title: Negotiating fairness and diversity: Stories from an Aotearoa New Zealand kindergarten

authors: Kelly-Ware, Janette Patricia

subjects: ECE

abstract: A number of research studies have utilised ‘working theories’, a key learning outcome of Te Whāriki, the Aotearoa New Zealand curriculum, as a lens to explore pedagogy in early childhood education. The perceived gap that this research sought to fill related to children’s working theories about fairness and diversity in the social world, alongside power/knowledge perspectives previously underexplored in existing working theories research literature. 

This Participatory Action Research study was located in a kindergarten community with 3- and 4-year old children in 2014. Using a theoretical framework informed by sociocultural and feminist poststructuralist perspectives, field texts composed from a mosaic of methods included a parent questionnaire and parent focus group, teacher discussions, observations, critical incidents and telling examples, and assessment documentation. Through critically and discursively reading and re-reading field texts, aspects of diversity that children were concerned with, including exclusion, the 'shadow side' of diversity, were identified.

Children were making sense of their world(s), their identities, and the possibilities available to them, alongside negotiating relationships with diverse ‘others’. Their working theories, which related to fairness and friendship, gender, sex and sexuality, and ethnicity and skin colour, often involved normalising and limiting discourses.  The subject of children’s working theories, and the perceived risks associated with them, affected teachers’ provocations and responses. 

The fundamental importance of teacher reflexivity and courage in this complex domain was uncovered. The conflicting and often uncontested framing of diversity and fairness by teachers and parents was highlighted. Teachers also have a leadership role to play, supporting parents who are unsure how to support their children’s developing understandings of diversity in the world around them.

This research adds to the growing body of scholarship around ‘working theories’, recognising their value as a lens for seeing and responding to children’s ongoing theorising about aspects of diversity. The unique combination of working theories, power/knowledge perspectives, and dominant discourses offers new insights about critical pedagogy in this terrain. Diversity can be a rich resource for learning if teachers recognise how normalising and limiting discourses can affect children realising their potential. Opening up dialogue involves risks especially in areas that intersect with dominant views of childhood innocence or the irrelevance of some issues to young children. 

The importance of socially relevant curriculum that balances the interests of the child, and the interests of the community is stressed in an ‘Open letter to teachers’ which concludes this thesis. Making spaces for negotiation and meaning making, and valuing multiple perspectives and possibilities are part of renewed social justice, anti-bias teaching approaches.  They are seen as part of the courageous whole setting response required to make the world a fairer, more just place for everyone.

text: Negotiating fairness and diversity: Stories from an Aotearoa New Zealand kindergarten A number of research studies have utilised ‘working theories’, a key learning outcome of Te Whāriki, the Aotearoa New Zealand curriculum, as a lens to explore pedagogy in early childhood education. The perceived gap that this research sought to fill related to children’s working theories about fairness and diversity in the social world, alongside power/knowledge perspectives previously underexplored in existing working theories research literature. 

This Participatory Action Research study was located in a kindergarten community with 3- and 4-year old children in 2014. Using a theoretical framework informed by sociocultural and feminist poststructuralist perspectives, field texts composed from a mosaic of methods included a parent questionnaire and parent focus group, teacher discussions, observations, critical incidents and telling examples, and assessment documentation. Through critically and discursively reading and re-reading field texts, aspects of diversity that children were concerned with, including exclusion, the 'shadow side' of diversity, were identified.

Children were making sense of their world(s), their identities, and the possibilities available to them, alongside negotiating relationships with diverse ‘others’. Their working theories, which related to fairness and friendship, gender, sex and sexuality, and ethnicity and skin colour, often involved normalising and limiting discourses.  The subject of children’s working theories, and the perceived risks associated with them, affected teachers’ provocations and responses. 

The fundamental importance of teacher reflexivity and courage in this complex domain was uncovered. The conflicting and often uncontested framing of diversity and fairness by teachers and parents was highlighted. Teachers also have a leadership role to play, supporting parents who are unsure how to support their children’s developing understandings of diversity in the world around them.

