Pacific Research and Policy Centre

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    Physical Education (PE) as a pathway to empowerment of young people in Rarotonga, Cook Islands : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Greene, Michelle
    The Cook Islands secondary school’s curriculum Oraanga e te Tupuanga Meitaki | The Health and Well-being Curriculum (OTM | HWC) derives from the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC). While a western education system is based on the concept of building human capital, which conflicts with Pacific Indigenous education values, The OTM | HWC has been adapted to include Cook Islands values and philosophies. Despite a well-intentioned curriculum, the implementation may face additional challenges, with resourcing and teacher recruitment. The design and delivery of the OTM | HWC has the potential to educate the whole person, but students experiences may differ from intended outcomes. With this in mind, the aim of this research is to understand the potential that a culturally relevant Physical Education (PE) curriculum has to empower young people. This research therefore asks: 1) How has the OTM | HWC been adapted and implemented in Rarotonga, Cook Islands? 2) How is culture utilised within the curriculum and how did this play out in schools? 3) What challenges might be present with respect to the design and delivery of PE programmes? As this thesis is grounded in Development Studies and draws from theories of Sport for Development and PE for Development, of particular interest is understanding from a gendered perspective how PE can facilitate empowerment in Rarotonga. This research is a qualitative case study. Fieldwork was undertaken in two secondary schools in Rarotonga, both of which follow an NZ model of education in the senior school, with students gaining the NZ qualification the National Certificate in Education Achievement (NCEA). Methods of data collection consisted of classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, focus groups and a fieldwork journal. In total 25 participants were interviewed. Through the application of a culturally relevant empowerment framework, which was the theoretical lens by which the findings were deliberated, this research contributes to new ways of understanding the experiences of young men and women within the PE classroom. The research found that several challenges exist including the recruitment of qualified teachers, difficulties with facilities and efforts needed to encourage students who were reluctant to participate. This research shows that social connections with friends and classmates were crucial in the enjoyment of physical activity. This is closely linked with tu akangateitei (respect), which students believed should be shown to the teacher and others when participating. Additionally, self-efficacy was a large contributing factor to participation and enjoyment, with girls often perceiving they lacked in ability. A prevailing hegemonic masculinity influenced the behaviours of boys in the classroom, with some sports having the potential to threaten culturally defined masculinities. For empowerment to be culturally relevant within the PE classroom in Rarotonga, focusing on inclusion and support within activities that do not always focus on physical capability is essential. The inclusion of vaka and other cultural games in the curriculum is fundamental to ensuring local values are maintained and perpetuated.
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    Food for thought : increasing nutritional diversity by adapting to droughts in Timor-Leste's permaculture/agroecology garden schools : a research project presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Marra, Peter
    The main aim of the research was to explore community resilience, and specifically whether and how garden schools that use permaculture/agroecology principles may be usefully contributing to adaptation to climate change and nutritional diversity in Timor-Leste. The research also aimed to investigate the challenge of implementing garden schools in Timor-Leste. Specifically, targets of the Sustainable Development Goals relating to water conservation, resilience and food security were utilized to measure the progress of garden schools. The above is embedded in a conceptual agroecology framework that assesses the resilience of food growing systems in relation to climate change as the schools utilize permaculture/agroecology principles, with permaculture being a form of agroecology. Timor-Leste is now faced with extreme climate patterns as a result of climate change that can lead to more prolonged droughts. This study used a qualitative methodolology, which included interviews of teachers with school gardens, to help understand how teachers and their students are adapting to these droughts. The study also examines nutritional diversity in schools and the benefits and challenges of implementing school gardens. Furthermore, the study explores the transfer of nutritional and gardening knowledge from schools to the community to increase community resilience. The research revealed that garden schools internationally improve students’ scientific understanding and agricultural knowledge and their taste for locally grown fruit and vegetables. The school gardens in Timor-Leste have multiple benefits with regard to improving educational outcomes and community resilience as a school garden transforms a schoolyard into a green laboratory for students to learn about nutrition, mathematics and linguistics.
