Helen Anderson - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Helen Anderson

The New Zealand Annual Review of Education

The Education and Training Act 2020 provides an opportunity to transform the Vocational Education... more The Education and Training Act 2020 provides an opportunity to transform the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system in Aotearoa New Zealand to ensure participants are successfully prepared for participation in the current and future workforce. The authors of this paper discuss current reforms in the VET system beyond the changing of components and the assignation of requisite tasks. While change to processes and systems can have an impact on VET outcomes, the kind of change that transforms individual lives and life chances depends on the decision-making and approaches made possible only by individuals ‘at the coalface.’ Indeed, changes to training programmes and processes alone cannot give effect to improved outcomes. The authors suggest that it is educators, the often unnamed and invisible workforce that will provide the basis for transformational VET based change. The VET workforce who daily mediate training programmes and curriculum as educators, facilitators, trainers, i...

The vocational tertiary teaching work force in New Zealand is made up of individuals from an exte... more The vocational tertiary teaching work force in New Zealand is made up of individuals from an extensive range of occupational backgrounds. When their occupational or discipline-based expertise is employed within Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) and Private Training Establishments (PTEs) they make up another occupational group ‐ that of vocational education or training practitioner. With diverse work-based backgrounds, vocational educators undertake their work within the teaching workforce often without a strong sense of their educational position or function and there is little guidance in the complexities and realities of the role. This paper considers the role of vocational educators and the practices of professional development or tertiary teacher education that might support building a multi-layered identity encompassing their discipline expertise and their role as an educator.

Linguistics and Education, 2015

PhD Thesis-University of …, 2000

Restricted Item. Print thesis available in the University of Auckland Library or available throug... more Restricted Item. Print thesis available in the University of Auckland Library or available through Inter-Library Loan. Although there has been substantial research in Britain and USA on bridging programmes, and there is a considerable international tradition of research into writing, ...

This paper considers the unique features and contexts of vocational teaching and how these influe... more This paper considers the unique features and contexts of vocational teaching and how these influence and shape vocational teacher education. A study of the use of videoing as a learning and practice based strategy is presented as a prompt to rethinking the roles of the vocational educator. A conceptualisation of the work of the vocational educator which reframes the role and counters a view of vocational education as a transmission of skills within a fixed curriculum is considered. An investigation into the use of video in a teacher education course is described to demonstrate the tensions between a critical and a technicist view of vocational education and the results of the investigation are explored in terms of the roles of vocational educators.

This paper addresses the issue of attrition and retention of a minority group in a large multi-et... more This paper addresses the issue of attrition and retention of a minority group in a large multi-ethnic, urban polytechnic located in an area of low socio-economic status. One of the important findings in recent work on attrition and retention has been to note that while there are ...

This chapter considers a qualitative study of students' perceptions of the nature of engageme... more This chapter considers a qualitative study of students' perceptions of the nature of engagement in a degree programme. The findings of the study are discussed with regard to studies of attrition and retention proposed by Vincent Tinto and critiqued by a range of authors. As a concept, "engagement" provides a useful frame for debate, and the data suggests that engagement is a critical element in successful study within this study. Acces s to tertiary (i.e., postsecondary) studies is a function of the interface between the community and educational institutions. The accessibility of an institution includes the ability to attract, retain, and foster the success of people who wish to participate in study. Access can be expressed in terms of enrollment, retention, and success, with the definition of success needing some particular clarification with regard to the goals of the institution, the community, and individuals. There is a significant body of research addressing the...

Higher Education Quarterly, 2010

Tertiary assessment policy and practice address multiple purposes that can both complement and co... more Tertiary assessment policy and practice address multiple purposes that can both complement and contradict one another. This mixed-method study employing both quantitative and qualitative data builds on the results of a large-scale survey of academic staff and student ...

Higher Education, 2012

Assessment in higher education serves multiple purposes such as providing information about stude... more Assessment in higher education serves multiple purposes such as providing information about student learning, student progress, teaching quality, and program and institutional accountability. Yet, little is known about faculty and students' attitudes regarding different aspects of assessment that have wide-ranging implications for policy and practice in tertiary institutions. To investigate these views, parallel surveys of conceptions of assessment were administered to faculty and undergraduate students across four tertiary institutions including universities, an indigenous tertiary institution, and an institute of technology. A mean and covariance structures approach was used to test for measurement invariance and latent means differences between faculty and students regarding their conceptions of assessment. Results revealed differences in the latent means across the two groups. Faculty were likely to view assessment as a trustworthy process aiding teaching and learning, whereas students viewed assessment as focussed primarily on accountability and perceived assessment as irrelevant or even ignored in the teaching and learning process. These findings highlight the importance of ensuring that assessment policy and practices are fit for purposes, and are being carried out with integrity in ways that are transparent to and understood by both staff and students. While these results show how staff and students view assessment practices, one should keep in mind that while the

Asia Pacific Education Review, 2011

Page 1. Voices from Manukau: recruitment and success of traditionally under represented undergrad... more Page 1. Voices from Manukau: recruitment and success of traditionally under represented undergraduate groups in New Zealand Pam Millward Maxine S. Stephenson Nane Rio Helen Anderson Received: 14 April 2010 ...

This report documents research into the participation patterns of Pacific students in tertiary ed... more This report documents research into the participation patterns of Pacific students in tertiary education and barriers to their participation. It contains three sections: (1) a literature review on the experiences of Pacific tertiary students; (2) an analysis of national data and information from tertiary ...

… Education Research & …, 2006

As New Zealand tertiary education has undergone extensive review processes, debate has centred no... more As New Zealand tertiary education has undergone extensive review processes, debate has centred not only on the need to extend the participation rates of groups previously under-represented, but also how to retain these under-represented groups once they are ...