A case study of the philosophies, policies and practices of educational management at the Church College of New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University

This thesis explores the Educational Management practices at the Church College of New Zealand (CCNZ) in Hamilton. It has examined, analysed and presented answers to the research question which is: How effective is the LDS Church College in following both the philosophies and policies of the LDS Church Board of Education and those of the Ministry of Education in New Zealand?. This college belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a church that is also known as the LDS Church. The research was done through a case study approach because of the need to use a mixture of methods. Some of these methods are personal observation, use of current and historical data, semi-structured interviews, study of relevant records and documents at the Church College, the New Zealand Government through the Educational Review Office (ERO) and from private sources. The thesis initially looks at the Educational Management in general before it examines how management principles are applied at this Church College. I have arranged the various management positions at Church College into three groups. The first group is the Top Management that includes two people, the New Zealand Country Director and the Church College Principal. The second group is the Middle Management consisting of the Deputy Principal, the Assistant Principal, the Director of Finance and the Physical Facilities Director. The third group is the First Line Management that includes the Deans, the Heads of various Academic Departments, two Supervisors at the Physical Facilities Department, the Head Boy & Head Girl and finally, the Dorm Parents. Through interviews, I have examined their areas of responsibility and how they are fulfilling their management roles. While exploring the Church College historical background, I discovered that a number of LDS Church schools were built and operated in New Zealand before the existence of CCNZ. The LDS Church built these earlier schools because of the lack of educational facilities in New Zealand at the time. These schools were eventually closed down when the number of state schools increased to the point where the LDS Church schools were considered by the church leaders to be unnecessary. However, a few years later, the Church Mission President in New Zealand at the time persuaded the church leaders in Salt Lake City to approve the building of another school to be used to educate future church leaders in New Zealand. This was the beginning of the existence of the Church College of New Zealand in Hamilton. This thesis has analysed and produced evidence that the Church College is meeting the initial objectives of educating future church leaders in New Zealand. First, the school is producing the biggest number of full-time missionaries in the country when compared to the numbers from other church units in New Zealand. Second, many of the LDS Church leaders in New Zealand today were educated at Church College. Third, the Maori and Pacific Islands students' exam pass-rates at Church College are much higher than the national figures. The Church College is succeeding in educating their students both spiritually and academically. The balance between these two is creating good leaders in the church and in the society. The 1997 ERO Assurance Audit Report clearly states that the college is meeting its obligation to the Ministry of Education in New Zealand. It is also fulfilling the expectations of the LDS Church Board of Education by teaching religious education on campus. The Church College is successful in educating Maori and Pacific Island students. The exam pass rates for Maori and Pacific Island students are higher at Church College than the national figures. Finally, the management and administration of Church College is of high quality and that they are very effective and efficient in following both the philosophies and policies of the LDS Church Board of Education and those of the Ministry of Education in New Zealand. This conclusion was confirmed by most of the research participants as well as documents from the Educational Review Office

Collaborative Leaders\u27 Experiences with Student Success in Homeschool Co-op Education: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of collaborative leaders at homeschool cooperatives (co-ops) in North Carolina. The theory that guided this study is Chrislip and Larson’s theory on collaborative leadership, as it explains that changes made for the success of educational institutions are better achieved when many different groups, such as teachers, parents, administrators, counselors, and students, work together to decide and enact those changes. Moustakas’ transcendental phenomenological approach was used to analyze data collected from ten homeschool co-op leaders\u27 individual interviews, focus groups, and blog posts provided by adults who participate in the leadership of homeschool co-ops. Through reviewing this data, themes were created, and textural descriptions of the lived experiences of collaborative leaders in homeschool co-ops and how their collaboration leads to students\u27 success were devised. Through data analysis, inferences for recommendations for future research were discussed. Findings revealed that homeschool co-ops were made up of leaders who often had a life long passion for education. These leaders come together under their homeschool co-op with a common goal of using their passion to invest in young people. Secondly, homeschool co-op leaders had a student-centered education method in which they identified students’ individual needs and reacted with in-depth, hands-on, and real-life learning experiences. Finally, homeschool co-op leaders successfully lead homeschool co-ops by maintaining their vision for their homeschool co-op. Participants did this by having multiple roles in leadership to enact different tasks and learning from previous issues that appeared within the homeschool co-op

