scholarly journals Sounds of Waitakere: Using practitioner research to explore how Year 6 recorder players compose responses to visual representations of a natural environment

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Locke ◽  
Terry Locke
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Curriculum Integration ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Practitioner Research ◽  
Primary Students ◽  
School Music

How might primary students utilise the stimulus of a painting in a collaborative composition drawing on a non-conventional sound palette of their own making? This practitioner research features 17 recorder players from a Year 6 class (10–11-year-olds) who attend a West Auckland primary school in New Zealand. These children were invited to experiment with the instrument to produce collectively an expanded ‘repertoire’ or ‘palette’ of sounds. In small groups, they then discussed a painting by an established New Zealand painter set in the Waitakere Ranges and attempted to formulate an interpretation in musical terms. On the basis of their interpretation, drawing on sounds from the collective palette (complemented with other sounds), they worked collaboratively to develop, refine and perform a structured composition named for their chosen painting. This case study is primarily descriptive (providing narrative accounts and rich vignettes of practice) and, secondarily, exploratory (description and analysis leading to the development of hypotheses). It has implications for a range of current educational issues, including curriculum integration and the place of composition and notation in the primary-school music programme.

scholarly journals Socioeconomic Status and Student Achievement in Primary School Mathematics: A Case Study of Two New Zealand Schools

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elizabeth Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Student Achievement ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Mathematics Achievement ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Opportunities To Learn ◽  
Collective Case Study

<p>Existing research consistently identifies large differences in mathematics achievement between students from high and low socioeconomic status backgrounds. The link between socioeconomic status and student achievement has been repeatedly acknowledged throughout the literature, but reasons for this link are not yet fully understood. This study builds on existing international research, which identifies a large number of potential key influences for the disparity in mathematics achievement. The aim of this study was to identify which of the potentially key influences were possibly influencing student mathematics achievement in a high and a low decile New Zealand primary school, thereby suggesting ways to improve student mathematics achievement in the low decile school.  Often, changes within education, including in many intervention programmes, are generic, made without identifying the specific needs of an individual school and its students. The tools developed during this research were designed to be used in schools, allowing evidence-based needs to be identified, and any changes made to be targeted at the specific needs of the school and its students.  This research was conceived within a qualitative paradigm, and followed a collective case study design, focusing on two case schools, a high decile school (Pīwakawaka School), and a low decile school (Whio School). Data were collected through classroom observations, archival records, interviews, questionnaires, and physical artefacts, using tools specifically designed for this study. The data were analysed using grounded theory, allowing theories to emerge from the data.  The data collected from each school were compared and two theories emerged. The first theory is that students in the high decile school appeared to be doing a greater amount of mathematics than students in the low decile school. The second theory is that students in the high decile school appeared to have more opportunities to learn new mathematics than students in the low decile school. Additionally, the findings suggested that, due to the complex nature of teaching, there was more than one key influence on student mathematics achievement contributing to each of these emergent theories.  This research suggests that teachers at Whio School may be able to improve student achievement in mathematics by increasing both the amount of mathematics students interact with and the number of opportunities to learn new mathematics their students receive.</p>

scholarly journals Sources of indoor air pollution at a New Zealand urban primary school; a case study

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 435-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Bennett ◽  
Perry Davy ◽  
Bill Trompetter ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
Nevil Pierse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Indoor Air Pollution

But that's not right, is it Miss? Colonization and conscientious objection through drama

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-262
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Anderson ◽  
Marsha Bellamy ◽  
Nikki Douglas
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Conscientious Objection ◽  
The Other ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Primary School Teachers ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
Study Process

