Teachers' Work

20 Years Teachers’ Work – looking back and looking forward (Part 2)

Nesta Devine, Daniel Couch, Kay-Lee Jones, Helena Cook, Christoph Teschers — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

This editorial celebrates the new, in the form of welcoming two new editors, and reflects on the old, in the form of 20 years of valuing teachers’ work, and resisting encroachments on the mana of teachers and the teaching profession.

Whāia te iti kahurangi: A journey of pursuing aspirations for bilingual tamariki

Paia Taani — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

My husband and I are parents of four beautiful bilingual tamariki. When our children started primary school, we chose the local school, which is very good but, at the time, the provision of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori was lacking. I am also a kaiako and academic within the realms of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori, particularly in the contexts of whānau and education. Informed by my dual role as parent and educator, this reflection shares some of our experiences throughout our children’s primary school years. I also highlight the challenges we faced in the pursuit of our aspirations. Utilising the Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners framework, I discuss the progress and shifts in attitudes regarding bicultural and bilingual teaching and learning (Education Council Aotearoa New Zealand & Ministry of Education, 2011). I conclude by sharing my vision for my future mokopuna.

Twenty years of resistance

Nesta Devine — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

A personal reflection of 20 years of policy and practice regarding teachers' work in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The degradation of teachers’ work, loss of teachable moments, demise of democracy and ascendancy of surveillance capitalism in schooling

John O'Neill — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

The idea that teachers can and therefore must ‘accelerate’ learning, progress, and achievement for ‘priority’ groups of students has become something of a crusade in official schooling policy discourse in Aotearoa New Zealand over the last couple of decades (e.g., Education Review Office, 2013). The New Zealand sociologist Roy Nash once scathingly referred to this achievement ideology as ‘state-sponsored possibilism’ enacted through ‘bureaucratic fiat’ and fuelled by “impatient political insistence that schools must demonstrate almost immediate ‘equality of results’” (Nash, 2003, p. 187). Here, I offer some very preliminary reflections on the ongoing process of dehumanising teachers’ labour in Aotearoa New Zealand, the accompanying loss of teachable moments that channel children’s innate curiosity about their natural, social and cultural worlds, and the consequential decline in our ability even to imagine the possibility of democratic forms of public schooling. In terms of the provocation for my reflections here, I also comment on what appears to be a foreshadowing of the “rise of digital technology and the creation of elaborate data architectures within and across organizations” (Power, 2022, p. 4), using the example of our national English medium schooling system and, specifically, the proliferation of Microsoft’s Office 365 Education software suite.

Teacher Education or Apprenticeship Training? Reflections on the Effects of Field-Based ITE on Teachers’ Work

Leon Benade — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

The Initial Teacher Education (ITE) terrain in New Zealand is complex, varied, and populated by an increasing number of providers and options. Of interest here is field-based ITE or employment-based ITE, which has been a common practice in the ECE sector since the 1960s.

Enjoyment and intentionality in early childhood education

Nic Dunham, Andrea Delaune — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

This paper explores teacher enjoyment and the notion of the intentional teacher in early childhood education. The research is part of a wider interrogation challenging existing discourses associated with the intentional teacher. A mixed-method research design was used to gather perspectives from early childhood teachers in relation to their experiences of enjoyment in their teaching practices and the connection with being an intentional teacher. Findings from participant responses highlight important aspects associated with early childhood teacher enjoyment and intentionality. The connection between enjoyment and intentional teaching was reflected in reports of ways of doing or acting, as well as in ways of being associated with teacher identity. Connection was made between experiences of enjoyment and intentional teaching through contributing, adding value, and personal impact. Association was also made with promoting social justice. Whilst small in scale, the research highlights the importance of challenging existing and potentially limiting discourses of the intentional teacher by giving attention to how intentional teaching is generated, as an internal encounter associated with ways of being and becoming and the role that enjoyment plays within this process.

Risk taker or risk averse? Stories from early childhood leaders that demonstrate the complexities involved in empowering young children to take safe risks in the outdoors

Vikki Hanrahan — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

Risk-taking in the outdoors provides opportunities for young tamariki to develop their physical skills and learn to self-manage risk. Within an early childhood setting many policies and regulations are in place to ensure that tamariki are kept safe from harm. Early childhood leaders are tasked with the challenge of managing the tension between providing sufficient opportunities for tamariki to engage in risk-taking while following regulations to successfully eliminate any hazards that could cause serious harm. The scenarios and voices of the key informants presented in this article demonstrate ways that safe risk-taking opportunities can be implemented while navigating this tension.

