A Critical Review of Learning Environment Policy Discourse in Aotearoa New Zealand

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Modern Learning ◽

Policy Direction ◽

The Ministry of Education is funding a significant building programme for primary and secondary classrooms across Aotearoa, New Zealand. In New Zealand there is an expectation that new or refurbished classrooms will be innovative, modern or flexible learning environments. This paper reports findings from a critical policy analysis of the discourse within Ministry of Education documents focusing on the design of learning environments published 2010-2019. Using a ‘what’s the problem’ approach (Bacchi, 1999), we examine the representation of the ‘problems’ which the policy documents relating to modern learning environments intend to address. We use an eight-stage process of analysis of these documents in order to identify policy priorities, ideologies, assumptions and potential outcomes in order to see how these are used to justify authority and action. This analysis revealed two larger ‘problems’ and a number of subthemes underpinning these documents. We suggest that the construction of these problems has conflated many aspects of both space and teaching and learning and relied on unquestioned assumptions about ‘modern’ learning and collaborative teaching. We conclude by considering the implications of this policy direction for New Zealand’s education system.

A Critical Review of Learning Environment Policy Discourse in Aotearoa New Zealand

10.26686/wgtn.14109845 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Anne Starkey ◽

Bronwyn Wood

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Learning Environments ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Ministry Of Education ◽

Secondary Classrooms ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Modern Learning ◽

Policy Direction ◽

(Re)Shaping spaces for learning

The New Zealand Annual Review of Education ◽

10.26686/nzaroe.v26.6858 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 ◽

pp. 52-59

Author(s):

Lucila Carvalho

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Learning Environments ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Collaborative Teaching ◽

Traditional Classroom ◽

Learning Spaces ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

Spatial Configurations

Schools and universities in Aotearoa New Zealand have been transitioning into new spatial configurations. These spaces are being carefully (re)designed to accommodate technology-rich activity, and to enable collaborative teaching and learning in ways that actively engage students in scaffolded inquiry. As teachers and students shift from traditional classroom layouts into flexible learning arrangements, educators are having to deeply rethink their own practices. In addition, the recent Covid-19 outbreak raised new questions in education about the role of technology in learning. This article argues that it is critical that Aotearoa educators understand (i) how to (re)design and (re)configure learning spaces in ways that support what they value in learning; and (ii) how they can tap on the digital to extend students experiences, both across and beyond schools and universities’ physical settings. The article introduces a way of framing the design and analysis of complex learning situations and reports on qualitative findings from a recent survey, which explored educators’ experiences of learning environments across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Principals' and teachers' perceptions of Innovative Learning Environments

Teachers Work ◽

10.24135/teacherswork.v12i2.181 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 149-171 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Dianne Smardon ◽

Jennifer Charteris ◽

Emily Nelson

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Learning Environments ◽

Distributed Leadership ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Large Body ◽

Constructivist Learning Theory ◽

Teachers Perceptions ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Innovative Learning ◽

Innovative Learning Environments

Innovative Learning Environments (ILE) with their origins in OECD literature, propose to revolutionise Education as we know it. ILEs draw on a large body of literature: constructivist learning theory; distributed leadership; personalised 21st century learning; blended learning (digital); and, future focused Education. Despite an increasing body of research in the area, there appears to be confusion around the concept of ILEs in Aotearoa/New Zealand Schools. This article reports on survey research with 126 questionnaire respondents. These principals and teachers, drawn from a random sample of New Zealand schools, commented on the implications of ILEs for teaching and learning in their contexts. This article explores the theoretical framework that educators apply to this concept. Four themes emerged from the responses: lack of clarity; the significance of material spaces; pedagogical implications; and, the politics around ILEs. The authors pose the question: are ILEs just another neoliberal ambush on Education or opportunity to innovate the fundamentals of schooling?

Development of an Observation Tool Designed to Increase Cultural Relationships and Responsive Pedagogy to Raise the Achievement of MĀOri Students in Secondary Classrooms in Aotearoa New Zealand

Journal of Education and Development ◽

10.20849/jed.v2i2.428 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 32 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mere Berryman ◽

Janice Wearmouth

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Culturally Responsive ◽

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy ◽

Secondary School Teachers ◽

Ministry Of Education ◽

School Teachers ◽

Secondary Classrooms ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Teacher Professional ◽

Responsive Pedagogy

The paper discusses the development and conventions for use of a classroom observation tool designed to support secondary school teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand to develop respectful learning relationships and culturally responsive pedagogy in their classrooms. This tool was created within a programme of teacher professional development to support the improvement of indigenous Māori students’ achievement and engagement in learning. The Ministry of Education recognised the need for an extensive change in practices across the entire education sector that required a shift in thinking and behaviour. The observation tool was therefore designed to support formative assessment, focused on change, through deliberate and democratic professionalism. Initial data, whilst not conclusive, suggest this tool has the potential to support more effective cultural relationships and responsive pedagogy in classrooms thus improving learning and engagement among Māori students through increased self-efficacy, pride and a sense of themselves as culturally located.

