title: Reflections on the renewal of music: a polemic

authors: Lodge, Martin

abstract: Pluralism has been accepted as the best broad working definition of the current cultural and artistic situation in the West for some time now. In New Zealand, the debate over 'biculturalism' versus 'multiculturalism' drones on. Commercially this is reflected in both 'market segmentation' and its opposite-attempts at 'cross-over'. Artistically, it has made 'bicultural' works fashionable, as creative
attempts are made to fuse various traditions together, especially the Maori and Western, and nowhere more so than in music. The key to making successful 'fusion' pieces seems to lie in first grasping the essential differences between the musics, then trying to resolve the clashes or accommodate friendly juxtapositions.

text: Reflections on the renewal of music: a polemic Pluralism has been accepted as the best broad working definition of the current cultural and artistic situation in the West for some time now. In New Zealand, the debate over 'biculturalism' versus 'multiculturalism' drones on. Commercially this is reflected in both 'market segmentation' and its opposite-attempts at 'cross-over'. Artistically, it has made 'bicultural' works fashionable, as creative
attempts are made to fuse various traditions together, especially the Maori and Western, and nowhere more so than in music. The key to making successful 'fusion' pieces seems to lie in first grasping the essential differences between the musics, then trying to resolve the clashes or accommodate friendly juxtapositions.

year: 1998

title: Fanning the divine spark: Gaining understandings of micro-interactions in New Zealand classrooms

authors: Eley, Elizabeth Martha Ann

subjects: micro-interactions

abstract: New Zealand’s Treaty of Waitangi was signed by representatives of Iwi Māori (Indigenous tribal groups) and the British Crown.  Inherent in the heritages of both signatory groups is the ontological positioning that children are born of greatness; carriers of the divine spark from Tama-nui-te-rā (the central sun) and created in the image of God.  Almost all New Zealand children attend school.  For some, their ongoing classroom experiences with educators fans their divine spark and works towards the realisation of their innate potential.  For others, schooling is not a positive experience and their divine spark may be neither recognised nor celebrated.  

This research explores the relationships and pedagogical practices that underpin the classroom micro-interactions experienced by children.  Children’s schooling experience is made up of small interactions in classrooms that are situated in the social, political and legal contexts of schooling.  Therefore, this research applies both a centripetal and a centrifugal examination of the macro and micro contexts of classroom interactions.  

In examining the macro-context, ontological views of the child and the theoretical frameworks that guide pedagogy are considered.  The Education Acts governing New Zealand schooling have successively contained an ontological contradiction that enforces both a factory model as the preferred means of schooling for New Zealand and a requirement to honour the Treaty of Waitangi, including the worldviews of both signatories.  I conclude that educators within the compulsory schooling sector are not provided with specific guidance on how to navigate these contradictory worldviews.  Neither ontological views of how children are perceived within the system, nor theoretical frameworks that could and should inform views of knowledge and how learning occurs, are made explicit for educators.  

At the micro-context level, relationships and pedagogical practices are explored through case studies in three different New Zealand classrooms.  In each case, from video-recordings of classroom interactions, critical incidents were extracted and used to support interviews with participating teachers, students, parents and members of the wider school community.  Employing culturally responsive research methodologies, the interactions with participants were relational and dialogic.  The research found that classroom micro-interactions are pervasive and complex.  All participants, students, teachers and whānau, draw from the knowledge, understandings and positionings of the individual’s own cultural toolkits in classroom interactions.  Their cultural toolkits contain a range of factors to support learning, all of which were necessary and interdependent.  

The thesis calls for all children to receive an education that fans their inherent divine spark.  While this experience is not yet the case for all, there is opportunity in the rhetoric and structures already within New Zealand’s education system for this to occur.  Some schools and communities have begun to successfully challenge and address the prevailing theoretical and pedagogical status quo.  Therefore, there is reason for radical hope for a system-wide fanning of the divine spark in every child.

text: Fanning the divine spark: Gaining understandings of micro-interactions in New Zealand classrooms New Zealand’s Treaty of Waitangi was signed by representatives of Iwi Māori (Indigenous tribal groups) and the British Crown.  Inherent in the heritages of both signatory groups is the ontological positioning that children are born of greatness; carriers of the divine spark from Tama-nui-te-rā (the central sun) and created in the image of God.  Almost all New Zealand children attend school.  For some, their ongoing classroom experiences with educators fans their divine spark and works towards the realisation of their innate potential.  For others, schooling is not a positive experience and their divine spark may be neither recognised nor celebrated.  

