title: Using Foucault’s notions of discourse to explore and research child sexuality

authors: Flanagan, Paul G.

abstract: “The object, in short, is to define the regime of power-knowledge-pleasure that sustains the discourse on human sexuality in our part of the world” (Foucault, 1978/1990, p. 11). Ideas of sexuality and ideas of childhood are located within historical, cultural and social contexts. Using Foucault’s notions of discourse, my doctoral study examines not only a history of childhood and sexuality, but also how language currently constructs the child and has effects on constructions of sexuality and childhood. Using six brief vignettes to engage parents, teachers and counsellors, as participants in talk about sexuality in childhood, I identified language that (re)constructs childhood and sexuality/gender. I describe citational chains that reiterate and repeat constructions of childhood and sexuality/gender as: 1. Children should only know about sex as heteronormatively gendered; 2. Children should not know about sex as reproduction; and 3. Children should not know about sex as pleasure. In studying language used by adults (parents, teachers and counsellors) in their talk about childhood and sexuality, Foucauldian discourse analysis provides a methodological approach to analyse effects of power/knowledge. Together with Butlerian performative theory and queer theory, an example of relations of power is given to show how adult language constructs and reconstructs childhood as innocent and ignorant of sexuality knowledge of reproduction and pleasure while also reiterating childhood sexuality as heteronormatively gendered.

text: Using Foucault’s notions of discourse to explore and research child sexuality “The object, in short, is to define the regime of power-knowledge-pleasure that sustains the discourse on human sexuality in our part of the world” (Foucault, 1978/1990, p. 11). Ideas of sexuality and ideas of childhood are located within historical, cultural and social contexts. Using Foucault’s notions of discourse, my doctoral study examines not only a history of childhood and sexuality, but also how language currently constructs the child and has effects on constructions of sexuality and childhood. Using six brief vignettes to engage parents, teachers and counsellors, as participants in talk about sexuality in childhood, I identified language that (re)constructs childhood and sexuality/gender. I describe citational chains that reiterate and repeat constructions of childhood and sexuality/gender as: 1. Children should only know about sex as heteronormatively gendered; 2. Children should not know about sex as reproduction; and 3. Children should not know about sex as pleasure. In studying language used by adults (parents, teachers and counsellors) in their talk about childhood and sexuality, Foucauldian discourse analysis provides a methodological approach to analyse effects of power/knowledge. Together with Butlerian performative theory and queer theory, an example of relations of power is given to show how adult language constructs and reconstructs childhood as innocent and ignorant of sexuality knowledge of reproduction and pleasure while also reiterating childhood sexuality as heteronormatively gendered.

year: 2019

title: Secondary education expansion in Tanzania:  Policy and practice implications for teachers’ sense of efficacy

authors: Lawrent, Godlove

subjects: Enactment plan

abstract: Since the introduction of Tanzania’s secondary education expansion policy in 2004 student performance has declined significantly. This trend led me to hypothesise that there may have been a decline in teacher efficacy. The present study investigated the influence of the policy and its implementation on teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, because these beliefs impact on the quality of teaching. The study used a mixed-method approach, with a focus on case studies. Interviews, questionnaires and documentary reviews were used for gathering data. Ninety-nine secondary school teachers from four schools in the Iringa region of Tanzania participated in this research. Social cognitive theory was employed as a conceptual framework for the project. While inductive procedures were used for analysing the interview data, the questionnaire data were analysed via the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software (SPSS) before being tabulated and graphed. 

Findings indicated that strategies intended to ensure the successful enactment of the expansion policy were not fully implemented nor targets met. In a number of ways this adversely affected the ability of teachers to go about their work and, consequently, educational outcomes for students. Overall, evidence from this study suggests that the manner in which the expansion policy was enacted and implemented contributed to the erosion of teacher professional identity and social standing, particularly in relation to self-efficacy. This produced further vicious cycles of effects and consequences. Factors associated with school staffing, school infrastructures, resources for teaching, relationships with the community and poor academic standards of enrolled students emerged as central contributors to this negative situation. An analysis of quantitative data strongly suggested that the expansion policy was implemented poorly, which was detrimental to teacher efficacy and, ironically, undermined the policy itself. 

This research adds to a growing body of literature on the sources of teachers’ self-efficacy. Firstly, the study identifies evidence which indicates that social persuasion is one of the most important contributors to social self-efficacy. It also identifies factors which reinforce a view of mastery experiences as the most influential source of self-efficacy. Secondly, the study points out the causes of teachers’ negative emotional states, including factors outside of the school environment. Thirdly, the study found that certain factors which were emphasized by Bandura as having impact on only one specific source of self-efficacy actually have an impact on more than one source of self-efficacy. 