Introducing Critical Tiriti Policy Analysis: A new tool for anti-racism from Aotearoa New Zealand

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.674 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

H Came ◽

D O'Sullivan ◽

T McCreanor

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Policy Analysis ◽

Indigenous Health ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Health Practitioners ◽

Critical Policy ◽

Public Health Practitioners ◽

Maori Health

Abstract Issue/problem Te Tiriti o Waitangi (te Tiriti) was negotiated between the British Crown and Indigenous Māori in 1840. Māori understood the agreement as an affirmation of political authority and a guarantee of British protection. The Crown understood it as a cession of sovereignty. Te Tiriti places a mandatory obligation on the Crown to protect and promote Māori health that has not been upheld. Description of the problem Ethnic inequities in health outcomes have been allowed to flourish in Aotearoa. We explored to what extend te Tiriti could be a anti-racism tool that health policy could be usefully evaluated against? Results We introduce Critical Tiriti Analysis (CTA) a new form of critical policy analysis. CTA involves reviewing policy documents against the Preamble and the Articles of the Māori text of te Tiriti o Waitangi. The review process has five defined phases: i) orientation; ii) close reading; iii) determination; iv) strengthening practice; and v) Māori final word. We present a working example of CTA using the New Zealand Government’s Primary Health Care Strategy. This policy analysis found poor alignment with te Tiriti overall and the indicators of its implementation that we propose. Lessons This paper provides direction to public health practitioners wanting to improve Māori health outcomes and ensure Indigenous engagement, leadership and substantive authority in the policy process. It offers an approach to analysing policy that is simple to use and, inherently, a tool for advancing social justice. Key messages CTA is an anti-racism tool for holding the Crown accountable for Māori health. CTA could be adapted and applied in other colonial contexts to advance Indigenous health.

The English Language Learning Progressions (ELLP): Challenge or opportunity?

Curriculum Matters ◽

10.18296/cm.0046 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 16 ◽

pp. 21-37

Author(s):

Judith Anthony

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

English Language ◽

Future Research ◽

English Language Learning ◽

Learning Progressions ◽

Ministry Of Education ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Key Issues ◽

This article provides an overview and critical analysis of The English Language Learning Progressions (ELLP) (Ministry of Education, 2008). Identifying main themes through critical policy analysis, this review seeks to place ELLP in context through a comparison with The English Language Learning Framework: Draft (Ministry of Education, 2005) and English Language Learning Progressions (ELLP ) Pathway Years 1–8 (Ministry of Education, 2020a). Within this review, the structure of ELLP is explored along with key ideas and claims. It is argued that there are both challenges and opportunities in ELLP. Finally, the key issues are summarised and suggestions are made for future research.

Taking a Strength-Based Approach: Bringing Student Homes into Schools During a Pandemic

10.1007/978-3-030-82159-3_13 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 195-209

Author(s):

Jodie Hunter ◽

Roberta Hunter ◽

John Tupouniua ◽

Generosa Leach

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Open Economy ◽

Mathematics Teaching ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Well Being ◽

Low Socioeconomic ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Strength Based ◽

The World ◽

Mathematics Teaching And Learning

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused new ways of doing and being, both in education systems and beyond across the world. In the context of Aotearoa/New Zealand, the widely supported government approach focused on the well-being of the nation with a position that saving lives was more important than maintaining an open economy. As researchers and educators, we supported teachers as they worked with their students in their home settings. This provided us with an opportunity to explore a vision of a reinvented system of mathematics education beyond institutional and formal structures of schools. In this chapter, we present the analysis of the responses from 24 educators mainly from low socioeconomic urban settings as they reflected on how they enacted mathematics teaching and learning during the lockdown while connecting with students and their families as well as their subsequent learning from this experience. Results highlighted that the mathematical learning of students went beyond what was accessed by digital means and included parents drawing on rich everyday opportunities. A key finding was that by supporting and privileging the well-being of students and communities, the connections and relationships between educators and families were enhanced.

A Mana Wahine Critical Analysis of New Zealand Legislation Concerning Education: Implications for Addressing Māori Social Disadvantage

10.26686/wgtn.17008399 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Tagan Wetekia Paul

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Social Policy ◽

Social Disadvantage ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Significant Movement ◽

The Social ◽

Common Goals ◽

Central Argument ◽

<p>Theory and practice are intertwined, woven inextricably together by the way that each informs and is informed by the other (Moss 2002, Pihama 2001, Simmonds 2009). This research confronts and analyses the legal bases of gendered and race-based inequalities by critically analysing New Zealand social policy legislation through a mana wahine perspective. Mana wahine and critical policy analysis share common goals to challenge dominant theoretical and methodological norms in order to recognise unequal power distributions, of which colonisation is implicit (Tomlins-Jahnke 1997). This research has been guided by a reading of literature that suggests Māori social disadvantage has become ingrained and that policies designed to address this inequality and to include Māori people and Māori perspectives in mainstreamed systems are both confusing, and yet to be successful. This study has been designed to explore present policy legislation concerning social development. A case study of the education system has been used, which draws on historic and more contemporary Western political agendas as reflected in legislative shifts. Key findings of this research include the exclusion of mana wahine through the ongoing processes of colonisation that do not give rise to Māori cultural understandings. To summarise, the social policy context at present is characterised by: Māori demands for greater self-determination; an absence of Treaty rights for Māori; liberal interpretations of Treaty principles, and scant processes to implement them; a devoid of aspects pertinent to mana wahine, and; the contradiction between Government's articulated position on rights and inclusion in social policy and the language used in and concepts enforced by legislation. The findings are significant and reveal the ongoing complexities of Indigenous inequalities in the context of widespread policy ‘commitment’ to inclusion and equality. The central argument developed throughout this study is that there is an urgent need to shift policy thinking toward Māori if there is to be a significant movement toward justice for Māori women, which will involve Māori-centred decolonisation and the inclusion of aspects pertinent to mana wahine.</p>

