Knowledge and Education Research Unit

• To provide an intellectual centre for Faculty of Education emerging scholars and doctoral students investigating social phenomena using a realist approach.
• To provide opportunities for emerging academics to extend their research in the KERU Research Areas of: Theories of Knowledge, Knowledge and Higher Education, Knowledge and the School Curriculum, Knowledge and Education Policy.
• To provide opportunities to be involved in external grant applications.
• To provide opportunities for emerging scholars to develop their conceptual knowledge in sociology, anthropology, history and philosophy - foundational disciplines for researchers in the sociology of education.
• To assist members in building academic networks and developing pathways for career advancement: for example, by providing opportunities to present research to visiting international academics, providing opportunities to contribute to the research environment, eg. chairing sessions, reviewing books and reviewing for the Pacific-Asian Education journal, and providing opportunities for career advice.
• To create teaching material from events held by the Unit by making videos of lectures, symposium presentations available on the Unit’s website.
• To provide a distribution network for literature on social realism and the sociology of education more generally.
   

Inquiries are welcome to Associate Professor Elizabeth Rata.
 

• Theories of Knowledge
• Knowledge and Higher Education
• Knowledge and the School Curriculum
• Knowledge and Education Policy

2013

Congratulations to Dr Marek Tesar who has earned a place on the Dean of Graduate Studies list in recognition of his PhD thesis.

2012

Graduation

• Mallika Bandara and Graham McPhail graduated with doctoral degrees.
• Whetuu Nathan graduated with MEd 1st class Hons and was a University Graduate Scholar.

Awards

• Graham McPhail received the New Zealand Association for Research in Education Sutton-Smith Doctoral Award.
• Marek Tesar received the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasian (PESA) Research Award.

Other achievements

• Leon Benade’s book From Technicians to Teachers: Ethical Teaching in the Context of Globalized Education Reform was launched in December. Leon has just been appointed Director of Research in the School of Education at AUT.
• Daniel Couch has been appointed as Deputy Principal of Takapuna Primary from 2013. Daniel gave the address at the CRSTIE Top Achievers A grade celebration in December.
• Tauwehe Tamati and Elizabeth Rata attended the end of year ceremony at Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Manurewa where Elizabeth presented the certificates to the graduating Year 8 students and recognised their contribution to the Kahikitea Research Project.
• Kirsten Locke was issue editor for Pacific-Asian Education, 24(2). The journal is available at pacificcircleconsortium.org/PAEJournal.html
• Elizabeth Rata’s book, The Politics of Knowledge in Education, was launched at the KERU main symposium in July.

There were also a number of outstanding publications by KERU members in 2012. These can be found at Our people.

Events in 2013

KERU members, Associate Professor Elizabeth Rata, Dr Graham McPhail, Barbara Ormond, and Alexis Siteine, made up the New Zealand contingent at the Second International Social Realism Symposium, held at Homerton College, Cambridge University, 9-11 April 2013. The papers presented were:

Elizabeth Rata ‘Powerful Knowledge and the Strife of the dialectic’; Alexis Siteine ‘Authorised knowledge: Teachers’ conceptualisations of “Identity” in the Curriculum’; Graham McPhail ‘Pathways to Powerful Knowledge: A Case for Music’s Voice’, and Barbara Ormond ‘Powerful Knowledge through the Discipline of History – its Fragility and the Potential for Dislodgement’.

Events in 2012

23 February
Colloquium
Presenter: Graham McPhail (KERU member and doctoral candidate in CRSTIE)
Discussion of Moore, R. ‘The Problem of the Problem of Knowledge in the Sociology of Education: The Elements of Social Realism’, unpublished paper.

12 April
Colloquium ‘What does it mean to use a realist methodology?”
Presenters: Alexis Siteine, Saba Kiani, Barbara Ormond and Megan Lourie

July 9 - 12
A week of events with national and international visitors: Professor Michael Young, University of London; Associate Professor Leesa Wheelahan, University of Melbourne; Dr Bronwyn Wood and Dr Mark Sheehan, Victoria University of Wellington. See full programme

Events in 2011

Return visit by Hood Fellow, Professor Michael Young, Institute of Education, University of London.