Abstract This article presents an account of a short research project in which two primary school teachers and the researcher collaborated to design drama work to help their students navigate challenging journeys. A short case study of practice over four to six months, it was documented and considered reflectively in order for the practice to be of use to other teachers. From safe New Zealand classrooms, the two teachers, one with Year 6 students, the other with Year 8, used drama to look at the tyranny of colonization and at resistance by conscientious objection. The research followed a case study process over four to six months, in two schools. The two teachers in this study let their students imagine colonization and resistance, and helped them see with new eyes. The students were challenged to question different perspectives on right and wrong and to navigate their own direction with critical thought and empathy. In the class that explored the rights of others in another age through literature heightened their awareness and responsibility for their own work, and in turn deepened their responses to ideas. In the other class, while colonization had been the original commendable theme, the students made their own connections to their own lives and community, and revealed a degree of perception and insight that holds promise for the way those students will participate and balance their responsibilities as citizens.

scholarly journals Socioeconomic Status and Student Achievement in Primary School Mathematics: A Case Study of Two New Zealand Schools

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elizabeth Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Student Achievement ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Mathematics Achievement ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Opportunities To Learn ◽  
Collective Case Study

<p>Existing research consistently identifies large differences in mathematics achievement between students from high and low socioeconomic status backgrounds. The link between socioeconomic status and student achievement has been repeatedly acknowledged throughout the literature, but reasons for this link are not yet fully understood. This study builds on existing international research, which identifies a large number of potential key influences for the disparity in mathematics achievement. The aim of this study was to identify which of the potentially key influences were possibly influencing student mathematics achievement in a high and a low decile New Zealand primary school, thereby suggesting ways to improve student mathematics achievement in the low decile school.  Often, changes within education, including in many intervention programmes, are generic, made without identifying the specific needs of an individual school and its students. The tools developed during this research were designed to be used in schools, allowing evidence-based needs to be identified, and any changes made to be targeted at the specific needs of the school and its students.  This research was conceived within a qualitative paradigm, and followed a collective case study design, focusing on two case schools, a high decile school (Pīwakawaka School), and a low decile school (Whio School). Data were collected through classroom observations, archival records, interviews, questionnaires, and physical artefacts, using tools specifically designed for this study. The data were analysed using grounded theory, allowing theories to emerge from the data.  The data collected from each school were compared and two theories emerged. The first theory is that students in the high decile school appeared to be doing a greater amount of mathematics than students in the low decile school. The second theory is that students in the high decile school appeared to have more opportunities to learn new mathematics than students in the low decile school. Additionally, the findings suggested that, due to the complex nature of teaching, there was more than one key influence on student mathematics achievement contributing to each of these emergent theories.  This research suggests that teachers at Whio School may be able to improve student achievement in mathematics by increasing both the amount of mathematics students interact with and the number of opportunities to learn new mathematics their students receive.</p>

scholarly journals A Case Study of the Manageability and Utility of Assessment in Three New Zealand Primary Schools 1993-2006

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
John Richard Young
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Assessment Practice ◽  
Curriculum Assessment ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Current Assessment

<p>This study is concerned with the manageability of assessment in New Zealand schools. In order for assessment to be effective in schools, it needs to be manageable. This is especially important for New Zealand schools in the light of the changes in administration and curriculum introduced in the early 1990s. These reforms which were termed Tomorrow's Schools introduced radical changes to New Zealand schools in the areas of governance, management, the curriculum, assessment, and quality assurance. In the area of assessment, primary schools were presented with a number of challenges which included a requirement to assess a highly structured curriculum with close to 1000 achievement objectives, many of which were open to different interpretation. There was also an expectation to assess against the structure of this new rapidly introduced curriculum, without any tools provided for such assessment. The New Zealand system also departed from other countries in that it made no distinction in terms of importance in teaching and assessment between what are usually considered the core activities of primary school education, literacy and numeracy, and other learning areas. In light of these challenges it is not surprising that a number of the assessment processes that schools developed and used were questionable in terms of manageability and utility. The aim of this research is to examine the effect of government policy and international movements in assessment on the manageability of assessment practice in New Zealand primary schools during the period 1990-2006. The research also examines what is meant by the terms manageability and utility when applied to the context of primary school assessment. By means of case study research, the investigation explores assessment practice in three Wellington primary schools during 2006-2007. The case studies sought to understand current assessment practices in terms of the reforms of the early nineties, as well as more recent developments in assessment in New Zealand. The research illustrated that while these three New Zealand schools still faced some major issues in terms of the manageability and utility of assessment, their views were more optimistic and positive than earlier research studies had reported.</p>

scholarly journals New Zealand learning environments: The role of design and the design process