Creative STEM Pathways - Supporting Pacific Learners through 3D Printing

Margaret Flavell, Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

The low participation of Pacific students in tertiary STEM studies has implications for schools as they consider how best to engage these learners in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). This article reports on an innovative project that supports Pacific learners with STEM learning through 3D printing technology. Creative STEM Pathways is a university-led initiative which has successfully brought 3D technology to the classroom, providing culturally-sustaining, hands-on and relevant learning opportunities. We used an Appreciative Inquiry lens to help us explore how the programme could create positive learning experiences. In this article, we share experiences of its development and delivery. We highlight successes and challenges, offering practical insight to those considering similar innovation in the classroom.

Anthropocentrism and Microorganisms: Implications for Biosecurity

Rajesh Ram — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

The world is changing: both a conventional and a vaccine passport are now needed to travel internationally. Mask mandates, and social distancing are the new norm in a rapidly changing society. These measures were put in place to control the spread of the highly infectious and often fatal Covid-19, caused by a viral agent, a microorganism, a zoonosis, and the cause of death for over 6 million people around the world. Considering this, maintaining biosecurity is important around the world to ensure public health. Biosecurity in New Zealand supposes that people including young people understand different pests and diseases that can harm public health. This qualitative study was conducted to gauge the biosecurity knowledge of 171 young people (14–15-year-olds). Young people were tested on their knowledge about biosecurity related plants, animals, and microorganisms. This paper reports specifically on the results of knowledge of microorganisms of young people. Results show that negative anthropocentric views dominate adolescents understanding of microorganisms and anthropomorphism is widely used to explain microorganism activity. An educational programme, targeted at developing a conceptual understanding about microorganisms starting at primary education may help develop a more educated global citizen, one versed in understanding the biology of microorganisms.

Negotiating Discourses: A Pākehā Teacher Educator’s Exploration of Bicultural Teaching Practice

Alison Warren — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

Bicultural teaching practice in Aotearoa New Zealand is based on commitment to partnerships reflecting Te Tiriti o Waitangi/ The Treaty of Waitangi between Māori and non-Māori cultures, and is governed by professional standards and documents. I am a Pākehā (European ethnicity) early childhood teacher educator concerned about how effectively I engage in bicultural teaching practice. According to Michel Foucault’s theories, individuals’ self-understandings are shaped within discourses that frame their values and beliefs, and their thoughts and actions. This article reports on poststructural self-study research into my negotiations within three discourses of bicultural teacher education practice, as well as discourses of colonisation that continue to pervade Aotearoa New Zealand.

Learner Agency, Dispositionality and the New Zealand Curriculum Key Competencies.

Jennifer Charteris — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

As more than just knowledge and skills, The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) key competencies encompass dispositions for lifelong learning (OECD, 2005). A range of studies associate learner agency within the dispositions that are embedded in these key competencies (Carr, 2004; Hipkins, 2010; Hipkins & Boyd, 2011). Drawn from self-determination theory (OECD, 2009; Ryan & Deci, 2000), the competencies are strongly anchored in an essentialist frame-work. Interpreted this way, competencies can be likened to a virtual backpack that students carry about and draw from at will. A discursively constituted view of identity would suggest that this is not the case. Employing Davies’ (2010) conception of a subject-of-thought, where the subject is under erasure, the paper explores what agency as dispositionality can look like when it is performatively constituted in a competence-oriented curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007). Rather being attributed static, essentialised identities, students are co-constituted in classroom discourses. The research has implications for how educators recognise moments when students agentically mobilise personal, social and discursive resources (Davies, 1990) in the classroom. This article presents an argument for a dynamic theory of agency that incorporates a rhizomatic view of learner participation and interrupts essentialist interpretations of dispositionality. It opens up possibilities for new conceptions of key competencies as performative discursive practices.

Biculturalism in Education: Haere Whakamua, Hoki Whakamuri/Going Forward, Thinking Back

Megan Lourie — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

While references to the Treaty of Waitangi and/or biculturalism are an accepted part of the New Zealand education policy landscape, there is often a lack of consensus around the meaning, and therefore the practice implications, of the term ‘biculturalism’. This difficulty can be explained by viewing biculturalism as a discourse that has continued to change since its emergence in the 1980s. In policy texts older understandings of the term are overlaid with more recent understandings and this can contribute to uncertainty about what the term means to teachers in 2016. This is particularly challenging for teachers and school leaders as they attempt to negotiate the requirements of the Practising Teacher Criteria. Therefore, there is a need to continue engaging in discussion about the meaning of biculturalism in education in the present, looking forward, but informed by the past.

