Sally Birdsall
Biographic Data
| ID | 173317 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sally Birdsall |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sally |
| FAMILY NAME | Birdsall |
| SIGNATURE | BIRDSALL S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Auckland |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8348-7605 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Equity and Veterinary Education in Aotearoa New Zealand
This short commentary article considers veterinary education as a specific type of science professional education that is impacted by lack of participation of Māori and Pacific students in senior secondary science education. The veterinary profession in Aotearoa New Zealand faces a difficult challenge to overcome the severe under-representation of practising Māori and Pacific veterinarians. At the only veterinary school in the country, the first …
Learning Progressions
Change is a constant factor in education. Curricula are refreshed to reflect the educational outcomes required in a rapidly changing society and pedagogies evolve in response to new insights into how children learn. In this constantly changing environment, teachers embark upon a career-long cycle of professional learning and development. Most primary school teachers in New Zealand are generalist teachers and therefore face the task of remaining u…
Fine Lines
Science teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand are under pressure to incorporate mātauranga Māori in their classrooms, yet most know little about it and there is dissent about its place in science education. If mātauranga Māori is not science, then why should science teachers teach it? What does the principle of ‘mana ōrite mō te mātauranga Māori’ mean in science teaching? In this article, three science educators of varying experiences and backgrounds …
Māori Concepts in Animal Ethics
Our aim is to explore how Māori concepts can refresh thinking about animal ethics. As sources of data for this exploration, we draw on interviews with Māori expert informants, as well as information gathered from relevant literature. First, we overview the two main theoretical traditions of animal ethics, unifying and relational, followed by an account of the development and current status of the Three Rs (Replace, Reduce, and Refine) for animal …
School Strike 4 Climate in Aotearoa New Zealand
The School Strike 4 Climate New Zealand (SS4CNZ) movement have organised and led four strikes between 2019 and 2021. With each successive strike, adult support for students’ demands increased. Their most notable achievement was garnering sufficient support to pass Aotearoa New Zealand’s Zero Carbon Bill into legislation. However, tensions with SS4CNZ led to the Auckland Chapter announcing its disbandment in 2021. There were mixed responses to the…
Predator free 2050 and pedagogy
Invasive species pose a threat to biodiversity, and as such feature in some conservation education programs. However, there is debate about how to teach this difficult subject. We explored perspectives using a case study of education about introduced mammalian predators in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ). We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 NZ educators and animal welfare advocates and supplemented these data with material from a broader pr…
Participation for a better future
Global systems of production and consumption are damaging the biosphere on which human life depends. We offer four vignettes from a variety of allied disciplines aimed at understanding vibrant “communities of action” for the environment in Aotearoa New Zealand. We outline how they help build, and build on, policies and institutions that regenerate people’s relationship to the land and protect natural ecosystems; and their struggles to create resi…
Conservation education in Aotearoa-New Zealand
Throughout the world, Aotearoa-New Zealand is recognised for its extraordinary biodiversity. However, many species that make up this distinctive biodiversity are under threat of extinction due to human impacts, such as the ill-considered introduction of particular animals. Many New Zealanders participate in the protection and restoration of their environment, which involves the lethal control of these introduced animals. Primary school children (…
JEE stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine
[Extract] We, members of the global community of environmental educators and Editors of the Journal of Environmental Education, oppose the war of aggression waged by Russia against Ukraine, and stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an egregious violation of human rights and a flagrant contravention of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The military actions authorized by Russia’s President Vla…
Making connections
Following the New Zealand Association for Environmental Education's (NZAAEE) and Australian Association for Environmental Education's (AAEE) biennial conferences in 2018, all delegates
Lookout for learning
Environmental educators remain challenged by how to encourage people to make connections between environmental quality and human development in a way that is socially just and equitable for all living things. This article explores links between performance-based learning and environmental education pedagogy as one way to address this challenge. Sixteen children (8–10 years) from an Auckland primary school worked with a performance artist to prese…
JEE honors activists who gave their life to protect nature
[Extract] The second decade of the 21st century witnessed a notable increase in the assassination of environmental leaders worldwide. The most violent region in the world for those who engaged in environmental work was Latin America, and most of the victims were Indigenous people and women. The activists and the communities they represented put their lives in the line of fire to oppose the devastating consequences of irresponsible mining, logging…
Teachers’ perceptions of a co-constructed tool to enhance their pedagogical content knowledge in environmental education
