title: Business confidence and cyclical turning points: A Markov-Switching approach

authors: Holmes, Mark J.

subjects: business confidence

abstract: Markov regime-switching analysis is used to consider the relationship between business confidence and the probability of turning points in cyclical GDP. We find, in an application to New Zealand, that confidence is related to both the deepness and duration of the business cycle and is asymmetric regarding the probability of the economy remaining in a given regime. Overall, the New Zealand business confidence series is a useful indicator of cyclical turning points.

text: Business confidence and cyclical turning points: A Markov-Switching approach Markov regime-switching analysis is used to consider the relationship between business confidence and the probability of turning points in cyclical GDP. We find, in an application to New Zealand, that confidence is related to both the deepness and duration of the business cycle and is asymmetric regarding the probability of the economy remaining in a given regime. Overall, the New Zealand business confidence series is a useful indicator of cyclical turning points.

year: 2007-09

title: Inclusive education in Fiji: pre-service and in-service primary education teachers’ perspectives and preparedness for inclusive education

authors: Singh, Deepak Sanjay

subjects: Teachers' perspectives and preparedness for Inclusive Education

abstract: Inclusive education is a recent idea of the Ministry of Education Fiji, through which they hope to provide disabled children the opportunity to receive a quality education in mainstream schools. However, are pre-service and in-service primary education teachers in Fiji sufficiently trained to take up the role of an inclusive education teacher? The international literature claims that mainstream teachers, the key people to implement inclusive education, are least prepared and are unwilling to meet the educational needs of disabled children. Is this also true for Fijian teachers? 

The aim of this research study was to gather Fijian pre-service and in-service primary education teachers’ perspectives and preparedness for inclusive education that has begun in some mainstream primary schools in Fiji and will gradually expand to other mainstream primary schools in the country. An interpretive paradigm guided the research methodology, since the purpose was to gather participants’ perspectives and consensus of how prepared they are for inclusive education. A qualitative research approach which utilised a face-to-face semi-structured interview method was used to collect data. Twelve individuals were interviewed comprising of eight final year (Year 3) pre-service primary education teachers from two teacher training institutions, together with one inclusive education and three special education in-service teachers. 

Data gathered from participants reveals that teachers have a positive attitude towards inclusive education in Fiji and are enthusiastic about taking up the role of inclusive education teacher. This positive attitude was native to the understanding that disabled children have rights to a high quality education, and secondly, it was because of the experiences they had with this group of children and adults before, during and, for some, after their initial teacher training. However, all participants also perceive they have insufficient training and limited skills to teach disabled children. In keeping with international findings, this research initiative shows that teachers’ positive attitudes weaken when they face an adverse environment such as large class size and lack of teacher support for daily teaching tasks. 

These findings indicate that all trainee teachers must receive the opportunity to learn about, observe and practice teaching this group of children during their initial teacher training, so that they graduate having adequate skills to teach disabled children. Teachers must also work towards improving their professional skills after initial training, as the data reveals there is high chance that teachers’ attitudes will deteriorate further when they address the challenges of time and classroom management.

text: Inclusive education in Fiji: pre-service and in-service primary education teachers’ perspectives and preparedness for inclusive education Inclusive education is a recent idea of the Ministry of Education Fiji, through which they hope to provide disabled children the opportunity to receive a quality education in mainstream schools. However, are pre-service and in-service primary education teachers in Fiji sufficiently trained to take up the role of an inclusive education teacher? The international literature claims that mainstream teachers, the key people to implement inclusive education, are least prepared and are unwilling to meet the educational needs of disabled children. Is this also true for Fijian teachers? 

The aim of this research study was to gather Fijian pre-service and in-service primary education teachers’ perspectives and preparedness for inclusive education that has begun in some mainstream primary schools in Fiji and will gradually expand to other mainstream primary schools in the country. An interpretive paradigm guided the research methodology, since the purpose was to gather participants’ perspectives and consensus of how prepared they are for inclusive education. A qualitative research approach which utilised a face-to-face semi-structured interview method was used to collect data. Twelve individuals were interviewed comprising of eight final year (Year 3) pre-service primary education teachers from two teacher training institutions, together with one inclusive education and three special education in-service teachers. 

Data gathered from participants reveals that teachers have a positive attitude towards inclusive education in Fiji and are enthusiastic about taking up the role of inclusive education teacher. This positive attitude was native to the understanding that disabled children have rights to a high quality education, and secondly, it was because of the experiences they had with this group of children and adults before, during and, for some, after their initial teacher training. However, all participants also perceive they have insufficient training and limited skills to teach disabled children. In keeping with international findings, this research initiative shows that teachers’ positive attitudes weaken when they face an adverse environment such as large class size and lack of teacher support for daily teaching tasks. 

