Hilary Smith

Design and Implementation Issues in Surveying the Views of Young Children in Ethnolinguistically Diverse Developing Country Contexts.

ABSTRACT This paper discusses issues in the development of a methodology appropriate for eliciting sound quantitative data from primary school children in the complex contexts of ethnolinguistically diverse developing countries. Although these issues often occur in field-based surveys, the large extent and compound effects of their occurrence in ethnolinguistically diverse developing countries, particularly in research with young children, means that they combine to be imperative for project viability in these contexts. At the same time, the scale of the challenges often also means that they are regarded as unsurmountable and are disregarded at the very time when the need is highest to provide sound quantitative data on which to base education policy. The paper provides a framework of these interlocking issues relating to a surveys overall approach, instruments, the sampling scheme, and implementation. This is illustrated in detail via a large-scale cross-national study carried out with children in each grade level of Years 1–6 in three Pacific Island countries of Vanuatu, Kiribati, and Solomon Islands.

The Evolution of Certified Teak Grower Groups in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR: An Action Research Approach

Tree grower groups have been promoted by governments and development programs worldwide as a means to generate income and improve the livelihoods of smallholders by generating economies of scale and improving their bargaining power. In Luang Prabang province, Lao PDR, three plantation teak grower groups were examined using an action research approach over a 4-year period between 2013 and 2016, with the aim of fostering improved returns to group members. At the beginning of the study, it was observed that despite the existence of a price premium from certification, the unpredictable nature of sales, complex government regulations and the small contribution of teak to total household incomes combined to thwart efforts by the group to sell trees on the regular basis that would make membership worthwhile for growers. An intervention by group members and researchers to develop an internally funded enterprise unit within the group structure which added value to local timber proved to be technically feasible, although it is still too early to judge its sustainability. However, this opportunity did not immediately benefit smallholders since high entry costs, poor technical knowledge and low financial transparency dissuaded group members from buying shares in the enterprise. Improved returns to smallholders will likely occur in time as a result of local enterprises paying higher prices for timber, rather than through active group membership.

A community development approach using free online tools for language revival in Australia

ABSTRACT Australia is a ‘hotspot’ of Indigenous language endangerment, but has a growing number of language revival projects. We describe one such project which is using a community development approach for the revival of the Gamilaraay language in north-eastern New South Wales. As a result of colonisation there are now no fluent speakers of Gamilaraay and most use is restricted to formulaic phrases. However, there is community support for its revival, with courses being taught from pre-school to tertiary level. There is a lack of resources to support the revival, which this project seeks to address. A combination of free online tools is being used to develop digital-assisted language learning resources, through a partnership between academic researchers and Gamilaraay community members. We discuss issues relating to the context of the project and the pedagogies used in assessing whether this project is meeting the goals of an increase in Gamilaraay spoken in homes, schools, and the community, and conclude with the broader implications for language revival.

Children’s rights in education research: from aims to outcomes

Abstract One approach to children’s rights in research is to adopt a methodology that focuses on eliciting children’s perspectives. Ensuring representative participation from all children allows a diversity of contexts to be reflected in the results, and points to ways in which improvements can be made in specific settings. In cultural contexts where participation in decision-making is not a traditional role for children, their viewpoints are likely to provide results that highlight differences between cultural norms and children’s rights, and can offer an important focus of dialogue among stakeholders. It is proposed that children’s rights can therefore become integral to the whole process of a quantitative research project. This paper describes such an approach used in a Pacific Islands study, which investigated the quality of schooling through a probability-based sample survey of 1560 children in the first three years of formal education in 55 schools in Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati.

English language issues for jury service by New Zealanders from migrant and refugee backgrounds

This paper describes an exploratory study carried out to identify the issues for jury service for people with low levels of English language ability. Questions were emailed to English language teachers and providers of support services to New Zealanders from migrant and refugee backgrounds. The experiences reported by respondents related to issues of understanding the New Zealand legal system, responses to jury summons, excusal from jury service, jury selection, and courtroom and jury room language. In addition, the levels of English language ability appropriate for jury service and approaches to assessing this were identified as concerns. Suggestions are made for improvements to the process and framework for jury service.