Coastal protection: best practices from the Pacific

Pacific coasts are constantly changing as a result of natural processes such as tides, strong currents, rain, storm surges, strong wind, cyclones and sea level rise. With increasing human activities within the coastal areas in terms of human settlement, land use changes, flow of solid and liquid waste and coastal developments such as beach ramps, jetties, causeways, coastal protection structures, reef mining and extractions of sand and beach aggregates, there is ever increasing change along Pacific coasts. In addition, climate change and climate variability and extreme weather events have exacerbated the rate of change of Pacific coasts. The coast has been defined as the zone where the land and sea meet. The main features of Pacific coasts are dominated by coral reefs, reef ridges, inter-tidal ridges, beaches, cliffs, wave actions and mangroves. Pacific coasts are designated important areas for providing vital Pacific livelihood. The coastal ecosystems, human sett lement and other major supporting services and basic infrastructure are centred on the coastal zone. Coasts are being used for many reasons. The underlying problem is that Pacific coasts are in a state of crisis. A number of human engineering interventions over the past decade have contributed and accelerated the coastal erosion problem in the Pacific Region. The Pacific coastline is over 50,532 km long. Both natural processes and human engineering work are blamed for causing coastal erosion. This guide has been produced to inform and assist coastal experts, managers, and Pacific communities understand the various measures they can take to reduce coastal erosion

Formulation of cost effective grow out feeds for Macrobrachium rosenbergii culture in Fiji

The change from traditional subsistence to semi-intensive is leading to an increase in the demand for aquaculture feeds. The culture of freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii in Fiji as protein source and source of income for small-scale farmers is important. However, due to the unavailability and high cost of feed ingredients and formulated feeds, the supply and quality of feeds for aquaculture development is restricted. In addition, the lack of information on cost-effective channels to deliver feeds to farmers has contributed to the poor production and profitability. A nutritional study was conducted to evaluate growth performance of M. rosenbergii fed iso-energetic, low cost formulated diets, using locally available ingredients in ponds for 124 days. Two formulated (MBM+MM+CP-diet 1 and FM+Wht-diet 2) and two commercial (Crest tilapia pellet-diet 3 and Pacific prawn pellet - diet 4) diets were fed. The study indicated no significant differences for weight gain and survival rate (P "650.05). It was observed that diet 2 induced highest growth rate while the lowest FCR (0.9

Effect of low cost locally available ingredients on the growth performance of juveniles freshwater prwan Machrobrachium rosenbergii in the laboratory

Fiji has a strong demand for shrimp but farmers hardly meet the demand due to inadequate knowledge of local ingredients. A nutrition study was conducted to evaluate growth performance of juveniles of freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii with low cost formulated diets using locally available ingredients. Experiment 1 included six diets ( fish meal + wheat, Fish meal + meat bone meal + wheat, Fish bone meal + fish meal + wheat, Meat bone meal + wheat, Meat fish meal + fish meal + wheat and Meat fish meal + wheat). Diets for Experiment 2 were Fish meal + wheat, Fish meal + meat meal, Fish meal + meat meal + crest tilapia pellet, Fish meal + meat meal + copra meal, Fish meal + wheat + pea meal and Crest tilapia pellet . Each experiment (6 diets x 3 replicates) was done in the Laboratory. Juveniles were fed twice a day for a period of three and four weeks in Experiment 1 and 2. Results indicated no significant (P>0.05) differences in water quality parameters. All nitrates, nitrites and ammonia concentration were less than 0.2 mg/L. Fat and crude fiber content was lowest and highest in crest pellet tilapia (4.60% and 17.98%). Experiment 1 showed slight variations in the growth performance. In Experiment 2, crest tilapia pellet indicated better result in weight gain (7.0

Effect of low cost locally available ingredients on the growth performance of juveniles freshwater prawn Machrobrachium rosenbergii in the laboratory

