title: An activity theory based investigation of communication and connection between family, students, and school

authors: Pohio, Karen Elizabeth

subjects: Home-school partnerships

abstract: Communication and connection between families, students, and school is a topic that receives wide attention in the research literature.  This is justified because close alignment between home and school can have numerous benefits for students, such as providing them with support for their academic progress, motivation for learning, behaviour, and readiness for school. Although the extent and quality of research on this topic has helped improve attitudes and approaches towards initiatives that aim to enhance opportunities for communication and connection between home and school, issues continue to limit the effectiveness of many programmes.  Examples of issues reported in the literature include that resource capacities impacted on the sustainability of a programme; a school organised event attracted only a small number of families; or that family members felt disempowered during their interactions with teachers.
It is of concern that research aimed at addressing these issues often isolates elements of context and at times places blame on groups of stakeholders, usually either family members or teachers. Rather, family-school programmes should be researched from the perspective that they are holistic activities involving a multitude of elements that include not only family members and teachers, but also students, rules, divisions of labour, and tools of mediation.  Studies must aim to take account of the diversity that exists within and between each of these elements; particularly in the experiences, cultural beliefs, and aspirations of the stakeholders involved. 
Fundamentally, all stakeholders want to see students gain the emotional, social, and academic skills that will inspire them towards success in later years. Family members have strengths that can contribute towards inspiring student success. Research investigating how to incorporate these strengths into school based programmes must attend to both specific detail and wider contextual factors in order to take account of diversity in the elements involved. These requirements underpin the choice of activity theory as the theoretical foundation of this thesis.  
Activity systems analysis is used to illuminate where tensions and alignments exist in the family-school programmes being implemented at three low socio-economic primary schools in New Zealand. Particular attention is given to the affordances and limitations of the tools chosen to mediate acts of communication and connection at each school. Analysis draws attention to the benefits of a carefully chosen tool that is aligned with a shared purpose designed to guide the thoughts and actions of stakeholders towards the understanding that the contributions they make to their family-school programme are respected and valued. 
One of the medium investigated for guiding the thoughts and actions of stakeholders is the culture of a school. It is discussed that a school culture embedded with certain symbolic tools can act as both a tool and a context for communication.  Other tools of communication investigated include mobile phones and student portfolios.  The affordances and limitations of these tools are considered where it is highlighted that mobile phones offer many possibilities for meaningful communication, while student portfolios can be the source of a multitude of concerns.  These findings contribute to the implications for educational practice and theory that form the conclusion to this thesis.

text: An activity theory based investigation of communication and connection between family, students, and school Communication and connection between families, students, and school is a topic that receives wide attention in the research literature.  This is justified because close alignment between home and school can have numerous benefits for students, such as providing them with support for their academic progress, motivation for learning, behaviour, and readiness for school. Although the extent and quality of research on this topic has helped improve attitudes and approaches towards initiatives that aim to enhance opportunities for communication and connection between home and school, issues continue to limit the effectiveness of many programmes.  Examples of issues reported in the literature include that resource capacities impacted on the sustainability of a programme; a school organised event attracted only a small number of families; or that family members felt disempowered during their interactions with teachers.
It is of concern that research aimed at addressing these issues often isolates elements of context and at times places blame on groups of stakeholders, usually either family members or teachers. Rather, family-school programmes should be researched from the perspective that they are holistic activities involving a multitude of elements that include not only family members and teachers, but also students, rules, divisions of labour, and tools of mediation.  Studies must aim to take account of the diversity that exists within and between each of these elements; particularly in the experiences, cultural beliefs, and aspirations of the stakeholders involved. 
Fundamentally, all stakeholders want to see students gain the emotional, social, and academic skills that will inspire them towards success in later years. Family members have strengths that can contribute towards inspiring student success. Research investigating how to incorporate these strengths into school based programmes must attend to both specific detail and wider contextual factors in order to take account of diversity in the elements involved. These requirements underpin the choice of activity theory as the theoretical foundation of this thesis.  
Activity systems analysis is used to illuminate where tensions and alignments exist in the family-school programmes being implemented at three low socio-economic primary schools in New Zealand. Particular attention is given to the affordances and limitations of the tools chosen to mediate acts of communication and connection at each school. Analysis draws attention to the benefits of a carefully chosen tool that is aligned with a shared purpose designed to guide the thoughts and actions of stakeholders towards the understanding that the contributions they make to their family-school programme are respected and valued. 
One of the medium investigated for guiding the thoughts and actions of stakeholders is the culture of a school. It is discussed that a school culture embedded with certain symbolic tools can act as both a tool and a context for communication.  Other tools of communication investigated include mobile phones and student portfolios.  The affordances and limitations of these tools are considered where it is highlighted that mobile phones offer many possibilities for meaningful communication, while student portfolios can be the source of a multitude of concerns.  These findings contribute to the implications for educational practice and theory that form the conclusion to this thesis.

