Dr Nadine D Ballam

Director of Tauranga (Education) / Senior Lecturer

Qualifications: PhD

About Nadine

I am the Director of Tauranga (Education programmes) and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education on the Tauranga campus of the University of Waikato. Prior to completing my Bachelor of Teaching (Hons), I spent several years working in administration and the health industry both in New Zealand and overseas. My PhD research, which is titled 'Defying the Odds': Gifted and Talented Young People from Low Socioeconomic Backgrounds, focused on the development of talent in young people from 'less privileged' backgrounds.

Papers Taught

Research Supervised

PhD supervision:

Tracyanne May (2nd supervisor)

Samantha Heaney (2nd supervisor)

• Educators' knowledge of concussion in New Zealand

Julie Hest (2nd supervisor)

• The pedagogical architecture of modern learning environments: Case study research in four New Zealand secondary schools

Kwame Otu-Danquah (2nd supervisor)

• Researching together: Using a collaborative approach and the voice-centred relational methodology to examine the experiences of students with visual impairment in higher education

Lesley Lyons (2nd supervisor)

• Talking the walk or walking the talk? An examination of the discursive positioning of disabled children in long-day early childhood education and care centres in Aotearoa New Zealand

Sara Chynoweth (3rd supervisor)

• Student experiences in the modern learning environment in New Zealand secondary schools

Mellisa Chin Lee (2nd supervisor)

• A critical realist discourse analysis of inclusive education policy and practice in a rural Malaysian Primary School

Research Interests

Giftedness and talent across the lifespan

Risk and resilience

Lifespan development

Identity and wellbeing

Keywords

Education; Gifted and Talented Education; Human Development; Human Development and Education; Inclusive Education; Inclusive Learning; Special Education