Fiji has a strong demand for shrimp but farmers have hard time meeting the demand due to inadequate knowledge of local ingredients. A nutritional study was conducted to evaluate the growth performances of juveniles of the freshwaterprawn species Macrobrachium rosenbergii. The prawns were fed with low cost formulated diets using locally availableingredients. Two experiments were conducted with six different diets in each of the experiment. In Experiment 1, dietswere mainly based on carbohydrate ingredients ( fish meal+wheat, Fish meal+meat bone meal+wheat, Fish bonemeal+fish meal+wheat, Meat bone meal+wheat, Meat fish meal+fish meal+wheat and Meat fish meal+wheat). Whilediets for Experiment 2 were based protein ingredients ( Fish meal+wheat, Fish meal+meat meal, Fish meal+meatmeal+crest tilapia pellet, Fish meal+meatmeal+copra meal, Fish meal+wheat+pea meal and Crest tilapia pellet).Each experiment (6 diets x 3 replicates) was carried out in the laboratory. Juveniles were fed twice a day for a periodof three and four weeks in Experiment 1 and 2 respectively. Results indicated no significant (P>0.05) differences inwater quality parameters. All nitrate, nitrite and ammonia concentrations were less than 0.2 mg/L. Fat and crude fibercontents were lowest and highest respectively in crest pellet tilapia (4.60% and 17.98%). Experiment 1 showed slightvariations in growth performance. In Experiment 2, crest tilapia pellets indicated better result in weight gain (7.04 ± 2.96 mm), carapace, abdomen and body length (4.74 ± 1.94, 5.57 ± 0.62 and 5.57 ± 0.62), specific growth rate ( 2.38 ± 0.53) and feed intake (1.31 ± 1.19).However, no significant differences (P ≥ 0.05) were observed in either of the experiments. The costs of making each feed was almost same (0.53–0.58 Aus $/Kg). The findings indicate that the ingredient inclusion level for local ingredients available in Fiji could be quite flexible and used successfully for the growth of fresh water prawn juveniles (M .rosenbergii)

Integrating sustainability into teaching and research at the University of the South Pacific to enhance capacity for the sustainable development of PICs

Problem statement: Pacific Island countries have been recognised globally as a ‘special case for environment and Sustainable Development (SD)’ because of their extreme vulnerability to a host of both external and internal development challenges such as: Narrow range of resources, high population density, limited export volume, impacts of climate change and natural disasters, trade, ICT and globalisation pressures. As part of their strategic approach to address these threats, the island countries have become party to a number of international and regional multi-lateral agreements. However, there are severe capacity constraints, at all levels-individual, institutional and systemic-to the full-scale implementation of these agreements. Part of the problem is that the educational system in general and in particular the higher educational institutions have not yet mainstreamed sustainability into their curriculum. Thus there is a ‘campus-workplace’ mismatch for SD implementation that needs to be addressed urgently. Approach: This study addresses how the University of the South Pacific (USP) and two other Pacific universities in the Pacific island region have been addressing these capacity issues using a ‘logical framework approach’ for the development and implementation of two on-going, multidisciplinary ESD projects. The first is a USP project, funded by the Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU-USP), the second may be seen as a much broader extension of the ACCU-USP project, in the form of a networked initiative involving USP, UPNG and NUS. Results: Within the limitations discussed elsewhere (ibid), the ACCU-USP and EDULINK-NIU (NIU: network of island universities) projects are progressing well in establishing institutional structures for the promotion of ESD, developing new courses and resource materials, establishing new postgraduate programmes, enhancing community capacity to manage natural resources sustainably and contributing substantially to regional integration. In addition, these projects play a key role in the promotion of the Pacific ESD Framework (2006) and the Pacific ESD Action Plan (2007), both endorsed by the Pacific Education Ministers. Conclusion: The ACCU-USP and EDULINK-NIU projects attempt to strike a balance between the need for SD capacity building to be multidisciplinary and problem oriented by design and maintaining the status quo that favors discipline based structuring of knowledge creation and dissemination. While the renewed commitment of USP, UPNG and NUS to reorient their curriculum, research and outreaches to meet the sustainability capacity needs is beginning to bear fruit, the lack of long-term funding and the low level of awareness on sustainability may hamper progress