title: Becoming a teacher: Experiences and perceptions of beginning teachers in Vanuatu secondary schools

authors: Tarosa, Gayleen Harrison

subjects: beginning secondary teachers

abstract: Entering into the teaching profession as a beginning teacher can be a complex and challenging experience. Research highlights that beginning teachers are more effective when they are supported in their roles as new teachers (Tickle, 1994; Hattie, 2003; Cameron, Lovett, & Berger, 2007; Kearney, 2014) and consideration must be given to the ways in which they are inducted into their formal teaching positions.
Much of the literature associated with induction of beginning teachers is framed from a Western world view in which some experiences are prioritised over others. In the context of the Republic of Vanuatu - a small island state in the South West Pacific, the professional support and induction experiences of beginning teachers remain under-researched.
This qualitative study sought to address this lack of attention and examined the induction and early career experiences of beginning secondary teachers as they entered into the school context as qualified teachers. The research approach was designed to include semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and documentation analysis as core data sources. The participants were seven beginning secondary teachers and four secondary school principals.
Findings from the research highlighted the importance of understanding what motivated these beginning teachers to enter into the teaching profession and how this impacted on their perceptions of themselves as teachers. Further, contrary to formalised and documented policies, it was also significant that informal pathways to employment into schools, while they were varied, were numerous.
Once appointed to a position, the induction experiences of the beginning teachers highlighted high levels of anxiety as they entered their schools and were given charge of their classes. However, as the year progressed the beginning teachers demonstrated agency and resilience, encountering diverse problems, and seeking their own solutions to both pedagogical issues and gaps in their content knowledge. Interestingly, elements of induction that have been identified as important in other educational contexts were not necessarily identified by principals as being relevant to support their beginning teachers, and were thus missing from the induction experiences of the participants.
To theorise the research findings, Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) Ecological Systems Theory is drawn on. In seeking to further understand how beginning teachers in this context, Vanuatu, can be supported in their induction to the teaching profession, a contextualised model has emerged from the findings of this study. Understanding the induction experiences of beginning teachers as they become part of the profession of teaching is an important step in developing the necessary conditions which will enable them to be effective in their roles as educators. Developing contextualized induction programmes which can be sustained to enhance teachers’ professional learning and ultimately impact children’s learning positively in the future is an important recommendation. Thus, this research will add to the body of literature regarding the beginning teachers’ learning and development, induction, and the formation of professional teacher identity within the context of Vanuatu.

text: Becoming a teacher: Experiences and perceptions of beginning teachers in Vanuatu secondary schools Entering into the teaching profession as a beginning teacher can be a complex and challenging experience. Research highlights that beginning teachers are more effective when they are supported in their roles as new teachers (Tickle, 1994; Hattie, 2003; Cameron, Lovett, & Berger, 2007; Kearney, 2014) and consideration must be given to the ways in which they are inducted into their formal teaching positions.
Much of the literature associated with induction of beginning teachers is framed from a Western world view in which some experiences are prioritised over others. In the context of the Republic of Vanuatu - a small island state in the South West Pacific, the professional support and induction experiences of beginning teachers remain under-researched.
This qualitative study sought to address this lack of attention and examined the induction and early career experiences of beginning secondary teachers as they entered into the school context as qualified teachers. The research approach was designed to include semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and documentation analysis as core data sources. The participants were seven beginning secondary teachers and four secondary school principals.
Findings from the research highlighted the importance of understanding what motivated these beginning teachers to enter into the teaching profession and how this impacted on their perceptions of themselves as teachers. Further, contrary to formalised and documented policies, it was also significant that informal pathways to employment into schools, while they were varied, were numerous.
Once appointed to a position, the induction experiences of the beginning teachers highlighted high levels of anxiety as they entered their schools and were given charge of their classes. However, as the year progressed the beginning teachers demonstrated agency and resilience, encountering diverse problems, and seeking their own solutions to both pedagogical issues and gaps in their content knowledge. Interestingly, elements of induction that have been identified as important in other educational contexts were not necessarily identified by principals as being relevant to support their beginning teachers, and were thus missing from the induction experiences of the participants.
To theorise the research findings, Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) Ecological Systems Theory is drawn on. In seeking to further understand how beginning teachers in this context, Vanuatu, can be supported in their induction to the teaching profession, a contextualised model has emerged from the findings of this study. Understanding the induction experiences of beginning teachers as they become part of the profession of teaching is an important step in developing the necessary conditions which will enable them to be effective in their roles as educators. Developing contextualized induction programmes which can be sustained to enhance teachers’ professional learning and ultimately impact children’s learning positively in the future is an important recommendation. Thus, this research will add to the body of literature regarding the beginning teachers’ learning and development, induction, and the formation of professional teacher identity within the context of Vanuatu.

