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    Striving toward equity : a story of positioning and status : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) Leach, Generosa Angela
    This study explores how teachers construct equitable learning environments in primary school mathematics classrooms as a means of striving toward equity. The deep complexity of classrooms and numerous connected elements that influence students’ access and opportunities for learning mathematics are highlighted. Under consideration are the different pathways teachers take as they develop and maintain responsive and adaptive approaches to position all students to learn mathematics in ways that meet the aims of equity in mathematics education. A qualitative design research methodology was employed to explore the complexities and challenges of teacher learning and change within primary school classroom settings. The design approach supported the development of a model of professional learning and frameworks of teacher instructional actions to establish and maintain mathematics classrooms focused on equity. Data collection over the school year included study group meetings, participant observations, video-recorded observations, documents, and teacher and student recorded reflections and interviews. Retrospective data analyses drew the results together to be presented as cases of two teachers, their classrooms, and students. The findings show that constructing equitable mathematics learning environments is a gradual and complex process. It involves teachers reconstructing their beliefs and enacting specific instructional actions to position all students to learn mathematics. Reconceptualising mathematics teaching and learning requires transforming the social and organisational structures within classrooms and disrupting assumptions of uniformity across all students from a strength-based approach. Of importance is how the findings highlight possible ways of meeting the needs of diverse, and often marginalised groups of students in New Zealand schools. Significant implications based on these findings include how the aims of equity in mathematics education can extend beyond policy and into practice within primary school mathematics classrooms in the New Zealand context.
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    The impact of postgraduate initial teacher education on beginning teachers' professional preparedness to cater for diverse learners : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education, Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Safa, Abdelhamid Helmy
    This thesis investigates the impact of an exemplary post-graduate initial teacher education (ITE) programme, the MTchgLn, on beginning teachers’ professional preparedness to cater for diverse learners. In comparison to similar cohorts in other OECD countries, a huge gap exists between high-achieving Pākeha students and low-achieving 1 priority learners (Education Review Office, 2012; OECD, 2015). With existing studies mapping the exemplary ITE terrain, the research field is now moving towards building a sounder basis on which to benchmark equity-centred ITE programme design. For this purpose, a mixed-methods approach was adopted to assess the effectiveness of the programme on the Graduate Teachers’ (GTs) practice. Twenty-five GTs completed an online questionnaire to assess their perceptions of confidence to teach all learners, as well as to assess their perceptions of the value of the programme in enabling them to teach all learners. Interviews were then conducted with 12 GTs and four Lead Teachers (LTs) to better understand the GTs’ responses and to investigate the LTs’ perceptions of the GTs’ professional preparedness. The present study findings indicate that most GTs were confident in developing the professional standards required for the profession and felt that their learning was supported by the programme’s innovations: (i) extended clinical placements in partner schools; (ii) evidence-informed inquiry; (iii) exemplary school visits; (iv) culturally responsive practices; and (v) community placements. Likewise, all the LTs felt that the GTs were professionally prepared with the necessary skills and competencies to teach diverse students effectively and improve their outcomes. This study has provided evidence of the positive contributions of an equity-centred ITE programme’s design to create an informative learning experience for the GTs to ensure informed links between research and practice, driven by equity and social justice. Implications based on these findings are considered for ITE educators and education policy makers to respond to the challenges of today’s multicultural education by prioritizing equity.
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    Guiding the way : how ESOL teachers can support refugee-background students transitioning to mainstream tertiary studies : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Fraser-Smith, Amber
    Many refugee-background students from a variety of pathways enter mainstream tertiary studies in their countries of resettlement. Yet, despite having an English level sufficient to enter these courses, a growing body of research suggests these students face a number of challenges that make succeeding in tertiary studies difficult. Through the transformative paradigm and a critical perspective, this thesis explores my experiences as an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher and those of five Middle Eastern refugee-background students about to start the next stage of their learning journey. By using two focus groups and an action research project, we work together to investigate ways that ESOL teachers can best support this cohort of students in their transition into mainstream studies. This thesis concludes with The COMPASS Model, designed as a result of this study to assist in guiding ESOL teachers to support refugee-background students through the use of Collaboration, Orientation, Multiple literacies, Personalised learning, Advocacy, Strategising and Self-care. Suggestions are also given on how to adapt the curriculum to better suit these learners and on how institutes and governments can live up to their ethical responsibilities and provide equal opportunities for refugee-background students.
