scholarly journals Challenges facing a Māori prison education leader

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-43
Author(s):  
Mereana Te Pere ◽  
Georgina Stewart
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Life Skills ◽  
Prison Population ◽  
Prison Education ◽  
National Population ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Security Concerns ◽  
Positive Results ◽  
Work And Life

Māori are severely over-represented in the prison population of Aotearoa New Zealand, making up over half of all prisoners, despite being only about 15% of the national population. These Māori statistics are well-known, and support racist perceptions of Māori in general. There is substantial literature on Māori imprisonment in Criminology and related fields, but it mostly focuses on ‘fixing’ the prisoner. Prison education is a neglected topic in extant educational research. Little research exists on the experiences of those who work in prisons, and little or none about the experiences of Māori prison educators. Prison education focuses on changing behaviours that lead to offending and helping prisoners to gain work and life skills. But security concerns and managing the prison population take precedence and restrict the availability and priority given to education. The recent Hōkai Rangi strategy has generated enthusiasm, but has yet to translate into positive results.

Teachers as readers in New Zealand Primary Schools

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue MacDowall ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
National Library ◽  
Equitable Distribution ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Reading For Pleasure ◽  
Teachers As Readers

This report presents the findings of a small exploratory study carried out in 2021 by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) for the National Library of New Zealand | Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa. The project is part of a wider suite of six studies commissioned by the National Library as part of their Communities of Readers initiative. This initiative foregrounds the benefits of reading for pleasure and the equitable distribution of these benefits across all communities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Takina te Kawa: Laying the Foundation, a Research Engagement Methodology in Aotearoa (New Zealand)

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marama Taiwhati ◽  
Rawiri Toia ◽  
Pania Te Maro ◽  
Hiria McRae ◽  
Tabitha McKenzie
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Knowledge Development ◽  
Research Framework ◽  
Research Participants ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Engagement Process

AbstractIn the bi-cultural context of Aotearoa (New Zealand), engagement with stakeholders that is transparent and culturally responsive is a priority for educational research. More common research approaches in New Zealand have followed a Western euro-centric model of engagement with research participants resulting in interventions and initiatives that have not necessarily served the needs of the education sector. The authors critically analyse the researcher relationship with research participants to provide a Māori perspective to guide the engagement process as researchers enter educational communities to conduct research. Embedded with Māori ideology and knowledge, the Hei Korowai ethical research framework is a platform for insider positionality that acknowledges partnership between the researcher and the researched for the benefit of knowledge development and the educational sector.

scholarly journals Prison Education in Aotearoa New Zealand: From Justice to Corrections

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nesta Devine
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Informal Education ◽  
Prison Education ◽  
Policy Discourse ◽  
Criminal Behaviour ◽  
Prison Inmates ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
The Public ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand

This article considers the changes in policy discourse relating to education in prisons, in the New Zealand context, in the period between the 1950s and the early 21st century. The earlier belief in education as a means to rehabilitation has been replaced by a narrow focus on programmes specifically intended to change the criminal behaviour for which the prisoner has been sentenced. But even these programmes are hard to get into, and available only to selected prison inmates after they have served two thirds of their sentences. Informal education, including physical education and vocational education, have been severely retrenched, as have all forms of work and activity. In this paper I argue that this situation is a logical outcome of the neoliberal construction of education as a private rather than a social or public good, of the reconceptualisation of the public service as an agency of its principal, the party or parties in power. The depersonalising of the inmates of prisons as “prisoners” serves to justify this situation at the same time as it validates the “freedom” of those who conform to social and legal expectations.

Examining the Drivers of Success in the Peace Foundation Aotearoa/New Zealand Peer-Mediation Programs

2019 ◽  
pp. 99-120
Author(s):  
Christina Ann Barruel ◽  
Marie Nissanka
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Peace Education ◽  
Peer Mediation ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Perceptions Of Safety ◽  
Societal Problems ◽  
Positive Results

The 2016 evaluations of New Zealand's Cool Schools and the leadership through peer mediation (LtPM) programs revealed positive results regarding improved self-esteem among peer mediators, increased perceptions of safety in the schooling environment, and increased conflict resolution and interpersonal communication skills. This chapter highlights the contribution of these peer-mediation programs. The authors then turn to problems, inequalities, and peace education practices within the New Zealand schooling environment to explain how the Cool Schools and LtPM programs are relevant in solving wider societal problems. The chapter finally focuses on examining the drivers of success in both programs and the broader ethos of the Peace Foundation Aotearoa/New Zealand, which enables its success.

Examining the Drivers of Success in the Peace Foundation Aotearoa/New Zealand Peer-Mediation Programs

2021 ◽  
pp. 779-801
Author(s):  
Christina Ann Barruel ◽  
Marie Nissanka
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Interpersonal Communication ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Peace Education ◽  
Peer Mediation ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Perceptions Of Safety ◽  
Societal Problems ◽  
Positive Results

The 2016 evaluations of New Zealand's Cool Schools and the leadership through peer mediation (LtPM) programs revealed positive results regarding improved self-esteem among peer mediators, increased perceptions of safety in the schooling environment, and increased conflict resolution and interpersonal communication skills. This chapter highlights the contribution of these peer-mediation programs. The authors then turn to problems, inequalities, and peace education practices within the New Zealand schooling environment to explain how the Cool Schools and LtPM programs are relevant in solving wider societal problems. The chapter finally focuses on examining the drivers of success in both programs and the broader ethos of the Peace Foundation Aotearoa/New Zealand, which enables its success.

scholarly journals Walking the Palagi/Pasifika edge: The va of mediated dialogic research

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-42
Author(s):  
Martyn Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
European Origin ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Teacher Researcher ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
Pacific Island Nations

Like all acts of naming, the term ‘Pasifika’, which is used to refer collectively to persons with connections to Pacific Island nations living in Aotearoa New Zealand, can be used to represent or to misrepresent, to enable or to control. Consequently, the notion of a field of Pasifika educational research is contested. This article provides a discussion of the potential contextual justification and consequent theorisation of Pasifika education. It pays attention to developments in the literature and to the usefulness of theory based on wisdom from the Pacific. It suggests that a relational edge-walking methodology framed through va is one way of making Pasifika educational research catalytically powerful. Located in recent PhD study, this account is by a Palagi (European-origin) teacher- researcher seeking to navigate the intercultural and positional edges of both Pasifika research and education. The aim is to facilitate respectful dialogue and thus enhance understanding and harmony. The article suggests that while power makes a mediated methodology helpful, methods configured to address relationality directly have the potential to achieve these valuable aims.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document