title: Early career academics navigating the ecology of the university: a collaborative autoethnography

authors: Doyle, Andrew

abstract: Early career academics (ECAs) are negatively affected by the neoliberal university which encourages performativity, competition and a ‘publish or perish’ mentality. In this paper a group of four ECAs in the Aotearoa New Zealand context explore and navigate the neoliberal university through a collaborative autoethnography. Collectively, we adopt Barnett’s [2018. The ecological university: A feasible utopia. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.] five dimensions of ecologies framework to study our own experiences. Findings suggest that as ECAs, we seek connection to academia, experience workload and power imbalance, and actively learn how to navigate roles. We also describe how our research group created a supportive environment within the competitive space of academia that fostered feelings of belonging and offered support in navigating the university ecology. Furthermore, working in initial teacher education, as a high service discipline, created unique challenges for us such as high service and teaching roles which may negatively impact ECAs. Through this lens of initial teacher education, we in turn make recommendations for universities to better support early career academics.

text: Early career academics navigating the ecology of the university: a collaborative autoethnography Early career academics (ECAs) are negatively affected by the neoliberal university which encourages performativity, competition and a ‘publish or perish’ mentality. In this paper a group of four ECAs in the Aotearoa New Zealand context explore and navigate the neoliberal university through a collaborative autoethnography. Collectively, we adopt Barnett’s [2018. The ecological university: A feasible utopia. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.] five dimensions of ecologies framework to study our own experiences. Findings suggest that as ECAs, we seek connection to academia, experience workload and power imbalance, and actively learn how to navigate roles. We also describe how our research group created a supportive environment within the competitive space of academia that fostered feelings of belonging and offered support in navigating the university ecology. Furthermore, working in initial teacher education, as a high service discipline, created unique challenges for us such as high service and teaching roles which may negatively impact ECAs. Through this lens of initial teacher education, we in turn make recommendations for universities to better support early career academics.

year: 2025

title: Culturally responsive teaching in a globalized world

authors: Volante, Louis

abstract: In an increasingly diverse global education landscape, culturally responsive teaching (CRT) is vital for equitable learning. CRT involves recognizing and incorporating students' cultural backgrounds in teaching practices. While current discussions emphasize the need for diverse role models and experiences in classrooms, a crucial aspect often overlooked is the development of culturally responsive assessment and evaluation practices. Education systems and teachers must adapt assessment strategies to boost student success. The imbalance between student and teacher diversity underscores the necessity of attracting a more representative demographic of teachers. Targeted recruitment efforts, enrollment targets, and specialized programs for underrepresented groups are strategies to enhance teacher diversity. However, with changing student demographics, providing relevant cultural training and professional development for teachers becomes imperative. Such training should move beyond traditional multicultural education, adopting a multi-dimensional approach that integrates content from diverse cultures and examines how cultural identity impacts learning. The importance of assessment literacy, the ability to use assessment to support learning, is highlighted. Assessment, traditionally used as a measure of final learning, should be incorporated throughout learning stages to provide meaningful feedback. Teachers need culturally responsive frameworks for fair assessment, emphasizing the need to combine CRT with attention to responsive assessment practices. Without addressing assessment practices, CRT's success in creating inclusive classrooms may be limited.

text: Culturally responsive teaching in a globalized world In an increasingly diverse global education landscape, culturally responsive teaching (CRT) is vital for equitable learning. CRT involves recognizing and incorporating students' cultural backgrounds in teaching practices. While current discussions emphasize the need for diverse role models and experiences in classrooms, a crucial aspect often overlooked is the development of culturally responsive assessment and evaluation practices. Education systems and teachers must adapt assessment strategies to boost student success. The imbalance between student and teacher diversity underscores the necessity of attracting a more representative demographic of teachers. Targeted recruitment efforts, enrollment targets, and specialized programs for underrepresented groups are strategies to enhance teacher diversity. However, with changing student demographics, providing relevant cultural training and professional development for teachers becomes imperative. Such training should move beyond traditional multicultural education, adopting a multi-dimensional approach that integrates content from diverse cultures and examines how cultural identity impacts learning. The importance of assessment literacy, the ability to use assessment to support learning, is highlighted. Assessment, traditionally used as a measure of final learning, should be incorporated throughout learning stages to provide meaningful feedback. Teachers need culturally responsive frameworks for fair assessment, emphasizing the need to combine CRT with attention to responsive assessment practices. Without addressing assessment practices, CRT's success in creating inclusive classrooms may be limited.

year: 2019-01-24

title: 'Making its own history': New Zealand historical fiction for children,1862-2008

authors: Clark, Louise Henriette

subjects: children's literature

abstract: This thesis considers historical fiction for children and young people dealing with New Zealand history from the arrival of the first Polynesian settlers to the end of the nineteenth century.  It provides both a comprehensive survey of historical novels published between 1862 and the end of 2008, and an analysis of the way the same historical events and periods have been depicted in historical novels written at different times.  Individual chapters discuss books set during specific historical periods or dealing with particular events - the pre-European period, early contact, nineteenth century immigration, the New Zealand Wars, the gold rushes, and the colonial period - in chronological order of publication.  Since children's literature is particularly adept at reflecting and promoting the dominant ideas of the society in which it is produced, the chronological consideration of these texts reveals contemporary attitudes to such issues as race relations, gender roles, class, war and conflict, and concepts of national identity, as well as the way historical fiction has responded to societal changes since the 1860s.  