Faithfulness and fidelity across identities and contexts for SOTL in the global South

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South ◽

10.36615/sotls.v5i2.245 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

Author(s):

KC Lee ◽

Zach Simpson

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

South Africa ◽

Social Work ◽

New Zealand ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Global South ◽

The Other ◽

Scholarship Of Teaching ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand

Issue 5.2 of SOTL in the South features four peer-reviewed articles, one reflective piece and one book review. The peer-reviewed articles include two articles about broader concerns related to the scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education, namely the discursive and negotiated work of producing SoTL work and the importance of considering diverse worldviews regarding research ethics. In addition, there are two detailed accounts of instances of SoTL, one from Lesotho, addressing the challenges facing students from rural contexts, and the other from South Africa, investigating the implementation of collaborative learning in a fourth-year social work classroom. The issue concludes with a reflection on an action-oriented workshop held in Aotearoa New Zealand aimed at increasing the number of Māori and Pasifika academics, and a review of The Bloomsbury Handbook of the Internationalization of Higher Education in the Global South.

Flexi-Ed: Enhancing education through flexible form

10.26686/wgtn.17060987 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Megan Keats

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Learning Environments ◽

Future Generations ◽

Ministry Of Education ◽

Design Standards ◽

Architectural Form ◽

Innovative Learning ◽

Innovative Learning Environments ◽

Budget Restrictions

<p>As cities evolve, change and grow, the need and desire for adaptable architecture becomes evident across the nation. Architecture needs to undertake techniques that are flexible in order to adapt and align with the development of future generations in New Zealand. The Education industry is a primary example of a sector which requires flexibility within both classroom architectural form and interior configuration. This is a resultant of the recently updated Ministry of Education requirements; which state that every new classroom built or renovated nationwide, must implement the MoE classroom design standards for Innovative Learning Environments. ILE teaching spaces are configured as an open plan interior, supporting flexibility in classroom arrangement and teaching techniques. ILE classrooms are capable of evolving and adapting as educational practices evolve and change, allowing schools to remain modern and future focused. As part of this movement to ILE, the Ministry of Education has also recently made an attempt to improve the quality of temporary classrooms. This has been done by looking into the initiation of a programme that utilizes relocatable classroom buildings. Relocatable classrooms have been selected for multiple reasons, primarily flexibility. Flexibility is key for a school environment as it allows the school to actively respond to fluctuating school rolls. It is anticipated that the programme will provide a faster delivery process with a standardised design that allows the classrooms to be relocated from one school to another with relative ease. Following the devastating February 2011 earthquake the Greater Christchurch Region, the Education sector is in the midst of the Canterbury Schools Rebuild Programme. As a repercussion of this natural disaster, the majority of Christchurch schools have redevelopment or rebuild projects in progress, with preliminary design phases already in action for a small group of select schools regarded as high priority. The primary funding for these projects are sourced from insurance money, implementing tight budget restrictions, affecting the architectural design, quality and speed of the construction and repair works. The available funding limits the affordable classroom options to basic teaching spaces that have been stripped back to simple architectural forms, dictating not only the re-design, but also how our future generations will learn. Thus causing the development of the new student-led learning ILE concept to become controlled by existing construction techniques and the Rebuild Programmes budget restrictions. This thesis focuses on the future proofing of New Zealand schools by providing an affordable and time efficient alternative option to the current static, traditional construction, an option that has the ability to cater to the unpredictable fluctuating school rolls across the nation. This has been done by developing a prefabricated system for standalone classroom blocks. These blocks have the ability to be relocated between different school sites, dynamically catering to the unpredictable school roll numbers experienced across New Zealand. This site flexibility is reflected with the interior flexibility in the classrooms, enhancing the internal teaching space composition and challenges the existing design standards set by the Ministry of Education for Innovative Learning Environments. This system is called “Flexi-Ed”. Flexibility has been a key driver for this thesis, as the prefabricated structure is have to be flexible in three ways; first in the sense of being easy to assemble and disassemble. Second by offering flexible interior learning environments and thirdly the joints of the structure are designed with the ability to be flexible in order to cope with seismic activity. These three principles will provide schools with long term flexibility, minimal on-site interruption and heighten the standard of ILE across the nation. I strive to provide schools with long term flexibility and minimal site interruption, whilst heightening the standard of Innovative Learning Environments across New Zealand.</p>