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Special issues by Carol Mutch

Papers by Carol Mutch

Citizenship, social and economics education, Jan 6, 2022

During the Covid-19 crisis, stereotypical images of young people as selfish troublemakers or pass... more During the Covid-19 crisis, stereotypical images of young people as selfish troublemakers or passive victims appeared in the media and scholarly publications. These persistent views disregard many young people's authentic experiences and civic contributions. In this article, we challenge these perceptions by highlighting young people's acts of citizenship during the pandemic lockdowns that took place during 2020 in Aotearoa New Zealand. Despite being internationally praised for its compliant Covid-19 response, citizens were prepared to challenges the pandemic restrictions in order to have their voices heard. Young people were often at the forefront of these protests, wanting to actively participate in matters that concerned them by joining Black Lives Matter marches or campaigning to lower the voting age. At the same time, young people engaged in more personal and invisible acts of citizenship within their families and school communities. In this article, we share evidence from our empirical study into young people's social and political engagement during the Covid-19 lockdowns in Aotearoa New Zealand. Implications of this study for citizenship education are discussed.

Globalisation, Societies and Education

Curriculum Matters, 2011

• 4 september 2010, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the richter scale rocks Canterbury causing wid... more • 4 september 2010, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the richter scale rocks Canterbury causing widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure. The author Carol Mutch is an associate professor in the school of Critical studies in education at the University of auckland. Formerly a teacher, teacher educator and policy adviser, Carol's research and writing interests are in educational research and evaluation, curriculum and education policy, social sciences and citizenship education.

Waikato Journal of Education

Towards the end of the first COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020, in Aotearoa New Zealand, the author... more Towards the end of the first COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020, in Aotearoa New Zealand, the authors conducted a small-scale study to gain insight into children’s responses to the pandemic restrictions. As it was not possible to interview children ourselves, we recruited parents to read a set of digital stories about a toy bear in lockdown to their children and to record the ensuing conversations. The recorded conversations were returned to the authors to be transcribed and analysed. One intriguing finding was the strength of children’s feelings of loss in regard to their friendship groups, despite the fact that the lockdowns enabled them to spend more time with their immediate families. This article examines the phenomenon of the importance of peer-orientation over family-orientation as it appeared in the data. Hegemonic thinking and attachment theory are used to further explore this phenomenon and discuss how the current educational trends towards personal independence over family b...

Citizenship, social and economics education, Mar 1, 2004

... Carol Mutch School of Professional Development Christchurch College of Education, New Zealand... more ... Carol Mutch School of Professional Development Christchurch College of Education, New Zealand ... That Te whariki is receiving international acclaim is supported by the Australian academic, MarilynFleer (2003: 243) who states, 'Te Whariki has had an enormous impact on ...

Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies, 2021

set: Research Information for Teachers, 2017

Pastoral Care in Education, 2017

As neoliberal ideology has come to dominate higher education, the roles and relationships of mana... more As neoliberal ideology has come to dominate higher education, the roles and relationships of managers, academics and students have changed radically. This article outlines ways in which neoliberalism and its companion ideology, neoconservatism, have impacted on higher education through a move to individualism, managerialism, measurement and accountability. While the context for this article is New Zealand, the experiences will resonate with academics worldwide. Using a conceptual framework highlighting conscious, unwitting and coercive complicity, the authors analyse their experiences of teaching in the neoliberal university. They discuss three themes to emerge from their findings: (a) universities as instruments of neoliberalism; (b) academics as managed subjects; and (c) students as entitled consumers. They conclude by offering examples of ways to resist the competitive and individualising regime by creating a culture of care and compassion.

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 2020

Children are vulnerable in earthquakes, but they are also essential to foster earthquake‐resilien... more Children are vulnerable in earthquakes, but they are also essential to foster earthquake‐resilient communities. It is critical to enhance the preparedness of children against earthquakes through effective education and training. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) and serious games (SGs) are innovative digital technologies that enable realistic and engaging training environments. However, little research has been made on the applications of IVR SGs for earthquake training targeting children. In order to fill this gap, this paper presents an IVR SG training system based on a problem‐based gaming framework. Three instructional mechanisms within the training system, namely prior instruction, immediate feedback, and post‐game assessment, were investigated to promote learning through effective reflection. A controlled experiment involving 125 secondary school students aged from 11 to 15 years old was undertaken, using leaflets as a traditional training approach for the control group and the ...

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

Abstract Immersive Virtual Reality Serious Games (IVR SG) are being used more frequently as train... more Abstract Immersive Virtual Reality Serious Games (IVR SG) are being used more frequently as training tools to enhance the preparedness and response of different community groups in the event of disasters such as earthquakes. In this paper, we aim to understand the pedagogical and behavioural considerations for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) children in the school context and its connection to the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) framework. A systematic literature review was used as the main methodology of this paper. The main findings proved a strong relationship between the pedagogical and behavioural factors with the 4Rs (Readiness, Reduction, Response, and Recovery), and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) approach. The factors are particularly connected to the readiness and reduction stages, and IVR SG training tools need to be integrated within a holistic disaster reduction plan. The factors to ensure success of this integrated conceptual framework use an innovative tool such as an IVR SG based on DHH children’s needs and abilities and can be adapted to their school environment. All the findings throughout this paper build a strong theoretical foundation for the usage of a VR SG-based training tool to enhance DHH children’s post-earthquake evacuation preparedness in a school’s content.