year: 2014

title: The growth of oil futures in China: Evidence of market maturity through global crises

authors: Corbet, Shaen

abstract: Chinese oil futures products were created in 2018, and have since presented an alternative, regional exchange through which to invest. This research tests for evidence of developing market maturity during the time since the market was established, specifically focusing on static and time-varying spillovers of higher moments between Chinese oil futures prices and other international crude oil markets. Chinese oil markets are also valuable when considering contagion and informational effects within the COVID-19 outbreak. Results indicate significant evidence of market maturity, to the extent that Chinese oil futures play a dominant role in the risk transmission of volatility, information asymmetry and extreme values, to both the international oil market and China’s domestic energy-related markets before the outbreak of the COVID-19. After the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic, such maturity and informational effects deteriorate significantly. Such outcomes suggest that while Chinese oil futures markets were growing at pace to become a leading international oil product, the outbreak of COVID-19 has stalled such progress.

text: The growth of oil futures in China: Evidence of market maturity through global crises Chinese oil futures products were created in 2018, and have since presented an alternative, regional exchange through which to invest. This research tests for evidence of developing market maturity during the time since the market was established, specifically focusing on static and time-varying spillovers of higher moments between Chinese oil futures prices and other international crude oil markets. Chinese oil markets are also valuable when considering contagion and informational effects within the COVID-19 outbreak. Results indicate significant evidence of market maturity, to the extent that Chinese oil futures play a dominant role in the risk transmission of volatility, information asymmetry and extreme values, to both the international oil market and China’s domestic energy-related markets before the outbreak of the COVID-19. After the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic, such maturity and informational effects deteriorate significantly. Such outcomes suggest that while Chinese oil futures markets were growing at pace to become a leading international oil product, the outbreak of COVID-19 has stalled such progress.

year: 2022

title: Merea Wikiriwhi and George Thomas Wilkinson

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Merea Wikiriwhi was one of the few women to invest in Te Aroha mining. Her life has been traced in as much detail as can be found because so little has survived about the lives of Maori women. As George Thomas Wilkinson’s surviving diaries reveal his importance in her life, his story was included as well, concentrating on his personal life rather than his official career. 
Merea was a member of several Ohinemuri hapu, with links through whakapapa to some of their more senior rangatira. Mostly living at or near Waitoki, between Paeroa and Te Aroha, she lived a frugal life, not wasting the income she received from land sales. These sales first required her to insist on her rights both in the land court and in a convoluted legal battle over a will signed in her favour by a distant relative. Over time, she would sell most of her land, but never became entirely landless. She invested in only one mining claim, but in the 1930s joined others to claim that the government was not paying them goldfields revenue for land they had sold.
George Thomas Wilkinson entered her life in 1880, when he was the ‘native agent’ in Hauraki. Despite having fought against Maori and nearly being killed, his surviving diaries reveal that he lived in the manner of a Pakeha Maori with three Maori women (simultaneously for a time), having children both by Merea and the woman he would eventually marry. Wilkinson had close friendships with many Maori and Pakeha Maori, and his genuine regard for them is reflected not only in his attempting, in his official capacity, to be fair to their interests – even as he assisted the government to separate them from their land – but in particular by his affection for a young girl, Wairingiringi, who shared his house in Thames. Although he and Merea would part, he tried to ensure that her children, like all his children, would do well in a Pakeha world.

text: Merea Wikiriwhi and George Thomas Wilkinson Merea Wikiriwhi was one of the few women to invest in Te Aroha mining. Her life has been traced in as much detail as can be found because so little has survived about the lives of Maori women. As George Thomas Wilkinson’s surviving diaries reveal his importance in her life, his story was included as well, concentrating on his personal life rather than his official career. 
Merea was a member of several Ohinemuri hapu, with links through whakapapa to some of their more senior rangatira. Mostly living at or near Waitoki, between Paeroa and Te Aroha, she lived a frugal life, not wasting the income she received from land sales. These sales first required her to insist on her rights both in the land court and in a convoluted legal battle over a will signed in her favour by a distant relative. Over time, she would sell most of her land, but never became entirely landless. She invested in only one mining claim, but in the 1930s joined others to claim that the government was not paying them goldfields revenue for land they had sold.
George Thomas Wilkinson entered her life in 1880, when he was the ‘native agent’ in Hauraki. Despite having fought against Maori and nearly being killed, his surviving diaries reveal that he lived in the manner of a Pakeha Maori with three Maori women (simultaneously for a time), having children both by Merea and the woman he would eventually marry. Wilkinson had close friendships with many Maori and Pakeha Maori, and his genuine regard for them is reflected not only in his attempting, in his official capacity, to be fair to their interests – even as he assisted the government to separate them from their land – but in particular by his affection for a young girl, Wairingiringi, who shared his house in Thames. Although he and Merea would part, he tried to ensure that her children, like all his children, would do well in a Pakeha world.

year: 2016