title: Student voices: Experiences of Solomon Islands students in transition from primary school to boarding secondary school

authors: Vasethe, Godfrey

subjects: Solomon Islands

abstract: This study is about students' experiences when in transition from primary schools they attended daily to boarding secondary schools located far from their homes and villages in the Solomon Islands. In particular it explores the positive and negative feelings of students who have left their parents to live in boarding schools. For their first five months these students had no opportunity to contact their parents. The study also explores the strategies they used to overcome their difficulties and problems. It also explores the strategies that boarding schools used to help their students. While much research to date has been carried out in developed and developing countries, no such study as this has been carried out in the Solomon Islands or in the Melanesian region. Therefore, little is known about the students' experiences living in boarding schools for five months before seeing their parents again and the strategies they used to overcome their difficulties and problems. 

Research data were gathered using the qualitative method. Interviews were conducted with 16 students (9 first year students and 7 second year students), 3 principals and 1 deputy principal from four boarding secondary schools. Data gathered were analysed using the thematic approach. The collecting of data was conducted in the Solomon Islands in April and May 2009.

The key findings revealed both positive and negative experiences of the students when they had just arrived at school and the strategies they used to overcome their negative experiences. The positive feelings were feeling happy and all right. The negative feelings were feeling homesick, lonely, shy and afraid. The strategies that students used to overcome these problems were creating friendship with other students and attending social activities. 

The students also came across difficulties and problems like change of status from being senior students at primary schools to being the most junior students at secondary schools, tight school programmes, unfamiliar cultures and languages, and shortage of pocket money to help them to buy some of their needs that schools cannot provide. They also came across positive experiences like happiness, feeling relief and immediate help when they just arrived. Furthermore, they also faced both positive and negative aspects on their academic work, extra-curricular activities, food and accommodation.

The other key findings are the strategies that boarding schools used to help their new students.  These include: good dormitories and classrooms, orientations, class assemblies to talk about academic matters, dorm masters and mistresses helping out the new students in the dormitories, old students helping the new students, and cultural and religious groups.
The strategies provided by boarding secondary schools were not adequate enough from looking at the many difficulties and problems the students encountered, and some of the strategies were their own personal strategies and not the boarding school ones. Therefore, this study is in a position to inform the transition programmes for boarding secondary schools in the Solomon Islands.

text: Student voices: Experiences of Solomon Islands students in transition from primary school to boarding secondary school This study is about students' experiences when in transition from primary schools they attended daily to boarding secondary schools located far from their homes and villages in the Solomon Islands. In particular it explores the positive and negative feelings of students who have left their parents to live in boarding schools. For their first five months these students had no opportunity to contact their parents. The study also explores the strategies they used to overcome their difficulties and problems. It also explores the strategies that boarding schools used to help their students. While much research to date has been carried out in developed and developing countries, no such study as this has been carried out in the Solomon Islands or in the Melanesian region. Therefore, little is known about the students' experiences living in boarding schools for five months before seeing their parents again and the strategies they used to overcome their difficulties and problems. 

Research data were gathered using the qualitative method. Interviews were conducted with 16 students (9 first year students and 7 second year students), 3 principals and 1 deputy principal from four boarding secondary schools. Data gathered were analysed using the thematic approach. The collecting of data was conducted in the Solomon Islands in April and May 2009.

The key findings revealed both positive and negative experiences of the students when they had just arrived at school and the strategies they used to overcome their negative experiences. The positive feelings were feeling happy and all right. The negative feelings were feeling homesick, lonely, shy and afraid. The strategies that students used to overcome these problems were creating friendship with other students and attending social activities. 

The students also came across difficulties and problems like change of status from being senior students at primary schools to being the most junior students at secondary schools, tight school programmes, unfamiliar cultures and languages, and shortage of pocket money to help them to buy some of their needs that schools cannot provide. They also came across positive experiences like happiness, feeling relief and immediate help when they just arrived. Furthermore, they also faced both positive and negative aspects on their academic work, extra-curricular activities, food and accommodation.

