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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Sep 3

Thank you for such lovely stewardship through the process Andy!

Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Sep 1

Kate and I are delighted to see our article on spacious learning published in @politicsjournal.bsky.social. In it, we advocate for slower spaces that centre ‘being’ rather than rushing to do or produce. We share three practices from our own teaching as examples: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Screenshot of article abstract, accessible at this link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02633957251370594
The title of the article is 'Spacious learning: A critical reflection on active learning in political science'. The abstract reads: "Active learning is often understood as students ‘doing and producing’ academic work. This approach has a tendency to promote learning as a project of dynamic knowledge acquisition rather than one of being and becoming. In this article, we propose a more capacious understanding of active learning that makes room for spacious learning. Spacious learning invites students into slower spaces that centre ‘being’ rather than rushing to do or produce. This approach treats learning as a process rather than a means to an end, allowing students time to sit with ideas and to relate them to their own lives and experiences. We then offer practical examples of invitations to spacious learning in political science, highlighting transformative everyday practices that sustain spaciousness in the classroom: micro-communities of learning, relational scaffolding for research and creative projects, and reflective writing."

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Aug 9

It has been such a delight working on this project. We hope this is a valuable contribution to understanding the context, constraints and opportunities of the time. Huge thanks to the reviewers and Political Science journal team, in particular @fionacbarker.bsky.social and @willdreyer.bsky.social

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Aug 9

(10) An article considering debates about the Ardern-led government's foreign policy, courtesy of @hamishmcdnz.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Screenshot of abstract of the article, which can be accessed online via the Political Science journal website (link in thread above). The conspicuous public debate currently underway about New Zealand foreign policy makes it a valuable time to appraise that of the Jacinda Ardern Government, 2017–2023. This appraisal prompts several questions addressed in New Zealand’s Foreign Policy under the Jacinda Ardern Government, including whether that Government’s foreign policy is best characterised by change or continuity; whether it proactively asserted its own values and strategies or was subsumed by major unforeseen events such as COVID-19 and the Christchurch mosque shootings; and the effect its responses to these events had on New Zealand’s external relations. The answers to these questions are complex, with contradictory evidence and several apparent paradoxes. The article concludes by suggesting the importance of nuance in assessing the foreign policy of the Ardern Government; understanding historical context and using wider timeframes; the need to eschew overly polarised characterisation; and a requirement to evaluate both the negative and positive effects that major unforeseen events and crises have had on foreign policy. More nuanced assessments can assist the New Zealand Government’s policy responses to strategic competition, particularly between the US and China, and prepare for future disruptive events that have significant international aspects, including those requiring rapid foreign policy formulation.

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Aug 9

(9) An article on the Ardern-led government's response to poverty and inequality, courtesy of @peterskilling.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Screenshot of abstract of the article, which can be accessed online via the Political Science journal website (link in thread above). In her time as Prime Minister of the sixth Labour government, Jacinda Ardern made inequality and poverty central issues in her political agenda, and committed the government she led to making a lasting impact on these issues. In this article, I evaluate their approach to inequality and poverty in two distinct ways. I first provide an account of the policy initiatives of the sixth Labour government (2017–2023) and summarise the effects of these initiatives. This analysis shows that the government relied primarily on politically straightforward and uncontroversial policy actions that did not challenge important aspects of the status quo. Second, I present a critical evaluation of the policy narratives of inequality and poverty constructed by Ardern and her government. This analysis of key texts finds that inequality was constructed overwhelmingly in terms of the problem of poverty (eliding the issue of wealth concentration) and that the Government’s policy narratives were consistently inclusive and politically non-threatening, refusing to acknowledge or address the social cleavages that contribute to and that are exacerbated by poverty and inequality.

