In this article, I rethink the key arguments of my co-authored paper "Teaching Pleasure and Danger in Sexuality Education" (Author and Co, 2013) by bringing the postmodern logic of critical sexuality education theory into conversation with the relational ontology of new materialism. I begin by rejecting the key problem presented in…

The concept of "Whiteness" forms part of contemporary debates about racism, which acknowledge the structural levels at which racism works, over and above the attitudes and beliefs of individuals (Bonilla-Silve, 2005). Whiteness acts as an umbrella concept for a number of cognate terms, including White Privilege (McIntosh, 1989), White…

In 2015, the New Zealand Ministry of Education released a new curriculum policy document for sexuality education in all schools -- "Sexuality Education: A Guide for Boards of Trustees, Principals and Teachers". This policy is a rare international example of a curriculum document that explicitly values diversity, promotes inclusive school…

"The House that Jack Built" by multi-award winning author-illustrator, Gavin Bishop, is one of New Zealand's most sophisticated picture books for children. Recently republished by Gecko Press in Te Reo Maori as well as English, it depicts the colonisation of New Zealand from 1798 to around 1845, and the beginning of the New Zealand Wars…

Popular culture is omnipresent in the lives of young children. The mass media, movies, television, and product advertising all carry messages about acceptability and desirability, deeply entangled with traditional stereotypes about gender, sex-roles, and sexuality. The intersection of discourses of media, gender, and performativity and their…

Young people may face conflicting and confusing messages about what it means to respond well in relation to homophobia and transphobia. Consequently, we ask--What might it mean to respond well to homophobia and transphobia? This strategy, inspired by Anika Thiem and Judith Butler, is recognition of the ambivalent conditions which structure…

The nineteenth century colonial setting of Aotearoa NZ is the most distant from the cradle of European Enlightenment that sparked new understandings of childhood, learning and education and spearheaded new approaches to the care and education of young children outside of the family home. The broader theme of the Enlightenment was about progress…

Normalising practices as a tool for controlling the body and bodily processes have been well-documented using Foucault's theories, including debates around breastfeeding. In this article we explore how the ideas of "normalisation" of the bottle-feeding culture of infants in New Zealand early childhood settings has become the accepted…

In a discussion of Deleuze's theorization of concepts, Todd May asks "what can a concept do with that which cannot be identified?" Or to put it another way, May writes--"A concept is a way of addressing the difference that lies beneath the identities we experience." This is not to say that identities, concepts, and experiences…

What do we mean when we say we want to put children at the centre of policy? What are the moral justifications for this approach? Has it become harder for us to understand this concept, when in practice paid work has been at the centre? In part confusion arises because the unpaid work of caring for children is invisible until it is marketized. In…

As our education systems become more culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse, rather than benefiting and learning from each other, we still expect all students to be represented within the same curriculum, pedagogy and testing regimen or we form separate enclaves resulting in marginalizaton. When diverse students have physical and/or…

"Education Indicators in Focus" is a recurring series of briefs that highlight specific indicators in "OECD's Education at a Glance" that are of particular interest to policy makers and practitioners. They provide a detailed look into current issues in pre-primary, primary and secondary education, higher education, and adult…

This meta-synthesis of empirical and nonempirical literature analyzed 24 journal articles and book chapters that addressed the intersection of disability, [homo]sexuality, and gender identity/expression in P-12 schools, colleges and universities, supported living programs, and other educational and social contexts in Australia, Belgium, Canada,…

This paper examines an education programme devised by the New Zealand educational theatre company, "Everyday Theatre," which offers a fictional representation of family abuse. The paper raises political questions about the dramatic representation of the family as a social system, and examines how the boundaries between private feelings…

The book is entitled History Wars in the Classroom: Global Perspectives and examines how ten separate countries have experienced debates and disputes over the contested nature of the subject, for example the "Black Armband" and "Whitewash" factions in Australia who adopt opposingly celebratory or denigratory views of Australian…