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As a leader in ICT at Orewa College, I was continually aware of the debate amongst staff surrounding the place of ICT teaching and learning at the school. An aspect of this debate was focused on whether specialist ICT subjects should continue to exist at the school. It was from this discussion that the inspiration for this thesis arose. Although Ministry documents (MOE, 1995b; MOE, 2002) provided guidance, what ICT teaching and learning should be occurring seemed vague. This research was a response to a need to find out the best ways for ICT teaching and learning to take place at Orewa College. The importance of this research was highlighted only a week before completion when a Draft Essence Statement for the new Technology curriculum was released (Talk2learn, 2004). This essence statement did not include ICT, and it was stated that this absence was deliberate. If the current Draft Essence statement forms the foundation of the new Technology curriculum, ICT will not be a major focus of any curriculum statement in New Zealand. This thesis is a single site case study that investigates the ways that ICT teaching and learning could take place at Orewa College. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methodology has been utilised within an ethnographic paradigm and triangulation of data collection methods and groups of participants was employed to increase validity of the data. Participants included the staff, parents and students of Orewa College, local employers, representatives from tertiary institutions, contributing schools and other North Shore secondary schools. Data collection methods included document analyses, questionnaires, email interviews, partially structured face-to-face interviews and observations. A need has emerged for a combination of some specialist ICT subjects and some integration of ICT across the curriculum, with some ICT learning taking place in a more osmosis-like discovery method. However, a greater revelation is that a new and evolving

Purpose: Transgender individuals are substantially more likely to report self-harm and suicidality than both cisgender individuals and other LGBT individuals. The psychosocial factors underlying self-harm and suicidality within the trans population, and how they may lead to suicidal ideation or attempts, remain largely under-researched. Protective factors, such as resilience and help-seeking may help to reduce risk of suicide within the trans population, however further research is required to examine these processes. Similarly, exploring trans-specific experiences of help-seeking for suicidal distress is important when considering suicide prevention. Further empirical research, aimed at improving our understanding and prevention of suicide within this population, is imperative. Method: A qualitative design was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with transgender adults (n=4) in Scotland, who reported a history of self-harm and/or suicidality. Interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: Four superordinate themes emerged, each with inter-related subordinate themes. 1) “Early Experiences”: How individuals made sense of early experiences which increased their self-harm and suicidal distress. 2) “Intent”: The motives underlying participants’ self-harm and suicidality. 3) “Hope and Resilience”: The protective resilience factors that reduced participants’ self-harm and suicidal distress. 4) “Threats to Resilience”: How participants made sense of additional minority stressors that were relevant to their experiences. Conclusion: The current study suggests that transgender individuals may experience psychosocial factors related to self-harm and suicidality differently across various stages of their lives. Important insights into the motivations underlying self-harm and suicidality for transgender individuals emerged. Clinical implications are discussed, however further research is required to fully understand self-harm

Purpose: Transgender individuals are substantially more likely to report self-harm and suicidality than both cisgender individuals and other LGBT individuals. The psychosocial factors underlying self-harm and suicidality within the trans population, and how they may lead to suicidal ideation or attempts, remain largely under-researched. Protective factors, such as resilience and help-seeking may help to reduce risk of suicide within the trans population, however further research is required to examine these processes. Similarly, exploring trans-specific experiences of help-seeking for suicidal distress is important when considering suicide prevention. Further empirical research, aimed at improving our understanding and prevention of suicide within this population, is imperative. Method: A qualitative design was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with transgender adults (n=4) in Scotland, who reported a history of self-harm and/or suicidality. Interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: Four superordinate themes emerged, each with inter-related subordinate themes. 1) “Early Experiences”: How individuals made sense of early experiences which increased their self-harm and suicidal distress. 2) “Intent”: The motives underlying participants’ self-harm and suicidality. 3) “Hope and Resilience”: The protective resilience factors that reduced participants’ self-harm and suicidal distress. 4) “Threats to Resilience”: How participants made sense of additional minority stressors that were relevant to their experiences. Conclusion: The current study suggests that transgender individuals may experience psychosocial factors related to self-harm and suicidality differently across various stages of their lives. Important insights into the motivations underlying self-harm and suicidality for transgender individuals emerged. Clinical implications are discussed, however further research is required to fully understand self-harm

Purpose: Transgender individuals are substantially more likely to report self-harm and suicidality than both cisgender individuals and other LGBT individuals. The psychosocial factors underlying self-harm and suicidality within the trans population, and how they may lead to suicidal ideation or attempts, remain largely under-researched. Protective factors, such as resilience and help-seeking may help to reduce risk of suicide within the trans population, however further research is required to examine these processes. Similarly, exploring trans-specific experiences of help-seeking for suicidal distress is important when considering suicide prevention. Further empirical research, aimed at improving our understanding and prevention of suicide within this population, is imperative. Method: A qualitative design was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with transgender adults (n=4) in Scotland, who reported a history of self-harm and/or suicidality. Interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: Four superordinate themes emerged, each with inter-related subordinate themes. 1) “Early Experiences”: How individuals made sense of early experiences which increased their self-harm and suicidal distress. 2) “Intent”: The motives underlying participants’ self-harm and suicidality. 3) “Hope and Resilience”: The protective resilience factors that reduced participants’ self-harm and suicidal distress. 4) “Threats to Resilience”: How participants made sense of additional minority stressors that were relevant to their experiences. Conclusion: The current study suggests that transgender individuals may experience psychosocial factors related to self-harm and suicidality differently across various stages of their lives. Important insights into the motivations underlying self-harm and suicidality for transgender individuals emerged. Clinical implications are discussed, however further research is required to fully understand self-harm

Purpose: Transgender individuals are substantially more likely to report self-harm and suicidality than both cisgender individuals and other LGBT individuals. The psychosocial factors underlying self-harm and suicidality within the trans population, and how they may lead to suicidal ideation or attempts, remain largely under-researched. Protective factors, such as resilience and help-seeking may help to reduce risk of suicide within the trans population, however further research is required to examine these processes. Similarly, exploring trans-specific experiences of help-seeking for suicidal distress is important when considering suicide prevention. Further empirical research, aimed at improving our understanding and prevention of suicide within this population, is imperative. Method: A qualitative design was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with transgender adults (n=4) in Scotland, who reported a history of self-harm and/or suicidality. Interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: Four superordinate themes emerged, each with inter-related subordinate themes. 1) “Early Experiences”: How individuals made sense of early experiences which increased their self-harm and suicidal distress. 2) “Intent”: The motives underlying participants’ self-harm and suicidality. 3) “Hope and Resilience”: The protective resilience factors that reduced participants’ self-harm and suicidal distress. 4) “Threats to Resilience”: How participants made sense of additional minority stressors that were relevant to their experiences. Conclusion: The current study suggests that transgender individuals may experience psychosocial factors related to self-harm and suicidality differently across various stages of their lives. Important insights into the motivations underlying self-harm and suicidality for transgender individuals emerged. Clinical implications are discussed, however further research is required to fully understand self-harm