title: Uncovering meanings: The discourses of New Zealand secondary teachers in context

authors: Alcorn, Noeline

subjects: context

abstract: Recent official policy discourses on student achievement have stressed the importance of teachers and the impact that effective teaching can have on student life chances and on national economic performance. There is also a body of research on the way teaching and learning are affected by school context. This article discusses research designed to investigate how and to what extent the contextual features of schools impacted on the beliefs New Zealand secondary teachers and principals held about teaching and learning, the extent to which they believed their agency could influence outcomes for their students, and the aspirations and goals they pursued. We interviewed principals and teachers in six secondary schools, two each in high, mid and low socio-economic areas. The findings show considerable commonality in teachers' pedagogical discourses and that the rhetoric of formal policy discourses is pervasive and normalized in schools. All the teachers believed they could make a difference to student achievement and life chances, tried to address diversity among their student bodies, and saw success as much wider than academic achievement. Concurrently we found that the institutional habitus of each school largely determined how discourses were enacted and that relationships, confidence, student-centredness and success were interpreted differently between schools. We argue that these differences must be taken into account if school policies and interventions are to be successful.

text: Uncovering meanings: The discourses of New Zealand secondary teachers in context Recent official policy discourses on student achievement have stressed the importance of teachers and the impact that effective teaching can have on student life chances and on national economic performance. There is also a body of research on the way teaching and learning are affected by school context. This article discusses research designed to investigate how and to what extent the contextual features of schools impacted on the beliefs New Zealand secondary teachers and principals held about teaching and learning, the extent to which they believed their agency could influence outcomes for their students, and the aspirations and goals they pursued. We interviewed principals and teachers in six secondary schools, two each in high, mid and low socio-economic areas. The findings show considerable commonality in teachers' pedagogical discourses and that the rhetoric of formal policy discourses is pervasive and normalized in schools. All the teachers believed they could make a difference to student achievement and life chances, tried to address diversity among their student bodies, and saw success as much wider than academic achievement. Concurrently we found that the institutional habitus of each school largely determined how discourses were enacted and that relationships, confidence, student-centredness and success were interpreted differently between schools. We argue that these differences must be taken into account if school policies and interventions are to be successful.

year: 2012

title: Interaction of polar and tropical influences in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere during the Mi-1 deglaciation

authors: Fox, Beth R.S.

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: It is well-known from geologic archives that Pleistocene and Holocene climate is characterised by cyclical variation on a wide range of timescales, and that these cycles of variation interact in complex ways. However, it is rarely possible to reconstruct sub-precessional (< 20 kyr) climate variations for periods predating the oldest ice-core records (c. 800 ka). Here we present an investigation of orbital to potentially sub-precessional cyclicity from an annually resolved lake sediment core dated to a 100-kyr period in the earliest Miocene (23.03–22.93 Ma) and spanning a period of major Antarctic deglaciation associated with the second half of the Mi-1 event. Principal component analysis (PCA) of sediment bulk density, magnetic susceptibility (MS), and CIELAB L* and b* with a resolution of ~10 years indicates two major environmental processes governing the physical properties records, which we interpret as changes in wind strength and changes in precipitation. Spectral analysis of the principal components indicates that both processes are strongly influenced by obliquity (41 kyr). We interpret this 41-kyr cycle in wind strength and precipitation as related to the changing position and strength of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. Precipitation is also influenced by an 11-kyr cycle. The 11-kyr periodicity is potentially related to orbital cyclicity, representing the equatorial semi-precessional maximum insolation cycle. This semi-precession cycle has been identified in a number of records from the Pleistocene and Holocene and has recently been suggested to indicate that insolation in low-latitude regions may be an important driver of millennial-scale climate response to orbital forcing (Feretti et al., 2015). This is the first time this cycle has been identified in a mid-latitude Southern Hemisphere climate archive, as well as the first identification in pre-Pleistocene records. The 11-kyr cycle appears at around 23.01 Ma, which coincides with the initiation of a major phase of Antarctic deglaciation, and strengthens during the subsequent period of rapid ice decay. This pattern suggests that the westerly winds may have expanded north of 50°S at the height of Mi-1, excluding tropical influence from the Foulden Maar site, and subsequently contracted polewards in tandem with warming deep-sea temperatures and Antarctic deglaciation, allowing the advection of tropical waters further south.

