured interviews on the Waikato University Campus in Hamilton with participants different in age, gender and ethnicity. Bottled water advertising in international and national lifestyle magazines and newspapers, as well as bottled water websites, are also examined through the lens of critical discourse analysis.

The first part of this thesis focuses on bottled water consumption in regard to the environment and explores how the natural and pure image of bottled water is currently linked to notions of green and sustainable consumption. The second part examines the embodiment of the environment in regards to sustaining healthy, pregnant, sporty, sexed and 'green' bodies while looking at gender, health, and consumer performances and subjectivities.

Linking bottled water consumption to the environment and the body not only enriches geographies of consumption but also emphasises the paradoxes associated with consuming bottled water.

text: The Social Construction of Bottled Water Consumption in New Zealand This thesis examines the ways in which bottled water consumption is socially constructed and associated with place, nature, gender and health. Consuming bottled water is related to ideas of both sustaining the environment and the body. I explore how performances of both the environment and consuming bodies constitute each other. Consumer performances in Hamilton and various visual and textual representations illustrate spatialities, socialities and subjectivities of bottled water consumption.

Geographies of consumption and feminist geographies and methodologies provide the framework for my research. I conducted eleven semi-structured interviews on the Waikato University Campus in Hamilton with participants different in age, gender and ethnicity. Bottled water advertising in international and national lifestyle magazines and newspapers, as well as bottled water websites, are also examined through the lens of critical discourse analysis.

The first part of this thesis focuses on bottled water consumption in regard to the environment and explores how the natural and pure image of bottled water is currently linked to notions of green and sustainable consumption. The second part examines the embodiment of the environment in regards to sustaining healthy, pregnant, sporty, sexed and 'green' bodies while looking at gender, health, and consumer performances and subjectivities.

Linking bottled water consumption to the environment and the body not only enriches geographies of consumption but also emphasises the paradoxes associated with consuming bottled water.

year: 2008

title: Potential science tools to support mahinga kai decision-making in freshwater management

authors: Collier, Kevin J.

subjects: mahinga kai

abstract: Mahinga kai is a key value for freshwater management that needs to be articulated in objective setting for environmental limits in the National Objectives Framework (NOF). Mahinga kai generally refers to indigenous freshwater species that have traditionally been used for food, tools or other resources. Many mahinga kai sites, both current and historical, are in lowland settings where freshwater environments are often in a degraded state and values are correspondingly compromised. With limited availability of sites in good condition within rohe to help define desired states for mahinga kai, alternative approaches are needed to establish condition bands for management. In particular, tools that assist with envisaging desired states and predicting environmental changes required to sustain those states will help communities and tangata whenua set management objectives. To achieve this effectively an approach is required that utilises Mātauranga Māori and science tools

text: Potential science tools to support mahinga kai decision-making in freshwater management Mahinga kai is a key value for freshwater management that needs to be articulated in objective setting for environmental limits in the National Objectives Framework (NOF). Mahinga kai generally refers to indigenous freshwater species that have traditionally been used for food, tools or other resources. Many mahinga kai sites, both current and historical, are in lowland settings where freshwater environments are often in a degraded state and values are correspondingly compromised. With limited availability of sites in good condition within rohe to help define desired states for mahinga kai, alternative approaches are needed to establish condition bands for management. In particular, tools that assist with envisaging desired states and predicting environmental changes required to sustain those states will help communities and tangata whenua set management objectives. To achieve this effectively an approach is required that utilises Mātauranga Māori and science tools

year: 2014