Analysis of the research findings generated three major policy recommendations for helping teachers develop self-efficacy: promoting professional learning; empowering parents and education authority figures; and improving teaching and learning environments. The study also indicates areas for further research in factors related to teacher efficacy in Tanzania. These include: teaching practices in new schools created under the policy; the extent to which the curricula of university teacher education courses influence self-efficacy in professional practice; and how the policy impacts upon the self-efficacy of students as learners.

text: Secondary education expansion in Tanzania:  Policy and practice implications for teachers’ sense of efficacy Since the introduction of Tanzania’s secondary education expansion policy in 2004 student performance has declined significantly. This trend led me to hypothesise that there may have been a decline in teacher efficacy. The present study investigated the influence of the policy and its implementation on teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, because these beliefs impact on the quality of teaching. The study used a mixed-method approach, with a focus on case studies. Interviews, questionnaires and documentary reviews were used for gathering data. Ninety-nine secondary school teachers from four schools in the Iringa region of Tanzania participated in this research. Social cognitive theory was employed as a conceptual framework for the project. While inductive procedures were used for analysing the interview data, the questionnaire data were analysed via the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software (SPSS) before being tabulated and graphed. 

Findings indicated that strategies intended to ensure the successful enactment of the expansion policy were not fully implemented nor targets met. In a number of ways this adversely affected the ability of teachers to go about their work and, consequently, educational outcomes for students. Overall, evidence from this study suggests that the manner in which the expansion policy was enacted and implemented contributed to the erosion of teacher professional identity and social standing, particularly in relation to self-efficacy. This produced further vicious cycles of effects and consequences. Factors associated with school staffing, school infrastructures, resources for teaching, relationships with the community and poor academic standards of enrolled students emerged as central contributors to this negative situation. An analysis of quantitative data strongly suggested that the expansion policy was implemented poorly, which was detrimental to teacher efficacy and, ironically, undermined the policy itself. 

This research adds to a growing body of literature on the sources of teachers’ self-efficacy. Firstly, the study identifies evidence which indicates that social persuasion is one of the most important contributors to social self-efficacy. It also identifies factors which reinforce a view of mastery experiences as the most influential source of self-efficacy. Secondly, the study points out the causes of teachers’ negative emotional states, including factors outside of the school environment. Thirdly, the study found that certain factors which were emphasized by Bandura as having impact on only one specific source of self-efficacy actually have an impact on more than one source of self-efficacy. 

Analysis of the research findings generated three major policy recommendations for helping teachers develop self-efficacy: promoting professional learning; empowering parents and education authority figures; and improving teaching and learning environments. The study also indicates areas for further research in factors related to teacher efficacy in Tanzania. These include: teaching practices in new schools created under the policy; the extent to which the curricula of university teacher education courses influence self-efficacy in professional practice; and how the policy impacts upon the self-efficacy of students as learners.

year: 2018

title: He whakaemi kōrero mō Ngā Ruahine

authors: Manuirirangi, Hōri

abstract: Ko te whāinga o tēnei tuhingaroa, hei whakaemi kōrero mō Ngā Ruahine. I whāia e au te āhua o te tipu o te rākau hei hanga i aku kōhinga kōrero mō Ngā Ruahine. Ko te ūpoko tuatahi, ko ngā pakiaka, arā te tīmatatanga o Ngā Ruahine. I konei ka tirohia ngā kōrero mō ngā waka tawhito mete whakapapa hoki o ngā tūpuna tāngatawhenua o Ngā Ruahine. Whai muri i tēnā, he wāhanga e pā ana ki te haeretanga mai o Aotea waka, ā, ka tirohia hoki tētehi kōrero tawhito mō te wehenga o ngā iwi o Aotea.
Mai i ngā pakiaka ka piki ake ki te tinana o te rākau. Koinei te wāhanga e pā ana ki ngā korero whenua o Ngā Ruahine. Kei te ūpoko tuarua nei, ka āta tirohia ngā kōrero mō ngā tongi o te rohe o Ngā Ruahine, me ngā take kōrero e whakawhanaunga ana i te tangata ki te whenua. Kei te ūpoko tuarua anō hoki ētehi whakaaturanga whenua mō te rohe o Ngā Ruahine, hei āwhina i te kaipānui.  
Mai i te tinana, ka aro atu ki ngā peka o te rākau i raro i te ūpoko tuatoru. Koinei te wāhanga nui o tēnei tuhingaroa, nā te tokomaha o ngā toronga o ngā peka nei. I roto i te ūpoko tuatoru, ka tirohia ētehi kōrero mō ia hapū o Ngā Ruahine. Mai i ngā kōrero mō ngā rohe whenua o ia hapū, ki ngā kōrero mō ngā marae me ngā pā tawhito o ērā hapū, ā, tae atu hoki ki ngā tūpuna rongonui me ā rātou mahi whakaari.  
Hei te mutunga, ka herea katoatia ngā kōrero o te tuhinga nei i raro i te ūpoko tuawhā, kia kite ai , he aha ngā hua e pūawai ai i tēnei tuhinga. Koinei te whakamutunga o ngā kōrero, arā ko te whakakapīnga o ngā kōrero.  
Ko tēnei tuhingaroa, he whakaemi kōrero mai i ngā kaumātua o Ngā Ruahine, ā, he mea tango mai hoki ētehi kōrero i ngā pukapuka, ko ēnei kōrero kua whakatakotoria i roto i tēnei tuhingaroa hei whakawhāriki iho ki te aroaro o te tini. Ko te tūmanako, he tuhinga rangahau tēnei hei āwhina i ngā rangatahi o Ngā Ruahine, kia rongo ai rātou i ngā kōrero kāore i te tino rangona i ēnei rā, kia mau hoki ngā kōrero a ngā kaumātua o Ngā Ruahine, kei ngaro. Erangi, he whakamōhio tēnei, he tīmatanga anahe tēnei tuhingaroa mō te kaupapa nei. Ko te tūmanako, he hua anō ka puta i tēnei rangahau, hei whāngai i ngā manu hiakai o Ngā Ruahine.

