Postgraduate-students-with-Pacific-education-research-foci-Trends-in-thesis-acknowledgement-writing

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279567044 Postgraduate students with Pacific education research foci: Trends in thesis acknowledgement writing Conference Paper · July 2012 CITATIONS READS 65 author: Greg Burnett James Cook University 72 PUBLICATIONS   277 CITATIONS    SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Greg Burnett on 03 July 2015 The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file Postgraduate students with Pacific education research foci: Trends in thesis acknowledgement writing Dedication: This study is dedicated to my late father who even in the last moments of his life gasped these words:” Raluvequ, na nomu vuli!” (My daughter, remember to complete your study) (p iv) Likuseniuwa, K (1999) A study of a rural secondary school and its community Thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Arts (Education), University of the South Pacific Greg Burnett University of Otago New Zealand Pacific education postgraduate students in New Zealand: i international students from Oceania on short term study visas – 57% (Burnett 2011) ii NZ born, up to 3rd generation Pacific diaspora – 43% (Burnett 2011) Postgraduate students as a conduit of change: • real change is more likely to result from the way students’ educational thinking has changed and the research skills gained (Mullins & Kiley, 2002) Set within a context marked by: in NZ •low Pacific educational outcomes (MoE 2011) •established linkages between social and educational disadvantage (Spoonley et al 2010) •intensification of teachers work/quality teaching discourse (Smyth 2001) •acute political, environmental and social challenges (Forum Secretariat 2010) •lingering discourses of colonialism informing in Oceania education (Teaero 2007) •globalisation and Pacific languages, cultures and epistemologies under threat (Thaman 2003) Building on research paradigm research (Burnett 2011) that found: a most postgraduate research in education is interpretivist very little is socially critical b most is done within a ethno-nationalist framework Acknowledgements more than just giving thanks (Hyland 2004) identity work constructing the research experience a autoethnographic (Ellis 2010) shift unguarded text, beyond the academic discourses of the research text valuable insights into the Pacific postgraduate experience for better support Research design: 200 MA and PhD theses in education (out of 1200 in total done by Pacific students) a titles b abstracts c acknowledgements d contents e reference lists Thesis writing guides/Institutional web supports Former student, supervisors and examiners interviews •NZ’s universities • between 1944-2009 Based on Hyland’s (2004) analysis of Chinese postgraduate students acknowledgements from ? University of Hong Kong Hyland’s (2004) “moves” and impression management: i reflecting ii • • • • thanking – presenting academic tangible moral iii announcing – • accepting responsibility • dedications ? Tentative findings include •the strength of cultural community in terms of support •God, a Christian faith and spirituality •support from and dedication to: family children village nation •a recognition that research benefits need to flow back to participants and their communities •the personal benefits that accrue from study overseas Finally, I wish to dedicate this work to my parents Almost forty years ago, they also made the journey to New Zealand – like the parents described in this study – for the sake of their children’s education – 738 View publication stats