title: Youth Development Circles: A Report on a School Trial

authors: Hannah, Belinda Anne

subjects: Youth Development Circles

abstract: This research traces the development and trial of the Youth Development Circle (YDC) process in a low decile secondary school in a rural community in Aotearoa New Zealand. Youth Development Circles are an intervention based on restorative justice principles initially proposed by Braithwaite (2004). They were originally suggested as a strategy for use in an alternative education centre or “activity centre”.  Increasing use of restorative approaches has enabled many schools to make significant progress in reducing suspensions, but there remains a concern for students whose behaviour is at the more serious end of the spectrum - who are at risk of suspension, or exclusion, after multiple stand-downs from school.  The possibilities for the use of YDC were proposed to the school by the researcher, who is a Deputy Principal responsible for behaviour management and pastoral care.  This proposal was supported fully by the school’s staff and Board of Trustees.  The YDC process documented in this study was developed by the researcher, informed by a range of sources including Youth Development Circles, Judge McElrea’s proposed School Community Conference (1996), and Hui Whakatika, developed at the University of Waikato (2003).  Participation in the circles was a condition for the student to remain at the school. The school is a state school, with a roll of approximately 800. The ethnic breakdown of the students is 56% Māori and 39% NZ European with 5% of Pasifika, Asian and other.  

The YDC is a deliberate and careful process which aims to bring increased focus on the individual student and their educational outcomes, through engaging a community of care in supporting them. There were many anticipated benefits of the YDC for the student. Such benefits included an opportunity to establish and maintain healthy relationships of trust (within which negative experiences can be learned from), a re-establishment of trust, improved self-confidence and improved educational outcomes. The circles included members of the student’s whānau/family, a kaumātua/elder who cared about them, and representatives from local Police, Social Welfare, and the school.  The circles were studied over a period of one year.  Circles met regularly throughout this time, at increasing intervals.

A mixed method case study approach was used for this research which includes the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. The study evaluated the effectiveness of the YDCs by analysing student behaviour, attendance and achievement KAMAR data, minutes of each circle meeting, and interviews with circle participants.


Three student case studies are presented.  The stories have had details altered and pseudonyms used to protect the persons involved. All the students completed the academic year without receiving a further stand down or suspension.  The data showed an improvement in student attendance, achievement and engagement in all three case studies.  Other outcomes include reflections on the process used, strategies for implementation in the school, and factors that either hindered or supported student, family or community involvement in YDCs. 

This exploratory study suggests that the Youth Development Circle could offer a unique possibility for inter-sectorial collaboration in the field of restorative justice.

text: Youth Development Circles: A Report on a School Trial This research traces the development and trial of the Youth Development Circle (YDC) process in a low decile secondary school in a rural community in Aotearoa New Zealand. Youth Development Circles are an intervention based on restorative justice principles initially proposed by Braithwaite (2004). They were originally suggested as a strategy for use in an alternative education centre or “activity centre”.  Increasing use of restorative approaches has enabled many schools to make significant progress in reducing suspensions, but there remains a concern for students whose behaviour is at the more serious end of the spectrum - who are at risk of suspension, or exclusion, after multiple stand-downs from school.  The possibilities for the use of YDC were proposed to the school by the researcher, who is a Deputy Principal responsible for behaviour management and pastoral care.  This proposal was supported fully by the school’s staff and Board of Trustees.  The YDC process documented in this study was developed by the researcher, informed by a range of sources including Youth Development Circles, Judge McElrea’s proposed School Community Conference (1996), and Hui Whakatika, developed at the University of Waikato (2003).  Participation in the circles was a condition for the student to remain at the school. The school is a state school, with a roll of approximately 800. The ethnic breakdown of the students is 56% Māori and 39% NZ European with 5% of Pasifika, Asian and other.  

The YDC is a deliberate and careful process which aims to bring increased focus on the individual student and their educational outcomes, through engaging a community of care in supporting them. There were many anticipated benefits of the YDC for the student. Such benefits included an opportunity to establish and maintain healthy relationships of trust (within which negative experiences can be learned from), a re-establishment of trust, improved self-confidence and improved educational outcomes. The circles included members of the student’s whānau/family, a kaumātua/elder who cared about them, and representatives from local Police, Social Welfare, and the school.  The circles were studied over a period of one year.  Circles met regularly throughout this time, at increasing intervals.