year: 2020

title: Balance, cognitive tuning, status and positivity bias in communication of impressions

authors: Armstrong, Warwick David

abstract: Experiment 1 (n=120) was a 3x2x2 analysis of variance design, investigating the interaction of the effect of cognitive tuning, balance and sex on polarization of personality impressions. While balance variables influenced polarization it did not mask the different polarization effects of the cognitive tuning sets, transmission and reception. The checking of positive traits outstriped the checking of negative traits by a factor of 2. 25. Males polarized more than females. Experiment 2 (n=40) investigated the interaction of tuning, sex and status. Status and sex effects on polarization were significantly different on transmission tuning only.

text: Balance, cognitive tuning, status and positivity bias in communication of impressions Experiment 1 (n=120) was a 3x2x2 analysis of variance design, investigating the interaction of the effect of cognitive tuning, balance and sex on polarization of personality impressions. While balance variables influenced polarization it did not mask the different polarization effects of the cognitive tuning sets, transmission and reception. The checking of positive traits outstriped the checking of negative traits by a factor of 2. 25. Males polarized more than females. Experiment 2 (n=40) investigated the interaction of tuning, sex and status. Status and sex effects on polarization were significantly different on transmission tuning only.

year: 1969

title: Translating Translations: A study of Ngā Rūpaiaha o Oma Kaiama, a Māori translation of the English version of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

authors: Roa, Hariru Te Aroha

subjects: Translation

abstract: Omar Khayyám, a Persian poet who died in 1131, wrote a number of quatrains in Farsi which are regarded by some as representing the very summit of Sufism (that is, of the mystical dimension of Islamic thought) and by others as being essentially agnostic and hedonistic in nature. Those who are of the latter view are often strongly influenced by the ‘translation’ into English of some of these quatrains by Edward Fitzgerald, a British poet and writer whose first edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám appeared in 1859, at the height of the Victorian era. Although there have been several other translations of Khayyám’s quatrains, none has been as popular or, perhaps, as highly regarded as an artistic work as that of Fitzgerald. It has rarely, however, been regarded as a work that is faithful to the intent of the original. In deciding to translate into Māori Fitzgerald’s rendering into English of some of Khayyám’s Farsi quatrains (5th version), Pei Jones was faced with a peculiarly complex set of problems (linguistic, literary, cultural and religious). Pei Jones’ translation, a translation of a translation, is generally regarded as being faithful to Fitzgerald’s version of the Rubáiyát. It would appear, therefore, that he decided to treat Fitzgeralds’s text, in spite of the reference in its title to the original text, as his source text. This gives rise to a number of questions, including questions about what it means for a translator to be faithful or unfaithful to a source text. With particular reference to Pei Jones’ translation of Fitzgerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, this thesis explores the concept of ‘fidelity’, a concept that, it is argued here (see Chapter 3), is often treated in the literature on translation in a way that belies its extremely complex nature. The thesis proposes a new approach to the concept of fidelity, one that is based on nine fidelity types: grammatical, lexical, informational, metrical, imagistic, rhetorical, historical, didactic and functional fidelity. In terms of this nonagonal analytical model, twenty-five of Pei Jones’ quatrains are analysed in relation to the equivalent quatrains in Fitzgerald’s version (Chapter 4). The analysis indicates that Pei Jones’ translation has neither metrical fidelity (a consequence of the very different nature of the source and target languages) nor functional fidelity (a consequence of the very different expectations and sensibilities that a Māori audience has in relation to the verbal arts). Metre and function are both, however, fundamental to the enduring appeal of Fitzgerald’s quatrains. The overall conclusion is that since it is often impossible to achieve all nine types of fidelity, translators need to carefully consider what their primary aim is in undertaking the translation of artistic works and be prepared to sacrifice certain types of fidelity (e.g. historical and informational fidelity) in order to create a work that fulfils the aesthetic expectations of the target audience. Pei Jones was undeniably successful in achieving those types of fidelity that were possible. However, the work may have had more widespread appeal if he had sacrificed some of them in order to create a work that was more closely aligned with the aesthetic expectations of Māori readers.

