From caring about to caring for: case studies of New Zealand and Japanese schools post disaster

On 22 February 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake killed 185 people in Christchurch, New Zealand. On 11 March 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck eastern Japan, and was followed by a devastating tsunami and a nuclear plant crisis. As of 16 November 2011, the official death toll in Japan had reached 15,839, with a further 3467 people still missing. This article presents two case studies of the experiences and the responses of schools in New Zealand and Japan in the immediate aftermath of these events. Although the magnitude of the events is significantly different, the authors argue that there are many similarities in their responses. These provide an opportunity to consider the manner in which schools in other settings might prepare for such events. This comparative case study includes practical recommendations for schools to consider in their pastoral care of students in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Research in New Zealand and Japan, undertaken separately by the authors, attempted to capture the voices of principals, teachers and students to inform a series of recommendations and guidelines created from the real-life experiences of the research participants. They were collected with the primary focus of wishing to better inform the decision-making responsibilities of others who may be in a similar situation, or to guide future disaster prevention and management policies in schools.     

'Raising the bar': views on play and training in the Move & Walk pedagogy

In this study 20 beginning special education teachers were asked to describe their experiences in general education settings. To provide data, each teacher completed approximately three electronic reflective journals during a school year and also participated in a phone interview, which was aimed to give in-depth information regarding the participants’ comments in the journals. The participants described their experiences in regard to collaboration with mainstream teachers, the delivery of the curriculum and the understanding of their role with reference to identity. They reported some good experiences but also many difficulties in their attempts to support pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and enhance their learning and participation in mainstream schools. Challenges in collaboration, the delivery of the curriculum and the development of teachers’ identity at the beginning of a career in special education are discussed. We argue that the teachers’ experiences are associated with the legislative educational system and the school culture which does not encourage collaborative practices but rather promotes individualism and leads to exclusive practices.     

From mainstream school to pupil referral unit: a change in teachers’ self-understanding

As teachers are at the heart of education, a substantial number of studies have researched the perception that mainstream school teachers have of themselves in relation to their work. This investigation extends this field of inquiry by examining how teachers’ self-understanding is altered when they transfer from mainstream to special school education. This study adopts the methodology of interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) to examine in detail how three female teachers in inner London experienced the transition from mainstream secondary schools to teaching in alternative provision for excluded students referred to as a pupil referral unit (PRU). Central to IPA is how an individual experiences a substantial change in life and the influence this may have on his or her world views. The research approach adopted is, therefore, idiographic and reliant on the experiences of a small number of participants. The findings from this investigation indicate that the participants chose to leave mainstream school education when they came to the self-realisation that they wanted to engage in more creative and personally engaging professional practice with a stronger moral purpose. When they started to teach at a PRU, the more persistent and personal relationships with their students brought about a substantial change in self-understanding.     

“We Were Told We’re Not Teachers … It Gets Difficult to Draw the Line”: Negotiating Roles in Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS)

Peer learning models in pre-service teacher education are in the early stages of implementation. In this article, we evaluated a pilot Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) program that supplemented a course for pre-service teachers at one New Zealand university. PASS participants discussed experiences of the program, revealing tensions between what students and facilitators felt should happen in PASS, and how they acted differently. We explained these tensions by considering how social and cognitive congruence operated between students and facilitators. The majority of our peer facilitators were pre-service teachers, suggesting these intersecting roles offered important considerations for reciprocity in near-peer relationships, and joint negotiations of roles and responsibilities. We conclude this article with implications for future training of PASS facilitators, including those training as teachers.     

A comparison between primary school principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of students’ online risk behaviours: the role of perceived self-efficacy

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to investigate and compare school principals’ and teachers’ perceptions regarding online risk behaviours in school-aged children, examining simultaneously the predictive role of their perceived self-efficacy in their perceptions under study. The participants were 237 principals and 295 teachers, mainly from Central Macedonia and Attica, who completed a self-reported online questionnaire. According to the findings, participants declared awareness of students’ online risk behaviours. However, compared to teachers, principals to a greater extent felt confident to manage this issue and support school community involvement in the prevention of/intervention in it. Furthermore, principals’ self-efficacy in promoting students’ learning/ethical behaviours in school and teachers’ self-efficacy in managing students’ behavioural problems inside a classroom predicted positively their perceptions under study. The findings indicate the necessity of applying differentiated related training programmes for principals and teachers, highlighting simultaneously the importance of their perceived self-efficacy in how they approach the issue studied.     

