title: Portfolio pointers: Preparing and presenting high quality teaching portfolios

authors: Spiller, Dorothy

abstract: This goal of this project was to develop a set of guidelines for creating teaching portfolios for the Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards or for other purposes. It includes key pointers to “getting started”, collecting evidence, interrogating practice, editing, and protecting the unique “voice” of the nominee and their student body.

The guidelines consist of general principles and practical examples from both successful academic developers and award recipients and some examples from award-winning portfolios to illustrate good practice.

text: Portfolio pointers: Preparing and presenting high quality teaching portfolios This goal of this project was to develop a set of guidelines for creating teaching portfolios for the Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards or for other purposes. It includes key pointers to “getting started”, collecting evidence, interrogating practice, editing, and protecting the unique “voice” of the nominee and their student body.

The guidelines consist of general principles and practical examples from both successful academic developers and award recipients and some examples from award-winning portfolios to illustrate good practice.

year: 2011-03

title: Exploring school governance in the context of local values and political influences in Lalitpur, Nepal: A narrative inquiry

authors: Adhikari, Devendra

subjects: school governance

abstract: Nepal is a surreal land of stunning Himalayas, Eastern mystics, and human civilisation rich in
culture, traditions, and architecture. In the country, Hindu values have been predominant in
shaping people's lives, including respect for schooling education. People are keen to manage
schooling education through community effort by joining School Management Committees.
After the implementation of Nepal’s 2015 Constitution, public schools came under the
jurisdiction and management of local governments. As a local in Lalitpur, Nepal, a Hindu
believer, and a former public-school teacher and administrative assistant, I became
interested in researching how people’s local values and the influence of politics build public
school governance. My curiosity was further driven by the literature review related to
school governance in Nepal where I found limited research and scholarship of areas such as
the adoption of Hindu cultural values in school governance in secular Nepal, and the
exercise of power to bring about positive reforms in school management. I formulated the
research questions: What cultural and social values of groups and communities in Lalitpur
encourage working for school governance? How do political influences shape group and
community involvement in school governance in Lalitpur?
For my methodology, I choose narrative research, which lies within a social
constructionist worldview whereby social reality is conceived as the co-creation of human
relations and interactions. I used in-depth interviews and observations of participant
engagement related to school governance, during which I interviewed 43 participants
involved in school-communities and local governments in Lalitpur. These schools were
situated in three local government units in urban, semi-urban, and rural areas with diverse
geographies and socio-cultural settings. I developed a method of thematic analysis to
interpret the participants’ stories by referencing Localism-Eastern Philosophy and New
Public Management-Global Governance theories.
I found that Hinduism connected Nepali communities and schools through religious
sentiments and made the school environments sacred and peaceful. People’s culture of care
prepared the foundation for establishing and developing schools in Nepali communities.
This caring culture has been passed on as a philanthropic value to the present generation,
which aligns with the karma theory in Hinduism. Concerning the political influences in
school governance, exercise of power has brought knowledgeable people into SMCs to
contribute to the managerial reforms and has facilitated decentralised school governance
through local governments. Findings show that locals with conservative values and some
stakeholders in schools have misused political authority to take benefits and hinder the
growth of school education.
Decentralised education governance is a new practice in Nepal, and in 2025 the
country is in a federal transition stage. New education policies are being developed, and my
research findings support the establishment of policies that incorporate people’s values and
the exercise of political authority and power.

text: Exploring school governance in the context of local values and political influences in Lalitpur, Nepal: A narrative inquiry Nepal is a surreal land of stunning Himalayas, Eastern mystics, and human civilisation rich in
culture, traditions, and architecture. In the country, Hindu values have been predominant in
shaping people's lives, including respect for schooling education. People are keen to manage
schooling education through community effort by joining School Management Committees.
After the implementation of Nepal’s 2015 Constitution, public schools came under the
jurisdiction and management of local governments. As a local in Lalitpur, Nepal, a Hindu
believer, and a former public-school teacher and administrative assistant, I became
interested in researching how people’s local values and the influence of politics build public
school governance. My curiosity was further driven by the literature review related to
school governance in Nepal where I found limited research and scholarship of areas such as
the adoption of Hindu cultural values in school governance in secular Nepal, and the
exercise of power to bring about positive reforms in school management. I formulated the
research questions: What cultural and social values of groups and communities in Lalitpur
encourage working for school governance? How do political influences shape group and
community involvement in school governance in Lalitpur?
For my methodology, I choose narrative research, which lies within a social
constructionist worldview whereby social reality is conceived as the co-creation of human
relations and interactions. I used in-depth interviews and observations of participant
engagement related to school governance, during which I interviewed 43 participants
involved in school-communities and local governments in Lalitpur. These schools were
situated in three local government units in urban, semi-urban, and rural areas with diverse
geographies and socio-cultural settings. I developed a method of thematic analysis to
interpret the participants’ stories by referencing Localism-Eastern Philosophy and New
Public Management-Global Governance theories.
I found that Hinduism connected Nepali communities and schools through religious
sentiments and made the school environments sacred and peaceful. People’s culture of care
prepared the foundation for establishing and developing schools in Nepali communities.
This caring culture has been passed on as a philanthropic value to the present generation,
which aligns with the karma theory in Hinduism. Concerning the political influences in
school governance, exercise of power has brought knowledgeable people into SMCs to
contribute to the managerial reforms and has facilitated decentralised school governance
through local governments. Findings show that locals with conservative values and some
stakeholders in schools have misused political authority to take benefits and hinder the
growth of school education.
Decentralised education governance is a new practice in Nepal, and in 2025 the
country is in a federal transition stage. New education policies are being developed, and my
research findings support the establishment of policies that incorporate people’s values and
the exercise of political authority and power.

year: 2024

title: Turangawaewae/ Tu'ungava'e: Echoes of a place to stand and belong

authors: Brown Pulu, Teena J.

subjects: Maori

abstract: This paper examines the ways in which Pacific communities in Auckland are located and conceptualised by others in contrast to the ways in which they locate and conceptualise themselves. In particular, it looks at the ways in which, in the face of homeland fracture and socio-economic marginality, neighbourhoods are being reclaimed as places of belonging-ness, places in which informal alliances among Māori and Pacific groups are being forged. It also explores the problematic, often ambiguous, nature of these alliances.

text: Turangawaewae/ Tu'ungava'e: Echoes of a place to stand and belong This paper examines the ways in which Pacific communities in Auckland are located and conceptualised by others in contrast to the ways in which they locate and conceptualise themselves. In particular, it looks at the ways in which, in the face of homeland fracture and socio-economic marginality, neighbourhoods are being reclaimed as places of belonging-ness, places in which informal alliances among Māori and Pacific groups are being forged. It also explores the problematic, often ambiguous, nature of these alliances.

year: 2002-09