title: Multiple senses of community among older Chinese migrants to New Zealand

authors: Li, Wendy Wen

subjects: ageing in place

abstract: Existing literature suggests that successful ageing is linked to a sense of community (SOC) that is developed through shared daily practices. For migrant groups, SOC can extend across home and receiving countries. In order to understand the issue of successful ageing in place and multiple SOCs among older Chinese migrants, this paper investigated 32 older Chinese migrants' narratives of developing a SOC in their local and home communities. Findings suggest that a SOC can be viewed as constructed through practices such as neighbouring and supportive interactions within local contexts as well as engagement with the home country via new media. The findings provide insights into everyday practices central to the cultivation of a SOC among the participants whose engagements span the cultural spaces of China and New Zealand. For example, the use of media contributes to the participants' SOCs both in China and New Zealand. As a result, they live in a transnational community that can be understood as an ‘imagined’ community where the participants engage with significant, although absent, Chinese others. Living between China and New Zealand, between homes and between languages, the participants create identity ‘inbetweenness’ that is constructed at the intersection of interdependent, compatible and mutually reinforcing communities and spaces. The findings therefore extend conventional understandings of ageing migrant experiences that assume successful ageing and community participation occur in one locale to an understanding of multiple SOCs within the context of transnationalism.

text: Multiple senses of community among older Chinese migrants to New Zealand Existing literature suggests that successful ageing is linked to a sense of community (SOC) that is developed through shared daily practices. For migrant groups, SOC can extend across home and receiving countries. In order to understand the issue of successful ageing in place and multiple SOCs among older Chinese migrants, this paper investigated 32 older Chinese migrants' narratives of developing a SOC in their local and home communities. Findings suggest that a SOC can be viewed as constructed through practices such as neighbouring and supportive interactions within local contexts as well as engagement with the home country via new media. The findings provide insights into everyday practices central to the cultivation of a SOC among the participants whose engagements span the cultural spaces of China and New Zealand. For example, the use of media contributes to the participants' SOCs both in China and New Zealand. As a result, they live in a transnational community that can be understood as an ‘imagined’ community where the participants engage with significant, although absent, Chinese others. Living between China and New Zealand, between homes and between languages, the participants create identity ‘inbetweenness’ that is constructed at the intersection of interdependent, compatible and mutually reinforcing communities and spaces. The findings therefore extend conventional understandings of ageing migrant experiences that assume successful ageing and community participation occur in one locale to an understanding of multiple SOCs within the context of transnationalism.

