Pasifika Education

Select keywords and alternatives

• Pasifika

For Pasifika education topics there are likely to be many different ways to describe the topic you are researching. There are several different terms which have been used to describe Pacific people in New Zealand. This means you may need to repeat your searches using different terms.

Pasifika is largely used in education contexts, and is sometimes spelled as Pasefika or Pacifika.

Pacific Island, Pacific Islanders, Pacific Peoples, Polynesia, Melanesia, or the name of a specific country or island may be used, particularly in other subject disciplines.

In some databases a broader term such as Australasia, Asia-Pacific or Oceania can be useful.

Background on the use of the term Pasifika:

Airini, Anae, M. & Mila-Schaaf, K. (2010). Appendix Two: A working definition of Pasifika Peoples. In Teu le Va—Relationships across research and policy in Pasifika Education (pp.49-51). Wellington: Ministry of Education.

• Education sectors

Alternative terms for education sectors include:

early childhood, infants, babies, toddlers, preschool, kindergartens

primary, elementary, K-6, (K-12 for primary and secondary together)

intermediate, middle school, junior high

secondary, high school, post-primary

tertiary, higher education, universities, colleges, post-compulsory

• Key topics

Think of alternative terms for the other aspect of your research topic. For example:

'aiga, fanau, whanau, family, parents, home, community

youth, young people, teenagers, adolescents

achievement, success, improvement

Plan your search using a concept map

List your alternative key terms by concept to systematically construct multiple searches.

For example, if your topic is "the role of family in Pasifika children's literacy development" you might map the key concepts as below.

From the table above, you would enter one keyword from each column/concept in different combinations.

Search 1: Pasifika children family literacy

Search 2: Pacific children ‘aiga reading

Education

• Ako Aotearoa Knowledge Centre
  A comprehensive source of information on recent tertiary education research and implementation projects, currently being conducted in New Zealand (2006 onwards).
• A Plus Education
  Also known as AEI - Australian Education Index, covers a wide range of education subjects including New Zealand and the Pacific.
• Education Research Complete
  Recommended for its excellent range of scholarly research relating to all areas of education, including New Zealand research.
• NZCER Journals Online
  Journals published by the New Zealand Council for Education Research:
• ProQuest Education Journals
  Excellent range of scholarly research relating to all areas of education.

Indigenous Studies

• Indigenous Collection (Informit)
  Offering broad scope for critical international engagement and debate surrounding Indigenous culture, health, human geography, and other important aspects, this inter-disciplinary platform gives a definitive voice to Indigenous communities in Australia, New Zealand, and beyond.

Language Teaching and Learning

• Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts
  Covers all aspects of the study of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics.

Pacific

• Fāgogo : Fables from Samoa
  A selection of fables in Samoan from a large collection recorded in Samoa in the 1960s by Professor Richard Moyle as part of a survey of traditional forms of music.
• PADDLE : Pacific Archive of Digital Data for Learning and Education
  Archive of publications on education policies, planning and development in Pacific Island countries.
• PINI
  Full text for Pacific Islands publications, including newspapers and reports.

Research methodology

• SAGE Research Methods
  Research methods used in the social and behavioral sciences, plus methods commonly used in science, technology, medicine, and the humanities.

Theses and dissertations

• nzresearch.org.nz
  Research documents, including theses, produced at universities, polytechnics and other research institutions in New Zealand.
• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
  A comprehensive multidisciplinary collection of dissertations and theses from universities worldwide.
• University of Auckland Research Repository
  An archive of the University's theses, dissertations and other research outputs.

Video

• Ethnographic Video Online
  Video collections for the study of human culture and behaviour.
• eTV
  Provides real-time teaching video resources through local and international television programming delivered as live streams and videos available to be viewed and downloaded.

Full list of databases for Education

Full list of databases for Pacific studies

Full list of databases and websites for Indigenous research

Data and statistics

• Education Counts: Pasifika statistics
  Statistical data and quantitative information from Ministry of Education.
• ​Statistics New Zealand: Education and Pacific Peoples in New Zealand
• Education Policy and Data Center
  A resource for education data, profiles, and data reports on education status at the country level, research papers on issues and challenges in education in developing and transitional countries, as well as medium-term education projections.

Policy

• Ministry of Education: Pasifika Education
  Outlines Ministry initiatives and provides links to Education Counts and other websites.
• ​Pasifika education plan 2013-2017 | Pasifika education plan monitoring report

Research

• Education Counts: Pasifika reports
  Research about the education sector from Ministry of Education.
• Pasifika Education Community Research
  Research and reports that investigate the experiences of Pasifika students in New Zealand schools.
• Social Policy Evaluation and Research Unit (Superu) Hub
  New Zealand social science government research on education, health and wellbeing, crime and justice, economy, families, children and young people
• TLRI reports on Pasifika
  Reports from the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative.

Services

• CORE Education
• Ministry for Pacific Peoples research library
  Resources from Ministry for Pacific Peoples.

Teacher resources

• Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI) ​Pasifika education community
  Resources on Pasifika education in New Zealand for teachers and school learners including LEAP, Pacific languages, effective teaching, engaging with Pasifika parents and the Pasifika Education Plan.

Youth mentoring

• New Zealand Youth Mentoring Network
  Resources, training and contacts for youth mentoring.

To find other books from the library catalogue, try: Indigenous research methodologies; Pacific research methodology; culturally responsive research or search on the name of the specific methodology or framework such as: talanoa methodology, teu le va.

For more articles, refer to the Pacific Studies subject guide: Pacific methodology. Links to conceptual frameworks and methodologies. Or try the terms above in Google Scholar.

Books

Meyer, & Meissel, K. (2023). Research methods for education and the social disciplines in Aotearoa New Zealand (Meyer & K. Meissel, Eds.). NZCER Press.

Theses

A list of exemplary theses completed recently at the Faculty of Education and Social Work.

Resources

• Pacific methodology
  Links to conceptual frameworks and methodologies on the Pacific Studies subject guide.
• McFall-McCaffery, J. (2010). Getting started with Pacific research: Finding resources and information on Pacific research models and methodologies. Mai Review, 1. Retrieved from http://www.review.mai.ac.nz
• Sauni, L. (2011). Samoan research methodology: The Ula - A new paradigm. Journal of the Pacific Consortium for Education 23(2), 53-64.

APA

• Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition)
• APA Style blog

Support

• Referencing
  Access a range of tools and support material to assist your referencing work.

Examples

• Quick©ite
  Use this interactive tool to view examples of references.
  Covers a range of styles used at the University of Auckland.