This article explores the experiences of a group of established academic staff in New Zealand and the UK, as they undertake a doctorate in their home institutions. Our interest is in how individuals negotiate this dual status from a cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) stance that explores how rules, tools, community and divisions of labour,…

Although dissertations have traditionally been part of master's programmes, non-dissertation track master's programmes are on the rise across the world. This paper reports faculty views on MA TESOL dissertations (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in five Anglophone countries. Drawing on the academic literacies tradition and informed…

This article attends to the affective-political dimensions of doctoral aspiration. It considers why doctoral students continue to hope for an 'academic good life' in spite of the depressed and precarious features of the academic present. The article emerges from 2013 research with ten doctoral students in the Arts and Social Sciences, at a…

Sessional teachers in universities are often marginalised by their part-time status, availability for training, and invisibility within the institution's infrastructure. Nevertheless, tutors as a subset of this group, regularly have access to some training and development. This paper presents a methodological approach for implementing the BLASST…

The New Zealand Certificate in Early Childhood Education and Care (Level 4) programme was designed and developed when a Level 4 early childhood education qualification became mandatory for all educators working with children and families in the New Zealand early childhood education home-based sector. This occurred at a time when Open Polytechnic…

Assessing whether or not a teacher candidate is ready to take their own class is a high-stakes decision that requires consideration of multiple, often competing, sources of information. Three research instruments were designed to explore how mentors judge readiness to teach during final practicum placements. This article describes the three…

Online learning environments can offer learners opportunities for flexibility, interaction and collaboration distinctly different from face-to-face learning environments. However, the integration of educational technologies also presents challenges and concerns in relation to students' learning. This article attempts to develop a better…

The aim of my critical literature review is to identify studies where students are engaged as partners in teaching in higher education and to analyze how tutors and tutees benefit from peer teaching. Thirty studies were included for review. Thirteen countries are represented and two thirds of the studies conducted in the United States of America…

This paper reports on the findings of a reconceptualised Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme where a collaborative relationship between the university and partner schools saw the shared responsibility for the first year ITE programme. Findings from this study suggests that ongoing, authentic teaching experiences in collaboration with…

This paper offers a preliminary exploration of Connell's idea of southern theory and its potential application to career development. Four assumptions of metropolitan (northern) social theory are described: (a) the claim of universality, (b) reading from the centre, (c) gestures of exclusion, and (d) grand erasure. These assumptions are…

Experts in science communication were asked to identify the essential elements of a science communication course for post-graduate students. A Delphi methodology provided a framework for a research design that accessed their opinions and allowed them to contribute to, reflect on and identify 10 essential elements. There was a high level of…

The article explores the complementary connections between communities of practice and the ways in which individuals orchestrate their engagement with others to further their professional learning. It does so by reporting on part of a research project conducted in New Zealand on teachers' online professional learning in a university graduate…

The year 1998 marked 50 years of doctoral study in New Zealand, and in 1999 I embarked on a history of Ph.D. theses in Education. Influenced by Foucaultian genealogy, this employed a fusion of bibliographic, archival and life-history interview methods. One hundred and eighty-three Education theses were identified and 57 of these graduates…

This paper investigates intercultural communication and its significance to higher education. The paper briefly discusses culture, subculture and the meeting of cultures. It also provides a brief survey of developments in intercultural communication research. With reference to New Zealand, the paper further points to some limitations of…