Pedagogical practices of NetNZ teachers for supporting online distance learners

A supportive online learning environment entails teachers using effective pedagogical practices to meet the needs of their students and developing a positive teacher–student relationship to foster learner motivation and engagement. This paper reports a study investigating how 32 secondary teachers in New Zealand taught their online distance classes and how they related to their students. These classes were administered by NetNZ, an online distance education community. An online survey conducted in 2016 found that NetNZ teachers used inquiry-based practices including flipped learning and knowledge-building pedagogies to support agency, autonomy, collaboration, and community development. They also used synchronous and asynchronous communication technologies to overcome barriers of relationship building in online settings. NetNZ was unique in delivering distance education in the New Zealand context in that it used a community approach to encourage a more active participation of its member schools and teachers in delivering distance courses to secondary students.     

Looking back on school – the views of adult graduates of a residential special school for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties

The authors of this article, Garry Hornby and Chrystal Witte, conducted a follow-up study with adult graduates of a residential special school for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties in New Zealand. Twenty-one graduates were located and interviewed ten to 14 years after they had left the residential school. The interviews focused on various factors related to the graduates' quality of life (reported elsewhere) and on their views of their education, both at the residential school and at mainstream schools, which are reported in this paper. It was found that these adult graduates were overwhelmingly positive about the support they received while at the residential school. They talked, for example, about the help they received in addressing their learning and behavioural difficulties. However, they were consistently negative with regard to their experiences of mainstreaming. For example, respondents noted the lack of understanding that they experienced from mainstream teachers. In drawing out the implications of the findings from this study, Garry Hornby and Chrystal Witte suggest that one factor which could result in improving outcomes for these students is better special needs training for teachers in mainstream schools.     

Asia-born New Zealand-educated business graduates' transition to work

In 2008 the Asia New Zealand Foundation commissioned a three-year project examining Asia-born New Zealand-educated business graduates' study to work transitions. Data were collected through annual online surveys and in-depth interviews. Graduates were asked to discuss their post-study experiences, reflections on studying in New Zealand, and perceptions of their New Zealand business education. Participants included 171 (phase one), 76 (phase two) and 41 (phase three) students and recent graduates. All except one were based in New Zealand or the Asia region. In this paper we draw on “engaged pedagogy” and “functional capabilities” perspectives to consider phase two and three participants' accounts of their study to work transition pathways. Specifically, we examine two “functional capabilities” that participants discussed in relation to their post-study experiences: having economic opportunities and developing a sense of affiliation. We highlight some barriers to each “capability” that emerged in participants' accounts and consider how participants envisaged their role in fostering ongoing Asia-New Zealand connections. We conclude with some suggested implications for policy and practice in New Zealand and in internationalized HE more generally.     

School leaders’ perceptions on reading,writing and mathematics in innovative learning environments

ABSTRACT

In New Zealand, school buildings are being remodelled to accommodate several teachers and a large number of learners in one flexible learning space. School leaders’ perspectives were sought on what is happening in the teaching of reading, writing and mathematics. Interviews of the principal and deputy principal at a case study were conducted, and an online survey was used to target views of school leaders across New Zealand: completed by 115 principals and 56 deputy principals. The research found positive responses to the implementation of flexible learning spaces and the impact on the teaching of these three core curriculum areas. The findings suggest that given appropriate experience of such spaces, New Zealand principals (school leaders) seem to have the attitudes and understanding to support adoption of Innovative Learning Environments and recognise their potential benefits. However, the quality of teaching was key no matter which learning space was considered. Although Innovative Learning Environments, along with the cooperation between teachers that such spaces require, were seen as beneficial to learning, successful implementation will also require those leading the changes to place the learner as the focus of change, particularly for the substantive percentage of students who are underachieving in reading, writing and mathematics.     

