Melinda Webber

Adolescent time attitude scale (ATAS) scores and academic outcomes in secondary school females in New Zealand

Multiple associations between time-related variables and several educational outcomes have been established previously. Of these time-related variables, the majority have focused on attitudes and perceptions related to the future, but not to the present or the past. This paper examined the psychometric properties of a multidimensional measure of time attitudes, and whether time attitudes were related to several academic variables and to attitudes to teachers and towards school. A total of 579 students at an all-female New Zealand high school completed the adolescent time attitude scale (ATAS). Results from the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the six-factor ATAS model had acceptable fit indices with robust internal consistency estimates for each of the factors in that model. Time attitudes had no meaningful relationships with GPA, academic self-ranking or wagging/cutting school, but were related to attitudes toward school and teacher. However, time attitude profiles had meaningful relationships to all variables except wagging school.

The Role of Racial-Ethnic Identity to the Educational Engagement of Culturally Diverse Gifted New Zealand Adolescents

As part of a wider doctoral project examining the role of racial-ethnic identity in academic engagement, this qualitative study considered this issue among 31 gifted Year 9 early adolescents (aged 13–14 years) who attended large, multi-ethnic urban schools in Auckland, New Zealand. The study sought to understand the role that racial-ethnic identity played in the academic, social and interpersonal lives of culturally diverse gifted adolescents. The researcher interviewed gifted Pākehā, Māori, Samoan and Chinese students and examined, from their diverse perspectives, what their racial-ethnic identities meant for them in the school context and what they did to persist, thrive and achieve at school. The study question was ‘How do gifted adolescents from diverse racial-ethnic groups organise their developing psychological capacities in conjunction with the evolving social, cultural, racial-ethnic and historical circumstances of their lives?’ Identifying the coping strategies they employed was important because it offered an insight into the ways other culturally diverse gifted students might stay engaged and perform well in school, develop positive peer relationships, be resilient and feel positive about themselves, their racial-ethnic identity and their gifted futures.

Te Ara Hou – The Māori Achievement Collaboratives (MACS): Revolutionizing Indigenous Student Learning through Women’s Educational Leadership in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract This chapter features leadership practices sourced from more than 25 Māori (Indigenous) and non-Māori women in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) who are leaders of schools where Māori-based best practices benefit Māori and other systemically underserved students (e.g., children in poverty, Pasifika [i.e., Samoan, Fijian, Cook Island, Tongan] descent). This study, by Auckland-based scholars of North American, Indigenous, and international descent (Māori, Latino, African American/American Indian [Choctaw], and East Indian immigrant) examines the expression of Applied Critical Leadership (ACL) in women leaders participating in Te Ara Hou or The Māori Achievement Collaboratives (MACS), an initiative aimed at challenging status quo leadership practices, which result in persistent inequitable educational outcomes for Māori learners. Based on an analysis of data, women leaders demonstrated leadership that mirrored and exemplified leadership practices suggested in ACL research. Qualitative stories evidenced from women leaders in MACS provided exemplars of authentic and appropriate pathways for implementing effective leadership practices aimed at promoting whānau (family), iwi (tribe), and hapū (subtribe) engagement, context-specific pedagogy, tikanga (cultural protocols), and whanaungatanga (relationships) within mainstream school contexts. These findings affirm and validate research on the benefits of critical and culturally appropriate leadership around the world in a number of diverse contexts.