Cultural studies of science education

In response to Stetsenko’s [2008, Cultural Studies of Science Education, 3] call for a more unified approach in sociocultural perspectives, this paper traces the origins of the use of sociocultural ideas in New Zealand from the 1970s to the present. Of those New Zealanders working from a sociocultural perspective who responded to our query most had encountered these ideas while overseas. More recently activity theory has been of interest and used in reports of work in early childhood, workplace change in the apple industry, and in-service teacher education. In all these projects the use of activity theory has been useful for understanding how the elements of a system can transform the activity. We end by agreeing with Stetsenko that there needs to be a more concerted approach by those working from a sociocultural perspective to recognise the contribution of others in the field.

The virtual class is coming

A long term action research programme initiated in 1987 by the Department of Communication Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, is seeking to develop a virtual class. The virtual class is regarded as the critical component of a new educational paradigm for an information society. The action research programme takes the form of a spiral of cyclical attempts to create a virtual class. Each attempt is seen as a syntagmatic episode of a virtual class paradigm attempted in the light of an existing paradigm. The results of each syntagmatic episode are seen as influencing the further development of the paradigm.     

Key Teaching Roles of a University Lecturer and their Integration into the Quality Systems of a New Zealand University

This paper describes the results of a training needs analysis of the position of university lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington. The analysis identified 10 key roles which together encompass the range of teaching activities expected of lecturers. The analysis also identified an associated academic staff development programme to guide the work of the University Teaching Development Centre. Because of the growing acceptance of the results of the analysis, the University has also integrated the findings into its quality management procedures. The paper describes the use of the information in promotion and appraisal procedures, and the links between the key roles and other quality assurance mechanisms. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the gaps in the University's quality assurance systems as they relate to the key roles     

Academic involvement at university

The call for students to become more involved in their academic study is not new. However few studies have investigated academic involvement as it is experienced by university students. This paper discusses the results of a study that was designed to explore student perceptions of the nature of academic involvement in learning. In addition students were asked to identify factors in their learning experience that encouraged or discouraged their academic involvement. The results reported here are drawn from interviews with 58 first and second year students attending Victoria University of Wellington.The results demonstrate that students experience involvement in qualitatively and quantitatively different ways that appear to be related to approach to learning. A major focus of the paper is on the interactive role personal and contextual factors play in the development of involvement. It is suggested that such factors combine to produce a particular learning climate that directly affects involvement in learning. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this research for university policy, teaching practice and course design and makes some suggestions for further research.     

āwhina: a programme for Māori and Pacific tertiary science graduate and postgraduate success

In New Zealand, Māori (indigenous New Zealanders) and Pacific students tend not to attain the same levels of educational success as Pākehā (New Zealanders of European descent). Addressing this problem is a particular challenge in the sciences. The kaupapa (values-base) of Te Rōpū Āwhina (Āwhina) is to produce Māori and Pacific professionals to contribute to Māori and Pacific development and leadership through the creation of an inclusive off- and on-campus whānau (extended family) environment where high expectations, aspirations and achievement, collective success, and reciprocity are normalised. This paper reviews theories and practices of recruitment and retention relevant to Māori and Pacific students at tertiary level, presents the rationale for Āwhina in the Faculties of Science and Architecture and Design at Victoria University of Wellington, and assesses the impact of the whānau. Based on analyses of quantitative measures of student achievement, and biennial surveys of student responses from the first 6 years of Āwhina, it is suggested that the results are consistent with improving Māori and Pacific graduate and postgraduate achievement and retention. Potential implications for efforts to reduce disparities in tertiary education in New Zealand and elsewhere are summarised.     

Student Summative Evaluation of Teaching: code of practice

The following code of practice has been developed by the Association of University Staff (AUS) of New Zealand (Inc.) with Dr Cedric Hall, Director, University Teaching Development Centre (UTDC), Victoria University of Wellington. The code deals with the use of student evaluations of teaching for summative decision making (e.g. promotion, tenure, etc.). A draft of the AUS code was distributed to the centres responsible for academic staff development in each university and all committees of AUS for comment. We thank the individuals and groups concerned for their comments and advice. Appropriate changes have been made to the code to take account of the suggestions provided. The AUS code on student summative evaluation of teaching is for the use of AUSNZ members and New Zealand universities. The code is intended to encourage good professional practice in the use of student summative evaluation of teaching and teaching staff. AUS recognises that the contents of the code will need to be reviewed from time to time to take account of changing practices and educational developments within institutions. AUS recognises that student views can be a relevant consideration in overall evaluation of teaching quality, and that they can properly have a place in decision making in relation to tenure and promotion for teaching staff. However, varying practices in ascertaining student views have led (both in New Zealand and internationally) to instances of such decisions being based on invalid and unreliable data from student views. Bad practice in these areas reflects poorly on the institution(s), as well as being unfair to staff; in some instances, it may also be in breach of current legislation. This Code of Practice is based on the belief that any evaluation should provide valid (i.e. relevant and useful) and reliable (i.e. accurate) information on the quality of a person's teaching. AUS believes that teaching quality must be judged in context: the type and purpose of the teaching, the background of the students, the resources available and the voluntary/compulsory nature of the course, should all be considered. Validity and reliability, therefore, relate not only to the measurements that are made of a person's teaching performance, but also to the interpretation of the results.     

CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITIES

The executive heads of 116 member universities ofthe Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) met in Wellington, New Zealand, from 7 to 14 February 1976. The ACU is the oldest international inter‐university association in the world. It has 204 member universities in 26 Commonwealth countries. We give below information on this Conference and on a paper prepared by the ACU Secretariat “Trade Routes and Common Ground”.     

新西兰五年高等教育战略规划的变化

高等教育战略规划为高等教育投资拨款提供导向,体现政府在高等教育上的愿景、优先发展战略以及对未来的规划,其重要性不言而喻。通过对新西兰最近的两个五年高等教育战略规划在高等教育背景、政府愿景和优先发展战略规划方面的变化分析,我们可以一窥其高等教育政策轨迹。     

关于北京大学定位的思考

根据历史传统、现实条件和未来需求 ,北京大学将创建世界一流大学作为自身的基本定位和奋斗目标。这就要求北京大学大力推进教育创新 ,继续深化教育改革 ,善于借鉴世界一流大学的办学经验 ,坚持以提高为主、以内涵发展为主的方针 ,坚定不移地把提高质量、水平和效益放在首位 ,保持综合性、研究型、开放式的办学特色 ,坚持不懈地向世界一流大学的目标迈进 ,责无旁贷、一如既往地担负起中国精英教育的历史使命     

‘Getting stuck’ in analogue electronics: threshold concepts as an explanatory model

Could the challenge of mastering threshold concepts be a potential factor that influences a student's decision to continue in electronics engineering? This was the question that led to a collaborative research project between educational researchers and the Faculty of Engineering in a New Zealand university. This paper deals exclusively with the qualitative data from this project, which was designed to investigate the high attrition rate of students taking introductory electronics in a New Zealand university. The affordances of the various teaching opportunities and the barriers that students perceived are examined in the light of recent international research in the area of threshold concepts and transformational learning. Suggestions are made to help students move forward in their thinking, without compromising the need for maintaining the element of intellectual uncertainty that is crucial for tertiary teaching. The issue of the timing of assessments as a measure of conceptual development or the crossing of thresholds is raised.     

Learning Strategic Planning from Australian and New Zealand University Experience

Initiating a strategic development plan is necessary for universities to be managed scientifically; a university's strategic development plan includes both the educational philosophy and development orientation as determined by the university, including the future reallocation of resources and measures for their integration. The development experience of Australian and New Zealand universities tells us that a scientific and rational university plan can promote the rapid development of the university; on the contrary, with an unscientific and irrational development plan, a plan that cannot be put into practice, or a plan that results in waste of resources, opportunities for development are missed. This article analyzes how Australian and New Zealand universities formulate their strategic development plans and presents the formulation and implementation of a strategic development plan by Wuhan University of Technology.     

Current trends in vocational guidance in New Zealand

with research interests in applied psychology generally including career decision-making. Formerly lecturer in psychology at Massey University, New Zealand (1976–85), where she was responsible for university courses in vocational psychology.     

Australian and South Pacific External Studies Association: ODLAA’s regional predecessor

The Australian and South Pacific External Studies Association (ASPESA) – the predecessor of the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia, Inc. (ODLAA) – was founded in 1973. From the outset, ASPESA adopted a broader‐than‐Australia focus for open and distance learning that included New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and the member countries of the University of the South Pacific. Its interest was firstly on ‘professional’ matters (i.e., an identity for distance education, distance educators, and their professional development). ASPESA forums and workshops spread through various Australian ‘external studies’ institutes and developed the practical and intellectual infrastructure for ASPESA’s aims and objectives.

ASPESA acknowledged its regional and international focus in various ways. The 1981 ASPESA forum was organised jointly by the University of the South Pacific and Massey University, New Zealand, and held in Fiji. Thereafter its regional members played a larger role in ASPESA activities and regional issues appeared on forum agenda. ODLAA and its companion associations around the South Pacific received from their predecessor, ASPESA, a heritage of professionalism and participation in regional and international open and distance learning. In due course, however, differences in distance education environments led New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and then the Pacific island countries to form separate distance education associations, while maintaining links with ASPESA.     

Measuring the Computer Classroom Environment: Lessons Learned From Using a New Instrument

Research over the last four decades has shown that the classroom learning environment impacts on students' cognitive and affective outcomes. Different approaches have been taken to measure students' perceptions of their learning environment, and this has led to the development of a large number of survey instruments. One such instrument is the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI) which was developed in 1987. The CUCEI was recently modified and both the original and modified versions were validated in a number of studies. This article reports the use of the modified CUCEI in two independent studies in computing classrooms in secondary schools and tertiary institutions in Wellington, New Zealand. The statistical performance of the CUCEI was not completely satisfactory in either study and revealed a number of problems common to these two studies. The difficulties are discussed and recommendations made to increase the validity and reliability of this instrument.     

