scholarly journals Small New Zealand Primary Schools: Current Policy, Its Impact and Some Alternatives

Author(s):  
Graham Collins

This article examines current educational policy in New Zealand relating to small schools, considers the impact of this policy, and reflects on whether more positive alternatives might be found. Some recent research into the nature of current policy is reported, and its impact in a selective range of small primary school settings is discussed. It is argued that the current “two-track” central policy (which attempts to strengthen some small schools and rationalise others) is failing to achieve either of these goals, basically because it misunderstands or under-estimates the nature of the local community feeling associated with many small schools, and its impact on patterns of inter-school behaviour. After more than a decade of emphasis on self-management, a one-school, one-community mindset has been created in many districts. Unless this mind set is counteracted through new policy that enhances interactions between neighbouring schools, and extends the sense of community beyond the individual school, school re-organisation in New Zealand is likely to remain problematic.

1998 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 21-24
Author(s):  
Annie Kunda ◽  
Seyi L. Amosun

The National Department of Health invited comments on proposed policy guidelines on the prevention of physical inactivity in older persons at primary level. The guidelines recommended the use of exercises which are dynamic, interesting, fun, easily implemented, safe and tailored to suit the individual needs. In order to make informed comments on the policy, the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the recommended exercise program among older persons in a local community over a six-week period. Promoting physical activity among the participants in the study resulted in marked improvements in systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and dominant hand grip strength. The time taken to perform some selected functional tasks also improved. The findings gave credence to the need to discourage physical inactivity among older persons, but there is need to overcome formidable methodological problems in evaluating the effects of exercise intervention among older persons in the community.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Hsi Yuan ◽  
Hsin-Hao Chen

This study aims to investigate how a teacher’s creative teaching is affected by the teacher’s imagination and his or her school principal’s visionary leadership and how the contextual moderating effects are at play among the cross-hierarchical factors. The research framework is divided into two levels, the individual level on how “teacher’s imagination” affects “teacher’s creative teaching”, and the group level on the impact of “the principal’s visionary leadership”. From the teachers of 65 primary schools in southern Taiwan invited to participate the survey study, 861 valid data were returned. The demographic variables were analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics. The cross-level moderating effects were further examined via Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM). The results show that the “teacher’s imagination” will impact the “creative teaching” positively. The “vision practice” will affect “autonomous learning and challenge-presenting” positively as well. Moreover, the “vision feedback” plays a positive moderator role in how “creative imagination” contributes to “interactive discussion and open-mindedness”.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Thaddeus Young

<p>For hundreds of years the Christian Church stood as the pillar of occidental cities, structuring society and the urban fabric. At the time of European colonisation, the impact of the Church on New Zealand society was less significant than it had been centuries before. Social priorities were slowly shifting away from religious fanaticism, as such; the church did not influence the urban environment to the same level. Church buildings became increasingly isolated from their urban setting, with less impact on their surrounding environment. In addition, New Zealand urban development was expanding, creating the need for vehicular transport. For the majority of Christians, driving to church continues to be commonplace. What little exterior space churches have is typically used as car parking. This space surrounding many church buildings is functional and utilitarian, resulting in an uninviting exterior with no pedestrian interactivity. This has limited the potential interaction between the church and local community. To fully understand the New Zealand model, ten churches were identified and analysed in Wellington. Information and evidence were gathered on how to address the lack of inviting exterior church space. A comparative analysis model was used to identify sites with particular potential for improved design. Engagement with the respective church communities was then necessary to establish a deeper understanding of each site and the needs of the community. Comparative analysis and community engagement methods produced a set of criteria for designing in each space. By following the same process for each church space, the resulting designs propose spaces which allow opportunities for both members of the church and the general public to interact. Designs specifically focus on creating vibrant spaces with less emphasis on the architectural qualities and utilitarian programmes of church space. They are also multipurpose and flexible, taking into account weekly engagement and potential future development.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Matthew James Lewellen

<p>Today’s electronic documents and digital records are rapidly superseding traditional paper records and similarly need to be managed and stored for the future. This need is driving new theoretical recordkeeping models, international electronic recordkeeping standards, many instances of national recordkeeping legislation, and the rapid development of electronic recordkeeping systems for use in organizations. Given the legislative imperative, the exponential growth of electronic records, and the importance to the individual, organization, and society of trustworthy electronic recordkeeping, the question arises: why are electronic recordkeeping systems experiencing different rates of acceptance and utilization by end users? This research seeks to address that question through identifying the factors that influence a user’s intention to use an electronic recordkeeping system.  Although a significant body of research has been dedicated to studying system use in various situations, no research in the information systems discipline has yet focused specifically on electronic recordkeeping and its unique set of use-influencing factors.  This research creates a new conceptual research model by selecting constructs to represent the technology acceptance literature and adding additional constructs to represent organizational context and knowledge interpretation. It also introduces a new construct: the perceived value of records.  A survey instrument was developed and administered to a sample of public servants from the New Zealand government in order to evaluate the research model quantitatively and determine the relative importance of the factors.  By identifying the factors that impact the use of electronic recordkeeping systems, this research will inform future strategies to improve the capture and retention of our digital heritage. As Archives New Zealand states: “Do nothing, lose everything. If no action is taken, public sector digital information will be lost.”</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Matthew James Lewellen