The other key findings are the strategies that boarding schools used to help their new students.  These include: good dormitories and classrooms, orientations, class assemblies to talk about academic matters, dorm masters and mistresses helping out the new students in the dormitories, old students helping the new students, and cultural and religious groups.
The strategies provided by boarding secondary schools were not adequate enough from looking at the many difficulties and problems the students encountered, and some of the strategies were their own personal strategies and not the boarding school ones. Therefore, this study is in a position to inform the transition programmes for boarding secondary schools in the Solomon Islands.

year: 2010

title: The resilience of Polar Collembola to climate change

authors: Beet, Clare Rose

subjects: Resilience

abstract: Polar Collembola have adapted over millions of years to an environment that is changing faster than any other on earth. Globally, Collembola (springtails) are among the most abundant and widely-distributed arthropods and are key components of species-poor polar ecosystems. Understanding the resilience of polar collembola to climate change is therefore an urgent research priority. Here we explore the links between genetic diversity and physiology in shaping the resilience of polar Collembola to climate change. 
	I have reviewed the resilience of polar Collembola considering genetic diversity, behavioural avoidance and physiological tolerances along with an examination of the potential impacts of biotic interactions. I also explored potential recovery dynamics with reference to temperate taxa and colonisation patterns of new habitat exposed by glacial retreat. This review illustrated that polar Collembola exhibit a suite of traits that have enabled their survival in extreme conditions and may serve as pre-adaptations to changing conditions. However, if resistance capacities are insufficient, complete community level recovery following disturbances is exceedingly slow, especially among Collembola that inhabit deeper microhabitats within the soil column (deeper-dwelling). Overall, it appears that deeper-dwelling species that fail to resist climate changes may not recover in ecologically realistic timescales, especially given the projected pace of climate changes.
	The largest spatial scale study and analysis of the genetic diversity of Collembola from the central Canadian High Arctic location of Cambridge Bay (Ikaluktuktiak) was undertaken to refine species identifications, examine levels of population diversity, and explore the role of geological processes and glacial dynamics in shaping the current Arctic collembolan fauna. I identified 68 Barcode Index Numbers (BINs, as a proxy for species diversity) representing an estimated 43 morphological species, with 29 BINs unique to Cambridge Bay. The geographic linkages between populations across the High Arctic supported hypothesised east to west dispersal patterns in accordance with prevailing ocean currents. 
	The physiology of five of the most abundant surface-active species from the Canadian High Arctic was explored to determine how resistant local species are likely to be to rising temperatures and increasing drought pressure. Some individuals were found to exhibit remarkably high heat tolerances (>40 ℃) with only limited cold tolerance capacities (64 % had supercooling points higher than -10 ℃). Survival rates in response to a desiccation stress were also variable among individuals (range: 1.0-13.5 hrs). This indicated that Arctic Collembola may be pre-adapted to a level of climate warming.
	I also explored the specific relationship between two populations of the Antarctic collembolan Gomphiocephalus hodgsoni found in the largest ice-free area in continental Antarctica, McMurdo Dry Valleys. I tested whether the genetic variation found between coastal and inland individuals of G. hodgsoni corresponded with differences in physiological tolerances of hot and cold temperatures was tested. Individuals from the population nearest the warmer coastal site had higher upper thermal limits (mean CTₘₐₓ 31.3 ℃) compared to individuals from the more inland population (mean CTₘₐₓ 27.2 ℃). However, these differences in heat tolerance weren’t significant until  accounting for microhabitat temperature at time of collection (site + microhabitat at time of collection, p=0.0029). Coastal individuals also had higher mean supercooling points (coastal: -14.3 ℃; inland: -22.6 ℃, p=0.011). Under climate change associated warming warm-adapted populations may have a selective advantage relative to more cold adapted individuals, leading to changes in population genetic structure, a decline in genetic diversity, and associated decline in resilience. 
	Collectively my thesis chapters have identified that the biggest threats to the ongoing survival of polar Collembola are sustained heat stress, desiccation stress, changing biotic interactions, and the arrival and spread of invasive species. Despite this, polar Collembola exhibit considerable levels of genetic diversity and physiological tolerances that may make them pre-adapted to climate change induced environmental changes.

