Massey Documents by Type

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Subject: search.filters.subject.390499 Specialist studies in education not elsewhere classified

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    The politics of teacher professionalism in teacher unions : a case study of Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Niu, Huidan
    Teacher unions are important policy actors in many English-speaking jurisdictions; however, few studies have examined the role of teacher unions in shaping teacher-related education policies. This study critically analyses how teacher unions frame teacher professionalism discourses in New Zealand. Adopting a critical education policy scholarship approach, the study positions teacher professionalism discourses within their socio-political contexts. It explores how the meanings of teacher professionalism have been constructed and how teacher unions have shaped these discourses since the late 1980s. This study chose the two main teacher unions in Aotearoa New Zealand, the New Zealand Educational Institute, Te Riu Roa (NZEI) and the New Zealand Post-Primary Teachers’ Association, Te Wehengarua (PPTA). Data were collected from documents and archival material, as well as through elite interviews with 24 union leaders, including national presidents, secretaries, executive members, and senior union officials. Data analysis followed a broadly grounded theory method: from codes to themes. Findings highlight the political nature of the teaching profession. Three key findings are identified in this study. First, the teacher unions articulate explicitly counter-professionalism discourses to those of dominant official discourses. The teacher unions tend to emphasise the complexity and relational aspects of teaching, collaboration and collegiality, and trust in the teaching profession. Second, the teacher unions are often actively involved in developing democratic professionalism by mobilising teachers to exercise their agency and by collaborating with other policy actors. Third, the meanings of the professional role of the teacher unions have been enlarged over the last 30 years, explicitly expressing their concern about broader educational and social issues. By doing this, the teacher unions intend to improve their legitimacy as teachers’ representatives and increase their political influence. Overall, this study suggests that the teacher unions, as collective actors, navigate the tensions and sometimes conflicts between the teaching profession and government in the process of constructing teacher professionalism discourses.
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    Māori, Catholic, education in Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Lawson, Vicky
    This thesis investigates Māori participation in Catholic education in Aotearoa New Zealand. The purpose of this study is to provide a specific understanding on the Māori perspective of Catholic education, that involves the identification of cultural values and beliefs in relation to Māori practices of tikanga. The intention of this thesis is not to suggest how Catholic educational institutions of Aotearoa New Zealand should govern, manage, or operate themselves. Rather, it provides a snapshot of the Māori Catholic perspective of ‘tika’ or rightness. With the vast majority of Catholic primary and secondary schools legislated as State-integrated schools under the Private School Conditional Integration Act, 1975, the Roman Catholic Church has an obligation to monitor the reasonable steps that school boards, proprietors and diocese education offices are taking to ascertain and consider the views and concerns of Māori communities (Education Act, 1989). Both historical and contemporary trends and patterns are analysed in this thesis, including legislation and State policy, in order to identify the reasons why there is a disconnection between Catholic educational policies and the educational aims of and for Māori. Major educational policies are reviewed alongside the wider political ideologies in order to illustrate the connections between the position of Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand and the likelihood that the educational aspirations of Māori will be met. A life history approach using oral narratives was used to examine the reality of the participants’ lives growing up, being educated, and navigating through the dual worlds of Te Ao Māori (Māori world) and Te Ao Katorika (Catholic world). This approach adds a personal element that brings life to the findings.
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    The use of horses for undergraduate practical teaching : animal welfare and teaching implications : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Veterinary Sciences at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Guinnefollau, Lauréline
    Teaching horses are used at Massey University, New Zealand during practical classes for equine and veterinary science students to develop, improve and refine their skills. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the management and use for teaching of these horses and to assess the potential impact of the teaching-related activities on the horses’ behaviour and welfare. The knowledge and competency of students in the veterinary programme at entry level and later in their programme were studied using a questionnaire to provide information on the level of competency of students at entry to the qualification and later after exposure to horses during teaching. The results confirmed previous findings about these students’ background (i.e. mostly urban upbringing, mostly female). Confidence around horses and experience with horses were limited for most students entering the veterinary programme. First-year students had greater difficulty in interpreting a horse’s behaviour, less understanding of equine learning mechanisms and poorer self-assessed equine handling skills compared to 4th-year students. The students’ correct interpretation of equine behaviour was associated with a history of pet ownership, the presence of horses on the students’ family property while growing up and the year of study (i.e. students’ advancement in the programme). The use of the horses kept at Massey University for teaching was studied retrospectively over a calendar year. There were seven different types of equine practical teaching classes but each of the three teaching herds was used only for a specific subset of practical class types. A relatively low frequency of teaching-related activities was reported, although there was some variation in the type and number of student interactions and frequency of use of individual herds and horses. The behavioural activities, i.e. time budgets and herd dynamics, of the teaching horses at pasture were explored at the beginning, during and at the end of a semester of practical teaching. The horses’ time budgets were similar to that of free-ranging populations with a majority of feeding and resting behaviours. Social interactions were mostly submissive, and of mild intensity when agonistic. In addition, hierarchies were relatively linear and stable across time, and a high behavioural synchronisation was reported between pairs of nearest neighbours. The teaching horses’ perception of humans was investigated at the beginning, during and at the end of a semester of practical teaching, through a human-approach test. Horses’ positive responses to human approach and contact were associated with a slow pace, straight arms and gaze directed at the horse’s shoulder. Horses were significantly less likely to accept human contact if they had been used for teaching more often in the weeks prior to the test. The behavioural and physiological responses of the horses were evaluated during three types of practical teaching classes (i.e. animal handling, medical rectal- and mare reproductive rectal examinations). Heart rates during practical teaching classes were consistent and in the range of a resting horse. Horses spent most of the time eating hay but ate less during an interaction with students in the mare reproductive rectal examination class compared to being in stocks with no interaction. No change in behaviour was reported in medical rectal examination classes. The results reported in this thesis provide significant insight about the use for teaching of horses in equine and veterinary science degree programmes. The findings suggest that the teaching horses experienced limited physical, physiological and behavioural stress due to their use for practical teaching classes. Therefore, there may be an opportunity to increase the horses’ use for teaching to enhance equine and veterinary students’ learning outcomes. Additional work, however, is required to identify other equine welfare indicators that could be applied during equine practical teaching classes to further evaluate the impact of the student-horse interaction. In order to optimise the horses’ use for teaching, more research is also warranted to identify the most efficient practice to teach students safe and appropriate equine handling skills and to improve their confidence around horses.
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    Exploring the New Zealand Child and Youth Profile as a collaborative tool to support educational planning for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Education), Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) van Wyk, Joanne
    Research indicates that students with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) are at increased risk of poor academic performance, however, educational planning for these students is difficult due to the complex nature of their educational profile. In order to improve educational outcomes, tools are required to support improved understanding of the student’s profile along with enhancing a cross-disciplinary approach to educational planning. This study sought to investigate the use of the New Zealand Child and Youth Profile (NZCYP), a biopsychosocial framework designed to collect key information about a student from multiple perspectives, in order to facilitate cross-disciplinary educational collaboration and planning. A qualitative design was employed to explore the perceptions of two teams of participants using the NZCYP to support a student with FASD. Findings indicated several factors hindered the completion and application of the NZCYP (or Toolkit), which had a considerable impact on the teams’ perceptions of the NZCYP. Overall, the teams perceived the NZCYP’s ability to help improve understanding of the student’s profile, to support teacher/classroom practice and planning, and to enhance collaborative practice was limited. This study highlighted the importance of providing tools which are easily understood, incorporate culturally relevant information and multiple perspectives, and provide suitable training to enable teams to utilise the information in a cross-disciplinary manner.