title: Media studies in New Zealand schools and universities: a research study

authors: Lealand, Geoff

abstract: This report describes the outcome of research conducted between January and December 2008. It draws on research done in 2006, which sought to investigate media teaching developments in the secondary sector (NCEA Media Studies, in particular), and the possible consequences for media teaching (Media Studies, in particular) in the tertiary sector. The 2008 research exercise was designed to extend and expand the information gathered in the 2006 research exercise, by focusing more closely on what is happening in New Zealand classrooms, in respect of NCEA Media Studies. The emphasis in the 2008 research is on the content and delivery of Media Studies Achievement Studies, and the consequences for students, with such prior knowledge, when they encounter first year Media Studies courses in New Zealand tertiary institutions.

text: Media studies in New Zealand schools and universities: a research study This report describes the outcome of research conducted between January and December 2008. It draws on research done in 2006, which sought to investigate media teaching developments in the secondary sector (NCEA Media Studies, in particular), and the possible consequences for media teaching (Media Studies, in particular) in the tertiary sector. The 2008 research exercise was designed to extend and expand the information gathered in the 2006 research exercise, by focusing more closely on what is happening in New Zealand classrooms, in respect of NCEA Media Studies. The emphasis in the 2008 research is on the content and delivery of Media Studies Achievement Studies, and the consequences for students, with such prior knowledge, when they encounter first year Media Studies courses in New Zealand tertiary institutions.

year: 2009

title: Don't miss the well-being train: a radical ‎proposal for revolution in positive ‎psychology

authors: Weijers, Dan M.

abstract: Positive psychologists have added a great deal of knowledge about positive mental states and behaviors, especially over the last 20 years. As evidence is produced in support of the connections between positive psychological constructs, the model of mental flourishing is slowly being filled in. But, just like the broader well-being research and policy community (Lee et al., 2021), the discipline remains divided about how to conceptualize and measure well-being (Hone et al., 2014; Ackerman et al., 2018). This lack of unity makes it difficult to establish how measures of positive mental functioning connect with the bigger picture of the good life for the one living it, and deter its use in broader research and policy agendas. For example, the influential World Happiness Report 2020 (Helliwell et al., 2020) is edited by only economists and contains the phrase Positive Psychology just once.

text: Don't miss the well-being train: a radical ‎proposal for revolution in positive ‎psychology Positive psychologists have added a great deal of knowledge about positive mental states and behaviors, especially over the last 20 years. As evidence is produced in support of the connections between positive psychological constructs, the model of mental flourishing is slowly being filled in. But, just like the broader well-being research and policy community (Lee et al., 2021), the discipline remains divided about how to conceptualize and measure well-being (Hone et al., 2014; Ackerman et al., 2018). This lack of unity makes it difficult to establish how measures of positive mental functioning connect with the bigger picture of the good life for the one living it, and deter its use in broader research and policy agendas. For example, the influential World Happiness Report 2020 (Helliwell et al., 2020) is edited by only economists and contains the phrase Positive Psychology just once.

year: 2021

title: Mentoring and teaching in academic settings:  Professional and cultural identities from one Pākehā’s perspective

authors: Middleton, Sue

subjects: biculturalism

abstract: When invited to respond to the paper on “Mentoring Māori in a Pākehā framework” by Hook, Waaka and Raumati (2007), I hesitated. Mentoring was not a term I had previously used in my professional thinking or academic writing: unlike Barbara Grant (Ratima & Grant, 2007), I had not been involved in formal mentoring programmes or immersed myself in the mentoring literature. As a Pākehā, I was not qualified to evaluate the authors’ definition of a Māori framework. At first glance, the target paper’s focus seemed to be on mentoring in commercial, rather than academic workplaces. My experience had been as a teacher, the last 30 years having been in a university School of Education. I was persuaded to undertake this commentary on the grounds that academic work involves nurturing, advising and supporting younger or less experienced colleagues, as well as students – tasks identified as mentoring in the Hook et al. paper. The following comments are informed by my everyday practices as teacher, thesis supervisor and researcher, and by my former management roles as an assistant dean of graduate studies and head of department. My angle of vision and conceptual resources are those of a (Pākehā and feminist) sociologist of education.

text: Mentoring and teaching in academic settings:  Professional and cultural identities from one Pākehā’s perspective When invited to respond to the paper on “Mentoring Māori in a Pākehā framework” by Hook, Waaka and Raumati (2007), I hesitated. Mentoring was not a term I had previously used in my professional thinking or academic writing: unlike Barbara Grant (Ratima & Grant, 2007), I had not been involved in formal mentoring programmes or immersed myself in the mentoring literature. As a Pākehā, I was not qualified to evaluate the authors’ definition of a Māori framework. At first glance, the target paper’s focus seemed to be on mentoring in commercial, rather than academic workplaces. My experience had been as a teacher, the last 30 years having been in a university School of Education. I was persuaded to undertake this commentary on the grounds that academic work involves nurturing, advising and supporting younger or less experienced colleagues, as well as students – tasks identified as mentoring in the Hook et al. paper. The following comments are informed by my everyday practices as teacher, thesis supervisor and researcher, and by my former management roles as an assistant dean of graduate studies and head of department. My angle of vision and conceptual resources are those of a (Pākehā and feminist) sociologist of education.

year: 2007-12