title: What is the difference? What factors contribute to the variation of achievement for Year 7 and 8 Māori students in high decile, full primary schools?

authors: McLocklan, Sue

subjects: Maori student achievement

abstract: The educational disparity between indigenous Māori students and those of the majority continue to be a major issue in New Zealand. Attempting to bridge the gap for Māori students has generated focus on Māori student engagement in the classroom, the actions and understanding of the teacher and the relationship and interactions between the teacher and students in their learning environment. Elements of culturally responsive pedagogy have been identified as positive contributing factors to accelerating academic achievement for secondary Māori mainstream students. 
This small-scale cross-cultural exploratory qualitative research project seeks to identify the factors that contribute to student achievement variation for Year 7 and 8 students in high decile full primary schools and the integration of teacher’s cultural competencies in high quality learning opportunities. Within a kaupapa Māori research process, this study uses empirical data collected from a purposive sample through a semi-structured individual interview and a for self-assessment. Voluntary research participants were twelve students and six teachers in three schools in the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Wellington regions. This research examines the engagement of student and teacher in pedagogical practice, learning variables, cultural knowledge and practices attributable to positive academic achievement for Māori. 
The findings reveal that when teachers place themselves in an agentic position; adopt a professional commitment and willingness to engage in effective relations, interactions and reciprocal practices to support Māori learners, high levels of relational trust and expectations prevail through mutual respect and interdependence to attain successful educational outcomes.
Further teacher professional learning is essential to enlighten and deepen teachers' understanding of culturally responsive pedagogy to enable Māori learners to reach their potential to participate and contribute in their world of choice.

text: What is the difference? What factors contribute to the variation of achievement for Year 7 and 8 Māori students in high decile, full primary schools? The educational disparity between indigenous Māori students and those of the majority continue to be a major issue in New Zealand. Attempting to bridge the gap for Māori students has generated focus on Māori student engagement in the classroom, the actions and understanding of the teacher and the relationship and interactions between the teacher and students in their learning environment. Elements of culturally responsive pedagogy have been identified as positive contributing factors to accelerating academic achievement for secondary Māori mainstream students. 
This small-scale cross-cultural exploratory qualitative research project seeks to identify the factors that contribute to student achievement variation for Year 7 and 8 students in high decile full primary schools and the integration of teacher’s cultural competencies in high quality learning opportunities. Within a kaupapa Māori research process, this study uses empirical data collected from a purposive sample through a semi-structured individual interview and a for self-assessment. Voluntary research participants were twelve students and six teachers in three schools in the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Wellington regions. This research examines the engagement of student and teacher in pedagogical practice, learning variables, cultural knowledge and practices attributable to positive academic achievement for Māori. 
The findings reveal that when teachers place themselves in an agentic position; adopt a professional commitment and willingness to engage in effective relations, interactions and reciprocal practices to support Māori learners, high levels of relational trust and expectations prevail through mutual respect and interdependence to attain successful educational outcomes.
Further teacher professional learning is essential to enlighten and deepen teachers' understanding of culturally responsive pedagogy to enable Māori learners to reach their potential to participate and contribute in their world of choice.

year: 2013

title: The arguing genre and the explaining genre: A comparison in terms of discourse relational analyses of texts written in English and texts written in Maori

authors: Crombie, Winifred

subjects: linguistics

abstract: There is a commonly held belief that those who are immersed in indigenous cultures have a tendency, when constructing academic texts, to avoid sequential, deductive argumentation. We report here on a comparison of two groups of texts exhibiting two different genres – explaining and arguing. One group of texts was written in Māori by indigenous authors, the other group was written in English by non-indigenous authors. Our findings are that although the percentage use of logico-deductive relationships is roughly equivalent for both groups of texts/ writers in the case of the explaining genre, the Māori texts/ writers use almost twice the percentage of logicodeductive relationships as do the English texts/ writers.

text: The arguing genre and the explaining genre: A comparison in terms of discourse relational analyses of texts written in English and texts written in Maori There is a commonly held belief that those who are immersed in indigenous cultures have a tendency, when constructing academic texts, to avoid sequential, deductive argumentation. We report here on a comparison of two groups of texts exhibiting two different genres – explaining and arguing. One group of texts was written in Māori by indigenous authors, the other group was written in English by non-indigenous authors. Our findings are that although the percentage use of logico-deductive relationships is roughly equivalent for both groups of texts/ writers in the case of the explaining genre, the Māori texts/ writers use almost twice the percentage of logicodeductive relationships as do the English texts/ writers.

year: 2005

title: Crossing thresholds: An exploration of the transitional processes of new entrant management consultants

authors: Tunnicliffe, Garth

subjects: threshold theory

abstract: Despite the prominence of the management consulting industry and the appeal of roles within it, the recruitment and onboarding experiences of New Zealand management consultants are largely undocumented in existing academic literature. Research has shown new consultants face multiple challenges when becoming a competent consultant, including transitioning to the role; gathering required knowledge; constructing and aligning identity; and, coming to terms with both the ambiguous nature of consulting and the pressures generated by different tasks, firms and clients. This thesis explores how firms and individuals navigate this process by addressing the question: How might individuals and organisations improve the recruitment and onboarding of new entrant management consultants? In this context, the individuals are aspiring, incoming and relatively recent consultants, and the organisations are consultancy firms. This research gathers the stories of new management consultants via semi-structured interviews and utilises appreciative inquiry, analytical autoethnography and action research frameworks. In searching for ways to improve new management consultants’ experiences during recruitment and onboarding, the researcher analysed their responses. In addition, this study identifies how Covid-19 impacted some acculturation process associated with entering those roles. The results suggest that new management consultant experiences can be improved by attending to three key themes. As well as improving experiences, the findings indicate that actions taken in line with addressing the themes can also increase new consultants’ efficacy and develop their potential for success in the role.

text: Crossing thresholds: An exploration of the transitional processes of new entrant management consultants Despite the prominence of the management consulting industry and the appeal of roles within it, the recruitment and onboarding experiences of New Zealand management consultants are largely undocumented in existing academic literature. Research has shown new consultants face multiple challenges when becoming a competent consultant, including transitioning to the role; gathering required knowledge; constructing and aligning identity; and, coming to terms with both the ambiguous nature of consulting and the pressures generated by different tasks, firms and clients. This thesis explores how firms and individuals navigate this process by addressing the question: How might individuals and organisations improve the recruitment and onboarding of new entrant management consultants? In this context, the individuals are aspiring, incoming and relatively recent consultants, and the organisations are consultancy firms. This research gathers the stories of new management consultants via semi-structured interviews and utilises appreciative inquiry, analytical autoethnography and action research frameworks. In searching for ways to improve new management consultants’ experiences during recruitment and onboarding, the researcher analysed their responses. In addition, this study identifies how Covid-19 impacted some acculturation process associated with entering those roles. The results suggest that new management consultant experiences can be improved by attending to three key themes. As well as improving experiences, the findings indicate that actions taken in line with addressing the themes can also increase new consultants’ efficacy and develop their potential for success in the role.

year: 2021