year: 2014

title: Understanding the emotional environment of the classroom

authors: Harvey, Shane Trevor

abstract: Gottman's work on "meta-emotion" reveals the impact of parents' emotional interactions on their children's emotional development; however there has been no analysis of comparable teacher influences on children in school settings. This research was an attempt to understand how emotion-related variables influence classroom atmosphere and pupils' emotional competence. Several studies were conducted in this research project. The first part of the thesis involved two studies. First, teachers identified by reputation as having an emotionally sensitive and calming teaching style were asked in focus groups to explain the methods they used to ensure that children developed emotionally as well as educationally. Second, students whose emotional and behavioural difficulties had improved dramatically from one year to the next were asked to provide attributions for the change. Transcripts were analysed using content analysis and nonparametric grouping procedures to extract the predominant themes. These were subsequently organised into a descriptive model that represented the classroom emotional environment. 
The second part of this project involved three studies. First, teacher questionnaires for primary, secondary, and student teachers were designed to assess the qualities of the emotional environment. The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT, Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2002) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI, Derogatis, 1993) were administered concurrently to teachers for discriminative validation purposes. Second, two separate questionnaires on the classroom emotional environment for (i) primary and (ii) secondary school students were constructed. Students were asked to concurrently complete the student questionnaire on the classroom emotional environment, the Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Test for Youth (EQ-i:YV, Bar-On & Parker, 2000), and the Emotion Regulation Scales for Youth (ERS-Y, Kovacs, unpublished test). These questionnaires were structurally analysed and the relationships between the emotional environment, emotional intelligence, and emotion regulation were explored and discussed. 
Findings from these series of studies are as follows. First, based on the focus group studies, five superordinate dimensions were found to contribute to the classroom emotional environment. The five-dimensional model consists of emotional relationship, emotional awareness, emotional intrapersonal beliefs, emotion coaching, and emotional interpersonal guidelines. These dimensions were further sub-divided into secondary categories: Emotional relationships involves rapport between teachers and their students, and students' connectedness with their peers; emotional awareness includes teachers' awareness of emotions-both their own and their pupils'; emotion coaching consists of teachers' emotion regulation and their coaching of students' emotional responses; emotional intrapersonal beliefs involves emotional philosophy, emotional attitude, and emotional acceptance of self and others. Emotional interpersonal guidelines are separated into emotional boundaries and emotional standards. Four exemplars relating to emotional boundaries are boundaries in self, limit setting, expectations, and structure. Likewise, four examples representing emotional standards include fairness, respect, availability, and trust or belief in students. These dimensions exist to varying degrees across four contexts: Personal, teacher-student, student-student, and teacher-class. Not all superordinate dimensions distribute evenly across these four contexts. Factor loadings of the teacher-based questionnaire provided support for these five superordinate dimensions and their respective subcomponents. Second, teachers' emotional intelligence and psychological symptoms were found to be unrelated to the emotional environment. Third, emotion regulation and emotional intelligence as measured by the ERS-Y and the Bar0n EQ-i:YV respectively, were significantly related to the questionnaires on the classroom emotional environment for both primary and secondary students. Fourth, primary school students' data from the Classroom Emotional Environment Questionnaire loaded on positive and negative factors. In contrast, secondary school student data loaded onto five components representing both negative and positive factors and factors indicative of hypothesised model dimensions such as emotional awareness, emotional relationship, and emotional intrapersonal beliefs. 
Various implications emerge as a direct result of this study. First, this study organises groupings of emotional behaviours that occur within the classroom context into a framework. This introduces the possibility of measuring and critiquing the emotional environment of the classroom. Second, understanding the classroom emotional environment may act as an adjunct to successful management of pupils' behaviour. Third, interventions designed to address teachers' skills in developing the emotional environment may promote positive emotional development in children. These results emphasise the complexity of the work teachers perform on a daily basis. To continue teachers' invaluable contribution and commitment to pupils' emotional well being invariably means ensuring that teachers' emotional health and safety are protected and that psycho-education is provided to teachers on skills contributing to healthy classroom emotional atmospheres. These results contribute to a developing field of knowledge in both education and psychology investigating the link between implicit everyday emotional experiences and emotional development in children.

