title: An exploration of issues for effective home-school communication strategies with Asian immigrant parents

authors: Gilby, Karen Lynette Douglas

subjects: home-school communication

abstract: The far-reaching effects of 21st century globalisation have meant that schools are facing an increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse parent community, a situation which presents educators with both opportunities and challenges. While international academic literature has recently begun to focus on the issues and challenges of cross-cultural communication with Asian immigrant parents in Western societies, New Zealand-based educational research has focused on independent international fee-paying students, as opposed to New Zealand-domiciled students and their parents. Post-modern influences, with the resultant emphasis on contextualisation of education, combined with increasing cultural and linguistic diversity in the parent community, has underscored the need for effective home-school communication practices.

This small-scale, exploratory, qualitative research project documents the personal home-school communication experiences of Asian immigrant parents. The study uses empirical data collected from semi-structured individual and group interviews with seven parents from Korea, Hong-Kong and Mainland China, who reside in Tauranga, a growing provincial city located in the Bay of Plenty region, New Zealand. By focusing on the implementation of the revised New Zealand Curriculum and the inaugural changes to the National Certificate in Educational Achievement (NCEA) Level 1 qualification in 2011, this research examines the extent of parental understanding and the effectiveness of current home-school communication practices.
 
The findings reveal that current home-school communication processes and practices are largely ineffective with this parent group, and highlight the disparity between high parental expectations and the rudimentary knowledge that they hold. A thematic analysis corroborates empirical data with academic rationale, and highlights an extensive language barrier, unrecognised cultural aspects of communication, inaccurate knowledge from alternative sources of information, and potentially conflicting worldviews of education.

A strategic leadership vision, along with a multifaceted commitment to action, is required to adopt approaches to home-school communication which facilitate effective communication, as well as the inclusion and integration of Asian immigrant parents as legitimate and recognised members of the school community. This study recommends the provision of multi-lingual resources for parents, ethnic-specific parent meetings, a formal liaison and advocacy role, and the development of ethnic community links to enhance home-school communication practices.
 
The discussion concludes with an epilogue, which outlines an ethnic-specific Korean parent meeting and demonstrates the practical application of recommendations contained within the study.

text: An exploration of issues for effective home-school communication strategies with Asian immigrant parents The far-reaching effects of 21st century globalisation have meant that schools are facing an increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse parent community, a situation which presents educators with both opportunities and challenges. While international academic literature has recently begun to focus on the issues and challenges of cross-cultural communication with Asian immigrant parents in Western societies, New Zealand-based educational research has focused on independent international fee-paying students, as opposed to New Zealand-domiciled students and their parents. Post-modern influences, with the resultant emphasis on contextualisation of education, combined with increasing cultural and linguistic diversity in the parent community, has underscored the need for effective home-school communication practices.

This small-scale, exploratory, qualitative research project documents the personal home-school communication experiences of Asian immigrant parents. The study uses empirical data collected from semi-structured individual and group interviews with seven parents from Korea, Hong-Kong and Mainland China, who reside in Tauranga, a growing provincial city located in the Bay of Plenty region, New Zealand. By focusing on the implementation of the revised New Zealand Curriculum and the inaugural changes to the National Certificate in Educational Achievement (NCEA) Level 1 qualification in 2011, this research examines the extent of parental understanding and the effectiveness of current home-school communication practices.
 
The findings reveal that current home-school communication processes and practices are largely ineffective with this parent group, and highlight the disparity between high parental expectations and the rudimentary knowledge that they hold. A thematic analysis corroborates empirical data with academic rationale, and highlights an extensive language barrier, unrecognised cultural aspects of communication, inaccurate knowledge from alternative sources of information, and potentially conflicting worldviews of education.

A strategic leadership vision, along with a multifaceted commitment to action, is required to adopt approaches to home-school communication which facilitate effective communication, as well as the inclusion and integration of Asian immigrant parents as legitimate and recognised members of the school community. This study recommends the provision of multi-lingual resources for parents, ethnic-specific parent meetings, a formal liaison and advocacy role, and the development of ethnic community links to enhance home-school communication practices.
 
The discussion concludes with an epilogue, which outlines an ethnic-specific Korean parent meeting and demonstrates the practical application of recommendations contained within the study.

year: 2012

title: Paradoxical Performances of Subjectivities, Spaces and Art Gallery Postcards

authors: Robinson, Christine

subjects: gallery postcards

abstract: This thesis examines the relationship between art gallery postcards, subjectivities and domestic spaces. Feminist post-structuralist debates on memory, subjectivity and domestic spaces provide the theoretical framework for this research into taken-for-granted objects of the everyday. Empirical data came from interviewing nine women who buy, use and keep postcards and two New Zealand Art Gallery store managers. Some of the participants were interviewed more than once, while others extended their views by e-mail. Auto-ethnographic narrative is used to explore further the symbolic significance of an individual's postcard consumption.
This research focuses attention on the production of gendered subjectivities and domestic spaces through an aesthetic artefact. There are three points to my analysis. Firstly, I argue paradoxically the under-noticed seemingly trivial gallery postcard becomes a memory holder and therefore a significant artefact of symbolic value. Memories are potent, elusive fragments that become attached to a sound, smell, touch or sight. Catching sight of a postcard can trigger a chain of memory associations, which in turn constructs a sense of self through the remembering. Secondly, I contend that subjectivity is understood as fluid and multiple, evolving out of experience and interpretation. Memories formed from experience and connections made with people, place and things become associated with gallery postcards and serve as a catalyst for personal narratives which in turn can operate as tools for constructing subjectivities. Finally I suggest that domestic spaces are a product of relations that can be understood as existing within and beyond the home. Stretched domestic space can be produced by the display of gallery postcards in office spaces. The exploration of the art gallery postcard adds to the knowledges of everyday objects and their role and significance in constructing gendered subjectivities and spaces.

