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    Un-strangering 'the stranger' in a strange land : a multi-perspective, participant-led, exploration of in/ex-clusion in NZ mainstream high schools - privileging the voices of senior 'high-functioning' autistic students : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Crooks, Sharon
    New Zealand’s (NZ) ‘inclusive’ school policies enable autistic students to attend a mainstream school of their choice, with the expectation they will belong, feel accepted, contribute, and participate in ‘school life’. Research has typically focused on biogenetic origins and diagnostic specificity, providing medicalised and stereotypical ways of understanding autistic people. Few qualitative studies have explored autistic students’ understandings and everyday lived experiences of ‘being autistic’ and ‘being in an inclusive mainstream high school’. Excluding their voice from research, necessarily constrains development of policy, pedagogy, and praxis, which might facilitate more inclusive experiences for this population of students. This study was the first in NZ to focus on the lived experiences of autistic adolescents in their senior years (Levels 1-3 NCEA). A multi-perspective, qualitative phenomenological design enabled three tertiary students, three parents, and seven advocates, to augment contributions from five high-functioning autistic adolescents. This research was underpinned by a feminist standpoint epistemology and Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model, privileging first person experiences and contextual influences. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis enabled participants’ understandings and experiences to be explored. Tertiary students illumined how medical model understandings of disability constrained and enabled identity formation in high school and implicated being understood. Most of the autistic participants drew on neoliberal ‘governmentality’ to problematise barriers to inclusion, namely ‘governance’ (dominant culture, school rules, and regulation of ‘space’), teacher performativity, and curriculum management. Salient interpersonal barriers included authoritative teachers, social cliques, ‘invisible’ bullying, and ‘one-off’ grievances. ‘Being excluded’ was painful and resulted in feeling ‘de-valued’, impacting motivation and opportunities for success. Facilitators to inclusion were embedded within meaningful interactions, demonstrative care, and common interests, aiding a sense of acceptance, and belonging, but not always resulting in ‘contributing’ and ‘participating’. High school was experienced by autistic participants as a political site where in/ex-clusion ‘gets done’ through ordinary technologies that ‘sift and shift’ students, according to sameness and difference, or ontological ‘otherness’. This study addresses prominent diagnostic and identity issues, academic and social achievement, and support, all of which are primary concerns for educationalists (including educational psychologists) striving to understand inclusion and improve outcomes for autistic students.
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    Getting insight into the wellbeing needs of Māori youth : perspectives of students attending alternative education : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Haerewa, Madeleine Amy
    This research seeks to explore the wellbeing needs of rangatahi Māori (Māori youth) who attend alternative education (AE) in New Zealand (NZ). Rangatahi Māori have a significant disadvantage compared to non-Māori due to disparities in educational attainment and mental health standing. Rangatahi Māori who attend AE are at an even greater disadvantage as they have been excluded from mainstream education, and in attending AE, are identified as a population of youth displaying the highest proportion of health-risk behaviours in NZ. This research produces evidence that holistic approaches to wellbeing are needed to improve outcomes for rangatahi Māori. The study develops a methodological framework for a Māori-centred research praxis, using pūrākau as a form of narrative inquiry and photo-elicitation as an ancillary tool in facilitating rangatahi Māori voices. Both rangatahi Māori and their AE tutor’s perspectives are collected through kanohi-ki-te-kanohi (face-to-face interviews) and focus groups. Key findings identify a range of wellbeing needs for rangatahi Māori, in their whānau (family), school and personal life, after they have navigated mainstream education and are placed within AE environments. Findings demonstrate the importance of rangatahi Māori feeling connected in their relationships and with their environment. This includes relationships with their whānau, tutors, romantic relationships, friendships and connection to their school environment. Rangatahi Māori need to have positive connections with the people in their life and their environment to best support their wellbeing. Findings indicate that whānau-like environments within AE promote school engagement. Furthermore, rangatahi Māori are advantaged when their connections and networks in the greater community are facilitated through their whānau-like relationships within AE. This thesis contributes new knowledge about the wellbeing needs of rangatahi Māori and concludes that a wider pūnaha hauropi (socio-ecological system) approach should be considered to optimise the wellbeing of rangatahi Māori who have or are at risk of experiencing school disenfranchisement.
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    Narratives of agency : Afghan refugee background students' experience of schooling in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Abd Rahman, Mastura
    Little is known about the experiences of refugee background students in New Zealand high schools, and more specifically we lack narratives from more recent groups like those from Afghanistan. Research about Afghans in New Zealand does not address the experiences of how young Afghan students engage with schooling and education in the new environment. As schools are often a challenging navigational space during the transition and adaptation for these students, it is imperative to reflect on their experiences for transformative purposes. This study aimed to understand those transitional experiences through the lens of the students’ sense of agency. Data were drawn from a phenomenological research approach that included in-depth interviews with six senior high school students who were former refugees from Afghanistan. The study examined the role and ways in which a sense of agency helped these students to succeed in achieving their educational goals, by identifying the factors that provided impetus for the development of their sense of agency in the educational context. The study’s conceptual framework was built on an ecological model. The ecological perspective illuminated the links between the students’ agency, their funds of knowledge, and their socio-cultural capital. The findings highlighted multiple contexts in which the students illustrated their capacities for agency, and how that ultimately helped them to navigate ways in which they believed, decided and acted. The findings also underscored the need to recognize as well as leverage on refugee background students’ agency and their agentic resources. These students’ narratives can inform and reform underlying premises of current policy, practices and pedagogy for refugee students, which can lead to a more engaged and authentic understanding about their learning and experiences.
