School of Education - Te Kura Mātauranga
Permanent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10292/3300
Research within the School of Education - Te Kura Mātauranga is driven by students working towards postgraduate qualifications, staff pursuing their own research interests, and contracts for funding agencies such as the Ministry of Education and other partners. Research interests in the School of Education include; Learning and teaching, theory and practice, Curriculum and development, Teacher education, Early childhood education, Adult and tertiary education and development, Schools, E-learning, Educational administration, and Professional inquiry and practice.
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Item Bridging the Triple Bottom Line: Art & Design Students' Perspectives and Incorporation of Artificial Intelligence for Their Entrepreneurial Projects(University of the Punjab, 2025) Pirzada, GouharThe current research investigates the interrelationships within the field of sustainable entrepreneurship, focusing on the evolution of the construct concerning the triad social, economic, and environmental and the incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in creative practices. Within the management discipline, sustainable entrepreneurship is a new construct. Most of the literature addresses the practice as ‘sustainability’ or ‘sustainable business practices’. The term entrepreneurship is sustained in the literature to bridge the entrepreneurship and sustainable development literature. For this research, a qualitative approach was taken. The participants of the study included 39 students from Art & Design. They were also part of the research sample. These students were later assigned an entrepreneurial project where they incorporated sustainability and creatively AI integration as a core variable in the design, operational, and ethical frameworks. The sample comprised students from the last semester of four different sectors: Fashion Design, Textile Design, Interior Architecture Design, and Graphic Design. Adopting sustainable entrepreneurship strategies that satisfy all stakeholders' operational needs and advantages is challenging. This is due to institutional frameworks prioritizing established businesses and non-sustainable practices over newly sustainable alternatives. The results from this research offer valuable information regarding certain aspects of sustainable entrepreneurship, student perspectives regarding the role of AI in enhancing the ethics of the design and production processes, and the capacity of such innovations to promote a transition to a developing country’s economy.Item Reorienting Aotearoa New Zealand Secondary School Geography Towards Decolonisation and Indigenisation(European Association of Geographers, 2026-01-24) Finn, Karen; Turner-Adams, Hana; Webber, MelindaSecondary school geography in Aotearoa New Zealand has a Western-centric curriculum due to the British colonial influence. Despite being the knowledge system of the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand, mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) has been sidelined from geography curricula. A recent system-wide review and overhaul of the national curriculum and assessment system aimed for equal status for mātauranga Māori, respecting it and addressing its exclusion and denigration, and added aspects of decolonising geography, such as critiquing power, to the secondary school geography curriculum. This study investigated how Aotearoa New Zealand secondary school geography teachers understand decolonising and indigenising geography. Qualitative data were gathered through an online survey of 47 geography teachers and analysed using content analysis and reflexive thematic analysis. The study findings are presented as three orientations that teachers take when decolonising geography: decolonising and indigenising geography in the classroom, engaging with Indigenous people to decolonise geography and reflexivity for decolonising geography. In doing so, the research outlines practical implications for geography teachers, initial teacher education and policy.Item A Sidetrack to Autoethnography. Enriching a Reading Research Collective(Institut für Qualitative Forschung, 2026-01-26) Maurice-Takerei, Lisa; Bernay, Ross; Boyask, Ruth; Hopkins, Rebecca; Milne, John; Jackson, Jayne; Tadi, ParisaAs a group of academics working for the first time together on a collective project on children and young people's reading engagement, we discovered the value of reflexive conversations on the nature of our individual roles as literacy educators and our roles as collaborative researchers. As the project progressed, we developed this paper from conversations that drifted into self-reflection on our own experiences as readers, teachers and researchers. Rather than viewing these conversations as digression, we decided to embrace wholeheartedly the possibility that they would enrich our research and progress our goals as a group. This was an opportunity to pause and venture into a less familiar research arena. In the process, as individuals, we revealed more of ourselves as collaborative researchers interacting in this new space which enriched our collective undertaking as well as our individual projects within different reading communities.Item “Only a Sith deals in absolutes”: Dialogising a Single Truth(Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2025-12-12) Westbrook, FionaThrough a series of visual provocations from Star Wars’ Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, this article contemplates the allure and danger of a singular truth. Anakin Skywalker’s transition