A mixed method case study approach was used for this research which includes the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. The study evaluated the effectiveness of the YDCs by analysing student behaviour, attendance and achievement KAMAR data, minutes of each circle meeting, and interviews with circle participants.


Three student case studies are presented.  The stories have had details altered and pseudonyms used to protect the persons involved. All the students completed the academic year without receiving a further stand down or suspension.  The data showed an improvement in student attendance, achievement and engagement in all three case studies.  Other outcomes include reflections on the process used, strategies for implementation in the school, and factors that either hindered or supported student, family or community involvement in YDCs. 

This exploratory study suggests that the Youth Development Circle could offer a unique possibility for inter-sectorial collaboration in the field of restorative justice.

year: 2015

title: Spill-over of sustainability values and practices - a psychology PhD thesis proposal

authors: Rua, Mohi

subjects: Maori

abstract: The following presentation relates to my proposed PhD topic. As an audience you’re probably reading the title and wondering what relevance my topic has to the symposium theme Claiming Spaces. My immediate response is ‘nothing’. Nada, zilch, kore. As a ‘fill-in’ speaker for a presenter unable to be here, I’m reminded that despite my topics irregularity in the programme, I claim a space as both a psychologist and Maori person seeking to work with in the field of sustainability and conservation. Psychologists and Maori are interested in more than mental health and clinical investigation. We are interested in how the world goes around and seek to claim a space here too. So, this symposium and my participation DOES have relevance and I’d like to acknowledge those who remind me so. Let’s take a peep into my world for the next 3 years.

text: Spill-over of sustainability values and practices - a psychology PhD thesis proposal The following presentation relates to my proposed PhD topic. As an audience you’re probably reading the title and wondering what relevance my topic has to the symposium theme Claiming Spaces. My immediate response is ‘nothing’. Nada, zilch, kore. As a ‘fill-in’ speaker for a presenter unable to be here, I’m reminded that despite my topics irregularity in the programme, I claim a space as both a psychologist and Maori person seeking to work with in the field of sustainability and conservation. Psychologists and Maori are interested in more than mental health and clinical investigation. We are interested in how the world goes around and seek to claim a space here too. So, this symposium and my participation DOES have relevance and I’d like to acknowledge those who remind me so. Let’s take a peep into my world for the next 3 years.

year: 2008

title: Bovine Pre-gastrulation Development and the role Of Rauber's Layer

authors: van Leeuwen, Jessica

subjects: embryology

abstract: Although conception rates in cattle are estimated to be 90%, little over half of each insemination results in the birth of offspring. The majority of total combined foetal and embryonic loss is sustained between the bovine blastocyst hatching at Day 8 and the onset of gastrulation after Day 14. Post hatching, the bovine embryo develops a morphological architecture which is very different to the mouse, with a flat epiblast and the loss of the polar trophoblast, known as Rauber’s layer. In mice, the polar trophoblast is essential for the induction of gastrulation and the formation of the placenta. The pre-gastrulation layout of cattle embryos is shared by a diverse phylogeny of placental forming mammals, from rabbits to pigs, and it is therefore considered the more typical mode of mammalian embryonic development. Yet, compared to mouse embryonic development, relatively little is known about the gene expression and signalling networks required for successful gastrulation in these species, particularly cattle which are also economically important.

This thesis studied the morphological and gene expression events during Days 11-15 in cattle which coincides with the period of greatest embryonic loss. A detailed morphological staging system is presented that is supported with spatio-temporal gene expression patterns of genes known to play fundamental roles in mouse pre-gastrulation development. Novel morphological structures and processes were identified such as the formation of the cattle anterior visceral hypoblast (equivalent to the mouse AVE) and cavitation of the epiblast in preparation for epithelialisation of this tissue. Both of these processes are considered pre-requisites for the induction of gastrulation in mammals. The spatio-temporal gene expression patterns prior to gastrulation showed overall high concordance with mouse development however, processes that lead to asymmetry in the mouse involving extra-embryonic tissues have diverged and this can be related back to the different embryonic layouts and polar trophoblast fates between cattle and mice.

