title: Jessica connects: A case study focussing on one child’s use of information and communication technology (ICT) in an early childhood education setting

authors: Archard, Sara

subjects: Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

abstract: Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing an ever increasing role in the lives of people which include young children; The role of ICT in early childhood educational services in Aotearoa New Zealand is still being argued despite curriculum, assessment and policy expectations that endorse and support its integration into practice. This chapter draws upon a small, qualitative case study involving young children and their uses of ICT in one early childhood education setting in Aotearoa New Zealand. A socio-cultural perspective has been used to recognise and examine the notion of children’s understanding and practices of ICT. In this chapter the focus is on Jessica, aged 4 years old, and the ways she uses ICT in her life as tool to document and share her learning and interests. These uses also reflect Jessica as a competent and confident learner using ICT as a cultural tool to mediate her learning in her home and early childhood education setting. The researchers examine the way ICT practices can contribute and fulfil curriculum and policy intentions that can support and endorse the competent, confident learner that reflects the curriculum principle of Empowerment. The chapter supports the view that ICT can be used to enhance the empowerment of the learner. We conclude that the early childhood curriculum and policy in Aotearoa New Zealand justifies the place of ICT in early childhood settings and should guide and inform teachers to use it as a valued learning and teaching tool. The researchers are of the opinion that the teachers have an active and collaborative role in responding to the needs of the 21st century learner to direct their own learning and that this can be guided by the curriculum aspirations in the principle of Empowerment.

text: Jessica connects: A case study focussing on one child’s use of information and communication technology (ICT) in an early childhood education setting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing an ever increasing role in the lives of people which include young children; The role of ICT in early childhood educational services in Aotearoa New Zealand is still being argued despite curriculum, assessment and policy expectations that endorse and support its integration into practice. This chapter draws upon a small, qualitative case study involving young children and their uses of ICT in one early childhood education setting in Aotearoa New Zealand. A socio-cultural perspective has been used to recognise and examine the notion of children’s understanding and practices of ICT. In this chapter the focus is on Jessica, aged 4 years old, and the ways she uses ICT in her life as tool to document and share her learning and interests. These uses also reflect Jessica as a competent and confident learner using ICT as a cultural tool to mediate her learning in her home and early childhood education setting. The researchers examine the way ICT practices can contribute and fulfil curriculum and policy intentions that can support and endorse the competent, confident learner that reflects the curriculum principle of Empowerment. The chapter supports the view that ICT can be used to enhance the empowerment of the learner. We conclude that the early childhood curriculum and policy in Aotearoa New Zealand justifies the place of ICT in early childhood settings and should guide and inform teachers to use it as a valued learning and teaching tool. The researchers are of the opinion that the teachers have an active and collaborative role in responding to the needs of the 21st century learner to direct their own learning and that this can be guided by the curriculum aspirations in the principle of Empowerment.

year: 2016

title: A sensitive genetic-based detection capability for Didymosphenia geminate (Lyngbye) M. Schmidt: Phases two and three

authors: Cary, S. Craig

subjects: DNA-based protocol

abstract: This study sought to develop a sensitive DNA-based protocol capable of detecting D. germinate in environmental samples with extreme sensitivity. This report is a direct extension from our previous interim report and addresses the subsequent progress in the development and validation of two DNA detection methods for D. germinata.

text: A sensitive genetic-based detection capability for Didymosphenia geminate (Lyngbye) M. Schmidt: Phases two and three This study sought to develop a sensitive DNA-based protocol capable of detecting D. germinate in environmental samples with extreme sensitivity. This report is a direct extension from our previous interim report and addresses the subsequent progress in the development and validation of two DNA detection methods for D. germinata.