text: Understanding the emotional environment of the classroom Gottman's work on "meta-emotion" reveals the impact of parents' emotional interactions on their children's emotional development; however there has been no analysis of comparable teacher influences on children in school settings. This research was an attempt to understand how emotion-related variables influence classroom atmosphere and pupils' emotional competence. Several studies were conducted in this research project. The first part of the thesis involved two studies. First, teachers identified by reputation as having an emotionally sensitive and calming teaching style were asked in focus groups to explain the methods they used to ensure that children developed emotionally as well as educationally. Second, students whose emotional and behavioural difficulties had improved dramatically from one year to the next were asked to provide attributions for the change. Transcripts were analysed using content analysis and nonparametric grouping procedures to extract the predominant themes. These were subsequently organised into a descriptive model that represented the classroom emotional environment. 
The second part of this project involved three studies. First, teacher questionnaires for primary, secondary, and student teachers were designed to assess the qualities of the emotional environment. The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT, Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2002) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI, Derogatis, 1993) were administered concurrently to teachers for discriminative validation purposes. Second, two separate questionnaires on the classroom emotional environment for (i) primary and (ii) secondary school students were constructed. Students were asked to concurrently complete the student questionnaire on the classroom emotional environment, the Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Test for Youth (EQ-i:YV, Bar-On & Parker, 2000), and the Emotion Regulation Scales for Youth (ERS-Y, Kovacs, unpublished test). These questionnaires were structurally analysed and the relationships between the emotional environment, emotional intelligence, and emotion regulation were explored and discussed. 
Findings from these series of studies are as follows. First, based on the focus group studies, five superordinate dimensions were found to contribute to the classroom emotional environment. The five-dimensional model consists of emotional relationship, emotional awareness, emotional intrapersonal beliefs, emotion coaching, and emotional interpersonal guidelines. These dimensions were further sub-divided into secondary categories: Emotional relationships involves rapport between teachers and their students, and students' connectedness with their peers; emotional awareness includes teachers' awareness of emotions-both their own and their pupils'; emotion coaching consists of teachers' emotion regulation and their coaching of students' emotional responses; emotional intrapersonal beliefs involves emotional philosophy, emotional attitude, and emotional acceptance of self and others. Emotional interpersonal guidelines are separated into emotional boundaries and emotional standards. Four exemplars relating to emotional boundaries are boundaries in self, limit setting, expectations, and structure. Likewise, four examples representing emotional standards include fairness, respect, availability, and trust or belief in students. These dimensions exist to varying degrees across four contexts: Personal, teacher-student, student-student, and teacher-class. Not all superordinate dimensions distribute evenly across these four contexts. Factor loadings of the teacher-based questionnaire provided support for these five superordinate dimensions and their respective subcomponents. Second, teachers' emotional intelligence and psychological symptoms were found to be unrelated to the emotional environment. Third, emotion regulation and emotional intelligence as measured by the ERS-Y and the Bar0n EQ-i:YV respectively, were significantly related to the questionnaires on the classroom emotional environment for both primary and secondary students. Fourth, primary school students' data from the Classroom Emotional Environment Questionnaire loaded on positive and negative factors. In contrast, secondary school student data loaded onto five components representing both negative and positive factors and factors indicative of hypothesised model dimensions such as emotional awareness, emotional relationship, and emotional intrapersonal beliefs. 
Various implications emerge as a direct result of this study. First, this study organises groupings of emotional behaviours that occur within the classroom context into a framework. This introduces the possibility of measuring and critiquing the emotional environment of the classroom. Second, understanding the classroom emotional environment may act as an adjunct to successful management of pupils' behaviour. Third, interventions designed to address teachers' skills in developing the emotional environment may promote positive emotional development in children. These results emphasise the complexity of the work teachers perform on a daily basis. To continue teachers' invaluable contribution and commitment to pupils' emotional well being invariably means ensuring that teachers' emotional health and safety are protected and that psycho-education is provided to teachers on skills contributing to healthy classroom emotional atmospheres. These results contribute to a developing field of knowledge in both education and psychology investigating the link between implicit everyday emotional experiences and emotional development in children.

year: 2004

title: Engaging the parent/whānau community: Methods, benefits, and challenges for senior leaders in small town and rural New Zealand secondary schools

authors: Kallahar, David

abstract: Engaging parents and whānau (family) in a respectful partnership that develops strong home-school connections and uses effective methods of engagement has the potential to positively affect student outcomes. However, there are also methods of engagement that can be counterproductive and negatively affect student outcomes. This study presents how senior leaders in small town and rural secondary schools in New Zealand are engaging with their parent and whānau community. The investigation reveals what methods they are using to engage parents and whānau and, how effective they and a small number of parents and whānau consider these are, then outlines some of the benefits and challenges that they face in this process. 
The literature reviewed for this study emphasised the benefits of engagement between parents, whānau and school leaders, along with the essential ingredients necessary for successful home-school partnerships and how senior leaders play a critical role in developing the conditions for schools’ engagement with their parent and whānau community. The consideration of aspects from New Zealand’s political and educational history illuminated possible reasons why parents and whānau of Māori descent struggle to connect with schools, and how concepts which have traditionally guided the way of life for these indigenous people can be and are being used by school leaders to develop strong, respectful enduring partnerships. Research on the rural context and how schools in this type of location manage engagement was also studied and seen as yet another factor that senior leaders need to bear in mind when planning for engagement. Examination of three types of engagement – involvement, empowerment, and solidarity, revealed that each is characterised by certain practices and represent a progression in the level of contribution and commitment parents and whānau give to the school. Engagement and progression are, however, dependent on how connected parents and whānau are to their child’s school and how much of a sense of belonging they have.
The study was conducted using an interpretive paradigm to afford richer more detailed descriptions to be gathered from both the senior leaders at three small town and rural schools, and some of the parent and whānau community of each of these schools. A mixed-methods approach was taken to gather and triangulate both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data collected and analysed included semi-structured interviews with senior leaders, descriptive survey submissions from parents and whānau, along with planning and review documents for each school. Quantitative data derived from parents and whānau surveys and represents their preferred methods of engagement with the school statistically.
The study findings indicate that the schools use a range of methods to engage parents and whānau. These include face to face interactions and time-efficient digital communication systems. Some such as an open door policy and parent conferences were reported as effective by leaders and whānau. Furthermore, it was found that there is no one way to engage with all parents and whānau, some liked to participate in events and activities and derived a sense of belonging from this while others simply preferred to gather information and not engage with the school beyond this need. 
Partnerships between parents, whānau and school leaders that were built on respectful relationships and the acknowledgement of difference were said to lead to stronger connections and more productive working relationships, by the senior leaders in all of the schools in the study. These could be said to reflect the use of guiding concepts for living in partnership used by Māori, which the schools in this study were using as foundations in building and sustaining the partnerships with their parents and whānau. The three types of engagement, structured in a progressive framework, also illustrated to school leaders where their parent and whānau community were situated and where they as leaders needed to work further to strengthen and secure both the partnership and to increase engagement.   
Further research as a result of this study could relate to gaining a better understanding of why specific methods of engagement are more acceptable to parents and whānau than others. It could involve looking at the delivery of these methods by senior leaders in more detail, and trialling the three-stage framework on a larger scale and in different contexts, particularly in urban areas where school roll numbers are higher, and communities are less connected.

