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The philosophical framework and fundamental assumptions of this study are defined as methodology. Methodology is therefore concerned with the process of the research rather than just the product. Morrison (2007) summarises that “methodology provides a rationale for the ways in which researchers conduct research activities” (p. 19). To do this, researchers draw upon a set of beliefs that regulate their world view and dictate “what should be studied, how research should be done and how results should be interpreted” (Bryman, 2004, p. 453). Such a set of beliefs is known as a paradigm.

Two paradigms employed to research educational problems are the positivist and interpretive approaches (Bryman, 2008; Davidson & Tolich, 2003; Keeves, 1997). These paradigms represent different ways to investigate and study social phenomena and carry with them “specific clusters of epistemological and ontological commitments” (Bryman, 2008, p. 593). While the positivist, quantitatively oriented paradigm values numbers, measurability and predictability above all else, the interpretive, qualitatively oriented paradigm values words and is interested in how its actors view the world, drawing meaning and interpretations to inform their study (Bryman, 2008; Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007). Positivism sees the researcher‟s

role as observing and measuring, with the researcher remaining at some distance from the research subjects (Davidson & Tolich, 2003). In contrast, the interpretive approach uses “data collection methods which usually involve close contact between the researcher and the research participants, which are interactive and developmental and allow for emergent issues to be explored” (Snape & Spencer, 2003, p. 5).

Initially, this research sought to combine these approaches using a mixed method design. Bryman (2008) refers to this complementary approach as a technical version, where quantitative and qualitative are viewed as two compatible research strategies, giving “greater prominence to the strengths of data-collection and data-analysis techniques” (p. 606). During the data collection it became obvious that because there was a smaller than expected sample, any in-depth quantitative data-analysis would not be possible. This necessitated a change to a qualitative approach, while also employing some basic numeric analysis for the quantitative part of the questionnaire.

Rationale for a qualitative approach

The decision to re-design this research using a qualitative approach was based on the view that “particular problems demand particular solutions. Research should always be tailor-made” (Davidson & Tolich, 2003, p. 128). Qualitative research is ideal for a smaller sample, where an interpretivist approach leads the researcher to focus on “the understanding of the social world through an examination of the interpretation of that world by its participants” (Bryman, 2004, p. 266). Denzin and Lincoln (2005) define qualitative research as “an interpretive, naturalistic approach to the world … attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them” (p. 3). This research uses participants from two different perspectives: the OTTs themselves and the senior managers who employ and work with these teachers throughout the induction process.

When considering the aims and research questions of this research, the qualitative approach fitted well, because it gave the researcher an opportunity to gather perspectives from a number of sources using multiple methods or triangulation (see later section).

The context described in the previous chapter outlining the themes, questions and issues that emerged from the literature review, provided the rationale for the following research questions:

1. What are the transition experiences and issues facing OTTs in their first, second or third year of transition from overseas to teaching positions in South Auckland secondary schools?

2. How well are the current induction programmes in South Auckland secondary schools assisting with the transition of OTTs in their first, second or third year of teaching in New Zealand secondary schools?

3. What are the implications for leaders when designing and resourcing future induction programmes to assist the transition of OTTs in South Auckland secondary schools?

This study therefore focused on how leaders could design induction programmes to assist with the transition of OTTs into New Zealand secondary schools. In order to be able to identify the programme components that best assisted the transition of OTTs it was important to identify their issues and experiences in New Zealand secondary schools as these may have an influence on their views of the induction programme. Because of the multiple foci – the issues and experiences of the participants as well as the induction programme content and resourcing - this study was dependent on dealing with active participants and seeing the induction of OTTs through the eyes of all participants (Bryman 2008). The choice of a qualitative approach allowed the researcher to adopt a more flexible research strategy (Snape & Spencer, 2003), and to follow a more naturalist inquiry rather than a rigid, more systematic line of inquiry.

The methods used for this investigation were a self-completion questionnaire, documentary analysis, and semi-structured interviews. These methods were consistent with the naturalist inquiry as they gave participants a voice and allowed the researcher to see through the eyes of participants. The questionnaire contained both closed and open questions allowing respondents to rate various aspects of their

open questions. Analysis of relevant school and government documents took place throughout the data collection process. By including documentary analysis in the research design the researcher was able to corroborate, or not, the findings from the questionnaire results thus yielding greater validity (Bryman, 2008). Semi-structured interviews were chosen as a flexible tool which allowed the researcher to investigate in-depth the views and experiences of both OTTs and senior managers. Fontana and Frey (2005) observe that “interviewing is one of the most common and powerful ways in which we try to understand our fellow humans” (pp. 697-698). Each of these methods will be discussed in more depth later in this chapter.

The following section outlines the selection process for the sample used to undertake this research.

Selection of schools

The population for this study was recruited from South Auckland secondary schools. There were three reasons for this selection. Firstly, given the time and resources available to carry out this research it was not possible to study and compare the experiences and issues of all OTTs in their first, second and third year in New Zealand secondary schools. Secondly, from the literature review it was clear that OTTs were “more likely to be in schools with a lower proportion of Māori students, lower decile schools, and schools in main and secondary urban areas” (Ng & Lee, 2009, p. 18). As South Auckland is a main urban area with a number of middle and lower decile secondary schools it was felt that it would have a larger number of OTTs. Finally, South Auckland secondary schools provided a population that was located close to the researcher and one with which the researcher is familiar, having taught in this area for the past four years.

In order to ensure that the study was manageable, five South Auckland secondary schools were selected as representative of the wider population of South Auckland secondary schools. These schools were selected purposively (Bryman, 2004) based on the number of OTTs in either their first or second year in a New Zealand secondary school, to gain as large a sample as possible. Bryman (2004) defines purposive sampling as sampling “on the basis of wanting to interview people who are relevant to the research question” (p. 334). The final selection was made from the

schools whose principals indicated a willingness to be involved in this research following a brief presentation given by the researcher to each principal. After collecting the indicative numbers of OTTs in their first or second year of teaching in New Zealand from these schools, it was felt that by adding OTTs in their third year the research would be strengthened as these teachers would be able to reflect on the usefulness of the induction programme from a distance – retrospective reflection on action rather than reflection in action (Schön, 1995). Unfortunately, only two third year OTTs chose to take part in the research, which limited the analysis of retrospective reflection on action.

All five schools were secondary (Year 9-15), state schools, and co-educational (the most common type of secondary school in Auckland). They covered a range of deciles (socio-economic rating 1 - 4) and represented medium to large sized schools with the average population of the schools in the study being 1324 students. The profile of each of these schools is represented in Table 3.1:

Table 3.1: Profile of the five secondary schools in the study

School A School B School C School D School E Institute Type _Secondary

(Year 9-15) Secondary (Year 9-15) Secondary (Year 9-15) Secondary (Year 9-15) Secondary (Year 9-15) Authority

State State State State State

Gender

Co-Ed Co-Ed Co-Ed Co-Ed Co-Ed

Roll size* 1250 1996 1108 760 1507 Decile Rating 1 2 2 3 4 Ethnicity* - Māori - European - Pacific Is. - Asian - Other

- NZ Aid & Foreign Fee Paying 43% 7.7% 40.9% 6.2% 2.3% 0% 27.7% 14.6% 39.4% 15.9% 2.8% 0.6% 51.3% 26.4% 14.2% 4.7% 2.9% 0.6% 20.4% 12.3% 36.2% 26.9% 3% 1.2% 18.3% 23.8% 43.1% 11.1% 1.8% 1.9% (*Ethnicity and school roll size based on Ministry of Education figures June 2008)