title: Transformative pedagogy and language learning in Maori and Irish contexts

authors: Glynn, Ted

subjects: transformative pedagogy

abstract: Establishing positive learning communities in classrooms where pedagogies are socially and culturally responsive and centred on shared life experiences is critical for the revitalisation of minoritised languages such as Irish and Māori, which lack the dominance and power of the wider languages of government and communication. Transformative pedagogy and pedagogical re-positioning of teachers are essential to legitimising and affirming minoritised languages in the classroom. Three small-scale New Zealand studies of emerging literacy in Māori are introduced, exemplifying a responsive and transformative pedagogy that enables teachers to position themselves as socially and culturally responsive participants within classroom contexts. These studies offer strategies that might facilitate the development of similar transformative pedagogy in Irish contexts also.

text: Transformative pedagogy and language learning in Maori and Irish contexts Establishing positive learning communities in classrooms where pedagogies are socially and culturally responsive and centred on shared life experiences is critical for the revitalisation of minoritised languages such as Irish and Māori, which lack the dominance and power of the wider languages of government and communication. Transformative pedagogy and pedagogical re-positioning of teachers are essential to legitimising and affirming minoritised languages in the classroom. Three small-scale New Zealand studies of emerging literacy in Māori are introduced, exemplifying a responsive and transformative pedagogy that enables teachers to position themselves as socially and culturally responsive participants within classroom contexts. These studies offer strategies that might facilitate the development of similar transformative pedagogy in Irish contexts also.

year: 2009

title: Listening to the voices of Year 13 Māori students: A case study in a New Zealand secondary school

authors: Kay, Joan-Marie

subjects: Maori Achievement

abstract: This research focuses on listening to the voices of Year 13 academically successful Māori students in a large, urban, mainstream, co-educational, decile 4, New Zealand secondary school. Traditionally, researchers have tended to emphasise the poor academic performance of Māori students in New Zealand. In contrast, this qualitative case study, however, seeks to understand what influences and motivates the academically successful Year 13 Māori students who have gained the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Level 2 and who returned to school to study for NCEA Level 3.

Semi structured interviews as conversations with all thirteen Māori students who had achieved NCEA Level 2 formed the basis of this research. Five of their parents, seven of their teachers and the principal were also interviewed.

The findings show that these students all stress the importance of their family, in particular, one family member or significant adult in their lives who valued education and supported the student, influencing and encouraging their motivation and self-efficacy. Building positive relationships with their teachers was the next strongest influence on their academic success followed closely by the positive influence of their friends. Self-motivation was mainly extrinsic. The students perceived that the principal had little effect on their individual achievement.

The teachers also acknowledge the importance of building positive relationships with their students and acknowledge the benefits of the reflective practice provided by the Te Kotahitanga project in highlighting this factor.

The findings suggest the excellent initiatives currently taking place in the school need to be continued or strengthened and that further interventions which target particular Māori students, rather than are global across the school, should be introduced.

text: Listening to the voices of Year 13 Māori students: A case study in a New Zealand secondary school This research focuses on listening to the voices of Year 13 academically successful Māori students in a large, urban, mainstream, co-educational, decile 4, New Zealand secondary school. Traditionally, researchers have tended to emphasise the poor academic performance of Māori students in New Zealand. In contrast, this qualitative case study, however, seeks to understand what influences and motivates the academically successful Year 13 Māori students who have gained the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Level 2 and who returned to school to study for NCEA Level 3.

Semi structured interviews as conversations with all thirteen Māori students who had achieved NCEA Level 2 formed the basis of this research. Five of their parents, seven of their teachers and the principal were also interviewed.

The findings show that these students all stress the importance of their family, in particular, one family member or significant adult in their lives who valued education and supported the student, influencing and encouraging their motivation and self-efficacy. Building positive relationships with their teachers was the next strongest influence on their academic success followed closely by the positive influence of their friends. Self-motivation was mainly extrinsic. The students perceived that the principal had little effect on their individual achievement.

The teachers also acknowledge the importance of building positive relationships with their students and acknowledge the benefits of the reflective practice provided by the Te Kotahitanga project in highlighting this factor.

The findings suggest the excellent initiatives currently taking place in the school need to be continued or strengthened and that further interventions which target particular Māori students, rather than are global across the school, should be introduced.

year: 2008

title: Volcanic hazards in Auckland, New Zealand: a preliminary assessment of the threat posed by central North Island silicic volcanism based on the Quaternary tephrostratigraphical record

authors: Alloway, Brent V.

abstract: The City of Auckland (population c. 1 million), built on a basaltic volcanic field active as recently as c. AD 1400, faces an additional volcanic threat: that from several large and productive rhyolitic and andesitic eruptive centres of the central North Island, 140-280 km to the south and southeast. Non-basaltic tephra fallout layers originating from these distal eruptive centres are numerous and widespread in the Auckland region and have primary thicknesses ranging from c. 1 mm to  = 0.6 m; ignimbrites up to 9 m thick are also documented but are uncommon. The assessment of volcanic hazards in Auckland is made problematical by the different types of volcanic threat posed by these two spatially distinct source areas, and by the lack of recognition hitherto given to the threat from the distal sources. This paper reviews the Quaternary records of distal volcanism affecting Auckland and outlines current investigations into the assessment of environmental impacts of past eruptions. Our preliminary results indicate that the potential threat to Auckland from the distal volcanic sources has been underestimated and that further research into the impacts of Quaternary volcanism on Auckland's environment and infrastructure is essential. The importance of this threat was underscored in mid-1996 when a small magnitude eruption of Mt Ruapehu necessitated closure of Auckland International Airport for three nights.

text: Volcanic hazards in Auckland, New Zealand: a preliminary assessment of the threat posed by central North Island silicic volcanism based on the Quaternary tephrostratigraphical record The City of Auckland (population c. 1 million), built on a basaltic volcanic field active as recently as c. AD 1400, faces an additional volcanic threat: that from several large and productive rhyolitic and andesitic eruptive centres of the central North Island, 140-280 km to the south and southeast. Non-basaltic tephra fallout layers originating from these distal eruptive centres are numerous and widespread in the Auckland region and have primary thicknesses ranging from c. 1 mm to  = 0.6 m; ignimbrites up to 9 m thick are also documented but are uncommon. The assessment of volcanic hazards in Auckland is made problematical by the different types of volcanic threat posed by these two spatially distinct source areas, and by the lack of recognition hitherto given to the threat from the distal sources. This paper reviews the Quaternary records of distal volcanism affecting Auckland and outlines current investigations into the assessment of environmental impacts of past eruptions. Our preliminary results indicate that the potential threat to Auckland from the distal volcanic sources has been underestimated and that further research into the impacts of Quaternary volcanism on Auckland's environment and infrastructure is essential. The importance of this threat was underscored in mid-1996 when a small magnitude eruption of Mt Ruapehu necessitated closure of Auckland International Airport for three nights.

year: 1999-01-01