title: Making the most of PIAAC: Preliminary investigation of adults’ numeracy practices through secondary analysis of the PIAAC dataset

authors: Coben, Diana

abstract: The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) assesses key information processing skills and collects information on how often people undertake a range of activities at work and in everyday life. We are exploring what secondary analysis of online anonymised PIAAC data can tell us about adults’ numeracy practices. In the process we review the accessibility and user-friendliness of the data for novice researchers and practitioners in the hope of encouraging them to explore this rich resource and give a brief account of our experience of the process of accessing publicly-available PIAAC data for secondary analysis.

text: Making the most of PIAAC: Preliminary investigation of adults’ numeracy practices through secondary analysis of the PIAAC dataset The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) assesses key information processing skills and collects information on how often people undertake a range of activities at work and in everyday life. We are exploring what secondary analysis of online anonymised PIAAC data can tell us about adults’ numeracy practices. In the process we review the accessibility and user-friendliness of the data for novice researchers and practitioners in the hope of encouraging them to explore this rich resource and give a brief account of our experience of the process of accessing publicly-available PIAAC data for secondary analysis.

year: 2016

title: Speaking Through Sacrifice: Rhetorical and Social Functions of Sacrifice within Long-Form Contemporary Fantasy Literature

authors: Elder, Matthew J.

subjects: Sacrifice

abstract: Long-form contemporary fantasy narratives present the opportunity for readers to immerse themselves in worlds both different from and resonant with our own. These narratives are fundamentally invested in questions of how societies change and how they persist. Long-form fantasy works to take readers on a journey away from the old world and towards the new. The scope of these narratives is large, both in terms of the length of the written works, and the scale of time passing within the fiction itself. They create meaning by layering imagery and perspective in pursuit of a resonant affect. 

This thesis posits that due to fantasy’s fundamental investment in change, and because change requires sacrifice, looking to instances of sacrifice within the literature provides useful handholds with which the reader can grasp and manipulate the text. The discussion explores four modes of sacrifice—Martyrdom, Self-Denial, Scapegoating, and Self-Erosion—divided along dual axes of individually chosen/societally mandated sacrifice, and individual act/on-going act sacrifice. Each mode is investigated through a case-study of a single long-form contemporary fantasy text: Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn; Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files; Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle; and N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth. 
The case-studies draw on sociological, cultural, theological, and literary theory to understand the social nature of these acts of sacrifice, and this framework is then applied to the acts playing out in the imagined societies. From this combination of theory and textual example, the thesis arrives at a model of the rhetorical function of each of these modes of sacrifice; essentially, how they communicate ideas to the reader, and how they contribute to the texts’ overall meaning-making. One of the core ways that fantasy achieves the inter-related ends of critiquing problems and proposing solutions is by speaking through acts of sacrifice.

Contemporary life is a challenging blend of rapid innovation and entrenched ideologies. The influence of societal systems over individuals is complex, and the research that this thesis undertakes dives into defining questions of how marginalised individuals can come to be complicit with oppressive systems, and how individual choice can be coerced and thus undermined. The texts that are emerging from the current socio-political climate seem to be searching for ways to articulate this struggle to both resist and change harmful, dominant systems. This thesis investigates the radical potential of sacrifice as a driver of positive social change.

text: Speaking Through Sacrifice: Rhetorical and Social Functions of Sacrifice within Long-Form Contemporary Fantasy Literature Long-form contemporary fantasy narratives present the opportunity for readers to immerse themselves in worlds both different from and resonant with our own. These narratives are fundamentally invested in questions of how societies change and how they persist. Long-form fantasy works to take readers on a journey away from the old world and towards the new. The scope of these narratives is large, both in terms of the length of the written works, and the scale of time passing within the fiction itself. They create meaning by layering imagery and perspective in pursuit of a resonant affect. 