4 July
Knowledge and Education Symposium
Speakers: Professor Michael Young, Barbara Ormond, Graham McPhail

5 July
KERU and RUPIE Workshop
Disciplinarity and the Sociology of Education

6 July
Forum ‘What is it to be critical in critical educational studies’
Professor Michael Young, Associate Professor Elizabeth Rata, Professor Stephen May

View 2011 Knowledge and Education Symposium and Forum videos

• Mallika Bandara is a doctoral candidate investigating the experiences of well-educated young Sri Lankan female professionals in New Zealand. The preliminary findings of the research were presented at the Moving Forward Conference 2010, University of Aberdeen in July 2010.
  
  • Bandara, M. (2012) Changing gender roles in the global knowledge labour market. In Stephenson, M., Duhn, I., Carpenter, V. and Airini (eds). Changing Worlds: Critical Voices and New Knowledge in Education. (pp. 178-189). Auckland: Pearson.
  • Conference presentations
    Bandara, M. ‘Changing gender roles in the global labour market’. Presentation to the Looking forward: Trends, Horizon and Utopias - Sociological Association of Aotearoa, New Zealand Annual Conference. Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington. 7 - 9 December 2011.
    Bandara, M. ‘A new social phenomenon? The migration of professional Sri Lankan women to New Zealand’. A refereed paper presented at ISANA: International Education Association 21st International Conference, 30th November- 3rd December 2010, Crown Promenade, Melbourne. www.proceedings.com.au/isana/2010.html Editor: Dr Felicity Falcon. Publisher: ISANA International Education Association inc. The Gap: Queensland, Australia, 4061. ISBN: 978-0-9757180-8-7
     
• Leon Benade
  Director of Research, School of Education, AUT University of Technology.
  • Book
    Benade, L. (2012) From Technicians to Teachers: Ethical Teaching in the Context of Globalized Education Reform. New York: Continuum International.
  • Book chapter
    Benade, L. (2012) A (neoliberal) vision for the teaching profession: Using a policy analysis strategy to clarify issues of formulation and implementation. In M. Stephenson, I. Duhn, V. Carpenter, and Airini (Eds.) Changing Worlds: Critical Voices and New Knowledge in Education. (pp. 44-55). Auckland: Pearson.
  • Recent articles
    Benade, L. (2012) Challenging the Domestication of Critical Reflection and Practitioner Reflectivity. Guest Editorial: Educational Philosophy and Theory, Vol 44 (4), 337–341.
    Benade, L. (2012) Are School Visions Sustainable? Assessing the Relevance of Senge’s Notion of Shared Visions. New Zealand Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice Vol 27 (1), 64-73.
    Benade, L. (2011) Philosophy for Children (P4C): a New Zealand school–based action research case study. New Zealand Journal of Teachers’ Work, Vol 8 (2), 141-155.
    Benade, L. (2011) A Vision for the Teaching Profession: Using critical policy analysis to see more clearly. New Zealand Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice Vol 26 (1), 28-41.
     
• Daniel Couch 
  Masters thesis explores the introduction of Deweyan progressive pedagogy into mainstream New Zealand education during the 1937 New Education Fellowship Conference. It traces the developments which led this idea to become a pedagogical orthodoxy by the 1944 Education Conference.
   
• Saba Kiani
  Elected NZARE Student Representative, Annual Conference December 2011.
  
  Conference presentation
  The English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Programme in a university in Iran: Factors Influencing its Success, Paper presented at NZARE Tauranga 28-1st December 2011.
   
