scholarly journals Philosophy for All Children: enhancing knowledge

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amy Austin
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Diverse Learners ◽  
Student Thinking ◽  
Classroom Culture ◽  
Classroom Discussions ◽  
Powerful Knowledge

<p>Building students’ critical thinking has been a focus in Education around the world in recent years. The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) is no exception, with an emphasis on critical and creative thinking in its vision statement. However, no advice is offered on how to teach critical thinking. This study uses a qualitative case study approach to explore how teachers teach critical thinking through Philosophy for Children (P4C) and offers some guidance on this for teachers. One of the contributions of this thesis is the claim that the P4C approach enhances social justice by supporting diverse learners – children who need support to achieve at school – to develop critical thinking and language capability.  The theoretical framework underpinning my research draws on Bernstein’s (2000) ‘democratic pedagogic rights’ to enhancement, inclusion, and participation, and Wheelahan’s (2007), Young’s (2009) and Young and Muller’s (2013) conceptions of powerful knowledge. While much attention has been given to the theory of powerful knowledge in tertiary and secondary education contexts, to date, very little research has explored what powerful knowledge might look like, in practice, at primary school. Therefore this study makes an original contribution by investigating this unexplored area.   Participants in this research included 104 primary school students aged between 8 and 11 years old and their teachers (n = 4) from four diverse primary schools in New Zealand. The research data is drawn from four main sources: audio recordings of classroom discussions, semi-structured focus group interviews with sample students, open-ended interviews with teachers, and student thinking journals. Over a period of 6 months, classes held weekly hour-long P4C dialogues with a focus on both philosophical content and developing critical thinking language and skills. Students were encouraged to evaluate their philosophical and critical thinking both verbally and in written form.  The methodological approach incorporates sociocultural perspectives highlighting the key role of language as a mediator and tool for thinking (Mercer, 2000; Vygotsky, 1962, 1978). Transcripts of classroom discussions were analysed both inductively and deductively, using Hennessy et al.’s (2016) coding system for analysing classroom dialogue across educational contexts and Daniel et al.’s (2005) matrix outlining the development of the dialogical critical thinking process.  Observation of students’ everyday learning in the classroom, together with their and their teachers’ reflections, revealed that teachers played a significant role in shaping students’ language and critical thinking through modelling, facilitating dialogue, establishing a democratic classroom culture, making thinking visible, and innovating and personalising teaching according to their students’ particular needs. Both students and teachers developed a range of capabilities through participating in (or, in the case of the teachers, leading) P4C dialogue: resilience, receptivity, intersubjectivity. This thesis presents one of the first investigations into the practice of teaching powerful knowledge in primary schools and suggests that explicit teaching of disciplinary language enhances students’ critical thinking capability and constitutes powerful knowledge. A new conception of powerful knowledge is advanced, termed enhancing knowledge, which emphasises how disciplinary knowledge enhances and is complementary to other knowledges, such as social or cultural knowledge, without devaluing their importance. This term also seeks to avoid the potential dominant connotations of the word ‘powerful’. The findings of this study suggest that P4C can offer diverse learners access to enhancing knowledge which has the potential to improve equity in education and enhance social justice.</p>

scholarly journals Philosophy for All Children: enhancing knowledge

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amy Austin
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Diverse Learners ◽  
Student Thinking ◽  
Classroom Culture ◽  
Classroom Discussions ◽  
Powerful Knowledge

<p>Building students’ critical thinking has been a focus in Education around the world in recent years. The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) is no exception, with an emphasis on critical and creative thinking in its vision statement. However, no advice is offered on how to teach critical thinking. This study uses a qualitative case study approach to explore how teachers teach critical thinking through Philosophy for Children (P4C) and offers some guidance on this for teachers. One of the contributions of this thesis is the claim that the P4C approach enhances social justice by supporting diverse learners – children who need support to achieve at school – to develop critical thinking and language capability.  The theoretical framework underpinning my research draws on Bernstein’s (2000) ‘democratic pedagogic rights’ to enhancement, inclusion, and participation, and Wheelahan’s (2007), Young’s (2009) and Young and Muller’s (2013) conceptions of powerful knowledge. While much attention has been given to the theory of powerful knowledge in tertiary and secondary education contexts, to date, very little research has explored what powerful knowledge might look like, in practice, at primary school. Therefore this study makes an original contribution by investigating this unexplored area.   Participants in this research included 104 primary school students aged between 8 and 11 years old and their teachers (n = 4) from four diverse primary schools in New Zealand. The research data is drawn from four main sources: audio recordings of classroom discussions, semi-structured focus group interviews with sample students, open-ended interviews with teachers, and student thinking journals. Over a period of 6 months, classes held weekly hour-long P4C dialogues with a focus on both philosophical content and developing critical thinking language and skills. Students were encouraged to evaluate their philosophical and critical thinking both verbally and in written form.  The methodological approach incorporates sociocultural perspectives highlighting the key role of language as a mediator and tool for thinking (Mercer, 2000; Vygotsky, 1962, 1978). Transcripts of classroom discussions were analysed both inductively and deductively, using Hennessy et al.’s (2016) coding system for analysing classroom dialogue across educational contexts and Daniel et al.’s (2005) matrix outlining the development of the dialogical critical thinking process.  Observation of students’ everyday learning in the classroom, together with their and their teachers’ reflections, revealed that teachers played a significant role in shaping students’ language and critical thinking through modelling, facilitating dialogue, establishing a democratic classroom culture, making thinking visible, and innovating and personalising teaching according to their students’ particular needs. Both students and teachers developed a range of capabilities through participating in (or, in the case of the teachers, leading) P4C dialogue: resilience, receptivity, intersubjectivity. This thesis presents one of the first investigations into the practice of teaching powerful knowledge in primary schools and suggests that explicit teaching of disciplinary language enhances students’ critical thinking capability and constitutes powerful knowledge. A new conception of powerful knowledge is advanced, termed enhancing knowledge, which emphasises how disciplinary knowledge enhances and is complementary to other knowledges, such as social or cultural knowledge, without devaluing their importance. This term also seeks to avoid the potential dominant connotations of the word ‘powerful’. The findings of this study suggest that P4C can offer diverse learners access to enhancing knowledge which has the potential to improve equity in education and enhance social justice.</p>

