Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Filters

1979 - 197912000 - 20021

Settings

Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.Rural education, New Zealand

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Rural school-community relationships : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1979) Frater, Garry Kingsley
    The Wanganui Education Board Annual Report for the Year Ended 31st January 1977 stated: "Without wishing to overstate the problem, it is worth recording that recent years have been marked by an increasing incidence of breakdown of amicable relationships between teachers and local communities." This study examines the area of rural education, and particularly that of rural school - community relationships in order to ascertain the 'nature, 'extent', 'reasons' and 'possible actions to help alleviate' such breakdowns occurring. The literature discussing rural education in New Zealand reveals the preoccupation of educational authorities since the time of early settlement with ensuring the country child receives a level of educational opportunity equal to his urban counterpart. Rural principals in the Wanganui Education Board in response to a questionnaire indicated their viewpoints on a range of matters related to 'living' and 'teaching' in rural communities. While many areas of satisfactions with living and teaching in rural communities were expressed, the 'morale' of rural principals appears to have been adversely affected, by such factors as the escalating cost of living and the status and promotion opportunities perceived in the proposed 'broadbanding' scheme. To ascertain the viewpoints of parents on a range of matters related to rural education, interviews were conducted with 17 school committees in the Wanganui Education Board district. The parents perceived the most important qualities of a rural principal to be: an ability to fit into a country community and communicate with its people; and having an attitude of interest and concern in the school and community. They also expressed a desire for more say in the appointment and termination of staffing. To determine the 'nature' and 'extent' of rural school - community relationship difficulties, data was solicited by questionnaire from N.Z.E.I. Counsellors involved in cases 'related to' and 'affecting' such relationships. Problems relating to the broad areas of 'School Management' and 'School Programmes' together made up nearly three-quarters of the cases contributing to rural school - community relationship difficulty. Just over one quarter of the difficulties reported were resolved by the transfer of the teacher, yet in no case was transfer compulsory under the provisions of the Education Act. From the actual data supplied, on average one school in every 7.5 is experiencing a school - community relationship problem involving a counsellor during a four terms period. Advisers to Rural Schools and N.Z.E.I. Counsellors, in response to similar questionnaire items, gave their opinions as to possible 'reasons for' and 'actions to help alleviate' rural school - community relationship difficulties. On analysis, 10 broad categories of school and community behaviour that could provide reasons for breakdowns in relationships, were identified. Possible 'actions to help alleviate' such difficulties occurring were classified into 7 areas, a number of which may need to be effected, if there is to be an improvement. The complexity of human nature and the variables operating to complicate the issues in each situation preclude any simple answer as to why so many rural communities and their teaching staff are having relationship problems. It seems quite clear however, that in the current times of rapid social change, the rural school principal, staff and their families can find themselves, with their community members, especially if living at a distance from urban growth centres, less able to achieve and maintain living conditions, whether economic, social or environmental as in the past. Furthermore their conditions may not compare favourably with those in the urban sector. Such a climate is not conducive to attracting and retaining skilled teachers, a necessary component of good school - community relationships. The study concludes with a list of recommendations considered supportive of both the school and community, and hopefully the relationships between them.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Hokianga native schools, 1871-1900 : assimilation reconsidered : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2002) Duffy, Simon M
    The Native Schools have an ambiguous place in New Zealand history. As an organ of the Pakeha state situated in Maori communities with an overt aim of assimilating Maori to European cultural habits, they have every appearance of a tool of oppression. To Ranginui Walker, in Struggle Without End, they were a potent weapon in the armoury of the coloniser. The Native Schools system evolved through various manifestations from George Grey's Education Ordinance of 1847 through to the 1867 Native Schools Act, but had little impact until given impetus by Donald McLean in the early 1870s. For McLean, a critic of the Government's handling of the Taranaki and Waikato campaigns, education was preferable to warfare as a method for tackling Maori resistance to colonisation and settlement. Since the 1950s, accounts have criticised the assimilationist goal of the schools, and in particular their role in the suppression of the Maori language. Did Maori accept the precepts of assimilation? Why would Maori collude in their own oppression? They must have either understood assimilation to be something other than an arm of imperialist domination, as it is portrayed by Walker, or there must have been alternative reasons for supporting the schools and seeking European education. This thesis will explore alternative explanations for the Native Schools, and especially the question of why Maori supported Native Schools in the nineteenth century. Two principal hypotheses are discussed. The first reviews an argument made first by John Barrington, that Maori recognised a need to acquire the English language, in order to participate .more effectively in Pakeha dominated economy and political institutions. This is set alongside Ann Parsonson's argument that Maori society was characterised by competition for mana, to give a broad view of the location of Native Schools within the changing authority structures of late nineteenth-century Maori society. The second hypothesis is that Maori, through the experierice of high mortality since the 1850s and the ongoing experience of epidemics, had come to accept the precepts of the fatal impact thesis. This held that Maori were a 'dying race', which could only be saved through the intervention of Pakeha medicine, the acceptance of Pakeha cultural habits of dress, hygiene, housing and nutrition, and through participation in the Pakeha economy. To what extent did Maori accept assimilation, through the language of fatal impact? (From Introduction)