During my time teaching literacy and numeracy I conducted a short kind of ‘reflective narrative’ partly because in my enthusiasm to do research I omitted some of the key points of research preparation. I wanted to find out why these people had ‘failed’ at school and I called the narrative ‘When I first started I … More Cultural capital
I was teaching on an ACCESS course during most of the 90s. It was indeed far from the museum world and at times a bit of a culture shock. ACCESS courses were government-funded courses aimed at retraining unemployed people (or if you were cynical) hiding the unemployment statistics. The structure was learner-centred and goal-orientated. Students … More the 1990s
My transition into the 90s was also a transition of space. Thanks to good friends Heather Thompson and Vaughn Chapman I began part-time work at the then Wellington Polytechnic as a literacy, numeracy and ESOL tutor. The ACCESS courses (government-funded courses for unemployed people) were housed in the old Boys and Girls Institute building in Tasman Street. The other job was in the National Library building … More transitions
The 1980s ended for me with the end of my contract with AGMANZ due in part to a bureaucratic sleight of hand and my own realisation that I was not cut out for strategic thinking and politics. The 1990s began with a trip to India (gifted by the lovely James/Galvin) to a PATA Conference with … More the end
“Some executives believe that the mere act of creating a mission statement is an important team-building experience. In a perfect world, that would be true: a broad cross-section of people would jointly write a statement both specific and lofty and then seek feedback from other employees” In Holland (2007) Mission Statements, Bizspeak and Bromides. New … More on a mission
The workshops that we ran in the late 1980s were based on a format evolved by Project Waitangi a group set up in 1986. My first connection with them was via Oliver Sutherland who, in Museum Shop days, put us in touch with the Te Hāpua weavers, whose work we sold in large amounts. Project Waitangi … More more Te Tiriti
Two tangi that I remember vividly are those of Jonathan and Mina McKenzie. Both at Rata Marae. Jonathan was Mina’s son killed in a car crash. One of the worst things I had to do was call museum people to tell them that he had died. It was touching to see his son wearing Jonathan’s … More mina
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