This thesis posits that due to fantasy’s fundamental investment in change, and because change requires sacrifice, looking to instances of sacrifice within the literature provides useful handholds with which the reader can grasp and manipulate the text. The discussion explores four modes of sacrifice—Martyrdom, Self-Denial, Scapegoating, and Self-Erosion—divided along dual axes of individually chosen/societally mandated sacrifice, and individual act/on-going act sacrifice. Each mode is investigated through a case-study of a single long-form contemporary fantasy text: Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn; Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files; Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle; and N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth. 
The case-studies draw on sociological, cultural, theological, and literary theory to understand the social nature of these acts of sacrifice, and this framework is then applied to the acts playing out in the imagined societies. From this combination of theory and textual example, the thesis arrives at a model of the rhetorical function of each of these modes of sacrifice; essentially, how they communicate ideas to the reader, and how they contribute to the texts’ overall meaning-making. One of the core ways that fantasy achieves the inter-related ends of critiquing problems and proposing solutions is by speaking through acts of sacrifice.

Contemporary life is a challenging blend of rapid innovation and entrenched ideologies. The influence of societal systems over individuals is complex, and the research that this thesis undertakes dives into defining questions of how marginalised individuals can come to be complicit with oppressive systems, and how individual choice can be coerced and thus undermined. The texts that are emerging from the current socio-political climate seem to be searching for ways to articulate this struggle to both resist and change harmful, dominant systems. This thesis investigates the radical potential of sacrifice as a driver of positive social change.

year: 2021

title: Māori and pacific infant and toddler cultural pedagogy: Reclaiming a cultural lens

authors: Glasgow, Ali

abstract: An Indigenous cultural renaissance emerged in the 1980’s in Aotearoa New Zealand. Communities established early childhood programmes that reflected native spirituality, values, and Indigenous knowledge, with instruction in local, Indigenous languages (Hunkin-Tuiletufuga, 2001). Indigenous communities sought ownership over the education of their children, within a culturally driven framework that focussed on retention of knowledge, language, and cultural identity.
These strong early stages have lost traction, with increasing numbers of Māori and Pacific community services unable to meet the rigorous regulatory criteria, assurance auditing processes, funding restraints, and other considerations that have impacted the numbers of families using these services. Nowadays, a mere percentage of those once in operation remain, with the majority of Māori and Pacific children and their families enrolling in mainstream early childhood education services (Ministry of Education, 2013).
Central to the educational success for Māori and Pacific children is an understanding that they are culturally located and the acknowledgement that effective education must encompass their culture. A cultural discourse gaining prominence reveals the need for culturally sound pedagogical practice for Māori and Pacific communities (Rameka & Glasgow, 2016; Rau & Ritchie, 2011). This trend is gaining impetus in the wider Pacific region (Glasgow, 2012), thus driving a movement for reclaiming and reframing education for Pacific peoples (Sanga, 2012).

text: Māori and pacific infant and toddler cultural pedagogy: Reclaiming a cultural lens An Indigenous cultural renaissance emerged in the 1980’s in Aotearoa New Zealand. Communities established early childhood programmes that reflected native spirituality, values, and Indigenous knowledge, with instruction in local, Indigenous languages (Hunkin-Tuiletufuga, 2001). Indigenous communities sought ownership over the education of their children, within a culturally driven framework that focussed on retention of knowledge, language, and cultural identity.
These strong early stages have lost traction, with increasing numbers of Māori and Pacific community services unable to meet the rigorous regulatory criteria, assurance auditing processes, funding restraints, and other considerations that have impacted the numbers of families using these services. Nowadays, a mere percentage of those once in operation remain, with the majority of Māori and Pacific children and their families enrolling in mainstream early childhood education services (Ministry of Education, 2013).
Central to the educational success for Māori and Pacific children is an understanding that they are culturally located and the acknowledgement that effective education must encompass their culture. A cultural discourse gaining prominence reveals the need for culturally sound pedagogical practice for Māori and Pacific communities (Rameka & Glasgow, 2016; Rau & Ritchie, 2011). This trend is gaining impetus in the wider Pacific region (Glasgow, 2012), thus driving a movement for reclaiming and reframing education for Pacific peoples (Sanga, 2012).

year: 2017