scholarly journals Assessment for learning, online tasks, and the new Assessment Resource Banks

2014 ◽  
pp. 51-53
Author(s):  
Chris Joyce ◽  
Jonathan Fisher
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Assessment For Learning ◽  
News Article ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Assessment Data ◽  
Assessment Reform ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Assessment Resource

The main purpose for assessment should always be to improve learning (Ministry of Education, 2007). The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) acknowledges that evidence for assessment for learning is often gathered informally, and “analysis and interpretation, and use of information often take place in the mind of the teacher” (p. 39). At the same time an increasing body of research suggests that assessment for learning isn’t easy for teachers (see, for example, Mansell, James, and the Assessment Reform Group (2009)). In this short news article we discuss the changing face of a long-standing resource that helps teachers to use assessment data to improve learning.

The Stories We Share: Using Narrative Assessment to Build Communities of Literacy Participants in early Childhood Centres

2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Hatherly
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Literacy Learning ◽  
Assessment For Learning ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Narrative Assessment ◽  
Literacy Learners ◽  
Te Whāriki

As the documented assessment of children becomes a taken-for-granted function of ‘what teachers do’, concerns are rightly raised about the time involved and the usefulness of this to enhance learning and teaching. This article draws on data collected as part of the development of Kei Tua o te Pae, Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars (Ministry of Education, 2004), a New Zealand resource designed to engage teachers in reflection about assessment practices within the framework of Te Whāriki. It tells the story—the author's story—of the ways in which documented assessment using techniques more associated with storytelling than with observation, invites participation of children, families and teachers and thereby becomes the means through which a community of literacy-learners and participants is developed. It is argued that, given the increasing pressure on centres to provide for literacy, documented assessments offer many possibilities for not just describing but also constructing literacy learning in meaningful contexts.

scholarly journals Assessment in New Zealand Early Childhood Education:  A Foucauldian Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Emma Buchanan
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Assessment For Learning ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Narrative Assessment ◽  
Regulatory Effects ◽  
The Government ◽  
Foucauldian Analysis

<p>This thesis aims to problematise and denaturalise the current dominant, empowerment infused early childhood education (ece) assessment discourse in Aoteaora New Zealand through a Foucauldian discourse analysis. It addresses a two-part question: How is contemporary ece assessment constructed in New Zealand, and, what is effected by this construction? Texts about contemporary ece assessment in New Zealand written by local ece scholars and practitioners as well as narrative assessment examples drawn from the Ministry of Education (2004) Kei Tua o te Pae, Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars resource provide data for the analysis. The analysis is conducted in procedurally specified as well as open, associative, and playful modes. Contemporary ece assessment in New Zealand is found to be constructed as a new, post-developmental, morally desirable and secular salvation practice that is underpinned by principles of social justice, plurality and diversity. However, a consideration of key discursive truth-objects and their mobilisation within narrative assessments suggests that ece assessment may be implementing a boundless and normalising regime for the government of selves and others, and producing significant regulatory effects for children, teachers and whānau/ family. It is argued that ece assessment, as a technology of government, works to construct self responsible, self optimising, and permanently performing child-subjects. Such norms for self government map closely onto those that are promoted within neoliberal governmentalities. Ece assessment can therefore, at least in part, be understood as both a technique and effect of neoliberal rationalities of government. The ongoing status and dominant construction of ece assessment as an empowering, socially just practice is seen to be problematic. It stifles debate about early childhood spaces, and it is implicated in the constraint of multiple possibilities for the government of selves and others.</p>

scholarly journals Assessment in New Zealand Early Childhood Education:  A Foucauldian Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Emma Buchanan
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Assessment For Learning ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Narrative Assessment ◽  
Regulatory Effects ◽  
The Government ◽  
Foucauldian Analysis

