title: Ko wai tēnei e tū ake nei? Activating collectivity and accountability through grounded positioning

authors: Rata, Arama

abstract: Building on conference conversations about positionality—about who we are and how our identities shape our views of the world, about the connections and disconnections experienced between us, and about our proximities to place, power, and privilege—this piece brings together four conference participants to continue to reflect on what positionality means, on why it is important, and on how to practice it in non-performative, well-developed, and mutually nourishing ways. Their dialogue reflects active and critical positioning in process and practice, creating opportunities for acknowledging our relationships and activating both collectivity and accountability in the various spaces where we live, work, create, and hope.

text: Ko wai tēnei e tū ake nei? Activating collectivity and accountability through grounded positioning Building on conference conversations about positionality—about who we are and how our identities shape our views of the world, about the connections and disconnections experienced between us, and about our proximities to place, power, and privilege—this piece brings together four conference participants to continue to reflect on what positionality means, on why it is important, and on how to practice it in non-performative, well-developed, and mutually nourishing ways. Their dialogue reflects active and critical positioning in process and practice, creating opportunities for acknowledging our relationships and activating both collectivity and accountability in the various spaces where we live, work, create, and hope.

year: 2021-12

title: Place-making: Wānanga based photographic approaches

authors: Hill, Rodrigo

subjects: photography

abstract: The words above are from the poem Māori King Tawhiao wrote expressing his love for his homelands of the Waikato and the region known today as the King Country. The words translate to: “I look down on the valley of Waikato, As though to hold it in the hollow of my hand.” Now imagine a large-scale photograph depicting a close-up frame of cupped hands trying to hold something carefully.

text: Place-making: Wānanga based photographic approaches The words above are from the poem Māori King Tawhiao wrote expressing his love for his homelands of the Waikato and the region known today as the King Country. The words translate to: “I look down on the valley of Waikato, As though to hold it in the hollow of my hand.” Now imagine a large-scale photograph depicting a close-up frame of cupped hands trying to hold something carefully.

year: 2022-12-31

title: "How did I get here:" An autoethnographic study of a counsellor educator's lived experience of 'becoming'

authors: Dobbs, Andrea

subjects: counsellor educator

abstract: This study considers the usefulness of applying key concepts of the Rogerian theory of ‘becoming a person’ as a framework to theorise the personal growth and change process of becoming a counsellor. It is contended that person-centred philosophy and theory provides one way in which to view the personal development of the person of counsellor during training. This hypothesis is based on the recognition of a perceived similar change and growth process which Rogers identified in clients in therapy, with those of training counsellors. After reviewing the literature on the importance placed on the personal development of counsellors in training, a distinction is made between personal development and personal growth. An apparent gap is identified within undergraduate training. It is recognised that some students, in particular mature students, training at undergraduate tertiary level for the first time, have unique challenges from those within post graduate programmes. A further gap within the literature is the self-study of a student’s own experience and perceptions of undertaking counsellor training at this level. Therefore, fitting the above demographic, the author retrospectively examines her personal experience using an autoethnographic method of enquiry. With this method the researcher is both an “insider” and “outsider” (Dyson, 2007, p. 39) of the cultural context under investigation. Autoethnographic data consists of a poem titled: School Reports, which contains the story of a failed high school student. Other data are drawings created using the metaphor of an acorn growing into an oak tree to symbolise Rogers’s theoretical propositions of a theory of personality and behaviour. Reflective journal entries written during undergraduate counsellor training further support the analysis. The author’s poem and drawings form the basis of an autoethnographic inquiry analysed through a number of Rogerian philosophical concepts of development along with ‘moments of movement’ towards change and growth. The main focus of personal growth and change centres on the author’s early development of the self-concept of a failed high school student, revised to a self-concept of successful, due to the curative experience of training. The conclusion is made that the primary Rogerian theoretical concept of becoming a person, the organism’s tendency to actualise, along with its “moments of movement” (Rogers, 1961, p. 130), can provide one way in which to conceptualise the personal growth and change process in becoming a counsellor. Implications for counsellor education is the consideration of facilitating growth promoting learning environments and learning opportunities.   The principal limitation of the study is identified as applying classic person-centred theory as a framework whereas contemporary theorising would consider the person in both context and environment.  A self-study on just one experience of a mature student in undergraduate training was also considered a limitation. Both these limitations warrant further investigation. A further recommendation for further research is a comparative study examining the personal growth and change process of counsellors in training from different philosophical positions.

text: "How did I get here:" An autoethnographic study of a counsellor educator's lived experience of 'becoming' This study considers the usefulness of applying key concepts of the Rogerian theory of ‘becoming a person’ as a framework to theorise the personal growth and change process of becoming a counsellor. It is contended that person-centred philosophy and theory provides one way in which to view the personal development of the person of counsellor during training. This hypothesis is based on the recognition of a perceived similar change and growth process which Rogers identified in clients in therapy, with those of training counsellors. After reviewing the literature on the importance placed on the personal development of counsellors in training, a distinction is made between personal development and personal growth. An apparent gap is identified within undergraduate training. It is recognised that some students, in particular mature students, training at undergraduate tertiary level for the first time, have unique challenges from those within post graduate programmes. A further gap within the literature is the self-study of a student’s own experience and perceptions of undertaking counsellor training at this level. Therefore, fitting the above demographic, the author retrospectively examines her personal experience using an autoethnographic method of enquiry. With this method the researcher is both an “insider” and “outsider” (Dyson, 2007, p. 39) of the cultural context under investigation. Autoethnographic data consists of a poem titled: School Reports, which contains the story of a failed high school student. Other data are drawings created using the metaphor of an acorn growing into an oak tree to symbolise Rogers’s theoretical propositions of a theory of personality and behaviour. Reflective journal entries written during undergraduate counsellor training further support the analysis. The author’s poem and drawings form the basis of an autoethnographic inquiry analysed through a number of Rogerian philosophical concepts of development along with ‘moments of movement’ towards change and growth. The main focus of personal growth and change centres on the author’s early development of the self-concept of a failed high school student, revised to a self-concept of successful, due to the curative experience of training. The conclusion is made that the primary Rogerian theoretical concept of becoming a person, the organism’s tendency to actualise, along with its “moments of movement” (Rogers, 1961, p. 130), can provide one way in which to conceptualise the personal growth and change process in becoming a counsellor. Implications for counsellor education is the consideration of facilitating growth promoting learning environments and learning opportunities.   The principal limitation of the study is identified as applying classic person-centred theory as a framework whereas contemporary theorising would consider the person in both context and environment.  A self-study on just one experience of a mature student in undergraduate training was also considered a limitation. Both these limitations warrant further investigation. A further recommendation for further research is a comparative study examining the personal growth and change process of counsellors in training from different philosophical positions.

year: 2015