title: Pedalling for safety: Schoolchildren and safe active transport

authors: Fisher, Kylie

subjects: child safety

abstract: This research will add to the international body of knowledge around safe active transport and its benefits for individuals and their communities. In order to achieve this, the report begins with a brief description of the risks associated with active transport, 3 and considers why active transport to school should be encouraged, despite the risks. Our dependence on cars is discussed in relation to the prevailing chauffeuring culture, before the objectives of the research are outlined. Chapter one concludes with an account of the methodology used to undertake this research, which combined a literature review and a search for educational resources with some participant observation field research. In chapter 2 we present a summary of the resources available to parents in Hamilton and provide a profile of the city, which is in many ways ideally suited to active transport, though participation rates are low. Chapter 3 discusses the benefits of active transport and the barriers to participation in it. Following a discussion that draws all the various strands together, we evaluate existing strategies with a view to endorsing those most likely to enhance safety, while also offering some further ideas on how to minimise the risks of active transport for children.

text: Pedalling for safety: Schoolchildren and safe active transport This research will add to the international body of knowledge around safe active transport and its benefits for individuals and their communities. In order to achieve this, the report begins with a brief description of the risks associated with active transport, 3 and considers why active transport to school should be encouraged, despite the risks. Our dependence on cars is discussed in relation to the prevailing chauffeuring culture, before the objectives of the research are outlined. Chapter one concludes with an account of the methodology used to undertake this research, which combined a literature review and a search for educational resources with some participant observation field research. In chapter 2 we present a summary of the resources available to parents in Hamilton and provide a profile of the city, which is in many ways ideally suited to active transport, though participation rates are low. Chapter 3 discusses the benefits of active transport and the barriers to participation in it. Following a discussion that draws all the various strands together, we evaluate existing strategies with a view to endorsing those most likely to enhance safety, while also offering some further ideas on how to minimise the risks of active transport for children.

year: 2010

title: International faculty in Japanese university contexts: Understanding their belonging experiences through art

authors: Miyashiro, Maryann

subjects: international faculty

abstract: Belonging has long been recognized as a fundamental human motivation characterized by the need for emotional attachment, interpersonal connection, and feelings of safety. Over time, belonging has come to be taken for granted as a uniformly positive experience to be sought after and achieved. This generalization has prompted debate amongst theorists. One of the most prominent arguments is that belonging is vaguely defined in the literature and that it lacks the conceptual depth and nuance of other key constructs. In the university context, research has primarily focused on belonging’s impact on student achievement and well-being. At the same time, academic mobility and diversity in higher education institutions have increased the world over. This invites further investigation of how belonging is experienced not only by students but by members from across entire campus communities. This thesis seeks to understand how four international faculty members experience belonging in their Japanese higher education institutions. Data was gathered through a combination of semi-structured interviews and arts-based unstructured drawing elicitation. These methods resulted in eight transcripts and four participant-produced drawings. Reflexive thematic analysis of the data carried out through a fully qualitative interpretivist constructionist lens led to the generation of four themes. These themes explore belonging as not only a dynamic and relational process, but one that is deeply felt yet risky, uniquely spatial and material, and indicative of the desire for meaning and purpose. Recurring threads of power, identity, and agency were identified throughout these themes. These not only highlight the distinct nature of the Japanese university context but also echo wider debates in higher education literature at large. This analysis aligns with recent research problematizing dominant understandings of belonging as fixed, linear, or readily attainable. By rejecting such oversimplistic views, this study embraces complexity and draws attention to the multiple, messy, and nuanced ways belonging is experienced by international faculty in Japan. Additionally, this study demonstrates that arts-based research methods like drawing elicitation can be used to garner rich understandings of belonging together with participants. This thesis hopes not only to contribute to the literature on international faculty and the Japanese university context. It also seeks to encourage novel approaches to making sense of belonging. Most of all, this thesis hopes to underscore the importance of attending to belonging as an evolving construct critically and with care in higher education contexts.