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Fatimah Mohammed Alsaif
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
Teachers And Students

<p>Learning environments are important spaces because these are where primary school children spend many hours. These environments can vary from single cell classrooms to modern open plan learning studios. As the design of these learning environments can affect the learning outcomes of students, their design and the design process behind them are important fields of investigation. Involving the users of learning environments in the design process is an important factor to be considered. Studies overseas stress the importance of involving teachers and students in the design process of learning environments. However, studies about learning environments in New Zealand show less consideration for the internal layout of classrooms and the involvement of users in their design process. Thus, this thesis studies and compares the design process behind learning environments in New Zealand with those overseas and the effect of this involvement on the design of primary school internal learning spaces, specifically classrooms. The aim of this thesis is create an understanding of the design process behind primary school classroom learning environments in New Zealand.  To achieve the aim, this thesis undertakes five phases of study. The first phase is surveying primary school teachers and architects who design educational spaces, about the design and design process of learning environments in New Zealand. The survey results show that both teachers and architects support participatory design in schools and wish for more student user involvement. The second phase is a trial using social media to encourage more teacher and student participation in designing learning environments. Wordpress and Facebook groups were used for this experiment and teachers and students of primary schools in New Zealand were invited to participate. The trial result appears to indicate that social media does not work in encouraging students and teachers in thinking about the design of learning environments in general without having a specific project as a focus. The third phase is a workshop gathering five teachers and one architect to discuss the detail of the design process behind learning environments in New Zealand. The workshop result suggests that again participants support participatory design but suggest the need for guidance on how to do this, possibly from the Ministry of Education. The fourth phase is a case study of the early stages of a re‐build project for Thorndon Primary School in Wellington city. The case study included interviews, focus groups, observations, and collecting documentation. The main conclusion from the case study is that all parties to the project were in support of participatory design but would have benefitted from guidance as the whole design process and user involvement in it is unclear. The last phase is also case studies but here the focus is on the design process for rearranging the internal layout of two classrooms in two primary schools in Wellington city. The case studies covered observing the involvement of students in the design process, some classroom and brainstorming sessions, and interviews with teachers. The main result of this phase is the observation that students enjoy working on the design of their own environments and that they are able and ready to work as part of such a design process.  The key conclusions of this thesis are that all parties involved in this research supported user participation in the design process, but in all the cases investigated there is almost no proper participatory design; students enjoy designing their learning environments and that enjoyment makes them belong and connect to these more; and proper preliminary guidelines for participatory design in learning environments could improve and encourage user involvement in designing learning environments in New Zealand.</p>

scholarly journals A Case Study of the Manageability and Utility of Assessment in Three New Zealand Primary Schools 1993-2006

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
John Richard Young
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Assessment Practice ◽  
Curriculum Assessment ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Current Assessment

<p>This study is concerned with the manageability of assessment in New Zealand schools. In order for assessment to be effective in schools, it needs to be manageable. This is especially important for New Zealand schools in the light of the changes in administration and curriculum introduced in the early 1990s. These reforms which were termed Tomorrow's Schools introduced radical changes to New Zealand schools in the areas of governance, management, the curriculum, assessment, and quality assurance. In the area of assessment, primary schools were presented with a number of challenges which included a requirement to assess a highly structured curriculum with close to 1000 achievement objectives, many of which were open to different interpretation. There was also an expectation to assess against the structure of this new rapidly introduced curriculum, without any tools provided for such assessment. The New Zealand system also departed from other countries in that it made no distinction in terms of importance in teaching and assessment between what are usually considered the core activities of primary school education, literacy and numeracy, and other learning areas. In light of these challenges it is not surprising that a number of the assessment processes that schools developed and used were questionable in terms of manageability and utility. The aim of this research is to examine the effect of government policy and international movements in assessment on the manageability of assessment practice in New Zealand primary schools during the period 1990-2006. The research also examines what is meant by the terms manageability and utility when applied to the context of primary school assessment. By means of case study research, the investigation explores assessment practice in three Wellington primary schools during 2006-2007. The case studies sought to understand current assessment practices in terms of the reforms of the early nineties, as well as more recent developments in assessment in New Zealand. The research illustrated that while these three New Zealand schools still faced some major issues in terms of the manageability and utility of assessment, their views were more optimistic and positive than earlier research studies had reported.</p>