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Aug 9

(8) An article assessing the Ardern-led government's approach to climate change, courtesy of @samcrawley.bsky.social and Ralph Chapman: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Screenshot of abstract of the article, which can be accessed online via the Political Science journal website (link in thread above). The sixth Labour government under Jacinda Ardern placed climate change at the centre of their agenda, referring to it as the ‘greatest challenge facing the world’. Definite progress was made on climate policy during the government’s tenure, particularly with the flagship Zero Carbon Act. Overall, however, policy changes were not transformative, and few policies were enacted that will substantially decrease emissions. This article sheds light on this gap between the sixth Labour government’s resolution to tackle climate change and the reality of actual policy outputs. We ask: what are the main factors that shaped climate policy outputs under the sixth Labour government? Using process tracing, we examine the ‘digital wake’ of key debates in three climate policy domains of energy, transport and agriculture. Using publicly available documents to investigate policies pursued by the government between 2018 and 2022, we find that industry resistance (particularly from the farming sector), coalition dynamics and public opinion all hindered progress. However, the government was not always fully committed to climate action, particularly on reducing agricultural emissions. The difficulties experienced by the sixth Labour government in achieving their climate ambitions illustrate the strong political headwinds that impede delivery of substantive climate change mitigation in New Zealand.

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Aug 9

(7) An article considering the Crown-Māori relationship during the Ardern-era through a case study of the Pā to Plate initiative, courtesy of Merata Kawharu and Paul Tapsell: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Screenshot of abstract of the article, which can be accessed online via the Political Science journal website (link in thread above). Treaty principles have provided the framework for Māori-Crown relationships to advance Treaty settlements and other outcomes since the 1980s. Principles are Crown interpretations of the Treaty’s intent, even if they are widely utilised by Crown and Māori alike. If both language texts of the Treaty/Te Tiriti o Waitangi are considered from a kāinga perspective, we can consider different approaches to its interpretation and implementation. Foundational to a kāinga view is a reciprocal relationship of accountability between Crown kawanatanga (Article 1) and Māori tino rangatiratanga (Article 2). At the heart of this relationship is as a double trusteeship: the protection of rangatiratanga (trusteeship leadership; sovereignty; self-determination), in exchange for kawanatanga (governance) which in the context of Crown-Māori relationships means the Crown has fiduciary-like obligations to protect rangatiratanga. The potential of the double trusteeship is explored through a multi-marae-based venture “Pā to Plate” as an example of a novel food sovereignty system that harnesses economic and cultural wealth generation. While the Crown—in this case the sixth Labour government struggled to engage with the venture, Pā to Plate demonstrates significant potential for rangatiratanga advancement. The double trusteeship can underpin any kāinga-led endeavour that calls on Crown engagement, commitment and support.

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Aug 9

(6) An article examining Crown-Māori relations through the innovation of Te Arawhiti, courtesy of Metiria Turei: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Screenshot of abstract of the article, which can be accessed online via the Political Science journal website (link in thread above). This article examines the Sixth Labour Government’s innovation in establishing Te Arawhiti, the Ministry of Māori-Crown Affairs, to ‘progress the Māori-Crown relationship in a positive, nation-building’ way. The rhetoric of ‘te arawhiti – the bridge’ as a new approach to Māori Crown relationships is analysed in relation to three examples: Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority; the hapū occupation at Ihumaatao; and the political management of He Puapua, the report of the Working Group on a Plan to Realise the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This article concludes that Jacinda Ardern’s government innovated well in places but only achieved its vision when constructing a model of its own design. When asked by Māori to ‘cross the bridge’ and work with Māori propositions for change, the government was not nimble enough to do so. Moreover, the bridge-building intent became a political weapon used against the Prime Minister, her government and Māori, and the government suffered a failure of communication and a failure of nerve in responding to these attacks. The consequence of these failures for Māori was even greater uncertainty, and political hostility, than before Labour took power.

