Roger Openshaw

`To be or not to be?': The politics of teaching phonics in England and New Zealand

There is currently intense national and international interest in which particular methods of teaching reading are the most effective for early literacy acquisition. The great bulk of research work that is cited in these debates, however, focuses almost exclusively on the evaluation and comparison of particular programmes underpinned either by phonics or whole language approaches (Soler and Openshaw, 2006). Despite the fact that policy makers and literacy educators around the world are able to draw upon a common body of literacy research, there is a huge variation in the extent to which phonics is adopted as the major programme in different national contexts. This article provides a comparative study of the widely differing reception accorded the teaching of phonics in England and New Zealand respectively.

Public Policy and Ethnicity

Introduction: Of Mohammed, Murals and Maori Ceremony; E. Rata and R. Openshaw Freedom, Identity Construction and Cultural Closure: The Taniwha, the Hijab and the Weiner Schnitzel as Boundary Makers; E. Kolig The Politics of Ethnic Boundary Making; E. Rata Culturalism, Neoliberalism and the State: The Rise and Fall of Neotraditionalism Ideologies in the South Pacific; A. Babadzan The Paradox of Indigenous Rights: The Controversy Around the Foreshore and Seabed in New Zealand; T. van Meijl Ethnicity in Business: The Case of New Zealand Maori; M. Devlin Re-politicising Race: The Anglican Church in New Zealand; C. Tremewan Putting Ethnicity in Policy: A New Zealand Case Study; R. Openshaw Race and Ethnicity in United Kingdom Public Policy: Education and Health; L. Culley & J. Demaine Challenging Ethnic Explanations for Educational Failure; R. Nash Dogmas of Ethnicity; J. Clark Historical Revisionism in New Zealand: Always Winter and Never Christmas; G. Butterworth Public Policy and Ethnicity is a response to the growing concern in many democracies that ethnicity has become institutionalised as a political category. The book draws on a number of international studies, including New Zealand, to show that this process of public policymaking creates permanent divisions and boundaries. These artificial boundaries are fundamentally at odds with the social fluidity of modern societies and actually undermine the conditions required to promote social justice.

The socio-political context of the development of Reading Recovery in New Zealand and England

This article uses the example of Reading Recovery (RR) to argue that those who engage in reading debates should focus not only on which reading programme appears to match desirable goals in childrens literacy development but also strive for a more balanced appreciation of the complex socio-political context of debates within which reading failure and its various remedies remain contestable. In turn this will lead to a more critical and more academically sophisticated scrutiny of literacy and its diverse purposes. The development of Reading Recovery in New Zealand and England illustrates how it is not simply the efficacy of individual programmes, but a combination of that efficacy and the political context at the micro- and macro-levels that establishes, expands and eventually destabilizes new reading initiatives.

The weight of inquiry: conflicting cultures in New Zealand's tertiary institutions

Considerable problems have arisen in New Zealand universities as a consequence of the conflict between the statutory role of the university as the ‘critic and conscience of society’ and the dominant intellectual orthodoxy of cultural essentialism. A number of examples are used to show the extent to which culturalist ideological conformity compromises the scientific and critical analysis of social phenomena, thereby limiting the universitys ability to serve as the critic and conscience of society. The New Zealand examples are located in the global context of culturalist orthodoxy. The writers claim that, as a consequence of the shift from class to identity politics that characterises multiculturalism, administrators and academics in a number of Western universities are now obliged to defer to politically powerful interest groups that derive their power to condemn from culturalist principles.

Introduction: Of Mohammad, Murals and Maori Ceremony

In September 2005, a Danish weekly, Jyllands-Posten publishes 12 cartoon caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad apparently hoping to initiate debate over censorship in Denmark. In December 2005, following peaceful protests from Danish Muslims, a Danish Muslim delegation visits the Middle East to publicise the cartoon controversy. Subsequently, many European newspapers reprint the cartoons in defence of press freedom (Ratnesar, 2007). Violent demonstrations erupt in the Middle East accompanied by threats of retaliation. In the West, political leaders attempt appeasement, citing possible loss of trade and an escalation of terrorism as justification for their stance.

Culture Wars in the Antipodes: The Social Studies Curriculum Controversy in New Zealand

Abstract In New Zealand, recent attempts to produce a national social studies curricula have attracted fierce criticism and intense debate. As as in the United States and elsewhere, for broadly similar reasons, social studies remains a moral and ideological battleground for the major players involved in curriculum reform. All over the world, social studies is hailed as the subject which will create ideal future citizens. The New Zealand controversy, however, has given rise to no less than three attempts to produce an acceptable curriculum statement. Arguably the final document appears to be less controversial than its predecessors simply because it largely confines itself to outlining general aims rather than setting out specific goals. The reform process has clearly demonstrated the considerable difficulties involved in attempting to lay down what the ideal citizen of the future ought to think, know, and value while at the same time giving lip-service to the concept of reflective inquiry.

A long way to go before we win the battle

Purpose – During the late 1980s New Zealand, in common with a number of other nations, underwent a controversial restructuring of its public sector, including education. The radical nature of education reform was to be epitomised in the documents Administering for Excellence (the Picot report), and the Labour Governments official response, Tomorrows Schools. The publication of these documents, however, tended to polarize New Zealands education sector and the public at large into opposite and opposing camps. This paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approach – In producing a step‐by‐step analysis of the techniques of persuasion employed during a crucial period of New Zealands educational history, it will be shown how many of the arguments presented during this time have continued to shape the way we view the educational reforms and their impact more than 20 years later.Findings – It will be demonstrated that the nature and style of propaganda on both sides was highly sophisticated, exp...

Revisiting New Zealand's Radical Educational Reforms: Continuities and Disjunctures.

This paper endorses Dick Selleck and Geoffrey Sheringtons view that public policy-making is characterised by both fluidity and contestability. In April 1988, the report of a Taskforce headed by Brian Picot recommended major reforms in New Zealands public education system. Even today, however, there is controversy regarding the major influences on the Taskforce. Utilising untapped primary source material to revisit the deliberations of the Taskforce, this paper epitomises the strongly evidence-based approaches that have long characterised the scholarship of Dick and of Geoff.

Towards an August Assembly of Suave Venusians? The early post-Second World War debate over New Zealand literacy and numeracy standards in transnational context

Purpose – Educational standards debates are a promising area of investigation for transnational study by historians of education. Drawing upon the work of Foucault, Kliebard, and Aldrich, the paper critically examines some of the outstanding features of the emerging debate over literacy and numeracy standards that sharply divided teachers, educational officials, parents, and employers in New Zealand during the mid-to-late 1950s. These included the polarisation of opinion across the nation, the involvement of the national media, and the tactics of mass persuasion adopted by the various protagonists. Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilises contemporary theory to critically interrogate an historical episode in which controversy over literacy and numeracy standards in schools led first to an in-house report, and finally to a national inquiry. The paper draws upon contemporary newspaper commentary, professional journals and parliamentary debates, as well as a considerable amount of archival material h...

SAVING FEMININITY FROM THE FEMINISTS: Some Underlying Values of a New Zealand ‘Back to Basics’ Pressure Group∗

∗ This article originated from a paper presented at the Second Annual Conference of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education, held at Massey University, Palmerston North in November 1980. The author wishes to thank Richard Smith and John Knight for their helpful suggestions concerning an earlier draft of this article.