text: Engaging the parent/whānau community: Methods, benefits, and challenges for senior leaders in small town and rural New Zealand secondary schools Engaging parents and whānau (family) in a respectful partnership that develops strong home-school connections and uses effective methods of engagement has the potential to positively affect student outcomes. However, there are also methods of engagement that can be counterproductive and negatively affect student outcomes. This study presents how senior leaders in small town and rural secondary schools in New Zealand are engaging with their parent and whānau community. The investigation reveals what methods they are using to engage parents and whānau and, how effective they and a small number of parents and whānau consider these are, then outlines some of the benefits and challenges that they face in this process. 
The literature reviewed for this study emphasised the benefits of engagement between parents, whānau and school leaders, along with the essential ingredients necessary for successful home-school partnerships and how senior leaders play a critical role in developing the conditions for schools’ engagement with their parent and whānau community. The consideration of aspects from New Zealand’s political and educational history illuminated possible reasons why parents and whānau of Māori descent struggle to connect with schools, and how concepts which have traditionally guided the way of life for these indigenous people can be and are being used by school leaders to develop strong, respectful enduring partnerships. Research on the rural context and how schools in this type of location manage engagement was also studied and seen as yet another factor that senior leaders need to bear in mind when planning for engagement. Examination of three types of engagement – involvement, empowerment, and solidarity, revealed that each is characterised by certain practices and represent a progression in the level of contribution and commitment parents and whānau give to the school. Engagement and progression are, however, dependent on how connected parents and whānau are to their child’s school and how much of a sense of belonging they have.
The study was conducted using an interpretive paradigm to afford richer more detailed descriptions to be gathered from both the senior leaders at three small town and rural schools, and some of the parent and whānau community of each of these schools. A mixed-methods approach was taken to gather and triangulate both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data collected and analysed included semi-structured interviews with senior leaders, descriptive survey submissions from parents and whānau, along with planning and review documents for each school. Quantitative data derived from parents and whānau surveys and represents their preferred methods of engagement with the school statistically.
The study findings indicate that the schools use a range of methods to engage parents and whānau. These include face to face interactions and time-efficient digital communication systems. Some such as an open door policy and parent conferences were reported as effective by leaders and whānau. Furthermore, it was found that there is no one way to engage with all parents and whānau, some liked to participate in events and activities and derived a sense of belonging from this while others simply preferred to gather information and not engage with the school beyond this need. 
Partnerships between parents, whānau and school leaders that were built on respectful relationships and the acknowledgement of difference were said to lead to stronger connections and more productive working relationships, by the senior leaders in all of the schools in the study. These could be said to reflect the use of guiding concepts for living in partnership used by Māori, which the schools in this study were using as foundations in building and sustaining the partnerships with their parents and whānau. The three types of engagement, structured in a progressive framework, also illustrated to school leaders where their parent and whānau community were situated and where they as leaders needed to work further to strengthen and secure both the partnership and to increase engagement.   
Further research as a result of this study could relate to gaining a better understanding of why specific methods of engagement are more acceptable to parents and whānau than others. It could involve looking at the delivery of these methods by senior leaders in more detail, and trialling the three-stage framework on a larger scale and in different contexts, particularly in urban areas where school roll numbers are higher, and communities are less connected.

year: 2020