• Manutai Leaupepe is interested in the ways in which Pacific Islands student teachers/teachers and parents’ views of play have influenced the types of play opportunities provided for young children within early childhood educational settings. Her most recent publications are:
  • Laupepe, M. (2011) Professional development in the Cook Islands: Confronting and challenging Cook Islands early childhood teachers’ understandings of play. Pacific-Asian Education Journal 23(2): 23-32
    http://pacificcircleconsortium.org/PAEJournal.html
  • Leaupepe, M. Changing student teachers’ beliefs: Experiences from Pasifika early childhood teacher education in New Zealand. Journal of the Pacific Circle Consortium for Education, 21(2), 55-63, 2009.
  • Leaupepe, M. Pasifika perspectives of play: challenges and responsibilities. He Kupu The Word, 2(4), 19-33, 2011.
  • Leaupepe, M. “Play…a waste of time?" Samoan and Tongan student teachers’ views of play. Mai Review, 1, 1-12, 2010.
  • Airini, Toso, V.M., Sauni, L.S., Leaupepe, M., Pua, V., & Tuafuti, P. ‘This road belongs to me’: Promising practices in distance education. In J. Jesson et al., (eds.). University teaching reconsidered: Justice, practice, inquiry. Wellington: Dunmore Publishing Ltd, 79-92, 2010.
  • Airini, Leaupepe, M., Sauni, LS., Tuafuti, P., & Amituanai-Toloa, M. Pasifika education: Historical themes. In E. Rata & R. Sullivan (eds.). Introduction to the history of New Zealand education. North Shore: Pearson, 83-100, 2009.
     
• Kirsten Locke completed her doctoral studies through CRSTIE at the end of 2010. Kirsten holds degrees in music and education and has been a secondary school music and English teacher, a generalist and music primary school teacher in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, and a director of several children's choirs and orchestras. Kirsten’s doctoral research focussed on a philosophical exploration into a musical aesthetic that engages with the creative potentialities of pedagogical spaces in the classroom. She is currently working in CRSTIE as a lecturer.
  • Locke, K. (2008). Music Education and Ethical Judgment in the Postmodern Condition. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 7(1), 74-87. Retrieved from http://act.maydaygroup.org/php/archives_v7.php#7_1
    
    
• Megan Lourie is a doctoral candidate investigating the experiences of non-Māori students learning the Māori language in secondary schools within the context of New Zealand's bicultural education policy. Her recent presentations and publications are:
  • Lourie, M. (in press) Muddle in the Mainstream: Maori language education policy in mainstream schools. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies.
  • Lourie, M. and Rata, E. (2012) A Critique of the Role of Culture in Maori Education. British Journal of Sociology of Education. 10.1080/01425692.2012.736184
  • Lourie, M. (2011) 'Canaries in the coal mine'; the reframing of biculturalism and non-Māori participation in Maori language learning. Journal of International Studies in Sociology of Education, 21(3): 200-217.
  • Lourie, M. The beliefs and experiences of non-Māori learning te reo Māori in mainstream
    secondary schools, Paper presented at NZARE in 2010.

Megan was one of two recipients of the 2010 Faculty of Education FINE Award for a doctoral candidate to attend the American Education Research Association (AERA) Conference in New Orleans in April 2011.
 

• Graham McPhail is a lecturer in the School of Critical Studies in Education. He has completed a doctoral study of teachers’ management of the relationship between popular and classical music in the secondary curriculum.
  • McPhail, G. (2013). The Canon or the kids: teachers and the recontextualisation of classical and popular music in the secondary curriculum. Research Studies in Music Education (forthcoming).
  • McPhail, G. (2013). Developing student autonomy in the one-to-one music lesson in The International Journal of Music Education. (forthcoming).
  • McPhail, G. (2012). Informal and formal knowledge: The curriculum conception of two rock graduates. British Journal of Music Education (on Firstview).
  • McPhail, G. (2012). Knowledge and the curriculum: Music as a case study in educational futures. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 47(1), 33-46.
  • McPhail, G. (2012). From singular to over crowded region: Curriculum change in senior secondary school music in New Zealand. British Journal of Music Education 29 (3), 317-330.
  • McPhail, G. (2010). Finding the balance: teachers as recontextualising agents in the struggle between classical and popular music in the secondary school curriculum. New Zealand Journal of Research in Performing Arts and Education: Nga Mahi a Rehia, Vol. 2, 2010, available at www.drama.org.nz/?cat=242
  • McPhail, G. (2010). Crossing boundaries: sharing concepts of music teaching from classroom to studio. Music Education Research, 12 (1), 33-45.
  • McPhail, G. (2009). Searching for standards in the NCEA: assessing musical performance. Waikato Journal of Education, 14, 15-30.
  • Book Review: Knowledge, Curriculum and Qualifications for South African Further Education. HSRC Press, 2006. In Pacific-Asian Education, 22(1); 103-106.
  • Award - 2010 Marion Rayward Memorial Scholarship (VUW) for a New Zealand music education doctoral candidate.
     
