Maori and education : an annotated list of New Zealand university theses 1977-1999

<p>This annotated list provides references to New Zealand university theses written within the timeframe, 1977-1999, that relate to the topic of Maori and education. The purpose of this work is to provide a comprehensive list of New Zealand university theses, within this period, that deal with any aspect of Maori and education in New Zealand. It is envisaged that this list of theses could be used as a reference tool for people interested in 'Maori education'. This topic has been the subject of a lot of postgraduate research in the past. There has been a marked change in emphasis in terms of the approach taken to research into Maori and education over the last few decades. This list of relevant theses attempts to document theses changes by providing annotated entries, which will describe the research undertaken, for theses written within this topic, 1977-1999.</p>

Maori and education : an annotated list of New Zealand university theses 1977-1999

<p>This annotated list provides references to New Zealand university theses written within the timeframe, 1977-1999, that relate to the topic of Maori and education. The purpose of this work is to provide a comprehensive list of New Zealand university theses, within this period, that deal with any aspect of Maori and education in New Zealand. It is envisaged that this list of theses could be used as a reference tool for people interested in 'Maori education'. This topic has been the subject of a lot of postgraduate research in the past. There has been a marked change in emphasis in terms of the approach taken to research into Maori and education over the last few decades. This list of relevant theses attempts to document theses changes by providing annotated entries, which will describe the research undertaken, for theses written within this topic, 1977-1999.</p>

Problem-Based Learning in a Virtual Environment

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted teaching and learning in higher education institutions, presenting novel challenges for both staff and students alike. These challenges have had an immense impact in the way postgraduate research (PGR) teachers perform their dual responsibilities as both students and teachers. Achieving a seamless transition from in-person to virtual learning was an arduous task. To this end, pedagogies evolved to accommodate the use of remote conferencing, video capture and other real time communication tools that facilitate virtual collaboration between staff and students. In this paper, I highlight the challenges of integrating online learning with a problem-based learning (PBL), a signature pedagogy employed by law and business schools. I draw on my personal experiences as a student and PGR teacher during the pandemic, and suggest proactive mitigation responses.

Mental health among UK university staff and postgraduate students in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectivesTo characterise the baseline King’s College London Coronavirus Health and Experiences of Colleagues at King’s cohort and describe patterns of probable depression and anxiety among staff and postgraduate research students at a large UK university in April/May 2020.MethodsAn online survey was sent to current staff and postgraduate research students via email in April 2020 (n=2590). Primary outcomes were probable depression and anxiety, measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7, respectively. Secondary outcomes were alcohol use and perceived change in mental health. Outcomes were described using summary statistics and multivariable Poisson regression was used to explore associations with six groups of predictors: demographics and prior mental health, living arrangements, caring roles, healthcare, occupational factors and COVID-19 infection. All analyses were weighted to account for differences between the sample and target population in terms of age, gender, and ethnicity.ResultsAround 20% of staff members and 30% of postgraduate research students met thresholds for probable depression or anxiety on the questionnaires. This doubled to around 40% among younger respondents aged <25. Other factors associated with probable depression and anxiety included female gender, belonging to an ethnic minority group, caregiving responsibilities and shielding or isolating. Around 20% of participants were found to reach cut-off for hazardous drinking on Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, while 30% were drinking more than before the pandemic.ConclusionsOur study shows worrying levels of symptoms of depression, anxiety and alcohol use disorder in an occupational sample from a large UK university in the months following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joining up well-being and sexual misconduct data and policy in HE: ‘To stand in the gap’ as a feminist approach

This article joins up evidence and policy relating to two linked concerns in higher education (HE) that are treated as unrelated: postgraduate research student (PGR) well-being, and staff sexual misconduct towards students. Against the standard methodology of systematic reviews, we build on feminist approaches to apply a ‘re-performance’ approach to the review. Re-performance re-enacts established methods, contextualising previous analysis through ethnographic and desk-based research, exposing gaps in evidence, analysis, representation, care and policy. We reveal how aspects of PGR experience, particularly the cultures that engender ill-being and enable sexual misconduct, are silenced in evidence-making. Our ‘re-performance’ uncovers how this occurs in three ways, through: the (mis)construction of the ‘typical student’ in well-being literatures; the (mis)construction of the phenomenon of ‘well-being’ exacerbated by generic survey tools focusing on a medicalised model of mental health; the (mis)construction of HE institutions as integrated, agential and ethical, aided by the fragmentation of administrative systems and knowledge production between disciplines. Together, these organising modes conceal lack of care, staff sexual misconduct and poor well-being. From these findings, specific policy issues are identified: the risks to giving more responsibility to supervisors for PGR well-being; a pattern of institutional listening while silencing; and the need to explore feedback loops between patterns of vulnerability to ill-being and staff sexual misconduct. Through our analysis, the article demonstrates how to ‘stand in the gaps’ – between knowledges; and between evidence and action; between policy and care – in a way that can be generalised across policy domains, epistemologies and policy-making contexts.

Support mechanisms for research generation and application for postgraduate students in four universities in Uganda

Background A large proportion of postgraduate students the world over complete a research thesis in partial fulfilment of their degree requirements. This study identified and evaluated support mechanisms for research generation and utilization for masters’ students in health institutions of higher learning in Uganda. Methods This was a self-administered cross-sectional survey using a modified self-assessment tool for research institutes (m-SATORI). Postgraduate students were randomly selected from four medical or public health Ugandan universities at Makerere, Mbarara, Nkozi and Mukono and asked to circle the most appropriate response on a Likert scale from 1, where the “situation was unfavourable and/or there was a need for an intervention”, to 5, where the “situation was good or needed no intervention”. These questions were asked under four domains: the research question; knowledge production, knowledge transfer and promoting use of evidence. Mean scores of individual questions and aggregate means under the four domains were computed and then compared to identify areas of strengths and gaps that required action. Results Most of the respondents returned their questionnaires, 185 of 258 (71.7%), and only 79 of these (42.7%) had their theses submitted for examination. The majority of the respondents were male (57.3%), married or cohabiting (58.4%), and were medical doctors (71.9%) from Makerere University (50.3%). The domain proposal development for postgraduate research project had the highest mean score of 3.53 out of the maximum 5. Three of the four domains scored below the mid-level domain score of 3, that is, the situation is neither favourable nor unfavourable. Areas requiring substantial improvements included priority-setting during research question identification, which had the lowest mean score of 2.12. This was followed by promoting use of postgraduate research products, tying at mean scores of 2.28 each. The domain knowledge transfer of postgraduate research products had an above-average mean score of 2.75. Conclusions This study reports that existing research support mechanisms for postgraduate students in Uganda encourage access to supervisors and mentors during proposal development. Postgraduate students’ engagement with research users was limited in priority-setting and knowledge transfer. Since supervisors and mentors views were not captured, future follow-on research could tackle this aspect.