from Jedi to Sith Lord, Darth Vader, amplifies and breaks down notions of truth and lies, posing seductive simplicities and paradoxical tensions. These come to the fore in the battle which marks Anakin’s final transition from Jedi to Sith, with his former Master Obi-Wan Kenobi’s ironic, absolutist declaration “only a Sith deals in absolutes” (Lucas, 2005). This article explores how these scenes seduce viewers with the clarity of absolute thinking and undermine it through dialogic contradiction, signalling the allure and dangers of simplistic, idealised, certainty.Item Holding the Family Photo: Queer Tensions and Happy Objects on Teaching Practicum(Lighting the Academy, 2025-11-07) Bernay, Ross; Gaerlan, Eunice; Ingram, Toni; Lopez, Jess; Thomas Cameron, YaelThis paper is drawn from the STEDI study that points to student teachers experiences of discrimination and inclusion. In this paper we point to: the social economies that assure happiness on practicum and how this same space can become one of disavowal and foreclosure for queer student teachers, and the need for initial teacher education provider to offer better support and preparation for queer student teachers.Item Jedi Mind Control, Idiot Compassion, and a Pedagogy of Discomfort: Rethinking Care and the Ethics of Pedagogical Influence: Star Wars: A New Hope for Visual Pedagogies in a Galaxy Far, Far Away(Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2025-12-19) Hopkins, Rebecca LThis article brings together the Buddhist philosopher Chögyam Trungpa's notion of idiot compassion and a moment of Jedi mind control in Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones to question pedagogy in early childhood education. Through a philosophic playing with theory, the analysis situates a pop culture fragment-the bar scene in which Obi-Wan Kenobi encounters drug dealer Elan Sel'Sabagno-as a site for thinking critically about the ethics of compassion, authority, and pedagogical influence. Drawing on Buddhist philosophy, the article questions whether the Jedi's use of power constitutes compassion or coercion, and how this tension resonates with educational practice. The discussion proposes that idiot compassion, a form of empathy that avoids discomfort but often inadvertently perpetuates harm, has parallels in early education when teachers prioritise being 'nice' over engaging with conflict, inequity, or supporting children's agency. Using a visual analysis of the Star Wars mind control film clip, the article explores how cultural texts can function as pedagogical tools to foster critical reflection. Arguing for a shift from simplistic notions of kindness and care toward a more nuanced, skilful, and intelligent compassion in early childhood pedagogy.Item Naming Māori Learning Spaces(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2025-01-15) Stewart, Georgina Tuari; Benade, Leon; Smith, Valance; Wells, Alastair; Yates, AmandaFollowing up on our recent article in this journal, this research note discusses the range of names used in Māori school settings for flexible learning spaces (FLS) and innovative learning environments (ILE), There are various existing Māori names for FLS/ILE, which fall into two types: individual names and category names. We consider several of these names as a way to explore this concept and provide a background for positing ‘he wāhi ako’ as a generic name for Māori FLS/ILE, which translates into English as ‘Māori learning space(s).’Item Queer Bodies in Teaching Spaces: Dis/orienting Practicum in Aotearoa(Gender and Education Association, 2025-05-29) Cameron, Yael; Gaerlan, EuniceIn Aotearoa New Zealand, tertiary education institutions work within the Teaching Council of New Zealand’s requirements for teacher education and professional registration. These requirements include student teachers working towards demonstrating what the Council terms Key Teaching Tasks (Education Council, 2017). Ideally, teacher education and in-school support provide a seamless pathway for student teachers to become prepared for the responsibility of independently teaching a class as provisionally-certified teachers upon graduation. However, this pathway is not uniform for all student teachers. For those who identify as LGBTQIA+, or come from non-white ethnic backgrounds, or are neurodiverse, the journey to achieving these Key Teaching Tasks often involves additional challenges and barriers. Navigating these challenges and barriers profoundly impacts student teachers’ well-being, as they balance core teaching tasks with the emotional labour of negotiating discriminatory spaces. While international studies highlight these issues (e.g., Benson, Smith & Flanagan, 2014; Berry et al., 2021; Kohli, 2009; Toledo & Maher, 2021), there is limited research in Aotearoa New Zealand examining whether the inclusive practices emphasised for children are also extended to pre-service teachers. This study investigates whether and how schools enact inclusion as a whole-school practice and the extent to which student teachers experience discrimination and inclusion during practicum placements. In this presentation, we will offer preliminary findings from the first phase of the study, focusing on the ways practicum placements serve as both sites of struggle and growth for student teachers of minoritised identities. These findings contribute to conference themes by diversifying how we understand gender and its intersections with race, sexuality, and neurodiversity in educational contexts, activating routes for feminist and inclusive practice in teacher education. In doing so, this work furthers the Gender and Education Association’s vision of challenging injustice