• Hester Mostert
  Hester is currently undertaking a masters thesis in education.
   
• Molly Mullen is a doctoral candidate whose research examines the ways applied theatre practices interrelate with local and globalised economies and what this means for people working in the field. Conference papers include:
  • Mullen, M & O’Connor, P. (2011). A teaspoon of light: creative responses in schools to trauma. Paper presented at the School of Critical Studies in Education, Faculty of Education, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
  • Mullen, M & O’Connor, P. (2010). Romeo and Juliet: A six week multi arts journey in a Youth Justice Facility. Paper presented at the Critical Studies in Drama Education Symposium, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
  • Mullen, M. (2009). Stage 101: colonisation, discipline and resistance in a youth-led performance project. Paper presented at Theatre and Performance Research Association Conference, Plymouth, UK.
     
• Whetuu Nathan has recently joined KERU. She is undertaking masters studies based in CRSTIE, with an interest in policy analysis.
   
• Barbara Ormond began doctoral studies in 2012 focussing upon teacher’s selections and framing of knowledge for secondary History. Her research relates to epistemological theories within the field of social realism, to address the question of how students can equitably be given access to valuable historical knowledge.
  
  • Ormond, B. M. (2012). Pictorial Pedagogies - Interpreting historical images as evidence. M. Sheehan, & M. Harcourt (Eds.), History Matters. Chapter 3. Wellington. New Zealand Council for Educational Research.
  • Ormond, B.M. (2012). Aligning curriculum and assessment—divergent approaches in the framing of knowledge. Curriculum Matters, 2012:8, 9-32.
  • Ormond, B (2011) Transformative Shifts in Art History Teaching: The Impact of Standards-Based Assessment, The Curriculum Journal. Vol. 22, No. 4, 567–590
  • Ormond, B. (2011). Enabling Students to Read Historical Images: The Value of the Three-Level Guide for Historical Inquiry. The History Teacher, 44 (2), 179-190
  • Ormond, B. (2011). Pedagogy and pictorial evidence: interpreting Post-Reformation English prints in context. The Curriculum Journal, 22 (1), 3-27
  • Ormond, B. (2011) Shifts in Knowledge Teaching: The unexpected consequences of assessment practices on secondary history. Pacific-Asian Education, 23(1), 5-22.
     
• Elizabeth Rata’s current research is into how knowledge is produced and reproduced in education through unequal distribution to contemporary socio-political units. Her most recent publications are:
  • Rata, E. (2012). The Politics of Knowledge in Education. London & New York: Routledge.
    Rata, E. (2012). A Critical Study of Maori Education, in Openshaw, R. and Clark, J. (eds). Critic and Conscience: Essays on Education in Memory of John Codd and Roy Nash, Wellington: NZCER.
  • Rata, E. (2012). The Politics of Knowledge in Education, British Educational Research Journal, 38(1): 103-124.
  • Rata, E. (2011). Encircling the Commons: Neotribal Capitalism in New Zealand Since 2000,
    Anthropological Theory. 11(3), 327-353.
  • Rata, E. (2011). Theoretical Claims and Empirical Evidence in Maori Education Discourse, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2011. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2011.00755.x Article first published online: 25 May 2011
  • Rata, E. (2011). Discursive Strategies of the Maori Tribal Elite, Critique of Anthropology, 31.4 359–380.
     
• Scott Ray is completing his Doctoral thesis, a philosophical and evolutionary investigation of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times through the early work of Paolo Freire.
  • Ray, S. (2009). New Zealand education in the Twentieth century. In E. Rata & R. Sullivan (Eds.), An Introduction to the History of New Zealand Education. (pp. 16-31). Auckland: Pearson Education.
  • Ray, S. (2010). Education in ‘Hard Times’ – a business model, Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society, Waggawagga, 7 - 10 December.
  • Ray, S. (2008). ‘Hard Times’: for these times?, Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia Conference, Brisbane, 4-7 December.
  • Ray, S. (2008). Hard Times as a historical argument: A Dickensian view of the case against vocational education, Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society, Sydney, 8 - 11 December.
     