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    Netting the maroro : an exploration of Cook Islands teachers' beliefs about language learning and teaching : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Second Language Teaching at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2003) Edwards, Frances Catherine Edith
    Teachers' beliefs play an important role in teachers' decision making processes and affect their practice. Beliefs are situated within specific contexts. Little work has been done to investigate the beliefs of language teachers in the South Pacific. This study investigated the beliefs about language learning and language teaching of Cook Islands teachers working in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. The research used a qualitative approach based on questionnaires, interviews, and stimulated recall, including detailed case studies of three teachers. The findings suggest that the Cook Islands teachers involved in this study held beliefs about the language learning process, the nature and use of language, Cook Islands learners, the challenge of risk-taking by students in schools and the teacher's role within the classroom. Beliefs about the language learning process included those relating to initial and ongoing language acquisition, the relationship between written and spoken language, and the teaching strategies best suited to effective language learning. The role of phonics, reading, and the place of modelling were identified as particularly important. Beliefs relating to the nature and use of language included strongly identified beliefs about the links between culture and language and about the relationship between the languages used in the Cook Islands. Bilingualism was seen as an ideal goal but getting there was seen as problematic. Teachers' beliefs about learners included beliefs about affective factors and the idea of learner readiness. Beliefs were held about the particular problems associated with risk-taking in Cook Islands classrooms. Teachers held beliefs about their roles, particularly in the relationships they have with students and school administrators including the ideas of tolerance and patience in providing a good learning environment for students. In situations where decision-making was needed, but individual beliefs were in conflict with each other, the process of more centrally held beliefs overriding other less centrally held beliefs was observed. Many of the beliefs held were influenced by teachers' own language learning experiences. Significant events in the teachers' lives were identified as important sources of beliefs and motivation. The influence of the historical colonial setting was particularly evident. The research shows that Cook Islands teachers have specific beliefs that influence their practice. These beliefs were found to be strongly related to the historical, social and professional context of the believer. Because of the effects of beliefs on practice it is important for beliefs to be considered in any process of teacher change. The findings of this research should help towards an understanding of teacher beliefs necessary for future initiatives aimed at improving language teacher practice.
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    What is the socio-linguistic context for teaching English writing to senior high school students in Fiji? : a thesis completed in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy (Humanities and Social Sciences) in Second Language Teaching, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2014) Nicholls, Lynn
    This study explores teaching practices for expository writing in a developing world context. A qualitative approach draws on a grounded theory model with three different high school case studies in Suva, Fiji. The participants were teachers and students from Form 6 English classes. The linguistic landscape is diverse, with the two majority ethnicities comprising of indigenous Fijian and Fijian both learning different vernacular languages as mediums of instruction for the first three years of school. Standard Fijian and Standard Hindi taught in schools are not always the languages these students speak at home. While English is the medium of instruction taught in schools from Class 4, there is no official language of instruction policy. Students who have English as their second language face challenges in achieving the academic genre of writing. A pass criterion for English proficiency comes with high stakes for success in tertiary studies, with writing for examinations being the only method of assessment. The study found that teachers lacked appropriate resources for teaching this genre of writing, and therefore resorted to teaching more simple formal writing options. Teacher training and professional development in the areas of second language teaching and unit writing appear inadequate in supporting the teaching and learning writing process, and as a result students may not be adequately prepared for their aspirations of going to university.
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    A comparative study of the language used by New Zealand children of European and of Samoan descent aged 6 years 10 months to 8 years in conversation with an adult : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Language at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1979) Moynihan, Isobel Mary
    The research represents an attempt to establish some normative data for the oral language performance of native-English speaking children aged 6 years 10 months to 8 years in conversation with an adult, and by examining the performance of Samoan children in the same age-group to determine those areas which discriminate most strongly between the performances of both groups. Children were interviewed individually and the conversations recorded over a thirty-minute period. Tapes were transcribed on the same day as the recording, and the data quantified according to the procedures of Developmental Sentence Analysis Lee, L.L. and Koenigsknecht 1974, Developmental Sentence Analysis., which established a rank-order for each group. A more detailed analysis of the data was then made in order to identify those areas of development and/or of uncertainty which were common to both groups, and those which appeared only, or mainly, among the Samoan children. The statistical analysis, based on the developmental weighting of syntactic items, (DSS scores) indicated that where errors were specific to the Samoan children they occurred in structures described as early-developing among native-English speaking children. At the higher developmental levels, the performance of Samoan children above the 50th percentile (for that group) was similar to that of their English speaking age-mates. The classification of error-patterns also distinguished between 'growth errors' (where performance was characterized by over-generalizing or by substitution, for example), and 'deficiency errors' (where morphemes and syntactic items were omitted), the latter occurring more consistently among the Samoan children. In addition, a general indication of language development in relation to chronological age was derived by comparing the DSS scores of the Samoan children falling below the 25th percentile for that group with those obtained by younger children at the 50th percentile point for each one-year interval from age 4 to age 6. In the absence of New Zealand DSS norms for these age-levels, it was necessary to use those derived from a study of American children (Lee 1974), but the results are in accord with other New Zealand-based studies (See 0.1, Introduction) which have noted the "two-year gap" appearing around age 7 among Polynesian children when their achievement on a variety of measures and tests is compared with that of their Pakeha age-mates. In the present study, the "gap" ranged from about 20 months at the 25th percentile (for the Samoan group) to over 41 months at the 10th percentile. The general intention has been to sharpen the focus for teachers wishing to develop compensatory language programmes so that effort may be directed to those specific areas where non-native speaking children appear to have missed a developmental stage in their acquisition of English. The findings also suggest that difficulty with certain syntactic structures, semantic concepts, and phonological realizations is a function of age-level and the language-situation for both groups of subjects rather than of the ethnic background of the Samoan group.