text: International faculty in Japanese university contexts: Understanding their belonging experiences through art Belonging has long been recognized as a fundamental human motivation characterized by the need for emotional attachment, interpersonal connection, and feelings of safety. Over time, belonging has come to be taken for granted as a uniformly positive experience to be sought after and achieved. This generalization has prompted debate amongst theorists. One of the most prominent arguments is that belonging is vaguely defined in the literature and that it lacks the conceptual depth and nuance of other key constructs. In the university context, research has primarily focused on belonging’s impact on student achievement and well-being. At the same time, academic mobility and diversity in higher education institutions have increased the world over. This invites further investigation of how belonging is experienced not only by students but by members from across entire campus communities. This thesis seeks to understand how four international faculty members experience belonging in their Japanese higher education institutions. Data was gathered through a combination of semi-structured interviews and arts-based unstructured drawing elicitation. These methods resulted in eight transcripts and four participant-produced drawings. Reflexive thematic analysis of the data carried out through a fully qualitative interpretivist constructionist lens led to the generation of four themes. These themes explore belonging as not only a dynamic and relational process, but one that is deeply felt yet risky, uniquely spatial and material, and indicative of the desire for meaning and purpose. Recurring threads of power, identity, and agency were identified throughout these themes. These not only highlight the distinct nature of the Japanese university context but also echo wider debates in higher education literature at large. This analysis aligns with recent research problematizing dominant understandings of belonging as fixed, linear, or readily attainable. By rejecting such oversimplistic views, this study embraces complexity and draws attention to the multiple, messy, and nuanced ways belonging is experienced by international faculty in Japan. Additionally, this study demonstrates that arts-based research methods like drawing elicitation can be used to garner rich understandings of belonging together with participants. This thesis hopes not only to contribute to the literature on international faculty and the Japanese university context. It also seeks to encourage novel approaches to making sense of belonging. Most of all, this thesis hopes to underscore the importance of attending to belonging as an evolving construct critically and with care in higher education contexts.

year: 2024

title: Transitioning from kōhanga reo to kura

authors: Hohepa, Margie Kahukura

abstract: This is a collaborative cross-sector research project involving a kōhanga reo (Māori immersion early childhood language nest) kura (Māori language immersion school) and university-based researchers. It focuses on tamariki (children) moving from kōhanga reo to kura classrooms and will examine the development of an 'akoranga whakawhiti', a transition programme that will be based at Te Kōhanga Reo o Ngā Kuaka in Hamilton. The over arching research question for this project is: Pēhea rā te āhuatanga me te kounga o ngā whakawhitinga mai i te kōhanga ki te kura mō ngā tamariki, whānau, kaiako me te hāpori? - What do effective transitions from kōhanga reo to kura look like, feel like, and sound like, for tamariki, whānau, kaiako and the community? The project aims to provide important new insights into learning and teaching in Māori-medium settings and into ways of enhancing transitions from Maori-medium early childhood education to Māori medium classrooms.

text: Transitioning from kōhanga reo to kura This is a collaborative cross-sector research project involving a kōhanga reo (Māori immersion early childhood language nest) kura (Māori language immersion school) and university-based researchers. It focuses on tamariki (children) moving from kōhanga reo to kura classrooms and will examine the development of an 'akoranga whakawhiti', a transition programme that will be based at Te Kōhanga Reo o Ngā Kuaka in Hamilton. The over arching research question for this project is: Pēhea rā te āhuatanga me te kounga o ngā whakawhitinga mai i te kōhanga ki te kura mō ngā tamariki, whānau, kaiako me te hāpori? - What do effective transitions from kōhanga reo to kura look like, feel like, and sound like, for tamariki, whānau, kaiako and the community? The project aims to provide important new insights into learning and teaching in Māori-medium settings and into ways of enhancing transitions from Maori-medium early childhood education to Māori medium classrooms.

year: 2014