Policy Futures in Education

Schools can be permanently closed for many reasons – economic rationalisation, post-disaster relo... more Schools can be permanently closed for many reasons – economic rationalisation, post-disaster relocations, population decline or educational failure. Research on permanent school closures reports mostly negative and long-lasting consequences, not just for the school’s staff and students, but for the local community. After the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes in New Zealand, the Ministry of Education produced a plan to permanently close or merge 38 schools. The author followed one school through its closure and the early stages of its merger with a neighbouring school. Although the two schools came together to create a new entity with a new name, the process was not without emotional harm to the school designated as the ‘closing’ school. The ‘continuing’ school, on the other hand, appeared to act beyond its brief and behave in ways that unintentionally contributed to that harm. In the interviews with the closing school, participants reported acts of careless disregard, humiliation and...

Citizenship, Social and Economics Education, Nov 5, 2017

Perspectives in Education, 2021

New Zealand's response to the COVID-19 pandemic was "to go fast and go hard". This directive mean... more New Zealand's response to the COVID-19 pandemic was "to go fast and go hard". This directive meant closing the borders, requiring returning New Zealanders to go into two-week self-isolation and, on 25 March 2020, putting the entire country into full lockdown. Schools had a short period of time to get ready to offer online learning. The move highlighted the country's social, economic and educational divide. On television we were shown children with laptops working at home in their designer living rooms, talking to their teachers through Zoom with their parents hovering around supportively. However, this was not the reality for all. There are parts of the country with limited or no Internet connectivity. There are high poverty areas where households do not have basic materials, let alone computers or other devices suitable for use as learning platforms. A survey of schools showed that only half the schools in the country felt that their students would be able to access online learning. The Ministry of Education had to quickly organise the delivery of learning packs of printed materials to outlying areas, laptops and modems to low-income communities and set up a home-learning television channel with programmes in English and te reo Māori (the indigenous language). Studies are now revealing that despite these efforts, and as the COVID-19 economic impacts begin to bite, New Zealand's at-risk students have fallen even further behind. This article discusses these research findings and highlights what was learnt from the COVID-19 experience in order to begin to redress these disparities.

The history of citizenship education in New Zealand has entailed several key moments that have be... more The history of citizenship education in New Zealand has entailed several key moments that have been subject to contested historical, social, political and economic forces. While there has never been a stand-alone citizenship education curriculum in New Zealand, the social studies curricula remain the primary vehicle for citizenship education delivery since its origins in 1944. This chapter examines the development of citizenship education, through New Zealand's social studies curricula, as an 'education ensemble' in which five historical moments of "politics, policy and practice" (Dale, 2017) emerged. Examining these moments against a critical theoretical lens, this chapter considers the possibility such moments held for the development of more critical and active citizens. The authors analyse the more recent emphasis on social inquiry and social action as two further moments of possibility for enhancing critical and active citizenship. This analysis attests to the potential for critical change through curriculum reform, but also, in contrast, the potential for an enduring minimal, content-heavy, and neoliberal approach to learning citizenship in the absence of seizing a curriculum moment. In doing so, the chapter contributes to wider debates about how citizenship curricula is positioned within an ensemble of competing political agendas, practitioner influences, and policy frameworks.

HRB Open Research, 2021

Background: We are currently in a period of transition, from the pre-COVID-19 (coronavirus diseas... more Background: We are currently in a period of transition, from the pre-COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) era and the initial reactive lockdowns, to now the ongoing living with and potentially the after COVID-19 period. Each country is at its own individual stage of this transition, but many have gone through a period of feeling adrift; disconnected from normal lives, habits and routines, finding oneself betwixt and between stages, similar to that of liminality. Children and young people have been particularly affected. Aim: To increase the understanding of home and community-based strategies that contribute to children and young people’s capacity to adjust to societal changes, both during and after pandemics. Moreover, to identify ways in which children’s actions contribute to the capacity of others to adjust to the changes arising from the pandemic. The potential for these activities to influence and contribute to broader social mobilisation will be examined and promoted. Research ...

Multimedia Tools and Applications

Various attempts and approaches have been made to teach individuals about the knowledge of best p... more Various attempts and approaches have been made to teach individuals about the knowledge of best practice for earthquake emergencies. Among them, Immersive Virtual Reality Serious Games (IVR SGs) have been suggested as an effective tool for emergency training. The notion of IVR SGs is consistent with the concept of problem-based gaming (PBG), where trainees interact with games in a loop of forming a playing strategy, applying the strategy, observing consequences, and making reflection. PBG triggers reflection-on-action, enabling trainees to reform perceptions and establish knowledge after making a response to a scenario. However, in the literature of PBG, little effort has been made for trainees to reflect while they are making a response (i.e., reflection-in-action) in a scenario. In addition, trainees do not have the possibility to adjust their responses and reshape their behaviors according to their reflection-in-action. In order to overcome these limitations, this study proposes ...