title: Testing the stability of the benefit transfer function for discrete choice contingent valuation data

authors: Matthews, David I.

subjects: benefit function transfer

abstract: We examine the stability of the benefit transfer function across 42 recreational forests in the British Isles. A working definition of reliable function transfer is put forward, and a suitable statistical test is provided. The test is based on the sensitivity of the model log-likelihood to removal of individual forest recreation sites. We apply the proposed methodology on discrete choice contingent valuation data and find that a stable function improves our measure of transfer reliability, but not by much. We conclude that, in empirical studies on transferability, function stability considerations are secondary to the availability and quality of site attribute data. Modellers’ can study the advantages of transfer function stability vis-à-vis the value of additional information on recreation site attributes.

text: Testing the stability of the benefit transfer function for discrete choice contingent valuation data We examine the stability of the benefit transfer function across 42 recreational forests in the British Isles. A working definition of reliable function transfer is put forward, and a suitable statistical test is provided. The test is based on the sensitivity of the model log-likelihood to removal of individual forest recreation sites. We apply the proposed methodology on discrete choice contingent valuation data and find that a stable function improves our measure of transfer reliability, but not by much. We conclude that, in empirical studies on transferability, function stability considerations are secondary to the availability and quality of site attribute data. Modellers’ can study the advantages of transfer function stability vis-à-vis the value of additional information on recreation site attributes.

year: 2007-05

title: Re-thinking ways of being a teacher and doing an early childhood project: A critical examination of discourses and identities in early childhood policies and practice

authors: Kamenarac, Olivera

subjects: teachers professional identities

abstract: The conference presentation draws on the author's recent study on how teacher professional identities have been re-constructed in response to shifting discourses in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood (ECE) policies and practices (Kamenarac, 2019). Through the theoretical lens of feminist poststructuralists (Baxter, 2016; Weedon, 1997), it critically looks at the text of leading New Zealand ECE policies and interviews with early childhood teachers to examine the power of language as a constitutive force in producing particular ways of seeing the world (e.g. the purpose of ECE) and being a subject (i.e. a teacher, a child, a parent) in the world. The author employs a discourse-analysis approach (Bacchi, 2000; Gee, 2014; Kamenarac, 2019) to explore how meanings of the policy concepts, or, to put it another way, a translation of policy discourses, shifted in diverse institutional contexts, producing oppositional views of teachers' work, identities and relationships. By choosing consciously (or not) language and discourses to make sense of themselves and others, teachers positioned some groups of children and families as 'disempowered subjects', while construing themselves as 'catalysts for preventing vulnerability', narrowing views of the purpose of education in society. The author argues, to re-position themselves towards what it means to be advocate-activist teachers (Kamenarac, 2019b) and 'citizen scholars' (Giroux & Giroux, 2016) in the world, teachers need to critically look at discourses underpinning their ways of being and doing and deliberately construct identities and practices embedded in the ideas of socially just, democratic and equitable education and the world.

text: Re-thinking ways of being a teacher and doing an early childhood project: A critical examination of discourses and identities in early childhood policies and practice The conference presentation draws on the author's recent study on how teacher professional identities have been re-constructed in response to shifting discourses in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood (ECE) policies and practices (Kamenarac, 2019). Through the theoretical lens of feminist poststructuralists (Baxter, 2016; Weedon, 1997), it critically looks at the text of leading New Zealand ECE policies and interviews with early childhood teachers to examine the power of language as a constitutive force in producing particular ways of seeing the world (e.g. the purpose of ECE) and being a subject (i.e. a teacher, a child, a parent) in the world. The author employs a discourse-analysis approach (Bacchi, 2000; Gee, 2014; Kamenarac, 2019) to explore how meanings of the policy concepts, or, to put it another way, a translation of policy discourses, shifted in diverse institutional contexts, producing oppositional views of teachers' work, identities and relationships. By choosing consciously (or not) language and discourses to make sense of themselves and others, teachers positioned some groups of children and families as 'disempowered subjects', while construing themselves as 'catalysts for preventing vulnerability', narrowing views of the purpose of education in society. The author argues, to re-position themselves towards what it means to be advocate-activist teachers (Kamenarac, 2019b) and 'citizen scholars' (Giroux & Giroux, 2016) in the world, teachers need to critically look at discourses underpinning their ways of being and doing and deliberately construct identities and practices embedded in the ideas of socially just, democratic and equitable education and the world.

year: 2021

title: Early intervention services: Effectively supporting Maori children and their families

authors: Berryman, Mere

subjects: Early Childhood

abstract: This paper examines Early Intervention (EI) service provision from within one Ministry of Education region in New Zealand. It does this in order to better understand what works well and what needs to change if children from Maori families, of Early Childhood age, are to be provided with the most effective EI services. By engaging with Maori families in group-focused interviews-asconversation, and then with their service providers, about their experiences of working together, researchers learned about what could provide effective services for other Maori families in similar situations.

text: Early intervention services: Effectively supporting Maori children and their families This paper examines Early Intervention (EI) service provision from within one Ministry of Education region in New Zealand. It does this in order to better understand what works well and what needs to change if children from Maori families, of Early Childhood age, are to be provided with the most effective EI services. By engaging with Maori families in group-focused interviews-asconversation, and then with their service providers, about their experiences of working together, researchers learned about what could provide effective services for other Maori families in similar situations.

year: 2011