This research adds to the growing body of scholarship around ‘working theories’, recognising their value as a lens for seeing and responding to children’s ongoing theorising about aspects of diversity. The unique combination of working theories, power/knowledge perspectives, and dominant discourses offers new insights about critical pedagogy in this terrain. Diversity can be a rich resource for learning if teachers recognise how normalising and limiting discourses can affect children realising their potential. Opening up dialogue involves risks especially in areas that intersect with dominant views of childhood innocence or the irrelevance of some issues to young children. 

The importance of socially relevant curriculum that balances the interests of the child, and the interests of the community is stressed in an ‘Open letter to teachers’ which concludes this thesis. Making spaces for negotiation and meaning making, and valuing multiple perspectives and possibilities are part of renewed social justice, anti-bias teaching approaches.  They are seen as part of the courageous whole setting response required to make the world a fairer, more just place for everyone.

year: 2018

title: Beyond certification: The maintenance of ISO 9000 in Malaysian service organisations

authors: Ab Wahid, Roslina

subjects: ISO 9000 quality management system

abstract: This research is an in-depth study of the quality management systems of two Malaysian "government-linked companies" (GLCs) classified as being in the service industry. Both are mature holders of ISO 9000 certification and the research focuses on how they have gone about maintaining and improving their quality management system (QMS), the extent to which they have succeeded, and what management and employees of the companies feel have been critical success factors and problems to be overcome. A case study approach is used for this study. The study has been comprehensive in its data collection with 30 individual face-to-face interviews with top management, middle management, lower management in charge of operations and quality, the management representative responsible for the implementation of ISO 9000 in the case companies being conducted, 300 questionnaires being distributed to employees of both companies, and a thorough review of ISO 9000 and other quality documents carried out. The results of the study showed that the two companies maintain their ISO 9000 based on the requirements of the standard. However, to support the technical requirements and in order to maintain the quality system more effectively and strive for excellence, the study highlights the need for integrating the human resource aspects of quality management into the quality system. Critical success factors of ISO 9000 maintenance identified are top management commitment, employee involvement, recognition and reward, teamwork, continuous improvement, and quality culture. The main problems associated with maintaining ISO 9000 faced by the companies are lack of cooperation and commitment from people, lack of knowledge and training, lack of communication, and lack of awareness and understanding on ISO 9000. Measures outlined to overcome the problems include closer interaction between people, training of management and employee on ISO 9000 and related subjects, skill and competency, and better communication. The study has identified lessons to be drawn by similar companies facing similar challenges and those striving for excellence. It has provided insights into the improvements and changes brought by the continued maintenance of the ISO 9000 after certification. It has also added to the knowledge on aspects of organisational development for service companies and casting new light on various theories put forward in the quality management literature. Further, the development of a framework for effective ISO 9000 maintenance in service organisations will enable it to be tested and compared with other industry frameworks in future studies.

text: Beyond certification: The maintenance of ISO 9000 in Malaysian service organisations This research is an in-depth study of the quality management systems of two Malaysian "government-linked companies" (GLCs) classified as being in the service industry. Both are mature holders of ISO 9000 certification and the research focuses on how they have gone about maintaining and improving their quality management system (QMS), the extent to which they have succeeded, and what management and employees of the companies feel have been critical success factors and problems to be overcome. A case study approach is used for this study. The study has been comprehensive in its data collection with 30 individual face-to-face interviews with top management, middle management, lower management in charge of operations and quality, the management representative responsible for the implementation of ISO 9000 in the case companies being conducted, 300 questionnaires being distributed to employees of both companies, and a thorough review of ISO 9000 and other quality documents carried out. The results of the study showed that the two companies maintain their ISO 9000 based on the requirements of the standard. However, to support the technical requirements and in order to maintain the quality system more effectively and strive for excellence, the study highlights the need for integrating the human resource aspects of quality management into the quality system. Critical success factors of ISO 9000 maintenance identified are top management commitment, employee involvement, recognition and reward, teamwork, continuous improvement, and quality culture. The main problems associated with maintaining ISO 9000 faced by the companies are lack of cooperation and commitment from people, lack of knowledge and training, lack of communication, and lack of awareness and understanding on ISO 9000. Measures outlined to overcome the problems include closer interaction between people, training of management and employee on ISO 9000 and related subjects, skill and competency, and better communication. The study has identified lessons to be drawn by similar companies facing similar challenges and those striving for excellence. It has provided insights into the improvements and changes brought by the continued maintenance of the ISO 9000 after certification. It has also added to the knowledge on aspects of organisational development for service companies and casting new light on various theories put forward in the quality management literature. Further, the development of a framework for effective ISO 9000 maintenance in service organisations will enable it to be tested and compared with other industry frameworks in future studies.