Functional studies were carried out in cattle embryos to investigate the relative roles of the three first cell lineages (trophoblast, epiblast and hypoblast) in contributing to embryonic loss and to investigate the possible role of Rauber’s layer in pre-gastrulation development. Over-expression of the weak pro-apoptotic factor BAD resulted in the selective loss of the epiblast between Days 7 and 13/14 of development. The trophoblast was not measurably impaired and although the hypoblast was not lost, the gene expression profile of this tissue was dramatically altered. These results indicate a gradient of sensitivity of epiblast>hypoblast>trophoblast tissue and suggest the epiblast contributes more greatly overall to embryonic loss. This result provides insights into the phenomenom of “phantom pregnancies”, which also are due to loss of the epiblast/embryo proper and are thought to occur in 12-22% of cattle pregnancies. 

The loss of Rauber’s layer is thought to occur by apoptosis and the results shown in this thesis support this idea. Over-expression of anti-apoptotic BCL2 resulted in a delayed loss of Rauber’s layer. BCL2 embryos also had an increased epiblast length and one embryo showed ectopic mesoderm formation. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that a maintained Rauber’s layer could lead to an increase in NODAL signalling. 

The findings in this thesis provide a foundational step in the establishment of the bovine embryo as a model for mammalian development. The results also demonstrate functional perturbations of the cattle embryo are experimentally feasible, and how these have revealed insights into cattle embryonic loss and the role of Rauber’s layer in development.

text: Bovine Pre-gastrulation Development and the role Of Rauber's Layer Although conception rates in cattle are estimated to be 90%, little over half of each insemination results in the birth of offspring. The majority of total combined foetal and embryonic loss is sustained between the bovine blastocyst hatching at Day 8 and the onset of gastrulation after Day 14. Post hatching, the bovine embryo develops a morphological architecture which is very different to the mouse, with a flat epiblast and the loss of the polar trophoblast, known as Rauber’s layer. In mice, the polar trophoblast is essential for the induction of gastrulation and the formation of the placenta. The pre-gastrulation layout of cattle embryos is shared by a diverse phylogeny of placental forming mammals, from rabbits to pigs, and it is therefore considered the more typical mode of mammalian embryonic development. Yet, compared to mouse embryonic development, relatively little is known about the gene expression and signalling networks required for successful gastrulation in these species, particularly cattle which are also economically important.

This thesis studied the morphological and gene expression events during Days 11-15 in cattle which coincides with the period of greatest embryonic loss. A detailed morphological staging system is presented that is supported with spatio-temporal gene expression patterns of genes known to play fundamental roles in mouse pre-gastrulation development. Novel morphological structures and processes were identified such as the formation of the cattle anterior visceral hypoblast (equivalent to the mouse AVE) and cavitation of the epiblast in preparation for epithelialisation of this tissue. Both of these processes are considered pre-requisites for the induction of gastrulation in mammals. The spatio-temporal gene expression patterns prior to gastrulation showed overall high concordance with mouse development however, processes that lead to asymmetry in the mouse involving extra-embryonic tissues have diverged and this can be related back to the different embryonic layouts and polar trophoblast fates between cattle and mice.

Functional studies were carried out in cattle embryos to investigate the relative roles of the three first cell lineages (trophoblast, epiblast and hypoblast) in contributing to embryonic loss and to investigate the possible role of Rauber’s layer in pre-gastrulation development. Over-expression of the weak pro-apoptotic factor BAD resulted in the selective loss of the epiblast between Days 7 and 13/14 of development. The trophoblast was not measurably impaired and although the hypoblast was not lost, the gene expression profile of this tissue was dramatically altered. These results indicate a gradient of sensitivity of epiblast>hypoblast>trophoblast tissue and suggest the epiblast contributes more greatly overall to embryonic loss. This result provides insights into the phenomenom of “phantom pregnancies”, which also are due to loss of the epiblast/embryo proper and are thought to occur in 12-22% of cattle pregnancies. 

The loss of Rauber’s layer is thought to occur by apoptosis and the results shown in this thesis support this idea. Over-expression of anti-apoptotic BCL2 resulted in a delayed loss of Rauber’s layer. BCL2 embryos also had an increased epiblast length and one embryo showed ectopic mesoderm formation. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that a maintained Rauber’s layer could lead to an increase in NODAL signalling. 

The findings in this thesis provide a foundational step in the establishment of the bovine embryo as a model for mammalian development. The results also demonstrate functional perturbations of the cattle embryo are experimentally feasible, and how these have revealed insights into cattle embryonic loss and the role of Rauber’s layer in development.

year: 2016