<p>This thesis aims to problematise and denaturalise the current dominant, empowerment infused early childhood education (ece) assessment discourse in Aoteaora New Zealand through a Foucauldian discourse analysis. It addresses a two-part question: How is contemporary ece assessment constructed in New Zealand, and, what is effected by this construction? Texts about contemporary ece assessment in New Zealand written by local ece scholars and practitioners as well as narrative assessment examples drawn from the Ministry of Education (2004) Kei Tua o te Pae, Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars resource provide data for the analysis. The analysis is conducted in procedurally specified as well as open, associative, and playful modes. Contemporary ece assessment in New Zealand is found to be constructed as a new, post-developmental, morally desirable and secular salvation practice that is underpinned by principles of social justice, plurality and diversity. However, a consideration of key discursive truth-objects and their mobilisation within narrative assessments suggests that ece assessment may be implementing a boundless and normalising regime for the government of selves and others, and producing significant regulatory effects for children, teachers and whānau/ family. It is argued that ece assessment, as a technology of government, works to construct self responsible, self optimising, and permanently performing child-subjects. Such norms for self government map closely onto those that are promoted within neoliberal governmentalities. Ece assessment can therefore, at least in part, be understood as both a technique and effect of neoliberal rationalities of government. The ongoing status and dominant construction of ece assessment as an empowering, socially just practice is seen to be problematic. It stifles debate about early childhood spaces, and it is implicated in the constraint of multiple possibilities for the government of selves and others.</p>

Critical Pedagogies in PETE: An Antipodean Perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 316-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rod Philpot
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
New School ◽  
Physical Education Teacher Education ◽  
Critical Pedagogies ◽  
Pete Programs

In the 1990s, New Zealand and Australia rolled out new school physical education curriculums (Ministry of Education, 1999, 2007; Queensland School Curriculum Council, 1999) signaling a significant change in the purpose of physical education in both countries. These uniquely Antipodean1 curriculum documents were underpinned by a socially critical perspective and physical education teacher education (PETE) programs in both countries needed to adapt to prepare teachers who are capable of engaging PE from a socially critical perspective. One way they attempted to do this was to adopt what has variously been labeled critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogies as a label is something of ‘big tent’ (Lather, 1998) and this paper reports on the published attempts to operationalize critical pedagogy and its reported success or otherwise in preparing teachers for the expectations of the socially critical oriented HPE curriculum in both Australian and New Zealand.

scholarly journals Teachers’ reflecting on professional knowledge in the numeracy (mathematics) classroom

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Mills
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Mathematics Classroom ◽  
Professional Knowledge ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Primary School Teachers ◽  
Effective Pedagogy ◽  
Teaching Learning

New Zealand primary school teachers are expected to regularly reflect on their teaching practice in order to consider the implications of past teaching on future planning. Aligned to teachers’ ongoing reflection, the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) contains a section on effective pedagogy—teacher actions promoting student learning, which includes a Teaching as Inquiry Cycle (pp. 34–35). Embedded within their inquiry, teachers consider the teaching-learning relationship and often turn to frameworks of knowledge for guidance. This article shares the implications of using a framework of teacher knowledge in research. While the framework used contained much detail for the researcher, it overlapped categories and at the same time lacked acknowledgement of some important concepts for teachers in classroom practice. Findings from using a framework in this research were combined with findings from previous research to formulate the Wheel of Professional Knowledge, which was developed for mathematics teachers to use when reflecting on their practice.

scholarly journals Exploring, modelling, and simulating the Feeling of Comfort in residential settings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
German Molina
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Building Science ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The People ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Mind

