Art teaching : making a difference in low decile schools : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University

Students in low socio-economic schools are over-represented in the group of students who leave school without a qualification. An analysis across seventy New Zealand secondary schools reveals Year 11 examination success in low socio-economic schools that is consistently higher in art than in other subjects. Performance at Year 11 in the Auckland/ North Auckland region for the 2000 School Certificate art exam shows that these students are able to achieve at similar rates in art to medium and high decile schools. This thesis outlines the political and socio-economic culture of Aotearoa/ New Zealand's low SES schools where the study was conducted. The selection of the teachers and the research process is described, and comparisons made to relevant literature. The findings draw from a data set of interviews identifying common teacher attitudes and beliefs which are introduced and elucidated. The study seeks to make visible, the ways in which art teachers enhance examination success by examining the beliefs, attitudes and reported practices of three highly successful teachers

Biotechnology : exposing the myths & realities

Biotechnology has become one of the buzz words of the 1990s. Sounds impressive but what\u27s it all about? Sue Sutherland and Alan Lymbery unravel some of the jargon and explore its potential for Western Australian agriculture

In search of the ethical university

Information societies and global knowledge economy policies have brought about unprecedented levels of organisational and cultural change in universities worldwide. Critics argue that the reconfiguration of universities as engines of economic growth has dealt critical blows to ethical principles and conduct in institutions now driven by corporate interest, competitive individualism, and the intensification of audit and surveillance regimes

Minding the P\u27s for implementing online education : purpose, peadagogy, and practicalities

Online education has a presence in most Australian universities, and its uptake has been broadly understood as being driven by external imperatives associated with intensive competition within the global knowledge economy. However, the implementation of online education does not take place uniformly, and tensions can arise as a consequence of the considerable variation in approaches taken by institutions, faculties, departments and individual educators. In this paper, we analyse interview data from five Australian universities to consider how senior administrators, teacher educators and educational designers interpret the drivers of and barriers to online education. Our findings indicate that there are considerable tensions between the economic considerations driving online delivery, the pedagogical approaches embraced by many teaching academics, and the practicalities associated with financial and human resource costs, technological supports and succession planning. We argue that minding the ‘P’s of purpose, pedagogy and practicalities can be a valuable and productive way forward for addressing ongoing issues of quality and sustainability in online education

Technographic research in online education : context, culture and ICT consumption

Technologically-mediated learning environments are an increasingly common component of university experience. In this paper, the authors consider how the interrelated domains of policy contexts, new learning cultures and the consumption of information and communication technologies might be explored using the concept of technography. Understood here as a term referring to &ldquo;the apprehension, reception, use, deployment, depiction and representation of technologies&rdquo; (Woolgar, 2005, pp. 27-28), we consider how technographic studies in education might engage in productive dialogues with interdisciplinary research from the fields of cultural and cyber studies. We argue that what takes place in online learning and teaching environments is shaped by the logics and practices of technologies and their role in the production of new consumer cultures. <br /

Creating Change in Intercollegiate Athletics: The Sexual Assault Prevention Paradigm for Athletic Departments

In 2011, the Office for Civil Rights issued a “Dear Colleague Letter” instructing universities to take action regarding sexual assault on college campuses. Specifically, universities must better educate students on the prevention of sexual assault, in the hope of reducing violence against women. Previous research is inconclusive on the involvement of intercollegiate student-athletes in incidences of sexual assault; however, recent high-profile cases of sexual misconduct at universities indicate that student-athletes are not immune to this issue. The purpose of this study was to explore how sexual assault is viewed within the culture of intercollegiate athletics, including education, occurrence, and prevention. Through interviews with former intercollegiate athletes, three main findings emerged: (1) Participant Knowledge, (2) Sexual Assault Within the Context of College Athletics; and (3) Creating Change in Athletic Department Culture. Using grounded theory, these themes were combined to create the Sexual Assault Prevention Paradigm for Athletic Departments

Parental involvement in the lives of intercollegiate athletes

Research has been growing on the topic of parental involvement in the lives of their children, and the concept of overinvolved parents. Little research has examined these topics in regards to intercollegiate student-athletes. This study addresses that gap by examining parental involvement in regards to intercollegiate student-athletes and their athletic and academic endeavors. Specifically it examines how involved parents are in the lives of their intercollegiate student-athlete children, and the concept of overinvolvement in regards to this population. A qualitative, case-study method was utilized for this research. Participants included eight intercollegiate student-athletes and the five academic advisors for athletics that worked with them. Participants completed two interviews and one journal, and all of the data was analyzed utilizing thematic analysis. The themes that emerged were types of involvement, increasing involvement, overinvolvement, outcomes of overinvolvement, and the fine line between healthy involvement and overinvolvement. The present study offers insight into how student-athletes and academic advisors perceive parental involvement. This knowledge can be utilized by practitioners to improve how they communicate with parents and student-athletes. Also, researchers can employ this information to improve the overall understanding of parental involvement in regards to athletes.

Research mentoring on the edge : early career researchers and academic fringe-dwelling

Discourses of research leadership define not only what quality research leadership can and should be, but also identify those who speak and act with authority. Similarly, these discourses construct particular professional identities and idealised &lsquo;ways of being&rsquo;. They provide possibilities for research leaders as well as those categorised as \u27Early Career Researchers\u27 (ECRs) to create alternative identities and representations of themselves. This study reports the views of 32 academics across 16 Australian universities in four States about research mentoring and leadership for ECRs. The primary interest was to explore how research leadership is conceptualised, implemented and negotiated in the disciplinary fields of business, nursing and education. Whilst a number of ECRs viewed formal research mentoring as taking a &lsquo;tick the box&rsquo; approach that they believed of limited value, a number of research leaders had different views. Most senior research leaders viewed the systemic provision of assistance their universities offered in a positive light. The dissonance in views centred on the subject positioning of academics in research. The dissatisfaction expressed by ECRs, a number of whom positioned themselves as fringe-dwellers &lsquo;on the edge&rsquo; of their institutional research culture, raises questions about research sustainability and succession planning in Australian tertiaryinstitutions