title: United we stand: An exploration of team re-culturing in early childhood settings.

authors: Sheehy, Annette Marie

subjects: leadership

abstract: Early childhood has a professional standing in education circles, however the team teaching that is necessary in this field, often doesn’t reflect the professionalism required. This research project was motivated by the researcher’s growing awareness and concern of disharmony within early childhood teams. Disharmony frequently dominates the researcher’s professional time in the bid to unravel the sources and work with teams to resolve issues and dilemmas.
This research project investigates leader’s and teacher’s perceptions about the underlying sources of team disharmony in early childhood, drawing on their lived experience, and strategies implemented to re-culture the team, restore harmony, collegiality and collaboration. 
Qualitative methods of an online survey and face to face semi structured interviews were used to gather data on both leaders’ and teachers’ perceptions of the underlying sources of disharmony.
The research found that poor communication, personality, leadership and a lack of clear values that underpinned relationships and practice were participants’ perceptions of contributing factors to team disharmony. In addition, structural issues and pressures of time for meaningful dialogue also contributed. A darker side of leadership was revealed where power and control tactics were used to bully teachers; leaving them disempowered and fearful of reprisal should they disagree or push for change. 
Team harmony, founded on clear values, is critical in an ECE environment where teachers’ team teach in the one open plan environment. Collaboration and collegiality are necessary dispositions for the team to hold, to enable them to collectively plan, reflect and inquire into their every day practice. Quality outcomes for children’s learning can only be met when teams are clear on their goals and they are working synergetically.

text: United we stand: An exploration of team re-culturing in early childhood settings. Early childhood has a professional standing in education circles, however the team teaching that is necessary in this field, often doesn’t reflect the professionalism required. This research project was motivated by the researcher’s growing awareness and concern of disharmony within early childhood teams. Disharmony frequently dominates the researcher’s professional time in the bid to unravel the sources and work with teams to resolve issues and dilemmas.
This research project investigates leader’s and teacher’s perceptions about the underlying sources of team disharmony in early childhood, drawing on their lived experience, and strategies implemented to re-culture the team, restore harmony, collegiality and collaboration. 
Qualitative methods of an online survey and face to face semi structured interviews were used to gather data on both leaders’ and teachers’ perceptions of the underlying sources of disharmony.
The research found that poor communication, personality, leadership and a lack of clear values that underpinned relationships and practice were participants’ perceptions of contributing factors to team disharmony. In addition, structural issues and pressures of time for meaningful dialogue also contributed. A darker side of leadership was revealed where power and control tactics were used to bully teachers; leaving them disempowered and fearful of reprisal should they disagree or push for change. 
Team harmony, founded on clear values, is critical in an ECE environment where teachers’ team teach in the one open plan environment. Collaboration and collegiality are necessary dispositions for the team to hold, to enable them to collectively plan, reflect and inquire into their every day practice. Quality outcomes for children’s learning can only be met when teams are clear on their goals and they are working synergetically.

year: 2015

title: Compression by induction of hierarchical grammars

authors: Nevill-Manning, Craig G.

subjects: Machine learning

abstract: This paper describes a technique that develops models of symbol sequences in the form of small, human-readable, hierarchical grammars. The grammars are both semantically plausible and compact. The technique can induce structure from a variety of different kinds of sequence, and examples are given of models derived from English text, C source code and a file of numeric data. This paper explains the grammatical induction technique, demonstrates its application to three very different sequences, evaluates its compression performance, and concludes by briefly discussing its use as method of knowledge acquisition.

text: Compression by induction of hierarchical grammars This paper describes a technique that develops models of symbol sequences in the form of small, human-readable, hierarchical grammars. The grammars are both semantically plausible and compact. The technique can induce structure from a variety of different kinds of sequence, and examples are given of models derived from English text, C source code and a file of numeric data. This paper explains the grammatical induction technique, demonstrates its application to three very different sequences, evaluates its compression performance, and concludes by briefly discussing its use as method of knowledge acquisition.

year: 1993

title: KAUMĀTUATANGA  Supporting School Leaders To Develop Cultural Values While Resisting The Dominance of Colonialism

authors: Nuri, Ngahuia

subjects: Kaumātua

abstract: In an education system that is asserting to the importance of Māori (indigenous people of Aotearoa) language, culture, identity and the history of Aotearoa  (New Zealand) into the curriculum, there is direction from the Ministry of Education (MOE) for schools to reach out to iwi. What this looks like and how this can be achieved is not an easy task. This thesis follows the journey of three kaumātua (respected, knowledgeable elders, both female and male) working alongside the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) of a decile 10 kura auraki (mainstream primary school) where ākonga Māori (Māori students) were in the minority. The research examines what role kaumātua might have in guiding other schools to help tamariki Māori (Māori children) enjoy and achieve education success as Māori. It highlights the coming together of leaders from two different worldviews with this vision as a common purpose. 

Kaumātua in te ao Māori (the Māori world) are respected elders. Kaumātua are leaders, respected for their wisdom, knowledge and models of behaviour among other attributes. The Māui narratives are one example of demonstrating the characteristics of kaumātua. It was through his respected elders that Maui achieved so much. It was his grandfather who rescued him and taught him all he knew. It was his grandmother Mahuika who gave him fire and it was his kuia (female elder) Murirangiwhenua from whom he received the magic jawbone. The wisdom of Māori kaumātua has been recognised for centuries by Māori and yet kaumātua are often an untapped resource in the mainstream sector of education. In this thesis the kaumātua and members of the SLT share their experiences of working together and the learning and unlearning that has taken place over a period of four years from 2016 through 2019. They share their vulnerability, humility and strength in the goals they have worked towards over this period of time.

text: KAUMĀTUATANGA  Supporting School Leaders To Develop Cultural Values While Resisting The Dominance of Colonialism In an education system that is asserting to the importance of Māori (indigenous people of Aotearoa) language, culture, identity and the history of Aotearoa  (New Zealand) into the curriculum, there is direction from the Ministry of Education (MOE) for schools to reach out to iwi. What this looks like and how this can be achieved is not an easy task. This thesis follows the journey of three kaumātua (respected, knowledgeable elders, both female and male) working alongside the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) of a decile 10 kura auraki (mainstream primary school) where ākonga Māori (Māori students) were in the minority. The research examines what role kaumātua might have in guiding other schools to help tamariki Māori (Māori children) enjoy and achieve education success as Māori. It highlights the coming together of leaders from two different worldviews with this vision as a common purpose. 

Kaumātua in te ao Māori (the Māori world) are respected elders. Kaumātua are leaders, respected for their wisdom, knowledge and models of behaviour among other attributes. The Māui narratives are one example of demonstrating the characteristics of kaumātua. It was through his respected elders that Maui achieved so much. It was his grandfather who rescued him and taught him all he knew. It was his grandmother Mahuika who gave him fire and it was his kuia (female elder) Murirangiwhenua from whom he received the magic jawbone. The wisdom of Māori kaumātua has been recognised for centuries by Māori and yet kaumātua are often an untapped resource in the mainstream sector of education. In this thesis the kaumātua and members of the SLT share their experiences of working together and the learning and unlearning that has taken place over a period of four years from 2016 through 2019. They share their vulnerability, humility and strength in the goals they have worked towards over this period of time.

year: 2024