These findings indicate that all trainee teachers must receive the opportunity to learn about, observe and practice teaching this group of children during their initial teacher training, so that they graduate having adequate skills to teach disabled children. Teachers must also work towards improving their professional skills after initial training, as the data reveals there is high chance that teachers’ attitudes will deteriorate further when they address the challenges of time and classroom management.

year: 2018

title: Heritage-making in Aotearoa planning: Unsettling norms in contested urban space

authors: Hill, Carolyn Joy

subjects: Authorised heritage discourse

abstract: Heritage is currently a high-profile and often contentious topic in urban environments. As cities face growing challenges of climate change, intensification needs and cultural contestation, state-mandated heritage continues to have a significant influence on how cities are perceived, whose pasts are remembered, and what future change can be. However, this is being increasingly tested as urban pressures bring questions of who has a right to the city to the fore. 
Situated within the field of critical heritage studies, this thesis critically examines how heritage is officially “made” in the cities of Aotearoa New Zealand, and how emerging views and values may reshape these established norms for more spatially and culturally just futures. Focused on urban locations within the so-called “CANZUS” states (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America (USA)), the thesis centres on statutory heritage – the objects and places that are identified and managed within state-mandated planning systems that create dominant assumptions about what is worthy of protection. As such, its contribution is at the intersection of heritage and planning as it critically queries heritage’s future legacy claims and considers what other legacies may be imagined. 
The thesis includes four key enquiries. First, it explores the history of state-led heritage-making in Aotearoa, focusing on the city of Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland. It examines the tension between contemporary urban intensification priorities and heritage / special character regulation, critiquing the narrative of heritage as a “public good” given its entanglement with spatial and cultural inequity. Second, it studies three cases of urban heritage protest across Australia, Aotearoa and the USA. These cases expose the continued inadequacy of statutory heritage-making for Indigenous and emerging aspirations, as normative approaches are embedded not only by the heritage sector itself but by the planning and legislation systems that structure its mandate. 
Third, the thesis explores the current thinking of those shaping and working within heritage’s statutory framing across Aotearoa. It finds that heritage policy leaders are cognisant of, and concerned to change, heritage’s entrenched Eurocentricity, expert dominance and material orientation, but that shifting established practice remains a multi-dimensional challenge. Finally, it investigates the perspectives of young emerging planners in the city of Kirikiriroa / Hamilton, which again foregrounds the obstacles to displacing systemic norms but also highlights planning policy’s significant potential to shape different heritage futures. 
This thesis has important implications both for Aotearoa’s urban environments and for CANZUS cities more broadly. Grounded in contemporary real-world examples, it not only exposes heritage’s imbrication with issues of urban inequity but its deeper role in maintaining settler state security, making “home” on Indigenous land. It finds that unpicking this legacy will involve more than adding the heritages of “others” into the existing canon. Rather, deeper reconsideration of heritage’s societal purpose as part of Indigenous, multi-storied and dynamic cities is required. Finally, it highlights the central role for planning in transforming the heritage field, both through statutory policy reform and through integration with broader urban objectives. However, planners will need to be better equipped for critical engagement with heritage if they are to creatively support more inclusive, democratic and malleable alternatives.

text: Heritage-making in Aotearoa planning: Unsettling norms in contested urban space Heritage is currently a high-profile and often contentious topic in urban environments. As cities face growing challenges of climate change, intensification needs and cultural contestation, state-mandated heritage continues to have a significant influence on how cities are perceived, whose pasts are remembered, and what future change can be. However, this is being increasingly tested as urban pressures bring questions of who has a right to the city to the fore. 
Situated within the field of critical heritage studies, this thesis critically examines how heritage is officially “made” in the cities of Aotearoa New Zealand, and how emerging views and values may reshape these established norms for more spatially and culturally just futures. Focused on urban locations within the so-called “CANZUS” states (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America (USA)), the thesis centres on statutory heritage – the objects and places that are identified and managed within state-mandated planning systems that create dominant assumptions about what is worthy of protection. As such, its contribution is at the intersection of heritage and planning as it critically queries heritage’s future legacy claims and considers what other legacies may be imagined. 
The thesis includes four key enquiries. First, it explores the history of state-led heritage-making in Aotearoa, focusing on the city of Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland. It examines the tension between contemporary urban intensification priorities and heritage / special character regulation, critiquing the narrative of heritage as a “public good” given its entanglement with spatial and cultural inequity. Second, it studies three cases of urban heritage protest across Australia, Aotearoa and the USA. These cases expose the continued inadequacy of statutory heritage-making for Indigenous and emerging aspirations, as normative approaches are embedded not only by the heritage sector itself but by the planning and legislation systems that structure its mandate. 
Third, the thesis explores the current thinking of those shaping and working within heritage’s statutory framing across Aotearoa. It finds that heritage policy leaders are cognisant of, and concerned to change, heritage’s entrenched Eurocentricity, expert dominance and material orientation, but that shifting established practice remains a multi-dimensional challenge. Finally, it investigates the perspectives of young emerging planners in the city of Kirikiriroa / Hamilton, which again foregrounds the obstacles to displacing systemic norms but also highlights planning policy’s significant potential to shape different heritage futures. 
This thesis has important implications both for Aotearoa’s urban environments and for CANZUS cities more broadly. Grounded in contemporary real-world examples, it not only exposes heritage’s imbrication with issues of urban inequity but its deeper role in maintaining settler state security, making “home” on Indigenous land. It finds that unpicking this legacy will involve more than adding the heritages of “others” into the existing canon. Rather, deeper reconsideration of heritage’s societal purpose as part of Indigenous, multi-storied and dynamic cities is required. Finally, it highlights the central role for planning in transforming the heritage field, both through statutory policy reform and through integration with broader urban objectives. However, planners will need to be better equipped for critical engagement with heritage if they are to creatively support more inclusive, democratic and malleable alternatives.

year: 2024-12-16