title: Exploring the dual approaches to technology education in NZ secondary schools

authors: Bowskill, Nicholas

subjects: vocational and general technology education

abstract: NZ secondary schools are able to offer their senior students either industry-based vocational technology education programmes or NZ Curriculum-based general technology education programmes. Each of these approaches is designed to teach knowledge and skills that will help students to successfully transition into the workplace. Through conducting five case studies of recent secondary school vocational and general technology education graduates this research presents data around the perceptions the five students have of their technology education. It focuses on what knowledge and skills were valued by those students, and which pedagogical approaches engaged them.
The research indicated that contextualising learning within a practical project, whether it is a component of vocational technology education or general technology education, seems to engage students more deeply and make learning more meaningful.

text: Exploring the dual approaches to technology education in NZ secondary schools NZ secondary schools are able to offer their senior students either industry-based vocational technology education programmes or NZ Curriculum-based general technology education programmes. Each of these approaches is designed to teach knowledge and skills that will help students to successfully transition into the workplace. Through conducting five case studies of recent secondary school vocational and general technology education graduates this research presents data around the perceptions the five students have of their technology education. It focuses on what knowledge and skills were valued by those students, and which pedagogical approaches engaged them.
The research indicated that contextualising learning within a practical project, whether it is a component of vocational technology education or general technology education, seems to engage students more deeply and make learning more meaningful.

year: 2013

title: Ethical issues in organizational practices: individuals, organizations and partnerships

authors: Wang, Ying

subjects: Business ethics

abstract: This thesis examines issues regarding ethics in organizational practices. It explores ethics-related inquiries from the influences of an individual’s moral character and conduct, to an organization’s pursuit of a higher value system, and to organizations’ social and ethical practices in the broader context of cross-sector collaborations. The thesis comprises four research papers, with topics ranging from ethics and value-based motivations, issues surrounding ethical governance, to the evolving process of organizational value systems. It asks specific questions such as what are the motivating factors that drive ethical practice, how to effectively govern organizational conduct, and how organizations across spheres can best mobilize their efforts in aligning with evolving social and ethical values. In examining current practices as well as their implied philosophies, the thesis seeks to contribute to the field of business ethics, both in its theoretical engagement with the theory of ‘virtue ethics’, and by gaining insight into the various factors that help foster individuals’ as well as organizations’ ethical and moral development. Overall, the thesis highlights the need for a greater ethical dimension in organizational practices, whether it is individually oriented commitment, or an organization’s collective goals of value creation, both in the mix of motivations that drive ethical practice and in developing ethics-based governance mechanisms, towards an overarching pursuit of a higher value system with greater moral and ethical aspirations.

text: Ethical issues in organizational practices: individuals, organizations and partnerships This thesis examines issues regarding ethics in organizational practices. It explores ethics-related inquiries from the influences of an individual’s moral character and conduct, to an organization’s pursuit of a higher value system, and to organizations’ social and ethical practices in the broader context of cross-sector collaborations. The thesis comprises four research papers, with topics ranging from ethics and value-based motivations, issues surrounding ethical governance, to the evolving process of organizational value systems. It asks specific questions such as what are the motivating factors that drive ethical practice, how to effectively govern organizational conduct, and how organizations across spheres can best mobilize their efforts in aligning with evolving social and ethical values. In examining current practices as well as their implied philosophies, the thesis seeks to contribute to the field of business ethics, both in its theoretical engagement with the theory of ‘virtue ethics’, and by gaining insight into the various factors that help foster individuals’ as well as organizations’ ethical and moral development. Overall, the thesis highlights the need for a greater ethical dimension in organizational practices, whether it is individually oriented commitment, or an organization’s collective goals of value creation, both in the mix of motivations that drive ethical practice and in developing ethics-based governance mechanisms, towards an overarching pursuit of a higher value system with greater moral and ethical aspirations.

year: 2020

title: How learning stories shape understandings of children’s learning identities in one community of practice: A narrative inquiry

authors: Sands, Lorraine May

subjects: Narrative inquiry

abstract: Mā te mahi, ka mōhio; mā te mōhio, ka mārama; mā te mārama, ka mātau; mā te mātau, ka ora.
From hard work comes knowledge; from that knowledge comes understanding; from that understanding comes strength; from that strength comes wellbeing and life.
This thesis is a listening, dialogic investigation into ways the community of learners at Greerton Early Learning Centre considers learning stories have affected their children’s learning identities—that is, how they view themselves as learners. Aotearoa New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, focuses on responsive, reciprocal relationships wrapped around the uniqueness and mana of each child. Learning stories—a research-based sociocultural narrative assessment approach—have been used in Aotearoa New Zealand early learning settings for over two decades to capture children’s learning while honouring the intent of Te Whāriki to nurture children’s languages, cultures, and identities. In the current climate of privatisation and neoliberalism, however, the value of learning stories is increasingly contested. This study refutes such discourses and instead navigates the value of multiple ways of knowing, meaningfully embedded in the lived experiences of children in relational communities.

This study was embedded in a narrative inquiry paradigm that sees reality as a socially mediated construction contained within stories that are told and retold across times, social contexts, and places. The study aimed to understand and document how storying children’s lived experience makes a meaningful difference to ways children view themselves as learners. Six children, their families, and their teachers were invited to reengage with selected learning stories from the children’s learning portfolios and then to rethink and retell how these learning stories contributed to their views of children’s learning identities.

