title: Hamilton Parents Centre 1957-2003: A sociological history

authors: Morgans, Blair

subjects: sociological history

abstract: This is a "sociological history" of Hamilton Parents Centre and as such presents the stories' of Hamilton Parents Centre organised both chronologically and thematically. These stories are broadly of two kinds: those represented in words and pictures in the archive materials made available to us by Hamilton Parents Centre, and those shared with us this year in individual and group interviews by (mostly) women who in the past were or at present are involved with Parents Centre (and in some instances with the Federation of New Zealand Parents Centres). This sociological history is also a case study, and we believe it is a "normal" or "typical" case'. Hamilton Parents Centre can be regarded as a single entity, one of a number of such specific entities (the other Parents Centres) and more generally one of a much larger number of entities, voluntary community-based social service and advocacy organisations . We argue that Hamilton has, over the life of Hamilton Parents Centre, been reasonably representative of New Zealand communities, of urban New Zealand which is and has for a long while been the demographically predominant New Zealand. We also take the view that Hamilton Parents Centre stands for a particular kind of organisation of great importance to the history and development of the human services sector here in New Zealand: community-based, staffed largely by volunteers (but not necessarily thereby amateurs), largely self-funded, identifying new or neglected needs, developing new services, welcoming and being assisted by appropriate professionals but not unduly beholden to them, implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) criticising the status quo-- but a too extensive description here of this sector would anticipate the stories we have to tell .

text: Hamilton Parents Centre 1957-2003: A sociological history This is a "sociological history" of Hamilton Parents Centre and as such presents the stories' of Hamilton Parents Centre organised both chronologically and thematically. These stories are broadly of two kinds: those represented in words and pictures in the archive materials made available to us by Hamilton Parents Centre, and those shared with us this year in individual and group interviews by (mostly) women who in the past were or at present are involved with Parents Centre (and in some instances with the Federation of New Zealand Parents Centres). This sociological history is also a case study, and we believe it is a "normal" or "typical" case'. Hamilton Parents Centre can be regarded as a single entity, one of a number of such specific entities (the other Parents Centres) and more generally one of a much larger number of entities, voluntary community-based social service and advocacy organisations . We argue that Hamilton has, over the life of Hamilton Parents Centre, been reasonably representative of New Zealand communities, of urban New Zealand which is and has for a long while been the demographically predominant New Zealand. We also take the view that Hamilton Parents Centre stands for a particular kind of organisation of great importance to the history and development of the human services sector here in New Zealand: community-based, staffed largely by volunteers (but not necessarily thereby amateurs), largely self-funded, identifying new or neglected needs, developing new services, welcoming and being assisted by appropriate professionals but not unduly beholden to them, implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) criticising the status quo-- but a too extensive description here of this sector would anticipate the stories we have to tell .

year: 2004

title: Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a Professional Learning Community (PLC) strategy for Secondary School Teacher Professional Development (PD)

authors: Ahlawat, Gautam

subjects: Participatory Action Research

abstract: Participatory action research (PAR) was used to investigate the effect of a purposeful and sustained professional learning community (PLC) on teacher professional development (PD) in a secondary school context. A self-contained focus group of teachers organised in a learning community generated iterative data. The focus group meetings served as professional development sessions and data was collected through audio recordings. Inductive and comparative data analysis made meaning of the participants perceptions and compared their individual positioning.
The findings indicate that teachers need favourable conditions for shared knowledge generation and focus group dynamics play a pivotal role in professional learning communities. 
It is recommended that purposeful and sustained professional learning communities be formed within and across New Zealand secondary schools and PAR as pedagogy is used as a PLC strategy for positive teacher PD outcomes.

text: Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a Professional Learning Community (PLC) strategy for Secondary School Teacher Professional Development (PD) Participatory action research (PAR) was used to investigate the effect of a purposeful and sustained professional learning community (PLC) on teacher professional development (PD) in a secondary school context. A self-contained focus group of teachers organised in a learning community generated iterative data. The focus group meetings served as professional development sessions and data was collected through audio recordings. Inductive and comparative data analysis made meaning of the participants perceptions and compared their individual positioning.
The findings indicate that teachers need favourable conditions for shared knowledge generation and focus group dynamics play a pivotal role in professional learning communities. 
It is recommended that purposeful and sustained professional learning communities be formed within and across New Zealand secondary schools and PAR as pedagogy is used as a PLC strategy for positive teacher PD outcomes.

year: 2015

title: Integrating kaupapa Māori in a pākeha philosophy programme

authors: Weijers, Dan M.

abstract: Presented at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand on 15 September 2022

text: Integrating kaupapa Māori in a pākeha philosophy programme Presented at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand on 15 September 2022

year: 2022-09-15