• Claudia Rozas-Gomez is a member of the School of Critical Studies in Education. She is currently undertaking doctoral studies into literacy in the English curriculum.
   
• Tanya Wendt Samu’s doctoral investigation is entitled ‘Diversity and Pasifika education: Discourses of difference in New Zealand Schooling’. She critiques the meaning of education to specific Pacific individuals and groups; and the meaning of Pacific (or Pasifika) education, from a number of selected policy perspectives.
  
  • Samu, T. Wendt (2011) Tala Mai Fafo: (Re)Learning from the voices of Pacific women. Pacific-Asian Education Journal, 23(2): 11-22.
    http://pacificcircleconsortium.org/PAEJournal.html
  • Siteine, A. and Samu, T. (2011) The representation of Pacific Peoples in the New Zealand School Journal, Pacific-Asian Education Journal 23(2): 139-152.
    http://pacificcircleconsortium.org/PAEJournal.html
     
• Alexis Siteine’s doctoral research focuses on the way in which students’ identities are recognised and affirmed in New Zealand primary schools. She has recently published ‘The Allocation of Pasifika Identity in New Zealand classrooms’, MAI Review, 2010, Volume 1. Available at: http://review.mai.ac.nz
  
  • Siteine, A. and Samu, T. (2011) The representation of Pacific Peoples in the New Zealand School Journal, Pacific-Asian Education Journal 23(2): 139-152.
    http://pacificcircleconsortium.org/PAEJournal.html
     
• Ros Sullivan is completing her doctoral research into safety and primary school outdoor education. She has recently published: ‘Towards total safety’. In E. Rata & R. Sullivan (2009). (Eds.), Introduction to the History of New Zealand Education. (pp. 44-56). Auckland: Pearson Education.
   
• Tauwehe Tamati is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Te Puna Wananga. Her doctoral study develops a ‘transacquisition’ approach to English literacy in kura kaupapa Maori education in New Zealand.
  • Conference Presentations
    • Tamati, T. (2011). The trans-acquisiton approach: A pedagogical pathway to trans-lingualism and trans-literacy. Presented at Language, Education & Diversity Conference, The University of Auckland.
    • Hemahema-Tamati, S.T. (2011). Effective language learning interactions between teachers and students in Māori-medium settings. Presented at Language, Education & Diversity Conference, The University of Auckland.
    • Wilkinson, L., Bardenheier, P., Dale, H., & Tamati, T. (2011). Me whakarongo ki te kōrero: Let the conversations be heard. Presented at 2011 LIANZA Conference (Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa), Wellington at the Michael Fowler Centre.
    • Tamati, T., Dale, H., & Lowman, C. (2010). Māori medium Mentoring (MmM): Strategies to increase te reo Māori proficiency of teacher second language learners in Māori medium schools. Presented at NZARE, University of Auckland.
  • Journal Articles
    • Rata, E. and Tamati, T. (in press) The Effect of Indigenous Politics on English Language Provision in New Zealand’s Māori Schools. Journal of Language, Identity and Education.
    • Tamati, T. (2011). The Trans-acquisitonal Approach: A Bridge to English in Kura Kaupapa Māori. Pacific-Asian Education, 23 (1). p91-102.
        
• Marek Tesar is a lecturer in the School of Learning, Development and Professional Practice. His doctoral thesis investigated the constructions of childhoods and production of childhood subjectivities through children’s literature in ideologically charged contexts. His recent presentations and publications are:
  • Tesar, M. (2012). Governing childhood through stories. In M. Stephenson, I. Duhn, V. Carpenter & Airini (Eds.), Changing words: Critical Voices and new knowledge in education (pp. 189-200). Auckland, New Zealand: Pearson.
  • Tesar, M. (2011). Researching Childhoods in Archival Institutions. History of Education Conference. Auckland, 8th December.