Environmental educators need pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)—they need to know what to teach and how to teach it. This article examines teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of a tool known as a Content Representation (CoRe) for enhancing their PCK development in a school setting. The research design incorporated a partnership between an experienced environmental education consultant and two classroom teachers as they co-designed a CoRe …
Lifting the cover
Evaluations of environmental education (EE) programmes and resources are becoming increasingly visible and important. While benefits accrue through evaluation, many programmes and resources have yet to realise these. Issues such as a lack of clear objectives, reliance on traditional, summative approaches and inattention to context have prevented rigorous evaluation occurring. This paper reports on the development of an analytical tool designed to…
The pedagogical realisation of education for sustainability
The aim of this research was to investigate teachers' understandings of sustainability and ways in which they could be developed. How teachers translate these understandings into their pedagogy and its effects on children's understandings were explored. The impacts of learning about sustainability on teachers' identities were also investigated. This research used a qualitative-interpretivist mode of inquiry with a case study approach that utilise…
Analysing teachers’ translation of sustainability using a PCK framework
In order to teach about sustainability, teachers need to be able to translate their personal understanding of this concept into their pedagogy in ways that make it accessible to their learners. This translation process is known as pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). This study investigated the way that two teachers translated their understanding of sustainability into their pedagogy and the effects of this translation on children’s learning (n =…
Measuring student teachers’ understandings and self-awareness of sustainability
Understanding sustainability is important, as people need to cope with issues associated with over-population and over-consumption. Education is seen as a key strategy to assist with the development of people’s understandings of this complex concept, which could then lead to them being able to make more sustainable lifestyle decisions. In order to teach this concept, teachers need to understand sustainability. This paper investigated 77 New Zeala…
Analysing teachers’ translation of sustainability using a PCK framework
In order to teach about sustainability, teachers need to be able to translate their personal understanding of this concept into their pedagogy in ways that make it accessible to their learners. This translation process is known as pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). This study investigated the way that two teachers translated their understanding of sustainability into their pedagogy and the effects of this translation on children’s learning (n =…
Measuring student teachers’ understandings and self-awareness of sustainability
Understanding sustainability is important, as people need to cope with issues associated with over-population and over-consumption. Education is seen as a key strategy to assist with the development of people’s understandings of this complex concept, which could then lead to them being able to make more sustainable lifestyle decisions. In order to teach this concept, teachers need to understand sustainability. This paper investigated 77 New Zeala…
Lifting the cover
Evaluations of environmental education (EE) programmes and resources are becoming increasingly visible and important. While benefits accrue through evaluation, many programmes and resources have yet to realise these. Issues such as a lack of clear objectives, reliance on traditional, summative approaches and inattention to context have prevented rigorous evaluation occurring. This paper reports on the development of an analytical tool designed to…
Measuring student teachers’ understandings and self-awareness of sustainability
Understanding sustainability is important, as people need to cope with issues associated with over-population and over-consumption. Education is seen as a key strategy to assist with the development of people’s understandings of this complex concept, which could then lead to them being able to make more sustainable lifestyle decisions. In order to teach this concept, teachers need to understand sustainability. This paper investigated 77 New Zeala…
Analysing teachers’ translation of sustainability using a PCK framework
In order to teach about sustainability, teachers need to be able to translate their personal understanding of this concept into their pedagogy in ways that make it accessible to their learners. This translation process is known as pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). This study investigated the way that two teachers translated their understanding of sustainability into their pedagogy and the effects of this translation on children’s learning (n =…
The pedagogical realisation of education for sustainability
The aim of this research was to investigate teachers' understandings of sustainability and ways in which they could be developed. How teachers translate these understandings into their pedagogy and its effects on children's understandings were explored. The impacts of learning about sustainability on teachers' identities were also investigated. This research used a qualitative-interpretivist mode of inquiry with a case study approach that utilise…
Lifting the cover
Evaluations of environmental education (EE) programmes and resources are becoming increasingly visible and important. While benefits accrue through evaluation, many programmes and resources have yet to realise these. Issues such as a lack of clear objectives, reliance on traditional, summative approaches and inattention to context have prevented rigorous evaluation occurring. This paper reports on the development of an analytical tool designed to…
Teachers’ perceptions of a co-constructed tool to enhance their pedagogical content knowledge in environmental education
