Surf therapy programs have been successfully utilised with vulnerable populations worldwide. This study is the first to examine the effects of a surf therapy program on the psychosocial functioning of young men at high risk of adverse life outcomes in Aotearoa New Zealand. A single-group pre-test post-test research design, with repeated measures…

Hikitia te Ora (Certificate in Health Sciences) is a 1 year Indigenous bridging foundation programme at the University of Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. The programme aims to increase Maori and Pacific health workforce representation. This qualitative study applied a Kaupapa Maori positioning to elucidate the strengths, challenges, and…

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities face complex challenges that require Indigenous-led research. Increasing the Indigenous research workforce depends on structural change within higher education institutions, including better pathways to research training and careers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.…

In the journal article "Did DI do it? The impact of a programme designed to improve literacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in remote schools," Guenther and Osborne (2020) compare schoolwide NAPLAN reading scale scores for 25 Very Remote Indigenous schools implementing Direct Instruction through the Flexible Literacy…

The aim of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate the novel one-day, school-based health education program Yantiin Kalabara that embedded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and perspectives within a series of interactive learning stations. In consultation with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members, the…

The mission of Land Grant Institutions (LGIs) and Cooperative Extension has always included the concepts of educational access and inclusion, but not all communities have equitable access to Extension programs. Specifically, Extension is currently only serving about 10% of Indigenous communities. Given the complicated history of Indigenous land…

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities that are considered remote to metropolitan-dwelling, non-Indigenous Australians experience challenges attracting and retaining qualified teachers. Initial teacher education (ITE) is known to inadequately prepare teachers to engage Indigenous Australian students, however, we understand little about…

Inspired by my research into the government-sponsored Curriculum Review Committee of the mid-1980s, this article considers the possibilities of the Treaty of Waitangi as a "warm idea" for educators. Composed mainly of teachers, the committee was responsible for writing the Treaty into a national curriculum principle for the first time.…

In Australia, there are numerous outreach initiatives run by universities for Indigenous high school students that attempt to elevate aspirations of Indigenous students to go to university. The theoretical case for these initiatives is strong as much data exists surrounding the barriers Indigenous students face in entering university. However, the…

Reading Recovery (RR) was developed in New Zealand in the early 1980s to provide 30 minutes of daily individualised literacy instruction over 20 weeks for students struggling with learning to read after one year of formal schooling. Considerable research has been undertaken on the RR programme. While results indicate short-term success for some…

This professional inquiry investigates how Community of Learning Ka hui Ako across-community teachers (ACT) can support teacher confidence and perceived competence in relation to their culturally-responsive pedagogy. Communities of Learning Ka hui Ako are explored in terms of defining what makes a community successful and how they can be used as a…

This study investigated the feasibility of a teacher implemented intervention to accelerate phonological awareness, letter, and vocabulary knowledge in 141 children (mean age 5 years, 4 months) who entered school with lower levels of oral language ability. The children attended schools in low socioeconomic communities where additional stress was…

Despite growing scholarly interest in student voice and leadership over the past two decades, both terms continue to be used with little consensus about their meaning. They are also often evoked without much clarity or agreement as to how they should be enabled or enacted, for what purposes they should be fostered, or what conditions are necessary…

In recent years, New Zealand schools have been challenged to cater for increasing numbers of students in material hardship without comprehensive support. New Zealand once led the world in putting equity at the centre of education policy and practice, this is no longer the case. Recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)…

"Riawunna" is an Aboriginal word meaning "a place of learning" for Aboriginal people, from entry level to tertiary studies, at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) and operates on Hobart, Launceston and Burnie campuses. The Riawunna Centre was established to encourage Aboriginal people to aspire to higher levels of education, and…