and advocating for equity within education.Item Suicide and Sensationalism in Colonial New Zealand(Victoria University of Wellington | Te Herenga Waka, 2025-12-19) Neill, CarolEmma Meurant’s death in 1890 at the age of 16 put her briefly but sensationally in New Zealand’s national news spotlight. Her suicide was described across New Zealand daily newspapers as an agonising death caused by her taking the poison “Rough on Rats”. Later, Emma’s death was explained by a coroner as influenced by her reading with sensational literature, which, he and a jury determined, had put her in a state of temporary insanity. They arrived at this finding after hearing the testimony of community and family members two days after Emma’s death. Sensationalism therefore reigned not only in the report of her death, but also in how it was explained – and, one might read, how that conclusion was drawn. This article examines the context of Emma Meurant’s death and its historical setting, to develop understanding of how sensationalism was understood, explained and acted out in late nineteenth century New Zealand through the coroner’s inquest and newspapers. It explores the record of interactions amongst those who were involved in the event of this death, and how they appeared to fashion their own positions in relation to their social standing, their connection with Emma, and their own perspectives on sensationalism.Item The Life of Droids: A Droidean Corporeal Horror(Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2025-12-19) Gibbons, Andrew; Denton, Andrew; Yu, RainieIn this article the life of droids is explored through a weaving of scenes, dialogue, analysis, theory and an exhibition. The imagery and text are employed to work through the experiences of the droids and the relationships that are revealed, or perhaps even presenced (Heidegger, 1993). The works of Heidegger and Camus on technology and science, the story of Viktor Frankenstein’s absence of care for ‘his’ creation, and insights from Daniel Wallace’s book, 'Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Droids' add textual flavour to the images that have been produced by the authors and that invite exploration of life in the age of droidean corporeal horror. In this exhibition of machine lives, the images are presented as uncanny moments (Rancière, 2010), revealing questions concerning technology and being (Heidegger, 1993). The educational intention of this work is not to emancipate machine life through the horror stories of droidean cultures and communities, but rather to offer insights into the error of Modern mastery.Item Kiwi kids once led the world in reading – this 1950s primary school syllabus still has lessons for today(The Conversation, 2025-05-09) Boyask, Ruth; Milne, JohnItem Why claims of ‘transformational’ school reading improvement are premature(The Conversation, 2025-10-20) Milne, JohnItem Reclaiming ‘fun’: A School Leader’s Reflexive Account of a Social and Emotional Learning Initiative in Primary Education(Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2025-12-06) Drake, MelanieIn an era where schools are under immense pressure to deliver top academic results and meet performance expectations from stakeholders such as government departments, parents, and school boards, the idea of prioritising ‘fun’ over academic outcomes might appear unconventional. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, exposed the fragility of traditional schooling models and underscored the urgency of addressing students’ social and emotional well-being. This South African leadership narrative reflects on how the principal and leadership team, in the first ‘normal’ school year following the pandemic, implemented a year-long initiative known as the Fun Project. Designed to rekindle joy, connection, and emotional recovery, the project centred on fostering Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) through creative, collaborative, and academically aligned cross-curricular learning experiences. Drawing on a reflexive autoethnographic and pracademic approach, this study situates the author’s lived leadership experience within wider educational leadership theory, exploring the tensions between academic accountability and student well-being. The narrative demonstrates how integrating SEL and joy into school culture can reframe educational priorities, cultivate resilience, and model a form of leadership grounded in reflection, relational trust, and hope.Item Teacher Inquiries Into the Education Journeys of Rangatahi in Alternative Education(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2025-06-06) Turner-Adams, Hana; Bruce, Judy; Piggot-Irvine, Eileen; Schoone, AdrianThis action research (AR) project explored critical moments from the education experiences of disenfranchised rangatahi (young people) in Alternative Education (AE). The rangatahi hoped their stories would help teachers, principals, Boards of Trustees, and the Ministry of Education understand their experiences and hear their recommendations for helping vulnerable rangatahi in the future. AE teachers utilised storytelling and arts-based methods that enabled rangatahi to tell their stories. The relational and collaborative nature of AR was crucial to amplify the voices of the rangatahi and their AE teachers. This article shares insights from AE teachers’ inquiries and the AR process. The stories were thematically analysed to understand common schooling experiences. Experiences of microaggressions and microaffirmations, social and cultural spaces, transition and transience, exclusion and alienation, identities and relationships, and pedagogical approaches all impacted rangatahi