Environmental educators need pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)—they need to know what to teach and how to teach it. This article examines teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of a tool known as a Content Representation (CoRe) for enhancing their PCK development in a school setting. The research design incorporated a partnership between an experienced environmental education consultant and two classroom teachers as they co-designed a CoRe …
Making connections
Following the New Zealand Association for Environmental Education's (NZAAEE) and Australian Association for Environmental Education's (AAEE) biennial conferences in 2018, all delegates
Lookout for learning
Environmental educators remain challenged by how to encourage people to make connections between environmental quality and human development in a way that is socially just and equitable for all living things. This article explores links between performance-based learning and environmental education pedagogy as one way to address this challenge. Sixteen children (8–10 years) from an Auckland primary school worked with a performance artist to prese…
JEE honors activists who gave their life to protect nature
[Extract] The second decade of the 21st century witnessed a notable increase in the assassination of environmental leaders worldwide. The most violent region in the world for those who engaged in environmental work was Latin America, and most of the victims were Indigenous people and women. The activists and the communities they represented put their lives in the line of fire to oppose the devastating consequences of irresponsible mining, logging…
Participation for a better future
Global systems of production and consumption are damaging the biosphere on which human life depends. We offer four vignettes from a variety of allied disciplines aimed at understanding vibrant “communities of action” for the environment in Aotearoa New Zealand. We outline how they help build, and build on, policies and institutions that regenerate people’s relationship to the land and protect natural ecosystems; and their struggles to create resi…
Conservation education in Aotearoa-New Zealand
Throughout the world, Aotearoa-New Zealand is recognised for its extraordinary biodiversity. However, many species that make up this distinctive biodiversity are under threat of extinction due to human impacts, such as the ill-considered introduction of particular animals. Many New Zealanders participate in the protection and restoration of their environment, which involves the lethal control of these introduced animals. Primary school children (…
JEE stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine
[Extract] We, members of the global community of environmental educators and Editors of the Journal of Environmental Education, oppose the war of aggression waged by Russia against Ukraine, and stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an egregious violation of human rights and a flagrant contravention of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The military actions authorized by Russia’s President Vla…
School Strike 4 Climate in Aotearoa New Zealand
The School Strike 4 Climate New Zealand (SS4CNZ) movement have organised and led four strikes between 2019 and 2021. With each successive strike, adult support for students’ demands increased. Their most notable achievement was garnering sufficient support to pass Aotearoa New Zealand’s Zero Carbon Bill into legislation. However, tensions with SS4CNZ led to the Auckland Chapter announcing its disbandment in 2021. There were mixed responses to the…
Predator free 2050 and pedagogy
Invasive species pose a threat to biodiversity, and as such feature in some conservation education programs. However, there is debate about how to teach this difficult subject. We explored perspectives using a case study of education about introduced mammalian predators in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ). We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 NZ educators and animal welfare advocates and supplemented these data with material from a broader pr…
Māori Concepts in Animal Ethics
Our aim is to explore how Māori concepts can refresh thinking about animal ethics. As sources of data for this exploration, we draw on interviews with Māori expert informants, as well as information gathered from relevant literature. First, we overview the two main theoretical traditions of animal ethics, unifying and relational, followed by an account of the development and current status of the Three Rs (Replace, Reduce, and Refine) for animal …
Equity and Veterinary Education in Aotearoa New Zealand
This short commentary article considers veterinary education as a specific type of science professional education that is impacted by lack of participation of Māori and Pacific students in senior secondary science education. The veterinary profession in Aotearoa New Zealand faces a difficult challenge to overcome the severe under-representation of practising Māori and Pacific veterinarians. At the only veterinary school in the country, the first …
Learning Progressions
Change is a constant factor in education. Curricula are refreshed to reflect the educational outcomes required in a rapidly changing society and pedagogies evolve in response to new insights into how children learn. In this constantly changing environment, teachers embark upon a career-long cycle of professional learning and development. Most primary school teachers in New Zealand are generalist teachers and therefore face the task of remaining u…
Fine Lines
Science teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand are under pressure to incorporate mātauranga Māori in their classrooms, yet most know little about it and there is dissent about its place in science education. If mātauranga Māori is not science, then why should science teachers teach it? What does the principle of ‘mana ōrite mō te mātauranga Māori’ mean in science teaching? In this article, three science educators of varying experiences and backgrounds …
Sociology (13 works) · Environmental education (10 works) · Pedagogy (10 works) · Political science (9 works) · Environmental Education and Sustainability (8 works) · Ecology (7 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Publishing (6 works) · Aotearoa (5 works) · Geography (5 works)