<p>Today’s electronic documents and digital records are rapidly superseding traditional paper records and similarly need to be managed and stored for the future. This need is driving new theoretical recordkeeping models, international electronic recordkeeping standards, many instances of national recordkeeping legislation, and the rapid development of electronic recordkeeping systems for use in organizations. Given the legislative imperative, the exponential growth of electronic records, and the importance to the individual, organization, and society of trustworthy electronic recordkeeping, the question arises: why are electronic recordkeeping systems experiencing different rates of acceptance and utilization by end users? This research seeks to address that question through identifying the factors that influence a user’s intention to use an electronic recordkeeping system.  Although a significant body of research has been dedicated to studying system use in various situations, no research in the information systems discipline has yet focused specifically on electronic recordkeeping and its unique set of use-influencing factors.  This research creates a new conceptual research model by selecting constructs to represent the technology acceptance literature and adding additional constructs to represent organizational context and knowledge interpretation. It also introduces a new construct: the perceived value of records.  A survey instrument was developed and administered to a sample of public servants from the New Zealand government in order to evaluate the research model quantitatively and determine the relative importance of the factors.  By identifying the factors that impact the use of electronic recordkeeping systems, this research will inform future strategies to improve the capture and retention of our digital heritage. As Archives New Zealand states: “Do nothing, lose everything. If no action is taken, public sector digital information will be lost.”</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin Semczuk

In the last two decades, the map of the primary school network in Poland has undergone a significant transformation, especially in rural areas that are suffering depopulation. These changes generally involve the closing of small rural schools and this leads to numerous conflicts between residents and local government. However, it is rarely pointed out that closing a school can be a fatal blow to the local community, not only due to the reduction in the social activity of residents but also the loss of jobs which contributes to the economic decline of a village. However, few studies can confirm this thesis. Therefore, this article aims to present the spatial diversity of the reorganisation process of the primary school network in rural areas of Małopolska Voivodeship and attempts to determine the impact of school closures on the economic development of those villages. To achieve this, the author compared the average value of the entrepreneurship indicator for 2018 with changes in the number of businesses for 2009–2018 for individual villages. The calculated values were compiled for those communities where the primary school was closed and for those villages in which the residents decided to take over a school from the local government with their own organisation or association. For comparison of selected indicators, differences in the average values for the two types of localities were presented using a one-way ANOVA variance analysis. The research showed much higher economic activity in places where the school was taken over compared to where the school was closed. In addition, the places where the school was taken over showed a stronger rate of growth for the number of businesses registered in the REGON system.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Hsi Yuan ◽  
Hsin-Hao Chen

This study aims to investigate how a teacher’s creative teaching is affected by the teacher’s imagination and his or her school principal’s visionary leadership and how the contextual moderating effects are at play among the cross-hierarchical factors. The research framework is divided into two levels, the individual level on how “teacher’s imagination” affects “teacher’s creative teaching”, and the group level on the impact of “the principal’s visionary leadership”. From the teachers of 65 primary schools in southern Taiwan invited to participate the survey study, 861 valid data were returned. The demographic variables were analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics. The cross-level moderating effects were further examined via Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM). The results show that the “teacher’s imagination” will impact the “creative teaching” positively. The “vision practice” will affect “autonomous learning and challenge-presenting” positively as well. Moreover, the “vision feedback” plays a positive moderator role in how “creative imagination” contributes to “interactive discussion and open-mindedness”.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 560
Author(s):  
Ayhan Dolunay ◽  
Gökçe Keçeci ◽  
Fevzi Kasap

