Appendix I: Reflection journal entry #2
Diagram 3. 2: Pasifika values
Pasifika
culture
Respect Reciprocity Communalism Collective responsibility Gerontocracy Humility Love Service SpiritualityThus I, as the researcher, ‘take’ information and in return ‘give’ vital information that could help the Pasifika people in their pursuit for parity within education in general and school settings in particular. Additional endeavours to create a culturally appropriate methodology will be explored as they come.
Now, we have extensively explored the paradigm in which we find ourselves. The next stage is where we embark on a discovery of the research setting.
Research Setting
The research setting is important to the research project in that it can often have an impact on the data itself. As Anderson and Arsenault (1998) suggest, case studies are a valuable way of analytically looking at a specific case, collecting data, analysing and interpreting findings within their context. Cohen, et al. (2000) and Stake (1995) argue that the situation or context affects behaviour and perspectives and that uniqueness and complexity is embedded within the context. Therefore a description of the context or setting is valuable to the overall research project. In fact, Stake (1995, p. 64) writes that ‘the more the case study is an intrinsic case study [which this research project is based on] the more attention needs to be paid to the contexts’. The context in this instance is the location and respondents of the research project.
Location
The location of this research project was at a secondary school in New Zealand; however the choice of the school in question came about for several reasons. Initially the school was chosen to answer a different research question however through the process of emergent design (Ary et al., 2010; Creswell, 2009; Lodico et al., 2010), the research question changed (see chapter one for more details). The new research
question was in fact derived from the school context and in the position of teacher- as-researcher I discovered this fascinating situation where the Pasifika students were achieving exceptionally well compared to the national average. As such the school was never chosen to suit the research question; the research question was chosen from the school. The account of this can be seen in appendix B where I as ‘teacher- as-researcher’ reflected on information received that guided the process of a new question. The important aspects of this excerpt are highlighted in table 3.3.
Table 3. 3: Reflective journal excerpt #1
Reflective journal
8.26pm 25 January 2012
#1 Through discussions with staff at the chosen school, I have acquired information that suggests the academic results of the Pasifika students at this school are well above the national average. This has caused me to totally rethink my whole project...
#2 ...Question has also changed... what makes this school different? Why are they achieving at a higher level? Is the boarding facility theory supported by differences in achievement between Pasifika boarding and day students? (These questions will most likely be my underlying
driving force for my research)... The underlying question is 'What makes this school different?'...
Thus, the project took a new turn and the school evidently fitted into that research project as the question emerged from the school. The chosen school will remain unnamed to retain anonymity however a description of the setting will attempt to portray the school context.
The school is located in New Zealand in southern parts of the North Island. This means the presence of Pasifika peoples is higher as the majority of Pasifika people live in the North Island (Statistics New Zealand, 2006). The city in which the school
is based is located in the southern part of the North Island and has 82,000 inhabitants. The school campus is based in a rural setting about ten minutes outside of the city which facilitates an apparent relaxed country atmosphere. The school roll in 2010 was 294, with the majority of students coming from a Palagi background. However the current demographics are roughly the same. The school campus has a wide range of facilities which include a main school building, a gym, a cafeteria, an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) block, a chapel and two dormitory buildings.
The boarding department at the school appears to play a significant role in the lives of the Pasifika students at this school as a large proportion of the Pasifika students reside in the dormitories. The physical aspects of the school are not the only elements of the overall school milieu. The Education Review Office describes the school in their latest Education Review Office Report (tri-annual school review reports conducted by the government) as having Christian values that underpin the caring, family environment of the school. The Christian values are based on the Seventh-day Adventist church values, as the school is administered by the Seventh-day Adventist church organisation.
Participants
For this research project the participants include both students and staff members. This is to gain a wide range of viewpoints. The staff members provide an overview of the situation as they teach and interact with the full range of students. In contrast the students provide the personal experiences and stories within this school.
Just as a description of the school in focus was necessary for an understanding of the research context, so is the description of the cohort of participants. In order to retain
anonymity the staff members and students real names will be replaced with pseudonyms.
Staff
The staff members were selected based on their status within the school as well as their familiarity with the issue of Pasifika students in education. The first staff member was chosen because they informed me of the situation of the Pasifika achievement at this school (see diagram 3.3). The second staff member was chosen because of their nationality (see diagram 3.3) and the third staff member was chosen because of their connection to the Pasifika culture (see diagram 3.3).