title: ‘Are You ‘Avin a Laff?’: A pedagogical response to Bakhtinian carnivalesque in early childhood education

authors: White, Elizabeth Jayne

subjects: Bakhtin

abstract: Rabelaian carnivalesque provided philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin with a means of exploring the significance of humour through an examination of Middle Age peasant culture and the influence of the Renaissance on its legitimacy. This article argues that a similar phenomenon exists in modern educational settings and provides evidence to suggest that very young children are highly capable of working within this genre as a strategic orientation. It is proposed that the role of the early childhood teacher within this ‘underground culture’ is to be a dialogic partner who recognizes their dual horizontal and vertical roles as both insider and outsider: appreciating humour with children but expecting (and celebrating) the child’s position within a distinct culture that necessarily resides outside officialdom. In doing so, the article concludes that teachers will gain deeper appreciation of the important role of humour as a means of positioning the self within institutions characterized by power dynamics that are typically beyond the young child’s control. Moreover, the teacher has greater opportunities to recognize the potential of humour as a form of social mobility and agency on the part of the child.

text: ‘Are You ‘Avin a Laff?’: A pedagogical response to Bakhtinian carnivalesque in early childhood education Rabelaian carnivalesque provided philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin with a means of exploring the significance of humour through an examination of Middle Age peasant culture and the influence of the Renaissance on its legitimacy. This article argues that a similar phenomenon exists in modern educational settings and provides evidence to suggest that very young children are highly capable of working within this genre as a strategic orientation. It is proposed that the role of the early childhood teacher within this ‘underground culture’ is to be a dialogic partner who recognizes their dual horizontal and vertical roles as both insider and outsider: appreciating humour with children but expecting (and celebrating) the child’s position within a distinct culture that necessarily resides outside officialdom. In doing so, the article concludes that teachers will gain deeper appreciation of the important role of humour as a means of positioning the self within institutions characterized by power dynamics that are typically beyond the young child’s control. Moreover, the teacher has greater opportunities to recognize the potential of humour as a form of social mobility and agency on the part of the child.

year: 2013

title: Will scholars trump teachers in New Zealand teacher education?

authors: Alcorn, Noeline

subjects: research culture

abstract: The Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) assessment process in 2003 highlighted the research imperative for academic staff in New Zealand teacher education. This imperative was not new: it was implicit in the tertiary education changes of 1990, which ended the university monopoly over degree granting and gave autonomy to colleges of education and polytechnics. Previous assumptions about the roles of university and college academics were challenged. Few teacher educators had engaged in research before 1990; staff were recruited from the profession on the basis of their professional expertise. Developing a research culture alongside the demands of teaching and professional involvement in schools leads to tensions that few institutions worldwide have been able to solve. This paper examines the experience of two New Zealand teacher education institutions in responding to the new research imperative, and then considers the impact of the PBRF process and reporting on policy and practice. It identifies significant issues for resourcing and developing capacity but concludes that research is an imperative of professional practice that has the capacity to enrich our teaching and inform policy. However, maintaining balance and equilibrium among the contradictory demands and pressures of research and teaching is still an essential goal if we are to serve education well.

text: Will scholars trump teachers in New Zealand teacher education? The Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) assessment process in 2003 highlighted the research imperative for academic staff in New Zealand teacher education. This imperative was not new: it was implicit in the tertiary education changes of 1990, which ended the university monopoly over degree granting and gave autonomy to colleges of education and polytechnics. Previous assumptions about the roles of university and college academics were challenged. Few teacher educators had engaged in research before 1990; staff were recruited from the profession on the basis of their professional expertise. Developing a research culture alongside the demands of teaching and professional involvement in schools leads to tensions that few institutions worldwide have been able to solve. This paper examines the experience of two New Zealand teacher education institutions in responding to the new research imperative, and then considers the impact of the PBRF process and reporting on policy and practice. It identifies significant issues for resourcing and developing capacity but concludes that research is an imperative of professional practice that has the capacity to enrich our teaching and inform policy. However, maintaining balance and equilibrium among the contradictory demands and pressures of research and teaching is still an essential goal if we are to serve education well.

year: 2005

title: Pūtahitanga: The intersection of western science and mātauranga Māori in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand’s physical oceanography

authors: Stevens, Craig L.

subjects: Mātauranga Māori

abstract: Aotearoa New Zealand is a land and cultures surrounded by one of the planet’s larger marine exclusive economic zones per capita. Understanding, living within and utilising this domain requires a well-developed knowledge of the physical oceanography–fate, provenance and transfer of ocean-water, material and energy. In the Aotearoa New Zealand context, understanding and utilising the environment through science also requires that Māori have a stake in the science and a pathway to connecting with their mātauranga. The pūtahitanga (intersection) of mātauranga Māori and western science perspectives brings challenges for implementation of the Vision Mātauranga framework for physical oceanographic science. Here we discuss the drivers and key themes for the pūtahitanga and propose a mahere kaupapa/plan bound by: (i) climate, (ii) decolonisation, (iii) shared language, (iv) data sovereignty, and (v) developing a cohort who can lead the field in the coming decades.

text: Pūtahitanga: The intersection of western science and mātauranga Māori in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand’s physical oceanography Aotearoa New Zealand is a land and cultures surrounded by one of the planet’s larger marine exclusive economic zones per capita. Understanding, living within and utilising this domain requires a well-developed knowledge of the physical oceanography–fate, provenance and transfer of ocean-water, material and energy. In the Aotearoa New Zealand context, understanding and utilising the environment through science also requires that Māori have a stake in the science and a pathway to connecting with their mātauranga. The pūtahitanga (intersection) of mātauranga Māori and western science perspectives brings challenges for implementation of the Vision Mātauranga framework for physical oceanographic science. Here we discuss the drivers and key themes for the pūtahitanga and propose a mahere kaupapa/plan bound by: (i) climate, (ii) decolonisation, (iii) shared language, (iv) data sovereignty, and (v) developing a cohort who can lead the field in the coming decades.

year: 2021