title: Developing graduate employability skills and attributes: Curriculum enhancement through work-integrated learning

authors: Rowe, Anna D.

subjects: work-integrated learning

abstract: Work-integrated learning (WIL) is considered a key strategy for promoting graduate employability. Graduate employability is a complex concept, one which has broadened in recent years to encapsulate a diverse range of skills, attributes, and other measures such as networks, professional-identity and active citizenship. This special issue presents recent scholarship on WIL and employability, addressing the question of how WIL contributes to enhancing employability outcomes for students and graduates. The importance of embedding WIL experiences in the curriculum so they are effectively supported by appropriate pedagogical strategies is emphasized, as well as the provision of quality assessment to support employability outcomes. Such supports, while critical, have resourcing implications for higher education, including impacts on staff workload which also need to be considered. Employability is considered in relation to the related construct of employment outcomes, pointing to ways in which these two perspectives can be better integrated. Recommendations are made for future research.

text: Developing graduate employability skills and attributes: Curriculum enhancement through work-integrated learning Work-integrated learning (WIL) is considered a key strategy for promoting graduate employability. Graduate employability is a complex concept, one which has broadened in recent years to encapsulate a diverse range of skills, attributes, and other measures such as networks, professional-identity and active citizenship. This special issue presents recent scholarship on WIL and employability, addressing the question of how WIL contributes to enhancing employability outcomes for students and graduates. The importance of embedding WIL experiences in the curriculum so they are effectively supported by appropriate pedagogical strategies is emphasized, as well as the provision of quality assessment to support employability outcomes. Such supports, while critical, have resourcing implications for higher education, including impacts on staff workload which also need to be considered. Employability is considered in relation to the related construct of employment outcomes, pointing to ways in which these two perspectives can be better integrated. Recommendations are made for future research.

year: 2017

title: The First World War in New Zealand Fiction

authors: Wood, Ryan

abstract: New Zealand fiction in which the First World War features either directly or indirectly has steadily grown in volume since the end of the war in 1918. Well-known texts, such as Passport to Hell (1936) and Once on Chunuk Bair (1982), have been the subjects of much literary criticism and evaluation. But there are several more New Zealand texts that fall within the sub-genre of Great War fiction that have not been subject to the same academic scrutiny; nor has there been a comparative study of these texts. Some of these include Robin Hyde’s Nor The Years Condemn (a less well-known sequel to Passport to Hell) as well as more contemporary novels such as Elizabeth Knox’s After Z-Hour and C.K. Stead’s Mansfield, along with short texts such as Barbara Anderson’s ‘Real Beach Weather’ and Dean Parker’s counterfactual essay ‘What if a poet had taken us out of the Great War?’. This thesis seeks to fill this gap in academic thought by closely examining several fictional accounts, and detecting both their differences, but also the common concerns that might unify them beyond merely including reference to the First World War. The thesis addresses the motives behind writing about the war, and its haunting nature, before moving on to a discussion of the presence (or lack thereof) of the Gallipoli myth in our fiction. The thesis then explores the different ‘worlds’ of the war, both literally and metaphorically, including the use of pastoral New Zealand as a contrast to the industrialised front. Finally, the thesis examines the impact of the war on heterosexual relationships, and how the fiction responds to this often unremembered legacy of the Great War.

text: The First World War in New Zealand Fiction New Zealand fiction in which the First World War features either directly or indirectly has steadily grown in volume since the end of the war in 1918. Well-known texts, such as Passport to Hell (1936) and Once on Chunuk Bair (1982), have been the subjects of much literary criticism and evaluation. But there are several more New Zealand texts that fall within the sub-genre of Great War fiction that have not been subject to the same academic scrutiny; nor has there been a comparative study of these texts. Some of these include Robin Hyde’s Nor The Years Condemn (a less well-known sequel to Passport to Hell) as well as more contemporary novels such as Elizabeth Knox’s After Z-Hour and C.K. Stead’s Mansfield, along with short texts such as Barbara Anderson’s ‘Real Beach Weather’ and Dean Parker’s counterfactual essay ‘What if a poet had taken us out of the Great War?’. This thesis seeks to fill this gap in academic thought by closely examining several fictional accounts, and detecting both their differences, but also the common concerns that might unify them beyond merely including reference to the First World War. The thesis addresses the motives behind writing about the war, and its haunting nature, before moving on to a discussion of the presence (or lack thereof) of the Gallipoli myth in our fiction. The thesis then explores the different ‘worlds’ of the war, both literally and metaphorically, including the use of pastoral New Zealand as a contrast to the industrialised front. Finally, the thesis examines the impact of the war on heterosexual relationships, and how the fiction responds to this often unremembered legacy of the Great War.

year: 2016

title: Weaving the mat of Māori and Pacific learner success

authors: Tiakiwai, Sarah-Jane

subjects: Supporting learners, Pacific learner success, Māori learner success, higher education

abstract: The mat we are trying to weave at the University of Waikato to address educational outcomes, disparities and inequities in education for Māori and Pacific learners will weave rich data, stories and experience. Our goal is to use data to be better informed about what works for Māori and Pacific learners and what does not. Data is useful in building a more complete picture of what is happening to students, but student voice and previous research that has already captured the voices of Māori and Pacific experts, educators, students, families and communities can tell us more about why we are getting these outcomes. As we harness data to improve our knowledge, we must not forget the stories already in the mat and the stories being woven in the mat, for the stories are the gold.

This report details our work on this data-informed rather than data-driven project. It discusses how improved data and data analytic capability enhanced our understanding of the literature on Māori and Pacific learner success and the experience of Māori and Pacific learners at UoW. Our research and the report, however, also unapologetically privilege case studies through literature and Māori and Pacific student voices. We lay out the various materials – data, literature and voice – that will form our mat with this in mind, weaving them together in order to achieve better outcomes for Māori and Pacific learners at our university. These learners are the why of this mahi. Their success will create a beautiful pattern in the
weave.

text: Weaving the mat of Māori and Pacific learner success The mat we are trying to weave at the University of Waikato to address educational outcomes, disparities and inequities in education for Māori and Pacific learners will weave rich data, stories and experience. Our goal is to use data to be better informed about what works for Māori and Pacific learners and what does not. Data is useful in building a more complete picture of what is happening to students, but student voice and previous research that has already captured the voices of Māori and Pacific experts, educators, students, families and communities can tell us more about why we are getting these outcomes. As we harness data to improve our knowledge, we must not forget the stories already in the mat and the stories being woven in the mat, for the stories are the gold.

This report details our work on this data-informed rather than data-driven project. It discusses how improved data and data analytic capability enhanced our understanding of the literature on Māori and Pacific learner success and the experience of Māori and Pacific learners at UoW. Our research and the report, however, also unapologetically privilege case studies through literature and Māori and Pacific student voices. We lay out the various materials – data, literature and voice – that will form our mat with this in mind, weaving them together in order to achieve better outcomes for Māori and Pacific learners at our university. These learners are the why of this mahi. Their success will create a beautiful pattern in the
weave.

year: 2022-06