Elementary school parent engagement efforts: Relations with educator perceptions and school characteristics

School efforts to engage parents are posited to influence whether and how they are involved in their children's schooling. The authors examined educators' engagement efforts in beginning reading, their subjective evaluations of engagement practices, and beliefs about parent involvement, in two stratified samples of New Zealand elementary school educators. They explored whether educators' ratings supported multidimensional and multitiered theoretical models of engagement. The authors invited responses from elementary principals and teachers, given their different roles in the nested ecology of schools and relationships with parents, and examined associations between pairs of principals and teachers working in the same school. Finally, the authors examined relations among educators' engagement efforts, evaluations of engagement practices, and beliefs about involvement, and school characteristics including community socioeconomic status, size of school population, ethnic composition of school population, community size, and geographic region.     

Developing identities in the workplace: students’ experiences of distance early childhood teacher education

In Aotearoa New Zealand, many early childhood teachers gain their teaching qualification via distance study while working in an early childhood centre. Early childhood teachers work in a team environment, and it is important to understand more about how distance students negotiate changes in their workplace practice as their professional knowledge develops. This article draws on a study that explores students’ experiences of distance teacher education as a process of changing participation in the workplace. Distance study supported increasingly confident participation as students saw more meaning in their daily work. The students’ identities and their workplace cultures and practices influenced what students paid attention to and the decisions they made when negotiating changes within their teams. Their experiences suggest that strengthening students’ relational agency at work is a useful focus for distance early childhood teacher education programmes.     

Influences on children’s environmental cognition: a comparative analysis of New Zealand and Mexico

This paper investigates Mexican and New Zealand children’s conception of the environment and their understandings of environmental issues, focusing on how personal experiences, culture and school-based environmental education (EE) programmes influence their perspectives. Sixty Year 5 children (age 9–11) from three schools in Dunedin (New Zealand) and three schools from Ensenada (Mexico), their teachers and school principals were interviewed. The study found that children from both cities had limited opportunities for contact with nature. Most children understood the environment as nature, and did not typically link environmental problems to human activities or social causes. Rarely were children critical of the effect of socio-economic structure on the environment. The analysis shows that children’s understandings of the environment are connected to their personal experiences and mediated by culture. Children from Ensenada had a more global perspective on environmental issues but a more passive attitude towards their local environment, participating in fewer environmental activities than children from Dunedin. In both countries, children from schools with an EE programme did translate environmental practices learnt at school into environmental practices at home. Based on our results, EE could be improved by considering the cultural context, enhancing children’s contact with nature, encouraging critical thinking and more environmental activities.     

Enacting instructional leadership: perspectives and actions of public K-12 principals

This article’s purpose is to highlight the perspectives and actions of urban, public school K-12 principals who are noted for prioritising instructional leadership. Grounded in the conceptual framework of agency, I examined the work experiences of 18 New York City public school principals nominated by supervisors, colleagues, trained educational consultants, parents, and students through a four-phase qualitative study consisting of interviews, time surveys, document review, and observations with participants. In order to uphold instructional leadership, analysis highlighted that participants assumed agency by engendering perspectives and actions that viewed instructional leadership as: grounded in learning, influenced by teachers/staff, requiring time and planning for principals and teachers/staff, and calls for teacher/staff empowerment.     

Who says you need to teach reading to 11–13-year-olds?

Research indicates that as students move through the school system, many begin to experience difficulties with reading. With this mind, this study explored current practices and perceptions about reading programmes for 11–13-year-old students in New Zealand schools. The study employed an online survey designed to investigate current reading literacy practices in a sample of New Zealand primary in years 7 and 8. Observations of practice and interviews with literacy leaders, teachers, principals and students were also carried out at five case study schools. The survey indicated that teachers may underestimate the importance of learner engagement and direct teaching strategies. The case studies exemplify the need for good professional development, supportive leadership, effective class management strategies, a positive and engaging learning environment, teachers with a passion for literacy and exemplary and sustained guided reading.     