identity and learning. Recommendations for how teachers and school leaders might adapt their practices to support disenfranchised rangatahi are considered.Item Self-Efficacy Perceptions of Tongan Students and Their Teachers Within Year 11 Business Studies(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2025-01-22) Hausia, Ella’peta Fifita; Matapo, Jacoba; Gaffney, Janet SA growing number of Pasifika students are pursuing Business Studies at Secondary school. However, indigenous knowledge and epistemologies are not prominent in Business Studies. We discuss a qualitative decolonising study that explores the concept of self-efficacy in Business Studies from a Tongan perspective. We provide insights into the perceptions of Tongan student’s self-efficacy and their Business Studies teachers. Teachers’ views aligned with Western notions of self-efficacy, which conflict with Tongan perceptions, precisely the collective nature of Tongan self-efficacy. Key findings from teacher interviews and Talanoa with students provided an understanding of Pasifika students in general and experiences specific to Tongan students. Three main themes are highlighted: (a) key values for Tongan students, such as relationships, family, and identity; (b) students’ learning experiences across different contexts; and (c) framings of self-efficacy. This study’s implications for curriculum suggest how teachers can learn from and incorporate Tongan students’ values and identities, enhancing their engagement and performance in Business Studies. Extending this research to include the knowledge and understanding of Tongan families, community leaders, curriculum specialists, Business Studies educators, and researchers would create a transformational space for student engagement. Bringing together shared expert knowledge in the future would require more time for effective and meaningful Talanoa as a collective.Item Big Changes to NCEA and Polytechs Must Deliver the Skills NZ Urgently Needs(The Conversation, 2025-08-07) Maurice-Takerei, LisaItem NCEA Reform: How Will Schools Decide Who Takes an Academic or Vocational Path?(The Conversation, 2025-08-27) Maurice-Takerei, LisaItem Planting the Seed: Early Encounters With Art and Materials for Infants and Toddlers(The University of Auckland, 2025-11-24) Probine, Sarah; Denee, RachelThis article reports findings from a qualitative case study exploring visual arts pedagogy for infants and toddlers in four early childhood education settings in Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing on interviews, observations, and document analysis, the research examined how kaiako (teachers) designed and facilitated culturally responsive, intentional visual arts experiences. Findings highlight the importance of relational pedagogy, sustained engagement with rich materials, and teachers’ views of infants and toddlers as capable, agentic learners. Teachers described their practice as a dynamic “dance” of stepping back to honour children’s exploration and stepping forward to sensitively guide and extend. Organisational conditions, including leadership support and collaborative inquiry, were essential for embedding visual arts as a valued part of the curriculum. The study underscores the transformative potential of early visual arts experiences for fostering identity, wellbeing, and dispositions for learning and calls for strengthened guidance and professional development in this area.Item Kia Tōtika te Haere: Exploring Unhurried Pedagogies Through Child Led Inquiry Learning With Infants and Toddlers(The University of Auckland, 2025-11-24) Probine, Sarah; Heta-Lensen, Yo; Burke, Rachael; Perry, Jo; Alderson, JoanneThis paper explores how inquiry with infants and toddlers can be meaningfully enacted through slow, relational pedagogies that foreground deep listening, documentation, and sustained engagement with people, place, and materials. Drawing on narrative inquiry from two early childhood centres in Aotearoa New Zealand, we examine how kaiako create time and space for infants’ and toddlers’ working theories to unfold through embodied, sensory-rich experiences. We highlight three key strategies: relational practice, pedagogical documentation, and attuned listening, as foundational to inquiry with the very youngest learners. Framed through the concept of Āta (Pohatu, 2013), we consider how these strategies align with Māori values of respect, reflection, and reciprocity, offering a culturally grounded lens for unhurried pedagogy. We argue that in the current political climate, inquiry with infants and toddlers is both a pedagogical and political stance, affirming infants’ and toddlers’ rights to agency, participation, and meaningful learning from birth.Item Change and Persistence. The Legacies for VET in Aotearoa, New Zealand(Osnabrueck University, 2025-10-02) Maurice-Takerei, LisaThis paper provides a background to vocational education and training in Aotearoa New Zealand with a focus on the legacies that continue to impact the environment and conditions for a stable and viable VET system. Despite ongoing measures to reform and organise VET through legislative shifts and changes in administration and organisation, the sector continues to be unsettled and in flux. There are several embedded attitudes associated with vocational, trade and technical education that have thwarted efforts to develop a strong vocational and technical education system in Aotearoa, New Zealand over time and these have had an impact on efforts at reform. This paper examines some of the historical conditions that have led to the environment for VET as we now find it – underdeveloped, underfunded and in a constant state of reform.