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Aug 9

(5) An article analysing Ardern's portrayal of motherhood on social media, courtesy of myself, Claire Fitzpatrick and @drevaneely.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Screenshot of abstract of the article, which can be accessed online via the Political Science journal website (link in thread above). Three months after taking office as Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern posted a now iconic image of hei matau (fish hooks) to her Instagram account announcing her pregnancy. Only the second leader of a nation in modern history to give birth while in office, Ardern’s announcement was significant not only in substance but also in style. In this article, we situate Ardern’s leadership in the international literature on motherhood and politics, analysing how she used social media to communicate with her followers about her experiences of motherhood and their responses to her posts. We employ a thematic analysis of multimodal data to explore Ardern’s personalisation of social media posts, focusing on content related to motherhood shared on her two most active platforms, Facebook and Instagram. We identify four key themes in how she portrayed herself as a mother and political leader and how followers responded to these portrayals: i. political presence of motherhood, ii. everyday motherhood, iii. making care visible, iv. mother of the nation. Our analysis shows that across her social media, Ardern challenged traditional conceptions of political leadership and motherhood. Her posts presented realistic expectations and experiences of motherhood as a working mother, contributed to more inclusive leadership norms and subverted neoliberal mothering scripts.

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Aug 9

(4) An article on the gendered leadership norms Ardern faced as PM during major domestic and global crises, courtesy of @suzewilson.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Screenshot of abstract of the article, which can be accessed online via the Political Science journal website (link in thread above). Crises are often considered the true test of a leader. In popular narratives, being ‘tough’, decisive and suppressing emotions routinely feature as key to crisis leadership. These idealised leader attributes are entwined with dominant ideals of masculinity, influencing public expectations about how leaders should handle crises. Such perceptions cannot be readily ignored; hence, as a woman leading her nation through crisis events Jacinda Ardern was unavoidably incongruent with the manly ‘ideal leader’ prototype. This incongruity was further heightened by her approach which emphasised feminised attributes, such as kindness, empathy and embodied displays of care; the assertive exercise of her agency; and, feminist values, such as a concern for equity, inclusivity and an ethics of care. To better understand the implications of her approach, this article examines Ardern’s leadership of two significant crises – the Christchurch terror attacks and COVID-19 – via a focus on issues of gender. I argue Ardern’s leadership approach both reflected and challenged gendered norms in ways that fostered an effective crisis response, and simultaneously, evoked resistance from those hankering after the manly leader prototype. Her example thus suggests that women’s crisis leadership can incur the double jeopardy of tackling both the crisis itself and navigating their incongruity with a masculinised crisis leader prototype.

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Aug 9

(3) An article setting Ardern's premiership in historical context that challenges the narrative of 'Jacindamania' in domestic media coverage, courtesy of V.K.G Woodman: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Aug 9

(2) An article on the effect of Covid-19 on democratic government in Aotearoa, courtesy of @drdeanknight.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Screenshot of abstract of the article, which can be accessed online via the Political Science journal website (link in thread above). Abstract reads: This article looks at the response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Aotearoa New Zealand, especially the way the sixth Labour-led government protected the health of the community and health of democratic government. The path of the pandemic is explained along with the main public health measures and key legal mechanisms used to combat it. The various ways democratic institutions contributed to the response and adapted to the threat of the pandemic are catalogued. Particular steps taken to ensure the continuation of democratic and accountability processes are highlighted. The article concludes by reflecting on the culture of democratic government in New Zealand and distinctive features of the Labour-led government’s response.

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Aug 9

The full special issue contains (1) an introduction by Janine and me, offering an overview of the Ardern-led government and research thus far: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Aug 9

#nzpol alert! Janine Hayward and I are hosting a public panel this week to highlight some of the findings from our recently published special issue on Jacinda #Ardern and the Sixth Labour Government, published in @politicalsciencenz.bsky.social. Register here: www.wgtn.ac.nz/events/2025/...

Jacinda Ardern and the sixth Labour government—a retrospective | Events | Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Join us for a panel discussion to celebrate the launch of a special issue of Political Science journal examining Jacinda Ardern and the sixth Labour government.

www.wgtn.ac.nz

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Jun 3

There will be an article in the special issue about how the government acted during Covid-19 that touches on governance and constitutional issues, not so much on human rights (forthcoming soon). In terms of what's already been written, I highly recommend @drdeanknight.bsky.social's work.