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    A trial of the effective lifelong learning inventory (ELLI) : a case study : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education (EdD) at Massey University, Manawatū
    (Massey University, 2018) Hyett, Maureen Margaret
    The purpose of education is to prepare learners for the world they are going to live in. Education should actively support learners to develop the capabilities they need to engage productively with the difficult and challenging problems that are part of today’s world. The Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI) is a programme designed to assist in the development and measurement of the learning dispositions of: strategic awareness, changing and learning, meaning making, creativity, critical curiosity, learning relationships and resilience. This thesis has taken a case study approach to explore the process of the trial of ELLI within one urban secondary school. The introduction of the tool actively supported the developing learning culture of the students and the learning culture of the staff. Drawing on the perspectives of both staff and students and unpacking the difficulties associated with the implementation, this thesis analyses the process involved in trialling the tool. To document the trial process, data were collected from observations of all meetings and presentations, and interviews with both the teachers and students involved in the trial. The reasons the school undertook the trial were explored, through interviews with the principal and teachers, by examining the culture of learning and the professional learning history in the school. The GPILSEO model for sustainability of school change was used to examine the key factors of goals, pedagogy, institutions, leadership, spread, evidence and ownership of the trial process. The impact of the trial process on students was explored by examining their academic results, their ELLI profiles and listening to the students.
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    Factors affecting educational achievement of Tongans in Auckland : a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Administration, Department of Education, Massey University, 1997
    (Massey University, 1997) Mafi, Maliumoeao
    Underachievement in New Zealand secondary schools has been a problem for Pacific Island people for a long time and unemployment over the years is testimony to the presence of underachievement. (Apart from Hawk and Hill's (1996) study, limited research has addressed this problem). Underachievement is closely associated with a person's socio-economic status and ethnic background. It has been a stigma that has been associated with Pacific Island and Maori people in New Zealand for a long time. Their children's academic performance in School Certificate and Bursary exams throughout the years has confirmed that Tongan students' achievement is below that of other ethnic groups in New Zealand. [From Introduction]
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    He hua rānei tō te kapa haka : kapa haka as a retention tool for Māori students in mainstream secondary schools : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy (Humanities and Sciences) at Massey University, Turitea, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Kerehoma, Leanne
    Kapa Haka provides leadership opportunities and promotes awareness to the intrinsic link to culture, Māori identity, and whanaungatanga. This research attempts to identify factors within Kapa haka, which contribute to Māori students successfully participating, achieving and staying longer in school, and to highlight the benefits and value of Kapa haka for a young focus group of participants who currently reside in the Manawatū region. The focus group consists of six Māori female participants who graduated from a mainstream school, who participated and engaged in Kapa haka, who also chose to continue their schooling in post-compulsory senior secondary school years, (year11-13) and of those participants, five attended a mainstream secondary school in the Manawatū (Palmerston North) region and one other from Te Tairāwhiti (East Coast), specifically Tūranga (Gisborne). Essentially, this study demonstrates how Kapa haka and aspects within Kapa haka could be utilised as a tool to retain Māori students in secondary school and more importantly, how it contributes to their academic success whilst at the same time producing confident, outgoing and humble individuals who are doing well in their lives and, contributing to Te Ao Māori.
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    Agents of retention and achievement of Māori girls at secondary school : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Māori Studies at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2010) McLaren, Robyn Anne
    This research investigates positive agents of retention and achievement for Māori girls in mainstream secondary schooling. The study focussed specifically on pupils engaged in post-compulsory education at a selected state secondary school in Te Waipounamu. The impact historically of schooling on Māori girls was reviewed as were changes and developments in educational policy in New Zealand. Methodologies such as critical theory, Kaupapa Māori research, and indigenous research methods/tools informed the research. In order to investigate and empower Māori girls and the community of the school involved, qualitative methods of study, document analysis, and semistructured interviews were used. Māori concepts of manaakitanga, mana, whanaungatanga and tino rangatiratanga were integral to the study. By focussing on those things which provided positive impetus for the girls to remain at school and to achieve success, it became more possible to avoid any emphasis on pathological explanations for alleged lack of retention and achievement by Māori girls in New Zealand mainstream state secondary schools.