<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>The Ottoman citizens together with the local community had generally lived a peaceful life in Cyprus, conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1571, until the island was handed over to the England in 1878. Following such period and subsequent process, the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots continued to live together in the island until the foundation of Republic of Cyprus in 1960; yet, with the impact of British policies, the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities had started to disintegrate. In 1950s, the island began to lose its nature and the concept of living together peacefully was disappeared due to the armed attacks of Greek Cypriots launched within the scope of underground military organisation and the responses of Turkish Cypriots through their underground military organisations together with the limited resources. The events, which stopped with the foundation of 1960 Republic of Cyprus, had become more severe following the obligatory leave of Turkish Cypriots from the partnership republic in 1963, and continued until the military intervention of Turkey in 1974 and both communities had losses, more in the Turkish Cypriot side. Until 1950s to 1974, the Turkish Cypriots, who did not feel secure in the southern part of island, migrated to the northern part of island. The relevant immigrants had shared their common lives with the Greek Cypriots before 1950s and then the following conflicts through oral narratives to their children born in the northern part of Cyprus; therefore, the perceptions of children of migrated families were only shaped with the narrations and some written references since a direct communication was not possible particularly until the opening of border crossing points. The original value of this study is the non-availability of any oral history research on the Turkish-Greek Cypriot relations before 1974 conducted with the generation after 1974; the aim of this research is to identify the perceptions of Turkish Cypriots born in the northern part of Cyprus mainly after 1974 that was shaped within the framework of oral narrations within the families through the individual interviews with the reference people sharing their experiences within the history via the press screening for the identification of social-political structure during the historical process, and the formation of such perceptions through the interviews.</p><p><strong>Öz</strong></p><p>1571’de Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nca fethedilen Kıbrıs’ta, Osmanlı vatandaşları ile, yerli halk, 1878’de ada İngiltere’ye kiralanana kadar, bir arada, genel olarak huzurlu bir yaşam sürmüşlerdir. 1878’de, adanın İngiltere’ye kiralanması ve izleyen süreçte adada, 1960 Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti kurulana değin, Kıbrıslı Türkler ve Kıbrıslı Rumlar, bir arada yaşamaya devam etmiş ancak, İngiliz yönetiminin politikalarının da etkisi ile, Türk ve Rum toplumları süreç içerisinde ayrışmaya başlamıştır. 1950’li yıllarda, önce Kıbrıslı Rumlarca yer altı askeri yapılanma kapsamında başlatılan silahlı saldırılar ve Kıbrıslı Türklerin kendilerini müdafaa kapsamındaki yer altı askeri yapılanmaları aracılığıyla ve kısıtlı imkanlarla verdiği karşılıklarla birlikte, adada kayıplar yaşanmış, bir arada huzurlu yaşam olgusu yitirilmiştir.  1960 Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti’nin kurulması ile duran olaylar, 1963’de Kıbrıslı Türklerin ortaklık cumhuriyetinden ayrılmak zorunda kalmasının akabinde, yeniden şiddetlenmiş ve Türkiye’nin adaya 1974’de gerçekleştirdiği askeri müdahaleye kadar sürmüş; Kıbrıslı Türk toplumundan daha fazla olmak üzere, iki toplum da kayıplar vermiştir. 1950’lerden, 1974’e kadar, çatışmalar nedeniyle, adanın güneyinde kendilerini güvende hissetmeyen Kıbrıslı Türkler, adanın kuzeyine göç etmiştir. İlgili göçmenler, Rum toplumu ile 1950’ler öncesi ortak yaşamlarını ve sonrasındaki çatışmaları sözlü anlatımlarla, adanın kuzeyinde doğan çocuklarına aktarmış; özellikle 2003 yılında sınır kapıların açılmasına kadar, doğrudan iletişimin mümkün olamaması nedeniyle, göç eden neslin çocuklarının algısı, sadece anlatımlar ve bazı yazılı kaynaklar ile şekillenmiştir. 1974 sonrası doğan nesil ile daha önce, 1974 öncesi Türk-Rum ilişkileri hakkında sözlü tarih araştırması yapılmamış olması, çalışmanın özgün değerini ortaya koyarken; çalışmada, tarihsel süreçteki deneyimlerini aktaracak kaynak kişilerle gerçekleştirilen bireysel görüşmeler ve yine tarihsel süreçteki sosyal-siyasi yapıyı tespit adına basın taraması ile birlikte, temel olarak, 1974 sonrası kuzeyde doğan Kıbrıslı Türklerin, aile içi sözlü anlatımlar çerçevesinde şekillenen ilgili algılarının, gerçekleştirilecek mülakatlar ile şekillendiğinin tespiti hedeflenmektedir.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Thaddeus Young

<p>For hundreds of years the Christian Church stood as the pillar of occidental cities, structuring society and the urban fabric. At the time of European colonisation, the impact of the Church on New Zealand society was less significant than it had been centuries before. Social priorities were slowly shifting away from religious fanaticism, as such; the church did not influence the urban environment to the same level. Church buildings became increasingly isolated from their urban setting, with less impact on their surrounding environment. In addition, New Zealand urban development was expanding, creating the need for vehicular transport. For the majority of Christians, driving to church continues to be commonplace. What little exterior space churches have is typically used as car parking. This space surrounding many church buildings is functional and utilitarian, resulting in an uninviting exterior with no pedestrian interactivity. This has limited the potential interaction between the church and local community. To fully understand the New Zealand model, ten churches were identified and analysed in Wellington. Information and evidence were gathered on how to address the lack of inviting exterior church space. A comparative analysis model was used to identify sites with particular potential for improved design. Engagement with the respective church communities was then necessary to establish a deeper understanding of each site and the needs of the community. Comparative analysis and community engagement methods produced a set of criteria for designing in each space. By following the same process for each church space, the resulting designs propose spaces which allow opportunities for both members of the church and the general public to interact. Designs specifically focus on creating vibrant spaces with less emphasis on the architectural qualities and utilitarian programmes of church space. They are also multipurpose and flexible, taking into account weekly engagement and potential future development.</p>


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