title: What happened to educational criticism? Engaging with a paradigm for observation

authors: Locke, Terry

subjects: educational research

abstract: In The Educational Imagination, Elliot Eisner presents a theory of educational criticism and a form of qualitative research in education. Central to his theory is the notion of the connoisseur, a particular kind of observer who, on the basis of certain qualities, can be trusted to write an incisive and illuminating account of an educational setting. The theory is illustrated by a range of examples of educational criticism in practice. This paper reflects on the author's attempt to apply educational criticism in a self-reflexive way in the context of a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative project on teaching literature in the multicultural classroom. A number of questions are raised about observation as a data collection instrument, the ethics of observation and reporting, and ways in which a commitment to dialogue can impact on the textual products of criticism. If the observed teacher is an artist, what might they want to say to the connoisseur observer and how might this talking back affect the criticism itself?

text: What happened to educational criticism? Engaging with a paradigm for observation In The Educational Imagination, Elliot Eisner presents a theory of educational criticism and a form of qualitative research in education. Central to his theory is the notion of the connoisseur, a particular kind of observer who, on the basis of certain qualities, can be trusted to write an incisive and illuminating account of an educational setting. The theory is illustrated by a range of examples of educational criticism in practice. This paper reflects on the author's attempt to apply educational criticism in a self-reflexive way in the context of a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative project on teaching literature in the multicultural classroom. A number of questions are raised about observation as a data collection instrument, the ethics of observation and reporting, and ways in which a commitment to dialogue can impact on the textual products of criticism. If the observed teacher is an artist, what might they want to say to the connoisseur observer and how might this talking back affect the criticism itself?

year: 2009

title: International Human Rights Law

authors: Breen, Claire

abstract: Obligations stemming from United Nations treaty and Charter based bodies resulted in an active year for New Zealand in 2014. New Zealand engaged, for the first time, with the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and also submitted its sixth periodic report¹ under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT).² New Zealand underwent its second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and continued its active engagement within the UN Human Rights Council. This note reviews these and other aspects of New Zealand’s state practice in the area of human rights in 2014.

text: International Human Rights Law Obligations stemming from United Nations treaty and Charter based bodies resulted in an active year for New Zealand in 2014. New Zealand engaged, for the first time, with the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and also submitted its sixth periodic report¹ under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT).² New Zealand underwent its second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and continued its active engagement within the UN Human Rights Council. This note reviews these and other aspects of New Zealand’s state practice in the area of human rights in 2014.

year: 2014

title: The Māori language curriculum for New Zealand schools: Spiral lesson/ lesson sequence design

authors: Johnson, Diane

subjects: Māori language teaching

abstract: A draft curriculum document for the teaching and learning of te reo Māori as a subject in mainstream schools in New Zealand (that is, in schools other than Kura Kaupapa Māori schools) was designed and trialled in 2004 and 2005. That draft is currently being reworked in line with the advice of those who trialled the document as well as that of a team of advisers set up by the Ministry of Education. The revised curriculum document will be submitted to the Ministry of Education in May 2006. As is the case with all new curriculum documents, the implementation phase will be critical. The extent to which this flexible, outcomes-focused curriculum document will genuinely inform new approaches to teaching and learning will depend not only upon the good will of teachers and communities, but also upon their ability to interpret the curriculum and to use it in a way that informs the design of language programmes, including the planning of units of work and of lessons and lesson sequences. In balancing language development and language practice, a communicative core and spiral approach is recommended, an approach in which there are core lessons (where the focus is language development) and spiral lessons (where the focus is language practice). In an earlier issue of this Journal (Johnson, 2003), one of us discussed core lesson design. Here, the design of spiral lessons is discussed and exemplified in the context of an outcomes-based curriculum.

text: The Māori language curriculum for New Zealand schools: Spiral lesson/ lesson sequence design A draft curriculum document for the teaching and learning of te reo Māori as a subject in mainstream schools in New Zealand (that is, in schools other than Kura Kaupapa Māori schools) was designed and trialled in 2004 and 2005. That draft is currently being reworked in line with the advice of those who trialled the document as well as that of a team of advisers set up by the Ministry of Education. The revised curriculum document will be submitted to the Ministry of Education in May 2006. As is the case with all new curriculum documents, the implementation phase will be critical. The extent to which this flexible, outcomes-focused curriculum document will genuinely inform new approaches to teaching and learning will depend not only upon the good will of teachers and communities, but also upon their ability to interpret the curriculum and to use it in a way that informs the design of language programmes, including the planning of units of work and of lessons and lesson sequences. In balancing language development and language practice, a communicative core and spiral approach is recommended, an approach in which there are core lessons (where the focus is language development) and spiral lessons (where the focus is language practice). In an earlier issue of this Journal (Johnson, 2003), one of us discussed core lesson design. Here, the design of spiral lessons is discussed and exemplified in the context of an outcomes-based curriculum.

year: 2005