Reconciling university autonomy with public accountability: The state,University Grants Committee and higher education in New Zealand

This article analyzes the contemporary role of the University Grants Committee (UGC) vis-à-vis New Zealand's universities and the Department of Education. Emphasis is given to the historical and political factors which resulted in devolution of the University of New Zealand in the early 1960s and brought the UGC into being. Established to guide the development of the university system in a period of budgetary expansion, the UGC assesses the financial needs of the universities and the national need for new academic programs. Recent financial exigency prompted the government to introduce restrictions on the financial autonomy of the universities. The UGC has lost some of its autonomy in consequence, but a fundamental change in its relationship to government or in its protective role with respect to the universities is considered unlikely.     

A story of culture and teaching: the complexity of teacher identity formation

Research in teacher education repeatedly suggests that the background and underlying beliefs held by pre-service teachers about teaching and assessment act to shape their interpretations of ideas, powerfully influencing their praxis and their developing teacher identity. This paper explores how a young New Zealand secondary science teacher, raised and educated in Māori-medium and then English-medium New Zealand schools, develops his identity as a teacher as he navigates a range of educational contexts and experiences. His views on assessment provide a focus. The paper presents a case study drawn from a two-year longitudinal study, comprising a series of interviews with the teacher, as he transitioned from a university graduate to a qualified science teacher working in his first school. The complexity of teacher identity development is highlighted, particularly for teachers for whom cultural identity and indigenous world view is important. It suggests that beginning teachers need more time in their pre-service teacher education to reflect on the influence their formative educational experiences have on who they are becoming as a teacher.     

The Research/Teaching Relation: A View from the Edge

The relation between teaching and research is a defining feature of a modern university and of academic identity. Many universities claim a close relation between the two as well as a strong critical orientation. Yet the gap between claims and practice in higher education appears to be widening as government and institutional policies increasingly treat research and teaching as separate entities. Studies of the relation reflect these events. Such studies are not only contradictory but point to an increasing gap between research and teaching. What is missing in this complex and contradictory literature surrounding the research/ teaching relation is an understanding of the relation in its local and historical context - a conceptual archaeology. Using a case study, we trace the development of teaching and research at the University of Canterbury (Christchurch, New Zealand) over time. We explore founding discourses, colonial imperatives, Humboldts legacy, the influence of philosopher Karl Popper and more recent events such as national audit and a new tertiary education strategy. We also look briefly at ways in which, as part of the academic heartland, the relation can be strengthened within institutions     

Realising graduate attributes in the research degree: the role of peer support groups

This paper discusses the role of peer support groups (PSGs) in realising graduate attributes in the research degree. The literature indicates that top-down embedding of graduate attributes has met with only limited success. By taking a bottom-up approach, this paper shows that PSGs offer an opportunity to improve the graduate attribute outcomes of universities. This paper presents the experiences of research students in three PSGs in New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia, and the results of an exploratory opinion survey that required past and present PSG members to share their learning experiences about the development of graduate attributes. The participants favoured five attributes: communication, critical thinking, self-motivation, research organisation and teamwork. Viewing the development of graduate attributes through the lens of the students adds to our understanding of how PSGs help them to develop graduate attributes and contribute to university efforts to instil these attributes by taking into account experiential learning.     

Freedom and control in higher education: Who needs a policy?

The question posed in the title refers to policy for the professional development of academic staff. The answer is considered in five parts with reference to (a) staff associations; (b) university councils; (c) university departments; (d) individual staff; and (e) students.Policies and professionalism are discussed with reference to experiences in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. A professional development policy is considered to be a prerequisite for in-service programmes for academic staff, for evaluation of academic performance and career related decisions. Members of a profession should accept responsibility for the practice of the profession.In particular, detailed reference is made in the Appendix to the history of the preparation of a policy for the professional development of academic staff by the New Zealand Association of University Teachers.     

Choice Modeling New Zealand High School Seniors' Preferences for University Education

ABSTRACT

Preferences for college education among year 12 and 13 high school seniors from throughout New Zealand were surveyed. Initial focus group researched students in the process of deciding on college education and/or on a particular college or university institution in their choice process. Quantitative research developed from the focus group responses and based on a stated preferences (choice) survey of school students (n = 526) followed. Students' preferences regarding university choice were predominantly influenced by the quality and flexibility of the degree and/or course options, likelihood that employers will recruit from the university, the extent that university accommodation is subsidized and the overall cost of attending the university positioned in comparison to other universities. Secondary students would prefer not to attend a university with access restricted to an “A” bursary examination mark (bursary is a New Zealand pre-college examination to gain fee subsidy), that has limited first year accommodation, or which offers sports scholarships. New Zealand secondary school students are relatively price insensitive, with the cost of attending university not perceived as a deterrent. Moreover, the research findings show a positive cost-value relationship exists in students' choice preferences. Students would prefer to attend a university where the cost was equal to or higher than other options.