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    Are females more helpless than males: an observational and attributional analysis in Maths and English : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1993) Hawke, Gillian Naomi
    The present study investigated the under-achievement and participation of females in mathematical areas within the context of the attribution theory. Gender differences for causal attributions and achievement-related beliefs were investigated in Maths and English, employing a methodology which allowed for the subjective construction of the situation by the student. Subjects were 97 form five Maths and English students (50 males and 47 females). Overall, there were no consistent gender differences in attributions for success and failure in Maths and English. Although males perceived themselves as more competent in Maths, there were no gender differences in achievement-related beliefs. However, females displayed more mastery-oriented cognitions in English . Additionally, the relationship of gender and teacher-student interactions in Maths and English classrooms were investigated, in an attempt to conceptualise the role they have in sustaining gender related behaviours. It was hypothesized that males and females were being treated differently in Maths and English, which in some way affects their attributions for achievement outcomes, and subsequent achievement­ related beliefs. Four classrooms (two Maths and two English) were observed for five hours each. Contrary to predictions, there were few significant differences in the contingencies of evaluative feedback given to students, with respect to its frequency, its typical referents, and the specificity of its use. The results were discussed in terms of their relationship to other studies, and the implications for past and future methods of studying students' causal attributions in mathematical and verbal achievement situations. Alternative mechanisms by which females self-derogating beliefs might inhibit their participation and achievement in maths-related areas were also considered.
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    A Foucaultian discourse analysis of educational 'underachievement' : psychology's run away concept : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Eggleton, Tamsin
    Underachievement is a dominant feature in educational discourse; it is often framed as a ‘crisis’ affecting different social groups, or even whole countries. A particularly common depiction of underachievement is that of a ‘gap’ affecting ethnic minority and working class groups. Nearly 60 years of research, reform and policy attempts to address this ‘gap’ have made little progress in lifting achievement levels. This paper uses a Foucaultian discourse analysis method to encourage a reformulation of underachievement discourse, particularly as it relates to minority ethnic students. A genealogy of the conditions of possibility which gave rise to underachievement reveals this concept and its related assumptions and processes (such as testing) to be part of a broader system of power relations which structure education in favour of dominant cultural and economic needs. The discipline of psychology has been instrumental in providing a supposed scientific basis to the dominant educational values of scientific management, efficiency and neoliberalism. This thesis posits that underachievement is a socially located concept which is able to exist and shape social realities due to its convenience to dominant educational and cultural practices. In revealing the social nature of psychological knowledge on underachievement, psychology’s claims of the possibility of objective social knowledge under post-positivistic, empirical methods are also brought into question. Keywords: Underachievement, Foucault, Discourse Analysis, Genealogy, Psychology, Education
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    Creating a community of care in education : the work of a primary school to mitigate social and economic disadvantage in education in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2016) Read, Christine Lorna
    The failure of education services to ensure equitable outcomes for all groups of children has been an enduring problem for educators and policy makers in New Zealand. More recently, primary schools have become the focus of policy to ensure that children from low income, Maori and Pasifika homes achieve in formal education at levels commensurate with their peers. This research explores the work of a single low-decile primary school and its community in New Zealand as it navigates the choppy waters of political ideology, education policy and the educational needs of its students. This research takes a critical realist perspective, which argues that real consequences attend success or failure in formal schooling for individuals, and these can be described in both qualitative and quantitative terms. However, a critical realist approach is also substantively concerned with uncovering structural conditions that lead to success or failure in education, insisting that this knowledge is vital in achieving transformative change. The research therefore makes use of existing quantitative data and employs a variety of qualitative research methods, to piece together an account of the work of the school. This approach allows the school to be placed within local contexts, which shape its responses to the needs of its school community, while also supporting an examination of the effects of wider systems and institutional practices that structure its operations. Descriptions of the work of the school in this research reveal its intensely relational nature conducted in nested communities of interaction: within the school; within localised communities and neighbourhoods; and within national structures and institutions. Concepts of ideology, social justice and an ethic of care are used as a framework to evaluate the research findings, which in turn coalesce around three issues: attendance; achievement; and behaviour. Crosshatching an issue-based account of the work of one low-decile school with this conceptual framework allows the complexity of the educational project to be revealed. These complexities notwithstanding, the research also opens up possibilities and spaces for action at the level of the school, the family, the community and the state to support the shared goal of redressing educational inequalities.