year: 2010

title: 'Kōrero Tuku Iho': Reconfiguring Oral History and Oral Tradition

authors: Mahuika, Nepia

subjects: History

abstract: The studies of oral history and oral tradition each have their own distinctive bodies of literature and preferred methodologies, yet share significant overlaps that make them difficult to differentiate. For many indigenous peoples, oral histories and traditions are key to their their past, present, and future lives, and are rarely considered separate. This thesis examines the differences and similarities between the studies of oral history and oral tradition. It explores how these areas of research converge and diverge in form, politics, practice, and theory, and the extent to which they resonate within a specific ‘indigenous’ context and community.
The thesis draws on the life narrative interviews of four generations of Ngāti Porou descendents, the second largest tribal group in New Zealand, whose home boundaries extend from Potikirua in the north to Te Toka-a-Taiau in the south on the East Coast of the North Island. Drawing on these voices, this study offers a commentary on the form and nature of oral traditions and histories from an indigenous perspective, and explores the ways they converge and depart from ‘international’ understandings. An exploration of these intersections offers insights to the ways oral history and oral traditions might be reconsidered as distinctive fields of study. Reconfigured through an indigenous frame of reference, this thesis challenges scholars of both oral history and oral tradition to expand their conceptions. Likewise, it urges indigenous scholars to consider more deeply the work of oral historians and oral traditionalists to further enhance their scholarship. Moreover, this thesis revisits the intellectual and conceptual territory that names and claims oral history and oral tradition, and invites all those who work in these areas to develop a more extensive comprehension of the interconnections that exist between each area of study.

text: 'Kōrero Tuku Iho': Reconfiguring Oral History and Oral Tradition The studies of oral history and oral tradition each have their own distinctive bodies of literature and preferred methodologies, yet share significant overlaps that make them difficult to differentiate. For many indigenous peoples, oral histories and traditions are key to their their past, present, and future lives, and are rarely considered separate. This thesis examines the differences and similarities between the studies of oral history and oral tradition. It explores how these areas of research converge and diverge in form, politics, practice, and theory, and the extent to which they resonate within a specific ‘indigenous’ context and community.
The thesis draws on the life narrative interviews of four generations of Ngāti Porou descendents, the second largest tribal group in New Zealand, whose home boundaries extend from Potikirua in the north to Te Toka-a-Taiau in the south on the East Coast of the North Island. Drawing on these voices, this study offers a commentary on the form and nature of oral traditions and histories from an indigenous perspective, and explores the ways they converge and depart from ‘international’ understandings. An exploration of these intersections offers insights to the ways oral history and oral traditions might be reconsidered as distinctive fields of study. Reconfigured through an indigenous frame of reference, this thesis challenges scholars of both oral history and oral tradition to expand their conceptions. Likewise, it urges indigenous scholars to consider more deeply the work of oral historians and oral traditionalists to further enhance their scholarship. Moreover, this thesis revisits the intellectual and conceptual territory that names and claims oral history and oral tradition, and invites all those who work in these areas to develop a more extensive comprehension of the interconnections that exist between each area of study.

year: 2012