text: He whakaemi kōrero mō Ngā Ruahine Ko te whāinga o tēnei tuhingaroa, hei whakaemi kōrero mō Ngā Ruahine. I whāia e au te āhua o te tipu o te rākau hei hanga i aku kōhinga kōrero mō Ngā Ruahine. Ko te ūpoko tuatahi, ko ngā pakiaka, arā te tīmatatanga o Ngā Ruahine. I konei ka tirohia ngā kōrero mō ngā waka tawhito mete whakapapa hoki o ngā tūpuna tāngatawhenua o Ngā Ruahine. Whai muri i tēnā, he wāhanga e pā ana ki te haeretanga mai o Aotea waka, ā, ka tirohia hoki tētehi kōrero tawhito mō te wehenga o ngā iwi o Aotea.
Mai i ngā pakiaka ka piki ake ki te tinana o te rākau. Koinei te wāhanga e pā ana ki ngā korero whenua o Ngā Ruahine. Kei te ūpoko tuarua nei, ka āta tirohia ngā kōrero mō ngā tongi o te rohe o Ngā Ruahine, me ngā take kōrero e whakawhanaunga ana i te tangata ki te whenua. Kei te ūpoko tuarua anō hoki ētehi whakaaturanga whenua mō te rohe o Ngā Ruahine, hei āwhina i te kaipānui.  
Mai i te tinana, ka aro atu ki ngā peka o te rākau i raro i te ūpoko tuatoru. Koinei te wāhanga nui o tēnei tuhingaroa, nā te tokomaha o ngā toronga o ngā peka nei. I roto i te ūpoko tuatoru, ka tirohia ētehi kōrero mō ia hapū o Ngā Ruahine. Mai i ngā kōrero mō ngā rohe whenua o ia hapū, ki ngā kōrero mō ngā marae me ngā pā tawhito o ērā hapū, ā, tae atu hoki ki ngā tūpuna rongonui me ā rātou mahi whakaari.  
Hei te mutunga, ka herea katoatia ngā kōrero o te tuhinga nei i raro i te ūpoko tuawhā, kia kite ai , he aha ngā hua e pūawai ai i tēnei tuhinga. Koinei te whakamutunga o ngā kōrero, arā ko te whakakapīnga o ngā kōrero.  
Ko tēnei tuhingaroa, he whakaemi kōrero mai i ngā kaumātua o Ngā Ruahine, ā, he mea tango mai hoki ētehi kōrero i ngā pukapuka, ko ēnei kōrero kua whakatakotoria i roto i tēnei tuhingaroa hei whakawhāriki iho ki te aroaro o te tini. Ko te tūmanako, he tuhinga rangahau tēnei hei āwhina i ngā rangatahi o Ngā Ruahine, kia rongo ai rātou i ngā kōrero kāore i te tino rangona i ēnei rā, kia mau hoki ngā kōrero a ngā kaumātua o Ngā Ruahine, kei ngaro. Erangi, he whakamōhio tēnei, he tīmatanga anahe tēnei tuhingaroa mō te kaupapa nei. Ko te tūmanako, he hua anō ka puta i tēnei rangahau, hei whāngai i ngā manu hiakai o Ngā Ruahine.

year: 1998