text: Interaction of polar and tropical influences in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere during the Mi-1 deglaciation It is well-known from geologic archives that Pleistocene and Holocene climate is characterised by cyclical variation on a wide range of timescales, and that these cycles of variation interact in complex ways. However, it is rarely possible to reconstruct sub-precessional (< 20 kyr) climate variations for periods predating the oldest ice-core records (c. 800 ka). Here we present an investigation of orbital to potentially sub-precessional cyclicity from an annually resolved lake sediment core dated to a 100-kyr period in the earliest Miocene (23.03–22.93 Ma) and spanning a period of major Antarctic deglaciation associated with the second half of the Mi-1 event. Principal component analysis (PCA) of sediment bulk density, magnetic susceptibility (MS), and CIELAB L* and b* with a resolution of ~10 years indicates two major environmental processes governing the physical properties records, which we interpret as changes in wind strength and changes in precipitation. Spectral analysis of the principal components indicates that both processes are strongly influenced by obliquity (41 kyr). We interpret this 41-kyr cycle in wind strength and precipitation as related to the changing position and strength of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. Precipitation is also influenced by an 11-kyr cycle. The 11-kyr periodicity is potentially related to orbital cyclicity, representing the equatorial semi-precessional maximum insolation cycle. This semi-precession cycle has been identified in a number of records from the Pleistocene and Holocene and has recently been suggested to indicate that insolation in low-latitude regions may be an important driver of millennial-scale climate response to orbital forcing (Feretti et al., 2015). This is the first time this cycle has been identified in a mid-latitude Southern Hemisphere climate archive, as well as the first identification in pre-Pleistocene records. The 11-kyr cycle appears at around 23.01 Ma, which coincides with the initiation of a major phase of Antarctic deglaciation, and strengthens during the subsequent period of rapid ice decay. This pattern suggests that the westerly winds may have expanded north of 50°S at the height of Mi-1, excluding tropical influence from the Foulden Maar site, and subsequently contracted polewards in tandem with warming deep-sea temperatures and Antarctic deglaciation, allowing the advection of tropical waters further south.

year: 2017

title: Older adult education in a New Zealand university: Developments and issues

authors: Findsen, Brian

abstract: This article explores a case study of educational provision for older adults in the context of continuing education in one of New Zealand’s universities. It explains how developments in older adult education at the University of Waikato have reflected historical and cultural trends related to the wider field of adult and community education (ACE) inside a higher education setting. It discusses issues of tertiary education policy and funding, what constitutes curriculum and provision for older adults and how university-community partnerships have shaped opportunities for both indigenous Māori and Pakeha (European) seniors. Government removal of funding to all universities in New Zealand for ACE at the end of 2012 ended formal provision but older adult education groups, formerly supported by the Centre for Continuing Education in the University of Waikato, have assumed a more proactive stance in planning and implementing their own programmes.

text: Older adult education in a New Zealand university: Developments and issues This article explores a case study of educational provision for older adults in the context of continuing education in one of New Zealand’s universities. It explains how developments in older adult education at the University of Waikato have reflected historical and cultural trends related to the wider field of adult and community education (ACE) inside a higher education setting. It discusses issues of tertiary education policy and funding, what constitutes curriculum and provision for older adults and how university-community partnerships have shaped opportunities for both indigenous Māori and Pakeha (European) seniors. Government removal of funding to all universities in New Zealand for ACE at the end of 2012 ended formal provision but older adult education groups, formerly supported by the Centre for Continuing Education in the University of Waikato, have assumed a more proactive stance in planning and implementing their own programmes.

year: 2014