Respect in principal–teacher relations at primary schools in Turkey

Respect means consideration of actions and requests of others and confirmation of values of others. School is a social institution where students are equipped with knowledge and skills, as well as fundamental character attributes. Respect among students, teachers, administrators, parents, and other staff at schools is of importance. In this study, the focus group method, including 12 principals and 10 teachers at state primary schools, was employed to explore respect in principal–teacher relations. According to the findings, the participants generally developed professional respect understanding. The teachers presented different definitions of respect associated with hierarchical relations. The participants’ respect behaviors were commonly observed in positive communication and self-improvement. The principals displayed respect for teachers through some guarding behaviors, and the teachers displayed profession-related respect behaviors. The common respect expectations of the participants were as follows: self-improvement, establishment of positive social relations, and unbiased behavior. While the school principals expected obedience and complete fulfillment of assigned tasks from teachers, the teachers expected civility, justice, and guarding administration from principals. The participants regarded improper appearance, behaviors contradictory to rules of good manners and bad habits as disrespectfulness. The school principals regarded abuse of goodwill and false excuses by teachers as disrespectfulness; whereas the teachers regarded oral or behavioral insults by school principals and intervention in their private life as disrespectfulness.     

Positioning people with intellectual disabilities as the experts: enhancing pre-service teachers’ competencies in teaching for diversity

The need for graduate teachers to own their professional responsibilities to engage successfully with students with special educational needs (SENs) in mainstream classrooms has been recognised in educational policies and programmes in many countries for well over two decades. Despite wide-ranging research, questions remain as to how pre-service education courses can help beginning teachers to develop the required commitment, knowledge and pedagogies to feel confident in teaching students with disabilities. Challenges to find new ways to enhance pre-service teachers’ familiarity with special needs children, overcome resistance from some towards including SEN students in mainstream classrooms and develop a sense of efficacy in teaching are common to many programmes. In this paper, we report on a pilot study where adults with intellectual disabilities, as members of a community theatre, were positioned as the experts and explored their schooling experiences and personal biographies with soon-to-be graduate teachers in a 3 h workshop. Taking the lead and working collaboratively with the workshop participants, members of Fusion Theatre used drama activities to develop understandings of strategies that helped them to learn. By challenging the traditional power relationships between those labelled as ‘disabled’ and those who would be teachers, the workshop helped the participants to engage on many levels. Here, we report on the data, analyse the findings and discuss implications for other pre-service programmes.     

Male primary school teachers: Helping or hindering a move to gender equity?

Despite research linking dominant masculinities to the disengagement of some boys from schooling, men teachers appear to be either unaware of the related literature, or reluctant to engage in behaviours that have increased their vulnerability to accusations of sexual abuse or homosexuality. A small study of men teachers in England, Sweden and New Zealand investigated the extent to which the men believed their teacher education had prepared them to teach in the gendered environment of the primary school. Teachers were also questioned about their views on gender differences in students and in the teaching practices of male and female teachers. Although the size of the study restricts the validity of data, the differences between the teachers in England and New Zealand, and those interviewed in Sweden, suggest that further research is warranted. A societal emphasis on gender equity in Sweden was reflected in the commentaries of Swedish men teachers on their pedagogical attitudes and actions relative to gender-based issues in schools. This emphasis was not evident to the same extent in England and New Zealand.     

Competing philosophies in the classroom: a challenge to Hong Kong teachers

The present paper examines the experiences of teachers in teaching children with special needs in mainstream schools and how they see and evaluate the feasibility of the new integration initiatives in Hong Kong. The data are based on individual and focus group interviews with general class teachers, resource class teachers and principals of mainstream schools admitting students with special needs. Teachers reported difficulties and problems in maintaining classroom discipline and ambivalence in meeting the competing demands between students with and without special needs. The structural constraints of implementing a rigidly defined curriculum and being accountable for good academic results regardless of student competence pose formidable obstacles in achieving the goals of integrated education. There is a conflict at the systemic level between the philosophy of academic excellence defined by grades on the one hand and the philosophy of equality and inclusion on the other. Improving parent participation, having an ample supply of funds, the provision of necessary equipment and facilities, the availability of pre‐ and in‐service training to teachers, and additional manpower in counselling are the most urgently needed resources in facilitating teachers to engage in teaching students with special needs alongside others.