title: Research assessment as a pedagogical device: Bernstein, professional identity and Education in New Zealand

authors: Middleton, Sue

subjects: education

abstract: Recent restructuring of research funding for New Zealand's higher education institutions is 'outputs-driven'. Under the Performance Based Research Fund, units of assessment of research quality are individuals, every degree teacher receiving a confidential score of A, B or C (if deemed 'research active') or 'R' ('Research Inactive'). Despite its relatively high number of A and B rated individuals, Education's collective ranking was low. I interviewed staff and draw on Bernstein to explore how this process affects professional identity formation, a process involving engagement with changing 'official' external identities. I overview Bernsteinian concepts, historicise Education's changing official identities and illustrate how these enabled and constrained participants' self-definitions before, during, and immediately after, the quality evaluation. The imposition of audit culture reproduces old theory/practice binaries.

text: Research assessment as a pedagogical device: Bernstein, professional identity and Education in New Zealand Recent restructuring of research funding for New Zealand's higher education institutions is 'outputs-driven'. Under the Performance Based Research Fund, units of assessment of research quality are individuals, every degree teacher receiving a confidential score of A, B or C (if deemed 'research active') or 'R' ('Research Inactive'). Despite its relatively high number of A and B rated individuals, Education's collective ranking was low. I interviewed staff and draw on Bernstein to explore how this process affects professional identity formation, a process involving engagement with changing 'official' external identities. I overview Bernsteinian concepts, historicise Education's changing official identities and illustrate how these enabled and constrained participants' self-definitions before, during, and immediately after, the quality evaluation. The imposition of audit culture reproduces old theory/practice binaries.

year: 2008-03

title: The relationship between psychosocial stress and 5-HTTLPR: Implications for the workplace

authors: Drayton, Sasha Jane

subjects: Meta-analysis

abstract: Current research on the relationship between the genetic marker 5-HTTLPR and psychosocial stress, shows a large amount of variation in the reported results between studies. In this thesis four meta-analyses using 14 independent samples were conducted to provide a consensus for these previous results and to provide a basis for how these varying results could be applied to the workplace.
All four meta-analyses used hedges g as the effect size and reported very
small, negative effect sizes. Although the effect sizes were small, the negative direction indicates that the L/L 5-HTTLPR genotype has slightly greater cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress. The limited amount of literature on 5-HTTLPR and psychosocial stress needs to be considered when reviewing the results as it is difficult to tell whether the small effect sizes are due to chance or if they are an accurate reflection.
The small effect sizes also mean that utilising these results in an organisational context is difficult as the relationship between 5-HTTLPR and psychosocial stress is not statistically significant. 5-HTTLPR is only one genetic marker out of hundreds so while psychosocial stress may have a statistically significant relationship with another marker, this has not been found yet. As a result of this, subjective measures of stress such as surveys are likely to continue
to be more useful in identifying the stress levels of individuals in the workplace,
rather than making inferences based on the 5-HTTLPR genotype of the individual.

text: The relationship between psychosocial stress and 5-HTTLPR: Implications for the workplace Current research on the relationship between the genetic marker 5-HTTLPR and psychosocial stress, shows a large amount of variation in the reported results between studies. In this thesis four meta-analyses using 14 independent samples were conducted to provide a consensus for these previous results and to provide a basis for how these varying results could be applied to the workplace.
All four meta-analyses used hedges g as the effect size and reported very
small, negative effect sizes. Although the effect sizes were small, the negative direction indicates that the L/L 5-HTTLPR genotype has slightly greater cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress. The limited amount of literature on 5-HTTLPR and psychosocial stress needs to be considered when reviewing the results as it is difficult to tell whether the small effect sizes are due to chance or if they are an accurate reflection.
The small effect sizes also mean that utilising these results in an organisational context is difficult as the relationship between 5-HTTLPR and psychosocial stress is not statistically significant. 5-HTTLPR is only one genetic marker out of hundreds so while psychosocial stress may have a statistically significant relationship with another marker, this has not been found yet. As a result of this, subjective measures of stress such as surveys are likely to continue
to be more useful in identifying the stress levels of individuals in the workplace,
rather than making inferences based on the 5-HTTLPR genotype of the individual.

year: 2018

title: Transformative pedagogy and language learning in Maori and Irish contexts

authors: Glynn, Ted

subjects: transformative pedagogy

abstract: Establishing positive learning communities in classrooms where pedagogies are socially and culturally responsive and centred on shared life experiences is critical for the revitalisation of minoritised languages such as Irish and Māori, which lack the dominance and power of the wider languages of government and communication. Transformative pedagogy and pedagogical re-positioning of teachers are essential to legitimising and affirming minoritised languages in the classroom. Three small-scale New Zealand studies of emerging literacy in Māori are introduced, exemplifying a responsive and transformative pedagogy that enables teachers to position themselves as socially and culturally responsive participants within classroom contexts. These studies offer strategies that might facilitate the development of similar transformative pedagogy in Irish contexts also.

text: Transformative pedagogy and language learning in Maori and Irish contexts Establishing positive learning communities in classrooms where pedagogies are socially and culturally responsive and centred on shared life experiences is critical for the revitalisation of minoritised languages such as Irish and Māori, which lack the dominance and power of the wider languages of government and communication. Transformative pedagogy and pedagogical re-positioning of teachers are essential to legitimising and affirming minoritised languages in the classroom. Three small-scale New Zealand studies of emerging literacy in Māori are introduced, exemplifying a responsive and transformative pedagogy that enables teachers to position themselves as socially and culturally responsive participants within classroom contexts. These studies offer strategies that might facilitate the development of similar transformative pedagogy in Irish contexts also.

year: 2009