<p><b>The fact that comfort is a subjective state of the mind is widely accepted by engineers, architects and building scientists. Despite this, capturing all the complexity, subjectivity and richness of this construct in models that are useful in building science contexts is far from straightforward. By prioritizing usability, building science has produced models of comfort (e.g., acoustic, visual and thermal) that overly simplify this concept to something nearly objective that can be directly associated with people’s physiology and measurable and quantifiable environmental factors. This is a contradiction because, even if comfort is supposed to be subjective, most of the complexity of “the subject” is avoided by focusing on physiology; and, even if comfort is supposed to reside in the mind, the cognitive processes that characterize the mind are disregarded. This research partially mitigates this contradiction by exploring people’s non-physical personal factors and cognition within the context of their comfort and by proposing a way in which they can be incorporated into building science research and practice. This research refers to these elements together—i.e., people’s non-physical personal factors and cognition—as “the mind”.</b></p> <p>This research proposes a new qualitative model of the Feeling of Comfort that embraces “the mind”. This model was developed from the results of a first study in which 18 people—from Chile and New Zealand—were asked to describe “a home with good daylight” and “a warm home” in their own words. These results were then replicated in a second study in which another group of 24 people—also from Chile and New Zealand—described “a home with good acoustic performance”, “a home with good air quality” and “a pleasantly cool home”. The Feeling of Comfort model not only was capable of making sense of the new data (gathered in this second study) but also proved to be simple enough to be useful in the context of comfort research and practice. For instance, it guided the development of a quantitative Feeling of Comfort model and also of a prototype building simulation tool that embraces “the mind” and thus can potentially estimate people’s Feeling of Comfort.</p> <p>This research concludes that embracing “the mind” is not only possible but necessary. The reason for this is that “the mind” plays a significant role in the development of people’s comfort. Thus, theories and models of comfort that ignore it fail to represent properly the concept of comfort held by the people for whom buildings are designed. However, incorporating “the mind” into building science’s research and practice implies embracing tools, research methods and conceptual frameworks that have historically not been used by such a discipline. Specifically, it concludes that building science should normalize a more holistic view of comfort and perform more exploratory and qualitative research.</p>

scholarly journals An Architectural Dialogue with the Eleatic Stranger

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Christian Jacob Squire
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Architectural Theory ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Eleatic Stranger ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Theory Of Forms

<p>Reports throughout New Zealand have highlighted a chronic and growing problem in our urban centres – the effects of alcohol abuse and binge drinking leave our youth vulnerable and unprotected. The results can sometimes be catastrophic. Makeshift paramedic tents have recently been erected in Wellington to provide aid and retreat, but these are temporary structures and only available two nights per week. The vulnerability of New Zealand’s youth occurs not only on nights with too much alcohol, but also in response to the daily stresses brought on by contemporary urban life. New Zealand youth suicide rates are the highest out of 30 OECD nations and more than twice the OECD average (Chapman). Likewise the secularization of contemporary urban society has resulted in the loss of spiritual retreats previously found within churches and religious centres. This thesis examines the need for a permanent urban retreat for all those who are temporarily vulnerable. The thesis investigates how architectural form can provide a new approach to urban retreat by critically engaging analogous theories found in the writings of Plato and Louis Kahn. Both Plato’s theory of Forms (discussed in Plato’s “Dialogues”) and Louis Kahn’s 1961 essay “Form and Design” are centred on the idea of achieving an enlightened state of mind, freeing the mind from the physical realm. Plato’s theory of Forms posits that the universe is separated into two realms: an intelligible realm and a sensible realm. All objects that exist in the sensible realm – perceivable to us by our senses – are merely imperfect shadows of their essences or Forms. By understanding this, we can free our minds from the distractions of life which so often lead to stress and despair. Plato’s theory of Forms has many parallels with the architectural theory of Louis Kahn, as evidenced in Kahn’s “Form and Design”. Kahn describes the ‘measurable’ and ‘immeasurable’ realms, which are analogous to Plato’s sensible and intelligible realms. This thesis critically engages these analogous theories of Plato and Kahn – achieving an enlightened state of mind, freeing the mind from the physical realm – to establish how architectural form can provide urban retreat for those who are temporarily vulnerable. The site for the design research investigation is the nameless alleyway in the Courtenay Place precinct which separates Wellington’s historic St James Theatre from The Mermaid bar and brothel – a site which symbolizes the conflicting stimuli to which our urban residents are now continually exposed.</p>

scholarly journals Exploring, modelling, and simulating the Feeling of Comfort in residential settings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
German Molina
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Building Science ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The People ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Mind