text: Translating Translations: A study of Ngā Rūpaiaha o Oma Kaiama, a Māori translation of the English version of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám Omar Khayyám, a Persian poet who died in 1131, wrote a number of quatrains in Farsi which are regarded by some as representing the very summit of Sufism (that is, of the mystical dimension of Islamic thought) and by others as being essentially agnostic and hedonistic in nature. Those who are of the latter view are often strongly influenced by the ‘translation’ into English of some of these quatrains by Edward Fitzgerald, a British poet and writer whose first edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám appeared in 1859, at the height of the Victorian era. Although there have been several other translations of Khayyám’s quatrains, none has been as popular or, perhaps, as highly regarded as an artistic work as that of Fitzgerald. It has rarely, however, been regarded as a work that is faithful to the intent of the original. In deciding to translate into Māori Fitzgerald’s rendering into English of some of Khayyám’s Farsi quatrains (5th version), Pei Jones was faced with a peculiarly complex set of problems (linguistic, literary, cultural and religious). Pei Jones’ translation, a translation of a translation, is generally regarded as being faithful to Fitzgerald’s version of the Rubáiyát. It would appear, therefore, that he decided to treat Fitzgeralds’s text, in spite of the reference in its title to the original text, as his source text. This gives rise to a number of questions, including questions about what it means for a translator to be faithful or unfaithful to a source text. With particular reference to Pei Jones’ translation of Fitzgerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, this thesis explores the concept of ‘fidelity’, a concept that, it is argued here (see Chapter 3), is often treated in the literature on translation in a way that belies its extremely complex nature. The thesis proposes a new approach to the concept of fidelity, one that is based on nine fidelity types: grammatical, lexical, informational, metrical, imagistic, rhetorical, historical, didactic and functional fidelity. In terms of this nonagonal analytical model, twenty-five of Pei Jones’ quatrains are analysed in relation to the equivalent quatrains in Fitzgerald’s version (Chapter 4). The analysis indicates that Pei Jones’ translation has neither metrical fidelity (a consequence of the very different nature of the source and target languages) nor functional fidelity (a consequence of the very different expectations and sensibilities that a Māori audience has in relation to the verbal arts). Metre and function are both, however, fundamental to the enduring appeal of Fitzgerald’s quatrains. The overall conclusion is that since it is often impossible to achieve all nine types of fidelity, translators need to carefully consider what their primary aim is in undertaking the translation of artistic works and be prepared to sacrifice certain types of fidelity (e.g. historical and informational fidelity) in order to create a work that fulfils the aesthetic expectations of the target audience. Pei Jones was undeniably successful in achieving those types of fidelity that were possible. However, the work may have had more widespread appeal if he had sacrificed some of them in order to create a work that was more closely aligned with the aesthetic expectations of Māori readers.

year: 2013