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    The politics of teachers' work in the context of curriculum resources marketisation policy reforms in three secondary schools in Tanzania : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at Massey University, Manawatu Campus, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Mislay, Moshi Amsi
    Before Tanzania enjoyed the fruits of postcolonial education policy reforms, the country was hit by the world economic crises in the 1970s. Consequently, Tanzania and other developing countries turned to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) that imposed, financed, and controlled her education and economic policy through the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) of the 1980s. Thus, Tanzania adopted education privatisation and marketisation policies during the 1990s. More specifically, in 1991, the Policy on Production and Distribution of School and College Books, which I will call Marketisation Policy, redefined school and college curriculum resources according to market principles. The purpose of this study was to critically analyse how marketisation policy reforms, reconstructed at societal, institutional, and local classroom levels, reshaped teachers’ subjectivities and practices between 1992 and 2012. Using an ethnographic case study of three secondary schools from northern Tanzania, the study examines teachers’ work histories, politics, and cultures using a combination of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Fairclough, 1989, 1992, 1995, 2015) and the theory of pedagogic discourse (Bernstein, 1971, 1975, 1990, 1996, 1999, 2000). The study aimed to answer three research questions, namely: (1) What policy texts and discourses were constructed in the process of marketisation policy interpretation in secondary schools? (2) How do marketisation policy texts and discourses reshape secondary school teachers’ subject positions and pedagogical codes? and (3) How do the subject positions and pedagogical codes constructed by marketisation policy texts and discourses reshape teachers’ pedagogic practices and official knowledge construction? Marketisation policy implementation and professional documents, interview and focus group transcripts, and classroom observation notes were collected from the three schools. These were analysed to discern themes that characterised the nature, history, and politics of teachers’ work practices. Findings indicate that marketisation policy texts and discourses positioned secondary school teachers as passive and dependent consumers of marketised curriculum resources (MCR) produced by private publishers and the state. They were also positioned as lacking knowledge to plan, decide, and implement curricula, pedagogic, and evaluation practices. These subject positions constrained teacher creativity and critical thinking, and reproduced capitalist publishers and state power and ideologies through the policy texts and discourses. Curricular, pedagogical, and evaluatative cultural practices were dominated and influenced by capitalist publishers and the state through marketisation policy texts and the discourses of finance, MCR, educational materials’ approval, and advertising. The study documents how marketisation policy aims, objectives, outcomes, and pedagogic strategies reflected the aims and effects of both colonial and postcolonial education policy. Teachers and students constructed multiple power/knowledge and resistance to dominant discourses based on accessible MCR, private tuition, past educational training, collaboration with colleagues, and attending some training. However, although these discourses empowered them to construct and exercise power/knowledge to respond to marketisation policy discursive constraints, they also reconstructed curriculum domination because of students’ limited access to MCR and classroom curriculum discourses.
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    Duty to serve?: the role of secondary schools in preparing New Zealand soldiers for enlistment in the First World War : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Defence Studies) at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Carruthers, Stephen James Stiūbhart
    It is over a century since World War One impacted on the lives of those who taught at or attended both Otago High School and Waitaki Boys’ High School. The war lasted from1914- 1918, yet for many of those who participated their schooling occurred before the declaration of hostilities. It is mainly this pre-war period that this thesis will concentrate on. This thesis examines how Otago High School and Waitaki Boys’ High School encouraged their students to lead lives that were based in duty and service. It focuses on the period 1890 through until the early 1920s and looks at how both schools approached the issue of student development for life beyond the classroom. They did this by using local and international events, especially those that were Empire and nationally focused, to encourage their students to lead dutiful lives. Students were taken on excursions to visit public shows of loyalty or, in some cases, teacher-led discussions guided students towards adopting values that fitted into societal expectations. The promotion of sport was another method used to encourage students to lead a dutiful life and, along with military training, it gave a practical application to the concepts of duty and service. As World War One unfolded both schools used this event to encourage their current and former students to ’do their bit’. It is at this point that the thesis examines five former students of Otago High School and Waitaki Boys’ High School and determines that there was some influence from their former school on the decision to enlist. In the main this was as a result of the schooling these Old Boys had received. The study of how schools influenced their students over the period of this thesis is an area seldom trod by historians. This thesis highlights the need to explore this area further, because war is not just about generals and army’s, it is also about communities, values and beliefs.
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    Identification and provisions for gifted and talented students at a boys' secondary school in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Warmke, Angela
    Gifted and talented education in New Zealand differs from that of many other countries in several ways. New Zealand recognises that giftedness and talent can mean different things to different communities and cultures, and there is a range of appropriate approaches towards meeting the needs of all such students. It is considered essential to provide differentiated learning experiences across a continuum of approaches, beginning in inclusive classrooms to meet the needs of all students. In New Zealand there are also distinctive cultural considerations to be taken into account in the planning and delivery of gifted education. This case study was conducted to provide an in-depth look at one secondary school’s journey and current practices in identification and provisions for gifted and talented students through a multi-methodology approach. The findings provide insightful information and implications for strategic planning not only for schools that are in the throes of implementing or sustaining an effective gifted and talented programme but also to broaden educators’ understandings of gifted and talented education in New Zealand. Emerging themes pertaining to the interrelationships between definition, characteristics, identification, programmes and evaluations; the importance of ongoing school-wide professional development; cultivating a shared understanding of gifted and talented education; key stakeholder involvement; and sustainability are also discussed to inform best practice for gifted and talented students and future research in this field.