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    The Philosophy for Children School and the inequalities in New Zealand's school achievement : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Comer, Bridget Anne
    The New Zealand educational system has faced major reformation in the last 20 years resulting in an inequality of achievement, also known as the long tail of underachievement. New Zealand’s results in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has steadily declined since the assessments beginning; which is similar to other countries who have initiated high stakes, standardised based testing policies. If New Zealand is to address the declining results and attempt to alleviate the gap between its highest and lowest achievers, and address educational inequalities, then alternative approaches must be considered. This thesis outlines the Philosophy for Children (P4C) School as a viable within-school approach to addressing educational inequalities through the implementation of the principles underlying the Community of Inquiry (COI), the Philosophy for Children Programme and democratic education as a whole school approach.
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    What difference will they make? : a study of equity policies in contributing primary schools : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Administration
    (Massey University, 1991) Moffatt, Carol A
    This study investigated the writing of equity policies in ten contributing primary schools, both rural and urban. These policies are at present a compulsory feature of all school charters which boards of trustees are required to complete. Seen in terms of the larger ideological, political and economic agenda on which the educational administrative reforms in education in New Zealand are based this study draws on theories of the state and cultural reproduction to explain the attitudes and actions of boards of trustees. Forty interviews were conducted with boards in ten schools. These interviews canvassed the policy writing process, personal knowledge and training received for both equity and policy writing, as well as the relevance that particular policies have in schools. Equity is about values, while present policy writing processes used in schools are based on management systems. This study concludes that while writing equity policies can be made compulsory, if boards' understandings are not complete, if the charter language used is inhibiting and the purposes of the policies are in conflict with trustees' own personal beliefs, then the exercise is meaningless and will have little effect on our schools.
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    'An education system characterised by equity' : a critical evaluation of educational change in Samoa, 1995-2005 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Male, Alan G R
    The problem investigated in this thesis arose from my professional practice as a consultant with regard to educational reforms in a number of countries, including Samoa. This created an initial interest in why different policy options were chosen by different countries in response to similar problems. Observation of the implementation of reforms in various contexts also created questions as to why the implementation of reforms often seemed to lead to new formulations of the original arrangements, resulting in development but little change. A prior review of evaluations of educational reform programmes showed that many educational evaluations are confined to matters of technical advice inputs, resource management and the achievement of milestones. This study however, considers other factors relevant to the successful achievement of an educational reform programme situated within a particular social, political and historical context. In particular, this thesis reports on a critical evaluation of the development, between the mid-1980s and 1994, of a policy aimed at producing an education system “characterised by equity” (Department of Education, 1995) in Samoa and then on the results of the implementation of that policy between 1995-2005. The study focused first on the differences in the performance of student groups based in the national Year 8 secondary school selection examination and in their subsequent access to secondary schooling and to the achievement outcomes in Year 12 over the period between 1994 and 2008. Information was gathered through analysis of national examination results databases. Additional information was gathered through interviews and questionnaires from senior educational system managers and from the principals of a sample of four secondary schools. Questionnaires, aimed at gathering socio-economic data, were administered to 2000 students and their families from Years 9, 11, 12 and 13 at the sample schools. The evidence showed little change in the patterns of achievement between advantaged and disadvantaged groups. The system had expanded but the patterns of inequity remained unchanged. The reasons for the selection of the reform options that resulted in the maintenance of disparities through the 1995-2005 programme were found in the history, culture and political setting of Samoa. Because of the small size and ethnic and cultural homogeneity of the population, the evaluation was based on the theories of Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu’s concepts of field practice and habitus showed how the policy options included in the reform programme were influenced by an underlying habitus that generated the desire for change but also constrained the achievement of the stated aim of a “system characterised by equity”. The research showed how the historical background to the patterns of advantage within the system and the structure and patterns of advantage that resulted from the reforms continued beyond the reform.