<p><b>The fact that comfort is a subjective state of the mind is widely accepted by engineers, architects and building scientists. Despite this, capturing all the complexity, subjectivity and richness of this construct in models that are useful in building science contexts is far from straightforward. By prioritizing usability, building science has produced models of comfort (e.g., acoustic, visual and thermal) that overly simplify this concept to something nearly objective that can be directly associated with people’s physiology and measurable and quantifiable environmental factors. This is a contradiction because, even if comfort is supposed to be subjective, most of the complexity of “the subject” is avoided by focusing on physiology; and, even if comfort is supposed to reside in the mind, the cognitive processes that characterize the mind are disregarded. This research partially mitigates this contradiction by exploring people’s non-physical personal factors and cognition within the context of their comfort and by proposing a way in which they can be incorporated into building science research and practice. This research refers to these elements together—i.e., people’s non-physical personal factors and cognition—as “the mind”.</b></p> <p>This research proposes a new qualitative model of the Feeling of Comfort that embraces “the mind”. This model was developed from the results of a first study in which 18 people—from Chile and New Zealand—were asked to describe “a home with good daylight” and “a warm home” in their own words. These results were then replicated in a second study in which another group of 24 people—also from Chile and New Zealand—described “a home with good acoustic performance”, “a home with good air quality” and “a pleasantly cool home”. The Feeling of Comfort model not only was capable of making sense of the new data (gathered in this second study) but also proved to be simple enough to be useful in the context of comfort research and practice. For instance, it guided the development of a quantitative Feeling of Comfort model and also of a prototype building simulation tool that embraces “the mind” and thus can potentially estimate people’s Feeling of Comfort.</p> <p>This research concludes that embracing “the mind” is not only possible but necessary. The reason for this is that “the mind” plays a significant role in the development of people’s comfort. Thus, theories and models of comfort that ignore it fail to represent properly the concept of comfort held by the people for whom buildings are designed. However, incorporating “the mind” into building science’s research and practice implies embracing tools, research methods and conceptual frameworks that have historically not been used by such a discipline. Specifically, it concludes that building science should normalize a more holistic view of comfort and perform more exploratory and qualitative research.</p>

Building and property management framework for state schools in New Zealand

Facilities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
An Thi Hoai Le ◽  
Niluka Domingo ◽  
Eziaku Onyeizu Rasheed ◽  
Kenneth Sungho Park
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
School Boards ◽  
Review Literature ◽  
Property Management ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Top Managers ◽  
Comprehensive Framework ◽  
State Schools

Purpose This paper aims to develop an integrated and comprehensive framework for building and property management (BAPM) for state schools in New Zealand. The results are expected to clarify the complicated process and provide a guide for school boards to manage their property effectively and efficiently. It also seeks to explore the relationship between the key stakeholders and how this impacts the BAPM. Design/methodology/approach In addition, to review literature, qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with 16 top managers in state schools. The data analysis results were used to develop the framework using the integration definition for process modelling. Findings The findings contribute to understanding the processes in the BAPM in state schools of school board members by adding input, output, control and mechanism elements in each activity of the processes. The systematic models with main activities and people involved are presented as a guide for school boards in state schools in New Zealand. Challenges and issues in the processes are also identified to draw further study for both school boards and the Ministry of Education. Research limitations/implications The research was conducted with the participation of stakeholders who are sampled from top managers in state schools in New Zealand. A larger scale of participants from other schools may generalise the findings further. Practical implications The research findings are based on the needs and requirements of the stakeholders to understand, implement and control the BAPM for their schools and aid them to achieve the best value for money spending on the management. Originality/value The paper highlights the complexity of the BAPM in schools, presents the roles and responsibilities of the school stakeholders and proposes a systematic framework to assist the school managers in this management process.

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