Reclaiming the Ontological Over the Epistemological: A Case Study Into a New Zealand Primary School Disclosing an Embodied Culture of Teacher Inquiry

Andrew Bills, Bev Rogers, David Giles — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

This article presents case study research into a New Zealand primary school enacting a very sophisticated whole school inquiry approach to enhance teacher classroom professionalism and practice. A culture of inquiry manifests as an ontological ‘way of being’ in this school community, in the daily professional interactions between the teachers and leaders. This ‘way of being’ is evident in the way teachers and leaders work together in espousing professional expertise, trust, care and support to enable teacher inquiry for improved classroom practice to flourish. In this article we present evidence in relation to three questions: (1) What does inquiry look like within this school community? (2) How was collaboration and support implicated in teacher inquiry? (3) How was teacher and leader engagement in inquiry related to meaningful shifts in teachers’ practice and learning? The research contributes to new understandings about the ontological nature of teacher inquiry by uncovering important links between school culture, teacher and leader inquiry, and embodied professional learning and practice.

The Alignment of Innovative Learning Environments and Inclusive Education: How Effective is the New Learning Environment in Meeting the Needs of Special Education Learners?

Angela Page, Alex Davis — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

This article examines Innovative Learning Environments (ILE’s) in terms of its promise to deliver an inclusive environment. While ILE’s underpinning philosophy is to be inclusive for all, it appears that inclusion serves the needs of a wider mainstream audience. The article considers the research in this area critically, with a focus on the inclusive needs of students with disabilities and asks—whose inclusive needs are best served in an ILE context? This article argues that inclusion in an ILE which addresses the needs of students with disabilities has yet to be fully realised, and that an alternative inclusive education (IE) paradigm is required that aligns itself with the new ILE pedagogical environment.

A Māori Crisis in Science Education?

Georgina Stewart — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

This article is written for school teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand schools who teach science to Year 7-10 students or as part of a primary classroom programme under The New Zealand Curriculum. What can teachers do about inequity in science education for Māori students? Clear understanding of this complex issue is required, so this article offers a synopsis of the Māori science curriculum debate. Written from my perspective as an insider-researcher interested in this topic for many years, this article engages with important comments about Māori-medium science education made by Sir Peter Gluckman in a major report on science education (2011), and an earlier challenge by Graham Hingangaroa Smith (1995) about the ‘Māori crisis’ in science education. Towards the end I briefly discuss what teachers might do, and consider the potential of ‘bilingual science’ as an alternate approach with relevance for any classroom teacher, and a way of navigating the current theoretical impasse or ‘crisis’ in Māori science education.

On the Periphery or at the Centre?: Ideas for Improving the Physical and Interpersonal Environments for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Trans-sexual/gender Students at a New Zealand Secondary School.

Wendy Hemi, Anita Mortlock — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

Despite mandates that require schools to be safe places for all students, issues persist around the provision of safety for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, trans-sexual, and trans-gendered students and staff. The current study reports the initial two stages of an action research project undertaken in a New Zealand secondary school, which aimed to enhance the interpersonal and physical environments for students with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations. The first phase consisted of data gathering, comprising an evaluation of the physical environment and a survey issued to students and staff. The second phase was the development of a plan for ongoing action and improvement, consisting of education, provision of safe spaces and meaningful support, and artefacts that communicate tolerance.

Risky Choices – Autonomy and Surveillance in Secondary English Classrooms

Claudia Rozas Gómes — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

Achievement data from New Zealand secondary schools suggest that students from lower socio-economic communities have fewer opportunities to engage with complex content in subject English. This article examines this phenomenon by drawing on Foucault’s notion of governmentality and considers how a context of simultaneously increased autonomy and surveillance may shape curriculum and assessment choices. To explore these ideas, I use interview data from ten secondary English teachers in the wider Auckland region. I complement Foucault’s (1982) explanation of governmentality with Ball, Maguire, and Braun’s (2012) notion of policy enactment to explore spaces of both compliance and resistance.

‘Maslow before Bloom’: Implementing a caring pedagogy during Covid-19

Carol Mutch, Sophie Peung — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +1300

This article draws on interviews undertaken with 20 teachers as part of a larger study on the impact of Covid-19 on schools. Although the schools varied by location, level, and socio-economic status, teachers’ experiences were remarkably similar. Teachers found the sudden move to on-line learning stressful, and the constant demands of delivering a different style of pedagogy, maintaining contact with students and their families, and looking after their own family situations exhausting. Participants who worked in isolated or less advantaged communities were also attending to delivering learning devices, food and basic supplies to their families and communities. In this article, we present the data in in both thematic and poetic styles to highlight the nature of the caring pedagogy that they undertook as schools moved in and out of lockdowns, despite the toll that it took on them, personally and professionally.