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Jun 3

Hamish offers a nuanced assessment of the Ardern government’s foreign policy in his article that is part of a forthcoming special issue in Political Science on #Ardern and her government. Essential reading for those wanting more context as they read her newly released memoir #nzpol

Hamish McDougall @hamishmcdnz.bsky.social · Jun 1

How should we assess the foreign policy of the Jacinda Ardern Government, given the evident ambiguities and paradoxes? I make some suggestions in a new review essay for 'Political Science': www.tandfonline.com/eprint/K67EJ...

Making sense of the Ardern Government’s foreign policy paradoxes

The conspicuous public debate currently underway about New Zealand foreign policy makes it a valuable time to appraise that of the Jacinda Ardern Government, 2017–2023. This appraisal prompts sever...

www.tandfonline.com

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Reposted by Claire Timperley

Teaching in Higher Education @teachinginhe.bsky.social · May 13

🚨 New blog post by Claire Timperley and Kate Schick!

"Creative assessments can expand students’ and teachers’ understanding of what education can be – not just an instrumental expression of what students have learned in exchange for a grade"

teachinginhighereducation.wordpress.com/2025/05/08/s...

Subverting authentic assessment: inviting relationality, vulnerability and wonder through creative projects

At the beginning of our academic careers we taught as we were taught, and assessed as we were assessed. But as we gained confidence in our roles, we increasingly noticed dissonance between what we …

teachinginhighereducation.wordpress.com

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Mar 11

Kate and I are delighted to have been nominated for an Editors' Choice award for our article on authentic assessment, published in Teaching in Higher Education 🥳: www.tandfonline.com/journals/cth...
You can access the full article here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Image of abstract for article titled 'Assessment as pedagogy: inviting authenticity through relationality, vulnerability and wonder'. Link to article: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13562517.2024.2367662

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Jan 14

If you don't have library access let me know and I can send you a link to the full paper (limited to 50 copies).

Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Jan 14

Another article in the #nzpol special issue that Janine Hayward and I are editing just dropped! This one by Claire Fitzpatrick, @drevaneely.bsky.social and myself, focused on how #Ardern portrayed herself as a mother on social media. DOI: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Screenshot of article abstract: 'Mother of the Nation? Jacinda Ardern, social media and the politics of motherhood' by Claire Timperley, Claire Fitzpatrick and Eva Neely. Full article linked in post.

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Jan 14

You are one of the lucky ones!

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Jan 12

These three articles provide a nuanced assessment of Ardern's leadership and the Sixth Labour Government, helping us build a more complete and complex picture of #nzpols. Eight more articles to come... watch this space!

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Jan 12

@peterskilling.bsky.social analyses the Sixth Labour Government's approach to poverty and inequality, showing that despite poverty being a signature issue in Ardern's political agenda, the focus on poverty (esp. child poverty) elided key structural issues.
DOI: doi.org/10.1080/00323187.2024.2441360

Image of article abstract: 'The sixth labour government on poverty and inequality: policy action and political language', authored by Peter Skilling.

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Jan 12

@samcrawley.bsky.social and Ralph Chapman evaluate the Sixth Labour Government's approach to climate policy, finding that despite transformational rhetoric, policy changes were not transformative. DOI: doi.org/10.1080/00323187.2024.2446333

Image of article abstract: 'Resolution and resistance: what shaped New Zealand's climate change policies under the sixth Labour government', authored by Sam Crawley and Ralph Chapman.

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Claire Timperley @clairetimperley.bsky.social · Jan 12

@suzewilson.bsky.social examines Ardern's approach to crisis leadership through the Chch terror attacks and Covid-19, showing the double jeopardy faced by #Ardern in challenging gendered leadership norms. DOI: doi.org/10.1080/00323187.2024.2440328

Image of article abstract: 'Cometh the hour, cometh the woman: Jacinda Ardern's crisis leadership and issues of gender', authored by Suze Wilson.

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