text: Paradoxical Performances of Subjectivities, Spaces and Art Gallery Postcards This thesis examines the relationship between art gallery postcards, subjectivities and domestic spaces. Feminist post-structuralist debates on memory, subjectivity and domestic spaces provide the theoretical framework for this research into taken-for-granted objects of the everyday. Empirical data came from interviewing nine women who buy, use and keep postcards and two New Zealand Art Gallery store managers. Some of the participants were interviewed more than once, while others extended their views by e-mail. Auto-ethnographic narrative is used to explore further the symbolic significance of an individual's postcard consumption.
This research focuses attention on the production of gendered subjectivities and domestic spaces through an aesthetic artefact. There are three points to my analysis. Firstly, I argue paradoxically the under-noticed seemingly trivial gallery postcard becomes a memory holder and therefore a significant artefact of symbolic value. Memories are potent, elusive fragments that become attached to a sound, smell, touch or sight. Catching sight of a postcard can trigger a chain of memory associations, which in turn constructs a sense of self through the remembering. Secondly, I contend that subjectivity is understood as fluid and multiple, evolving out of experience and interpretation. Memories formed from experience and connections made with people, place and things become associated with gallery postcards and serve as a catalyst for personal narratives which in turn can operate as tools for constructing subjectivities. Finally I suggest that domestic spaces are a product of relations that can be understood as existing within and beyond the home. Stretched domestic space can be produced by the display of gallery postcards in office spaces. The exploration of the art gallery postcard adds to the knowledges of everyday objects and their role and significance in constructing gendered subjectivities and spaces.

year: 2007

title: Catchment and lake water quality modelling to assess management options for Lake Tutira

authors: McBride, Chris G.

abstract: Lake Tutira is an important ecological, historical and cultural asset to the Hawke’s Bay. It is a highly utilised trout fishery, a popular recreational destination, and is particularly significant to Ngāti Kahungunu, for its historical eel fishery and rongoa (medicinal) harakeke (flax) beds. The lake and its catchment have been substantially altered from their natural condition, including conversion of forested catchment to pasture, invasion by aquatic macrophytes such as Hydrilla sp., the introduction of grass carp (Ctenopharyngaodon idella) for weed management, and diversion of the largest stream inflow, Papakiri Stream (Sandy Creek), away from the lake and directly to the outflow (Mahiaruhe Stream) in the early 1980s. Lake Tutira’s history of poor water quality dates back decades, with Trophic Level Index (TLI; a metric of overall water quality) values from the 1960s similar to recent years, and blooms of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) recorded as early as the 1970s. Nevertheless, the years since 2010 have been characterised by very poor water quality and particularly severe blooms, sometimes resulting in near-complete loss of oxygen from surface waters and associated fish kill events. This has attracted media attention and provided impetus from community and stakeholders to assess available management options for restoring more natural conditions and improving water quality in the lake. 
This report examines the drivers of poor water quality and algal blooms the lake, and assesses various management options that have either been specifically proposed for Tutira, or have proven effective for other lakes in New Zealand and globally. Here we report on monitoring undertaken by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council in the catchment (surface inflows) and lake. We also apply state-of-the-art computer models for simulating physical, chemical, and biological processes in the catchment and lake. These simulations are then used to evaluate a range of management ‘scenarios’ to provide guidance on the likely effects of management options tested with the model.

text: Catchment and lake water quality modelling to assess management options for Lake Tutira Lake Tutira is an important ecological, historical and cultural asset to the Hawke’s Bay. It is a highly utilised trout fishery, a popular recreational destination, and is particularly significant to Ngāti Kahungunu, for its historical eel fishery and rongoa (medicinal) harakeke (flax) beds. The lake and its catchment have been substantially altered from their natural condition, including conversion of forested catchment to pasture, invasion by aquatic macrophytes such as Hydrilla sp., the introduction of grass carp (Ctenopharyngaodon idella) for weed management, and diversion of the largest stream inflow, Papakiri Stream (Sandy Creek), away from the lake and directly to the outflow (Mahiaruhe Stream) in the early 1980s. Lake Tutira’s history of poor water quality dates back decades, with Trophic Level Index (TLI; a metric of overall water quality) values from the 1960s similar to recent years, and blooms of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) recorded as early as the 1970s. Nevertheless, the years since 2010 have been characterised by very poor water quality and particularly severe blooms, sometimes resulting in near-complete loss of oxygen from surface waters and associated fish kill events. This has attracted media attention and provided impetus from community and stakeholders to assess available management options for restoring more natural conditions and improving water quality in the lake. 
This report examines the drivers of poor water quality and algal blooms the lake, and assesses various management options that have either been specifically proposed for Tutira, or have proven effective for other lakes in New Zealand and globally. Here we report on monitoring undertaken by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council in the catchment (surface inflows) and lake. We also apply state-of-the-art computer models for simulating physical, chemical, and biological processes in the catchment and lake. These simulations are then used to evaluate a range of management ‘scenarios’ to provide guidance on the likely effects of management options tested with the model.

year: 2017