The study found that learning stories have powerful effects on the ways children see themselves and on the ways those around them see the children as learners. It was clear from the data that children’s learning identities are embedded in the complex social and cultural contexts that surround them. The teachers’ long-term whanaungatanga relationships with mokopuna and whānau enabled kaiako to write learning stories that connected meaningfully with children’s wider historical, social, and cultural contexts. Insights into children’s learning from the learning stories were actively taken up by the parents and shaped the ways they saw and interacted with their children as learners. Likewise, teachers listened to stories shared from home (whether in a written learning story form or simply in the course of conversations), and these contributed to the teachers’ understandings of the children as agentic learners within sociocultural contexts. The physical folders of learning stories offered children powerful ways to maintain connections and a sense of pride in their learning achievements, linked to the people and places that surrounded those achievements.

Learning stories also enabled children to review their learning growth over time, including times when they had set goals, been supported in pursuing those goals by those around them, and had their achievements and dispositions honoured through documentation as a learning story. The process of robust engagement with crafting and reviewing their own and their colleagues’ learning stories played an important role in teachers’ ongoing professional learning. Finally, it was clear that across the whole community of practice—spanning mokopuna, whānau, and kaiako—learning stories played an important role in developing and reinforcing a shared language of learning as well as a shared understanding of the importance of children’s dispositions and working theories as the most highly valued forms of learning.

Although centred in one community, this research stands on the shoulders of many and may have resonance and implications for those in broader contexts. At a time when the usefulness and appropriateness of learning stories are increasingly contested, this study provides an important demonstration of the power of thoughtfully written learning stories and the alignment of this assessment approach with the vision and values of Te Whāriki. Further, with limited past research looking at the intersection of learning stories and children’s learning identities, this study’s rich account of this interaction in one community of practice provides a valuable contribution to the literature.

text: How learning stories shape understandings of children’s learning identities in one community of practice: A narrative inquiry Mā te mahi, ka mōhio; mā te mōhio, ka mārama; mā te mārama, ka mātau; mā te mātau, ka ora.
From hard work comes knowledge; from that knowledge comes understanding; from that understanding comes strength; from that strength comes wellbeing and life.
This thesis is a listening, dialogic investigation into ways the community of learners at Greerton Early Learning Centre considers learning stories have affected their children’s learning identities—that is, how they view themselves as learners. Aotearoa New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, focuses on responsive, reciprocal relationships wrapped around the uniqueness and mana of each child. Learning stories—a research-based sociocultural narrative assessment approach—have been used in Aotearoa New Zealand early learning settings for over two decades to capture children’s learning while honouring the intent of Te Whāriki to nurture children’s languages, cultures, and identities. In the current climate of privatisation and neoliberalism, however, the value of learning stories is increasingly contested. This study refutes such discourses and instead navigates the value of multiple ways of knowing, meaningfully embedded in the lived experiences of children in relational communities.

This study was embedded in a narrative inquiry paradigm that sees reality as a socially mediated construction contained within stories that are told and retold across times, social contexts, and places. The study aimed to understand and document how storying children’s lived experience makes a meaningful difference to ways children view themselves as learners. Six children, their families, and their teachers were invited to reengage with selected learning stories from the children’s learning portfolios and then to rethink and retell how these learning stories contributed to their views of children’s learning identities.

The study found that learning stories have powerful effects on the ways children see themselves and on the ways those around them see the children as learners. It was clear from the data that children’s learning identities are embedded in the complex social and cultural contexts that surround them. The teachers’ long-term whanaungatanga relationships with mokopuna and whānau enabled kaiako to write learning stories that connected meaningfully with children’s wider historical, social, and cultural contexts. Insights into children’s learning from the learning stories were actively taken up by the parents and shaped the ways they saw and interacted with their children as learners. Likewise, teachers listened to stories shared from home (whether in a written learning story form or simply in the course of conversations), and these contributed to the teachers’ understandings of the children as agentic learners within sociocultural contexts. The physical folders of learning stories offered children powerful ways to maintain connections and a sense of pride in their learning achievements, linked to the people and places that surrounded those achievements.

Learning stories also enabled children to review their learning growth over time, including times when they had set goals, been supported in pursuing those goals by those around them, and had their achievements and dispositions honoured through documentation as a learning story. The process of robust engagement with crafting and reviewing their own and their colleagues’ learning stories played an important role in teachers’ ongoing professional learning. Finally, it was clear that across the whole community of practice—spanning mokopuna, whānau, and kaiako—learning stories played an important role in developing and reinforcing a shared language of learning as well as a shared understanding of the importance of children’s dispositions and working theories as the most highly valued forms of learning.

Although centred in one community, this research stands on the shoulders of many and may have resonance and implications for those in broader contexts. At a time when the usefulness and appropriateness of learning stories are increasingly contested, this study provides an important demonstration of the power of thoughtfully written learning stories and the alignment of this assessment approach with the vision and values of Te Whāriki. Further, with limited past research looking at the intersection of learning stories and children’s learning identities, this study’s rich account of this interaction in one community of practice provides a valuable contribution to the literature.

year: 2022