text: The resilience of Polar Collembola to climate change Polar Collembola have adapted over millions of years to an environment that is changing faster than any other on earth. Globally, Collembola (springtails) are among the most abundant and widely-distributed arthropods and are key components of species-poor polar ecosystems. Understanding the resilience of polar collembola to climate change is therefore an urgent research priority. Here we explore the links between genetic diversity and physiology in shaping the resilience of polar Collembola to climate change. 
	I have reviewed the resilience of polar Collembola considering genetic diversity, behavioural avoidance and physiological tolerances along with an examination of the potential impacts of biotic interactions. I also explored potential recovery dynamics with reference to temperate taxa and colonisation patterns of new habitat exposed by glacial retreat. This review illustrated that polar Collembola exhibit a suite of traits that have enabled their survival in extreme conditions and may serve as pre-adaptations to changing conditions. However, if resistance capacities are insufficient, complete community level recovery following disturbances is exceedingly slow, especially among Collembola that inhabit deeper microhabitats within the soil column (deeper-dwelling). Overall, it appears that deeper-dwelling species that fail to resist climate changes may not recover in ecologically realistic timescales, especially given the projected pace of climate changes.
	The largest spatial scale study and analysis of the genetic diversity of Collembola from the central Canadian High Arctic location of Cambridge Bay (Ikaluktuktiak) was undertaken to refine species identifications, examine levels of population diversity, and explore the role of geological processes and glacial dynamics in shaping the current Arctic collembolan fauna. I identified 68 Barcode Index Numbers (BINs, as a proxy for species diversity) representing an estimated 43 morphological species, with 29 BINs unique to Cambridge Bay. The geographic linkages between populations across the High Arctic supported hypothesised east to west dispersal patterns in accordance with prevailing ocean currents. 
	The physiology of five of the most abundant surface-active species from the Canadian High Arctic was explored to determine how resistant local species are likely to be to rising temperatures and increasing drought pressure. Some individuals were found to exhibit remarkably high heat tolerances (>40 ℃) with only limited cold tolerance capacities (64 % had supercooling points higher than -10 ℃). Survival rates in response to a desiccation stress were also variable among individuals (range: 1.0-13.5 hrs). This indicated that Arctic Collembola may be pre-adapted to a level of climate warming.
	I also explored the specific relationship between two populations of the Antarctic collembolan Gomphiocephalus hodgsoni found in the largest ice-free area in continental Antarctica, McMurdo Dry Valleys. I tested whether the genetic variation found between coastal and inland individuals of G. hodgsoni corresponded with differences in physiological tolerances of hot and cold temperatures was tested. Individuals from the population nearest the warmer coastal site had higher upper thermal limits (mean CTₘₐₓ 31.3 ℃) compared to individuals from the more inland population (mean CTₘₐₓ 27.2 ℃). However, these differences in heat tolerance weren’t significant until  accounting for microhabitat temperature at time of collection (site + microhabitat at time of collection, p=0.0029). Coastal individuals also had higher mean supercooling points (coastal: -14.3 ℃; inland: -22.6 ℃, p=0.011). Under climate change associated warming warm-adapted populations may have a selective advantage relative to more cold adapted individuals, leading to changes in population genetic structure, a decline in genetic diversity, and associated decline in resilience. 
	Collectively my thesis chapters have identified that the biggest threats to the ongoing survival of polar Collembola are sustained heat stress, desiccation stress, changing biotic interactions, and the arrival and spread of invasive species. Despite this, polar Collembola exhibit considerable levels of genetic diversity and physiological tolerances that may make them pre-adapted to climate change induced environmental changes.

year: 2023

title: The Hospital Transfers Project: Supporting whanau engagement during hospitalisations

authors: Masters-Awatere, Bridgette

abstract: For Māori, as the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, the care of those who are unwell has always been the concern of whānau (family) and community. Māori have established knowledge systems relating to health and wellbeing, and long-standing practices for both promoting good health and responding to illness (Taskforce on Whānau Centred Initiatives [hereafter referred to as the Taskforce], 2009; Waitangi Tribunal, 2001). These systems recognise the importance of relationships between peoples and broader environments to health and wellbeing (Mark & Lyons, 2010; Taskforce, 2009), something which has been more recently acknowledged in Māori health strategy and policy by government (Ministry of Health, 2014b).

text: The Hospital Transfers Project: Supporting whanau engagement during hospitalisations For Māori, as the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, the care of those who are unwell has always been the concern of whānau (family) and community. Māori have established knowledge systems relating to health and wellbeing, and long-standing practices for both promoting good health and responding to illness (Taskforce on Whānau Centred Initiatives [hereafter referred to as the Taskforce], 2009; Waitangi Tribunal, 2001). These systems recognise the importance of relationships between peoples and broader environments to health and wellbeing (Mark & Lyons, 2010; Taskforce, 2009), something which has been more recently acknowledged in Māori health strategy and policy by government (Ministry of Health, 2014b).

year: 2019