This research explores the relationships and pedagogical practices that underpin the classroom micro-interactions experienced by children.  Children’s schooling experience is made up of small interactions in classrooms that are situated in the social, political and legal contexts of schooling.  Therefore, this research applies both a centripetal and a centrifugal examination of the macro and micro contexts of classroom interactions.  

In examining the macro-context, ontological views of the child and the theoretical frameworks that guide pedagogy are considered.  The Education Acts governing New Zealand schooling have successively contained an ontological contradiction that enforces both a factory model as the preferred means of schooling for New Zealand and a requirement to honour the Treaty of Waitangi, including the worldviews of both signatories.  I conclude that educators within the compulsory schooling sector are not provided with specific guidance on how to navigate these contradictory worldviews.  Neither ontological views of how children are perceived within the system, nor theoretical frameworks that could and should inform views of knowledge and how learning occurs, are made explicit for educators.  

At the micro-context level, relationships and pedagogical practices are explored through case studies in three different New Zealand classrooms.  In each case, from video-recordings of classroom interactions, critical incidents were extracted and used to support interviews with participating teachers, students, parents and members of the wider school community.  Employing culturally responsive research methodologies, the interactions with participants were relational and dialogic.  The research found that classroom micro-interactions are pervasive and complex.  All participants, students, teachers and whānau, draw from the knowledge, understandings and positionings of the individual’s own cultural toolkits in classroom interactions.  Their cultural toolkits contain a range of factors to support learning, all of which were necessary and interdependent.  

The thesis calls for all children to receive an education that fans their inherent divine spark.  While this experience is not yet the case for all, there is opportunity in the rhetoric and structures already within New Zealand’s education system for this to occur.  Some schools and communities have begun to successfully challenge and address the prevailing theoretical and pedagogical status quo.  Therefore, there is reason for radical hope for a system-wide fanning of the divine spark in every child.

year: 2020

title: Testing the promise of access to justice through online courts

authors: Toy-Cronin, Bridgette

subjects: computer science

abstract: Modernization is increasingly knocking on the courthouse door. Many common law countries are investigating ways to introduce technology to improve civil courts, including the introduction of online courts. These state-led initiatives are primarily focused on lowering state costs in providing justice, as well as increasing access to dispute resolution. One possible solution some legal jurisdictions are exploring is ‘online courts’. Online courts hold the promise of making justice more accessible and affordable: a dispute can be filed at any time, from anywhere, by anyone. This model of delivering justice is envisioned as a system that either is lawyer-less or has a minimal role for lawyers. One of the assumptions underpinning an online court is, therefore, that laypeople can effectively explain a dispute to the court, without legal assistance. To date, there is no empirical research investigating that assumption. In this article, we will outline the proposed online court model, consider the need for robust empirical research, and describe a three-part investigation to explore how clearly and accurately people can explain a dispute.

text: Testing the promise of access to justice through online courts Modernization is increasingly knocking on the courthouse door. Many common law countries are investigating ways to introduce technology to improve civil courts, including the introduction of online courts. These state-led initiatives are primarily focused on lowering state costs in providing justice, as well as increasing access to dispute resolution. One possible solution some legal jurisdictions are exploring is ‘online courts’. Online courts hold the promise of making justice more accessible and affordable: a dispute can be filed at any time, from anywhere, by anyone. This model of delivering justice is envisioned as a system that either is lawyer-less or has a minimal role for lawyers. One of the assumptions underpinning an online court is, therefore, that laypeople can effectively explain a dispute to the court, without legal assistance. To date, there is no empirical research investigating that assumption. In this article, we will outline the proposed online court model, consider the need for robust empirical research, and describe a three-part investigation to explore how clearly and accurately people can explain a dispute.

year: 2018