The predominant themes of historical fiction set prior to 1900 are: the arrival of settlers in New Zealand; encounters with the country's indigenous inhabitants; the taming of the often hostile landscape; the assertion of the settlers' claims to 'belong' in their new land; and the establishment of New Zealand as a nation with distinctive characteristics.  There are perceptible nuances and differences in the way these themes are discussed depending on the historical moment in which individual authors are writing.  Novels of the Victorian period and early twentieth century reflect the imperialistic and evangelistic ethos of the time, and present the British settlers' right to colonize the land and the ensuing dispossession of Māori as largely unproblematic.  Subsequent historical novels, particularly those written since the 1960s, offer a more inclusive version of New Zealand history, although the lack of historical fiction for children by Māori writers means that Eurocentric views of history continue to dominate, and that all representations of Māori and their history are mediated through Pakeha writers.

Shifts in social attitudes have resulted in changes in the treatment of Māori in historical novels for children, and similar changes have occurred in the portrayal of gender, class, and ethnicity.  The passage of time has seen increased agency and a wider variety of roles allocated to Māori, female and working class characters, as well as greater ethnic diversity.  Developments in New Zealand historiography are also reflected in fiction, although at times historical fiction prefigures written histories, or provides alternative views by depicting the experience of women, children and Māori, who often did not feature in conventional histories.  While many historical novels for children, especially the earlier texts, are adventure stories set in the past and are not necessarily concerned with historical verisimilitude, an increasing number attempt to present authentic recreations of historical periods, including accounts of actual people and events, based on extensive research, and reinforced with peritextual material in the form of historical notes, bibliographies, maps and photographs.  

The role of New Zealand historical fiction for children and young people has been not only to entertain young readers and inform them about their country's past, but to create and foster a sense of national identity.

text: 'Making its own history': New Zealand historical fiction for children,1862-2008 This thesis considers historical fiction for children and young people dealing with New Zealand history from the arrival of the first Polynesian settlers to the end of the nineteenth century.  It provides both a comprehensive survey of historical novels published between 1862 and the end of 2008, and an analysis of the way the same historical events and periods have been depicted in historical novels written at different times.  Individual chapters discuss books set during specific historical periods or dealing with particular events - the pre-European period, early contact, nineteenth century immigration, the New Zealand Wars, the gold rushes, and the colonial period - in chronological order of publication.  Since children's literature is particularly adept at reflecting and promoting the dominant ideas of the society in which it is produced, the chronological consideration of these texts reveals contemporary attitudes to such issues as race relations, gender roles, class, war and conflict, and concepts of national identity, as well as the way historical fiction has responded to societal changes since the 1860s.  

The predominant themes of historical fiction set prior to 1900 are: the arrival of settlers in New Zealand; encounters with the country's indigenous inhabitants; the taming of the often hostile landscape; the assertion of the settlers' claims to 'belong' in their new land; and the establishment of New Zealand as a nation with distinctive characteristics.  There are perceptible nuances and differences in the way these themes are discussed depending on the historical moment in which individual authors are writing.  Novels of the Victorian period and early twentieth century reflect the imperialistic and evangelistic ethos of the time, and present the British settlers' right to colonize the land and the ensuing dispossession of Māori as largely unproblematic.  Subsequent historical novels, particularly those written since the 1960s, offer a more inclusive version of New Zealand history, although the lack of historical fiction for children by Māori writers means that Eurocentric views of history continue to dominate, and that all representations of Māori and their history are mediated through Pakeha writers.

Shifts in social attitudes have resulted in changes in the treatment of Māori in historical novels for children, and similar changes have occurred in the portrayal of gender, class, and ethnicity.  The passage of time has seen increased agency and a wider variety of roles allocated to Māori, female and working class characters, as well as greater ethnic diversity.  Developments in New Zealand historiography are also reflected in fiction, although at times historical fiction prefigures written histories, or provides alternative views by depicting the experience of women, children and Māori, who often did not feature in conventional histories.  While many historical novels for children, especially the earlier texts, are adventure stories set in the past and are not necessarily concerned with historical verisimilitude, an increasing number attempt to present authentic recreations of historical periods, including accounts of actual people and events, based on extensive research, and reinforced with peritextual material in the form of historical notes, bibliographies, maps and photographs.  

The role of New Zealand historical fiction for children and young people has been not only to entertain young readers and inform them about their country's past, but to create and foster a sense of national identity.

year: 2010