scholarly journals Unlocking the Potential of School Libraries: What Actions are New Zealand Primary School Principals Taking to Integrate the School Library in Information Literacy Initiatives? Final Report

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elisabeth Mei-Xing Ngan
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
School Principals ◽  
School Library ◽  
External Support ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Primary School Principals ◽  
Literacy Initiatives

<p>Information literacy is implicit in the national education curriculum’s key competencies for students, yet primary schools lack an explicit path to develop students’ information skills. The literature shows that school library programs can foster information literacy and improve student achievement, with the principal’s support identified as a significant factor. This study investigates the actions of New Zealand primary school principals to integrate the school library in information literacy initiatives. An online survey collected quantitative and qualitative data from a random sample of primary school principals, stratified by decile rating to reflect the school population in microcosm. Sixty-nine responses were collected and the low response rate meant it was not possible to generalise the results of the survey. Key findings of the research were that a majority of principals supported information literacy initiatives through advocacy; professional development; use of external support; student assessment; separate library budgets; and reasonable library opening hours. A minority maintained a separate information literacy policy; adequately resourced the library with trained staff; or promoted collaborative planning between teaching and library staff through flexible scheduling of class library time. Actions were not affected by decile rating but differences by school size and locale were identified, particularly for small and rural schools. Principals’ perceptions of information literacy did not appear to affect their actions. Suggestions for further research are made to expand upon the findings.</p>

The post-primary education of non-academic boys

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
H. L. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Education For All ◽  
Large Section ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Fresh Impetus ◽  
Physically Handicapped

This thesis is an attempt to examine what is probably the greatest single problem in New Zealand education; the problem of the non-academic child in the New Zealand post-primary school. It is an urgent problem, on the solution of which depends the welfare of a large section of our post-primary population. Our post-primary schools have gradually ceased to be selective and must now cater for an adolescent age group which omits only the most mentally defective and the most physically handicapped. This movement towards "secondary education for all" received fresh impetus in 1944 when the minimum school leaving age was raised to fifteen years. During the last eight years, post-primary schools have been faced with an increasing number of new entrants of a wide range of intelligence and .ability. Among these are found pupils who, under an earlier education system, would never have entered the door of a secondary school. The requirements of the Proficiency examination would have eliminated some, economic factors would have debarred others. Many would have found in a job the success and satisfaction which they had never achieved in a school. Now, as a result of educational and economic changes, these pupils are legally compelled to remain at school until they reach the age of fifteen years. The practice of social promotion in the primary school has resulted in most of these adolescents entering a post-primary school at thirteen, fourteen or fifteen years of age. These are the pupils wbo have been commonly labelled "non-academic".

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 Evaluation of the Educational Drama as an Innovative Method to be Adopted by Teachers in Order to Enhance Critical Thinking Skills of Students in Primary School

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-116
Author(s):  
Aikaterini Dima ◽  
Eleni Kaiafa ◽  
Asterios Tsiaras
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Educational Drama ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Innovative Method ◽  
Research Stage

The aim of this study is to examine and determine the extent to which educational drama, as an innovative teaching approach, can cultivate critical thinking of students in primary school. Based on the principles of educational drama, 15 theatrical workshops were designed in relation with and corresponding to the culture and interests of the specific age group. The experimental method that was followed, was designed and implemented in three discrete stages including: the pre-research stage, the main research stage and the results extraction stage. The sample comprising 400 students aged 8-10 has been drawn from six different primary schools in Greece, the subjects of which were randomly selected. Five critical thinking skills were studied, including subtraction, induction, observation, reliability, detection and troubleshooting skills. The qualitative and quantitative data collected was next triangulated in order to lead to the desired result. The results confirmed the main research hypothesis, hence educational drama, as an innovative method, can enhance students' critical thinking in primary school.

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 Teachers’ Perceptions of Physical Education in Aotearoa/New Zealand Primary Schools

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barrie Gordon ◽  
B Dyson ◽  
J Cowan ◽  
A McKenzie ◽  
B Shulruf
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Education Planning ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
National Monitoring ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Research In Education

© 2016, New Zealand Association for Research in Education. This study examines practicing primary school teacher’s perceptions of the teaching of physical education in their schools. There has been some criticism of primary school physical education but until now this criticism has been largely based on a number of small studies involving limited numbers of teachers and schools. This study involved surveys of 487 teachers and in-depth individual interviews with 33 teachers located across six major regions of Aotearoa/New Zealand. The findings are presented in four themes: what does physical education look like; who teaches physical education; planning, assessment and reflection; and influences on the teaching of physical education. The study identified that what occurs in the physical education space in primary schools is often inconsistent and variable. The findings are discussed in relation to the requirements of the New Zealand Curriculum, the 2014 National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement report and previous research on primary school physical education. The article concludes by discussing future directions for the teaching physical education in light of these findings.

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>

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