year: 2007-10

title: “It was… like a fight and rape club”: A foucauldian discourse analysis of New Zealand’s abuse in care inquiry, exploring child sexual abuse in residential care

authors: Simpson, Karen

subjects: child sexual abuse

abstract: Children and adolescents brought to the attention of New Zealand care and protection authorities are sometimes removed from their homes and placed into State-run residential care facilities. While the aim placing young people into residences is to improve their wellbeing, child sexual abuse is common in this setting and more pronounced than in the general population. There are many psychological theories, perspectives and movements which have attempted to explain child sexual abuse spanning from the 1800s to the present day. These partial and, at times, unsupported understandings of abuse have been shaped by socio-cultural and socio-political conditions. This has had serious implications for our collective (mis)understanding of child sexual abuse and the ways in which we respond to abuse with dominant discourse often transcending into policy, law, and the courtroom where social (in)justice occurs. In addition, despite there being three centuries of child sexual abuse research, to-date there has been limited exploration of the phenomenon in residential care settings both globally and within Aotearoa. However, the opportunity to explore child sexual abuse in this setting has availed itself with the New Zealand Government launching a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care in 2018 to better understand abuse across State and faith-based settings between 1950 and 1999. This thesis aims to provide additional insights to the inquiry by exploring the different ways in which child sexual abuse in residential care is understood as well as the conditions which legitimise or silence these understandings.

A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis was used to analyse 47 publicly available documents from the inquiry including statements, transcripts, and evidence briefs from survivors, survivor advocates, counsel, and representatives from institutions that provide care and protection for young people. Analysis found six discourses: control and punishment, fabrication, harmful, power and oppression, shameful, and State and institutional failure. These discourses reaffirm previous findings in sexual abuse research including sexual abuse as shameful and notions of fabrication. New insights were also found and include the use of sexual abuse as a method of controlling and punishing young people; predatory sexual behaviour in young people as a method of self-protection; cultural genocide and intergenerational care placement as victim sequelae; and the development of adaptive survival behaviours in residents in response to the State’s failures to protect them. In addition, systemic failures were uncovered including inadequacies in internal and external monitoring, failures in vetting, poor investment in professional capabilities of frontline workers, and a culture of tolerance toward abuse. Overall, the analysis found cultures of sexual violence and cultures of tolerance toward abuse within residential care, which emerge from the young person’s status as a State Ward.

text: “It was… like a fight and rape club”: A foucauldian discourse analysis of New Zealand’s abuse in care inquiry, exploring child sexual abuse in residential care Children and adolescents brought to the attention of New Zealand care and protection authorities are sometimes removed from their homes and placed into State-run residential care facilities. While the aim placing young people into residences is to improve their wellbeing, child sexual abuse is common in this setting and more pronounced than in the general population. There are many psychological theories, perspectives and movements which have attempted to explain child sexual abuse spanning from the 1800s to the present day. These partial and, at times, unsupported understandings of abuse have been shaped by socio-cultural and socio-political conditions. This has had serious implications for our collective (mis)understanding of child sexual abuse and the ways in which we respond to abuse with dominant discourse often transcending into policy, law, and the courtroom where social (in)justice occurs. In addition, despite there being three centuries of child sexual abuse research, to-date there has been limited exploration of the phenomenon in residential care settings both globally and within Aotearoa. However, the opportunity to explore child sexual abuse in this setting has availed itself with the New Zealand Government launching a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care in 2018 to better understand abuse across State and faith-based settings between 1950 and 1999. This thesis aims to provide additional insights to the inquiry by exploring the different ways in which child sexual abuse in residential care is understood as well as the conditions which legitimise or silence these understandings.

A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis was used to analyse 47 publicly available documents from the inquiry including statements, transcripts, and evidence briefs from survivors, survivor advocates, counsel, and representatives from institutions that provide care and protection for young people. Analysis found six discourses: control and punishment, fabrication, harmful, power and oppression, shameful, and State and institutional failure. These discourses reaffirm previous findings in sexual abuse research including sexual abuse as shameful and notions of fabrication. New insights were also found and include the use of sexual abuse as a method of controlling and punishing young people; predatory sexual behaviour in young people as a method of self-protection; cultural genocide and intergenerational care placement as victim sequelae; and the development of adaptive survival behaviours in residents in response to the State’s failures to protect them. In addition, systemic failures were uncovered including inadequacies in internal and external monitoring, failures in vetting, poor investment in professional capabilities of frontline workers, and a culture of tolerance toward abuse. Overall, the analysis found cultures of sexual violence and cultures of tolerance toward abuse within residential care, which emerge from the young person’s status as a State Ward.

year: 2024-02-25