scholarly journals New Zealand learning environments: The role of design and the design process

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Fatimah Mohammed Alsaif
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
Teachers And Students

<p>Learning environments are important spaces because these are where primary school children spend many hours. These environments can vary from single cell classrooms to modern open plan learning studios. As the design of these learning environments can affect the learning outcomes of students, their design and the design process behind them are important fields of investigation. Involving the users of learning environments in the design process is an important factor to be considered. Studies overseas stress the importance of involving teachers and students in the design process of learning environments. However, studies about learning environments in New Zealand show less consideration for the internal layout of classrooms and the involvement of users in their design process. Thus, this thesis studies and compares the design process behind learning environments in New Zealand with those overseas and the effect of this involvement on the design of primary school internal learning spaces, specifically classrooms. The aim of this thesis is create an understanding of the design process behind primary school classroom learning environments in New Zealand.  To achieve the aim, this thesis undertakes five phases of study. The first phase is surveying primary school teachers and architects who design educational spaces, about the design and design process of learning environments in New Zealand. The survey results show that both teachers and architects support participatory design in schools and wish for more student user involvement. The second phase is a trial using social media to encourage more teacher and student participation in designing learning environments. Wordpress and Facebook groups were used for this experiment and teachers and students of primary schools in New Zealand were invited to participate. The trial result appears to indicate that social media does not work in encouraging students and teachers in thinking about the design of learning environments in general without having a specific project as a focus. The third phase is a workshop gathering five teachers and one architect to discuss the detail of the design process behind learning environments in New Zealand. The workshop result suggests that again participants support participatory design but suggest the need for guidance on how to do this, possibly from the Ministry of Education. The fourth phase is a case study of the early stages of a re‐build project for Thorndon Primary School in Wellington city. The case study included interviews, focus groups, observations, and collecting documentation. The main conclusion from the case study is that all parties to the project were in support of participatory design but would have benefitted from guidance as the whole design process and user involvement in it is unclear. The last phase is also case studies but here the focus is on the design process for rearranging the internal layout of two classrooms in two primary schools in Wellington city. The case studies covered observing the involvement of students in the design process, some classroom and brainstorming sessions, and interviews with teachers. The main result of this phase is the observation that students enjoy working on the design of their own environments and that they are able and ready to work as part of such a design process.  The key conclusions of this thesis are that all parties involved in this research supported user participation in the design process, but in all the cases investigated there is almost no proper participatory design; students enjoy designing their learning environments and that enjoyment makes them belong and connect to these more; and proper preliminary guidelines for participatory design in learning environments could improve and encourage user involvement in designing learning environments in New Zealand.</p>

scholarly journals Reclaiming the ontological over the epistemological: A case study into a New Zealand Primary School disclosing an embodied culture of teacher inquiry

Teachers Work ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-78
Author(s):  
Andrew Bills ◽  
Bev Rogers ◽  
David Giles
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
School Community ◽  
Teacher Inquiry ◽  
Whole School ◽  
Culture Of Inquiry

This article presents case study research into a New Zealand Primary School enacting a very sophisticated whole school inquiry approach to grow teacher classroom professionalism and practice. In this school community, a culture of inquiry manifests as an ontological ‘way of being’, presenting 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.

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