Summarising Journals on New Zealand Education: Review and Analysis

1. Journal Article 1

Lee-Morgan, J., Courtney, M., & Muller, M. (2019). New Zealand Māori-medium teacher
education: an examination of students’ academic confidence and preparedness. Asia-Pacific
Journal of Teacher Education, 47(2), 137-151.

The education of NZ has transformed a lot in the 20 th century with an inclusive education system
and a strong presence of women and ethnic minorities. The use of technology like presentations,
high end laboratories and quality faculty has helped the country develop their curriculum in the
long run. The changing curriculum has helped the students gather knowledge about the society
and the historical importance of the country in terms geo-political issues. Education boards took
part in the reformation process and helped both the Maori tribes as well as the urban centres in
building a comprehensive curriculum which has benefitted millions of students. As per Picot
report, the education system of NZ has been made public with the government taking active part
in including students from socio-economic backgrounds. Any form of discrimination on the basis
of colour, race and ethnicity has been made illegal and it has contributed vastly to the growth of
the academic credentials of both the schools and colleges.

The Maoris have become a regular part of the NZ curriculum and it has proved to be a blessing
for the governments as a large number of tribal communities have performed exceptionally well
both in academics as well as sports activities. The diversity has helped them scale new heights as
the country has successfully managed to end the white-black conflict which has been a major
problem for the large part of their country and narrative. In addition to that NZ have continuously
taken an anti-nuclear stance which has minimised their budget on defence expenditures leading
to greater investment in the education sector. The growing number of schools in the suburbs as
well as the urban centres is an indication of the outstanding literacy rate the country has achieved
in the modern era. This is quite a big achievement for the NZ education system.

1.1: Journal Article 2

Hemara, W. (2000). Maori Pedagogies: A View from the Literature. New Zealand Council for
Educational Research, Education House, PO Box 3237, Wellington, New Zealand.

The inclusion of Maoris has changed the landscape of the NZ education. Most of them have
faced discrimination, violence and poverty in the early stages of life. This has resulted in lot of
difficulties in learning and social behaviour pattern was observed to be slightly awkward. The
schools in NZ have taken several steps to bridge this gap. This includes joint project work among
the students, sports activities, discussion and learning their traditional languages which makes it
a conducive environment to study. The schools have helps in building community networks,
reciprocal relations and cultural exchanges. There have been several scholarship schemes which
enables them to study free of cost. The number of students dropping out of schools has also been
reduced through social welfare measures.
In the urban centres several conferences, lectures, discussions of Maori literature has made
people aware of the traditional etiquettes which is followed by the Maori community.
Traditionally the community was so underdeveloped especially in the 17 th and 18th century that
selling off their child was a very common practice. The community use to play games as a tool of
education and learning which helped them grow extremely faster compared to other communities
in NZ. The “whare wananga” which was a traditional house of learning helped the maori tribes to
improve their knowledge about history, geography, science and liberal arts. The article also
clearly says that development of this tribe not only improved the rural development but made
them self sufficient in the art of defence, sports and were extremely god at academics as long as
it was taught in their language. Moreover Maoris practiced a lot of superstitious activities and
made it sure that the spirit of the children can never be broken. The passage ends with their
cultural etiquettes that have improved the societal acceptability in the NZ academic system.

1.1: Journal Article 3

Barrow, R. (2012). Plato and Education (RLE Edu K). Routledge

Plato, a renowned Greek philosopher was of the opinion that education helps in impoving the
political discourse of a nation. He felt that quality of leadership of a country, GDP growth rate
and long-term social upheaval is only possible through a continuous knowledge seeking process.
In other words, Plato always stressed on a mixed academic approach where there will be a
genuinely good combination of qualitative and quantitative subjects which will build a
comprehensive level of knowledge for students and teachers. The process of learning is a life
long process and human beings he observed are a product of social upbringing and gaining
knowledge from experience. The cases of policy failure in a country are a result of lack of
discipline education and foresight. He also said that for a sustainable growth and development of
a country it is extremely important that the quality of education improves to a large extent which
has been followed by the western community.

As NZ is a developed country so the level of education is extremely high with a large percentage
of leaders and citizens have studied till graduation and post-graduation. So the progress of the
country has taken off in great speed which justified Plato’s idea of leadership improvement
through education. Plato has also felt that the social and political environment in a country is a
direct result of the academic knowledge that the majority of people have in that area. It has been
proved beyond doubt that the problem with emerging markets and other least developed
countries comes from the fact that the high level of corruption among its leaders is a result of
lack of education. So the focus of Plato has been accurate as most other scholars like Aristotle,
max Weber and others have also felt the same kind of importance.
1.1: Journal Article 4

Petrie, K., & Clarkin-Phillips, J. (2018). ‘Physical education’in early childhood education:
Implications for primary school curricula. European Physical Education Review, 24(4), 503-519.

The article focuses on the importance of involving physical education in mainstream curriculum
in NZ. Basically the problem is that most parents focus on academic learning so much that they
often avoid importance of sports, in the curriculum f the NZ education system. Generally it has
been found that the growth of children from an early ag depends on the overall development
which includes extracurricular activities like sports, music, debates etc. So physical education
like exercise, yoga, sports helps children to remain stress free and is able to withstand pressure in
the long term. This is because sports match makes a person decide strategy to defeat the
opponent and collaborate with other individuals which improves team-work, tenacity and
aggressiveness.

Physical education in school curriculum has helped NZ students develop an aptitude for problem
solving and dealing with sudden tests without getting into confusion. Leading a school team has
been found to increase student confidence by a massive level and it benefits every individual in
the long term. The health of the students also has been found to improve a lot through physical
activities. Mostly students with a weak physique get a lot of confidence to work upon their
muscles and prepare themselves for larger events. Keeping all these issues in mind most schools
in NZ have started off the physical education. The increasing trend of discipline, focus, time
management and dealing with people among the students have encouraged this initiative across
the globe. Furthermore it has become an essential part of academics as too much of pressure in
studies tires them off, sporting activities heals it and relaxes the mind which improves the
memory and reasoning power. These are the main reasons why why this has been started off in
most schools across NZ and the world.

Conclusion: Reflection of the Journals and Analysis

The readings interested me because I wanted to know how the education system of a country can
transform the society. NZ being a developed country which has set an example in terms of
development needs to be judged through the prism of comprehensive academic pursuits which
the country has taken in the last hundred years. The high quality education in NZ helped them
built successful leaders, scientists, academician and experts of different professions. These
readings have helped me to gather an in-depth knowledge about the significance of an inclusive
education system and the ways through which it can deliver results in the long run. Maori, which
is a prominent tribe in NZ has also been an important focus of my research. The research
assessed on the different ways through which the advent of Maori literature was encouraged in
the academic curriculum of NZ. Their heritage, culture, linguistic uniqueness and customs were
studied in great details. It helped me to realise that even backward and marginalized community
can be successfully brought inside the mainstream culture without having to forego their
ideologies or philosophies. Traditional ideologues like Plato and his ideas of education were also
deeply researched and the questions which made me interested in this include;

How does education contribute to social development?

How well have Maori community being able to adjust into the mainstream society in NZ?

What are the ways through which physical education and other extracurricular activities broaden
the qualities of a student?

These questions brought me to the academic credentials of NZ education system and have helped
me to understand that the socio-political discourse of a country can be heavily influenced by
quality education. Furthermore inclusive nature of academic curriculum helps individuals to
grow and be able to adjust with people from different ethnic backgrounds. Overall t can be said
that this research has helped me to link quality education with the overall development of a
country’s society, politics and economic growth.