Young Women's Narratives of Teenage Parenthood And
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UC Research Repository Re-storying identities: Young women’s narratives of teenage parenthood and educational support _____________________________________________________________ A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education in the University of Canterbury by Jenny Hindin Miller University of Canterbury 2012 To my beautiful mokopuna, Sofia Grace and Mila Hope, and to any other grandchildren who may bless my older age with their delightful presence. “Children are the most precious treasure a community can possess, for in them are the promise and the guarantee of the future. They bear the seeds of the character of future society which is largely shaped by what the adults constituting the community do or fail to do with respect to children. They are a trust no community can neglect with impunity. An all-embracing love of children, the manner of treating them, the quality of the attention shown them, the spirit of adult behavior toward them – these are all … vital …” From the Baha’i Writings (The Universal House of Justice, 2000) Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... 7 Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter One: Introducing Mandy, the research question, and the structure of the thesis . 10 Mandy’s story ............................................................................................................................ 10 The historical context of my study ............................................................................................ 12 My research question ................................................................................................................ 12 The organisation of my thesis ................................................................................................... 16 Chapter Two: A review of the discursive contexts of teenage parenthood and some educational responses ................................................................................................................. 22 Part One:...................................................................................................................................... 25 What the research literature says about teenage parents ....................................................... 25 I: Characteristics and outcomes of teenage parenthood ............................................................ 25 II: The construction of the ‘problem’ of teenage parenthood ................................................... 28 III: Implications of negative constructions of teenage parenthood ........................................... 34 Part Two: ..................................................................................................................................... 38 Education initiatives to support teenage parents ..................................................................... 38 I: Initiatives in Britain ............................................................................................................... 38 II: Initiatives in the United States .............................................................................................. 39 III: Studies of successful North American education programmes for teenage parents ........... 41 Part Three: .................................................................................................................................. 46 The New Zealand context ........................................................................................................... 46 I: Teen Parent Units ................................................................................................................... 46 II: New Zealand research on Teen Parent Units and their students .......................................... 48 III: The School for Teenage Parents in my study ...................................................................... 55 Chapter Three: Theoretical framing of the study: A “universe of discourse” .................... 63 I: My theoretical ‘whakapapa’ or genealogy ............................................................................. 63 II: Epistemologies underpinning the work of the Teen Parent School ..................................... 65 III: Theoretical framing of this study ........................................................................................ 68 Social Constructionism ............................................................................................................. 71 Biographical and human development theories of identity ....................................................... 76 Culturally-responsive pedagogical theories .............................................................................. 80 Māori culturally responsive pedagogical theories ..................................................................... 81 Chapter Four: Narrative methodology, research design and the analysis of data ............... 86 I: What did I want to investigate? ............................................................................................. 86 II: Qualitative approaches ......................................................................................................... 87 III: The research design ............................................................................................................. 94 IV: Ethical considerations ....................................................................................................... 104 V: Analysis of data .................................................................................................................. 109 VI: Issues of trustworthiness, rigour and validity ................................................................... 118 Foreword to Chapters Five to Seven: “Tell me your story” ................................................. 119 Chapter Five: The narrative framing of child- and teenage-hood ....................................... 120 Part One: Formative stories of childhood, schooling, and being a teenager ....................... 122 I: Childhood and family life .................................................................................................... 122 Six little girls at home ............................................................................................................. 122 Andy’s story ............................................................................................................................ 124 II: Schooling ............................................................................................................................ 131 Six little girls at school ............................................................................................................ 131 Kate’s story ............................................................................................................................. 134 III: Drugs and alcohol ............................................................................................................. 138 Six girls ‘at play’ ..................................................................................................................... 138 Tatiana’s story ......................................................................................................................... 140 Part Two: Pregnancy and parenthood as a turning point in the fashioning of identities .. 149 I: Familial, personal and social responses to the young women’s pregnancies ...................... 150 II: Pregnancy within the context of hopes and aspirations ...................................................... 155 III: Pregnancy and parenthood as a turning-point in the fashioning of identities ................... 157 Chapter Six: The role of the School for Teenage Parents in the refashioning of students’ identities ..................................................................................................................................... 163 Part One: School ‘reports’ ....................................................................................................... 167 Reasons for enrolling at Pumanawa Young Parents College .................................................. 167 Andy’s story of Pumanawa College ........................................................................................ 169 Kate’s story of Pumanawa College ......................................................................................... 174 Tatiana’s story of Pumanawa College ..................................................................................... 180 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 186 Part Two: Kaupapa whānau: The College and Early Childhood Centre as family ........... 189 I: Ako: Culturally responsive teaching and learning relationships ......................................... 191 Whānaungatanga ..................................................................................................................... 191 Commitment to academic success ........................................................................................... 194