Quality out-of-school care in Aotearoa/New Zealand

The out-of-school-care sector, a reasonably unregulated industry, has grown quickly despite minimal government investment in comparison to early childhood care. In 2006, the New Zealand government released a draft five-year strategic plan committing an extra $17.4 million per year to this area. This article examines the impact on providers, recipients, and quality standards with the influx of resources and attention.     

Meta-analysing community action projects in Aotearoa New Zealand

The current Labour Government in Aotearoa¹ New Zealand has overseena revival of interest in devolved community decision-makingand a burgeoning of locality-based community action and communitydevelopment projects. This paper reports on a meta-analysisof ten community action projects. The activation, consolidationand transition or completion stages of the projects were examinedto identify commonalities in structures and processes that eitherenhanced or impeded the projects meeting their objectives forsocial change. The importance of processes for critical reflection,the analysis of power dynamics between stakeholders, and recognitionof the social, cultural and historical context of a project'sgenesis will be discussed.     

Cultural Perspectives from Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

Intergenerational programmes recognise the relationships between the young and old as mutually important to both age groups and to society in general. While intergenerational programmes are a fairly new venture in New Zealand, the early childhood curricu-lum-Te Whariki, the woven mat, is a document which is based on the relationships between people and their environment. It is an ecological model where the context of a child's life is a critical factor in determining well-being, a sense of belonging, communication, a desire to explore, and contribution to society. These are the living strands of Te Whariki which are woven together to provide a sense of place from which children can grow strong and confident. These strands also apply to older people as they move through life's changes. This paper will explore the ways in which Te Whariki is an intergenerational curriculum that can be applied to any context and any age.     

The historical context of community development in Aotearoa New Zealand

Community development in Aotearoa New Zealand can be conceptualizedas three concurrent processes such as (1), statutory work undertakenby the State through central government departments and localauthorities (consisting of a system of legislation, fundingassistance to individuals, groups and organizations and theprovision of social services), (2) social change processes undertakenprimarily through the collective action of individuals, groupsand organizations that give voice to marginalized groups andcommunities and (3) the forces of change within Tangata Whenuacommunities working for tino rangatiratanga, self determination.Three time-periods are identified to help structure the discussionthat begins from 1840, the time of the signing of the Treatyof Waitangi between the Queen of England and Maori, the indigenouspeoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, signalling the birth of modernAotearoa New Zealand. This paper argues that community developmentas policy and the practice (methodology) of social change throughorganizing, coordinating and initiating activities that enhancethe wellbeing of individuals, groups and communities is morethan ‘pedagogy of the oppressed’ and, therefore,cannot be conceptualized simply in terms of ‘resistance’.It is a holistic process of transformation encompassing socio-economic,political, cultural, environmental and spiritual dimensions.     

Unresolved struggles: Educating social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand

This article introduces key themes that arise throughout the history of social work education and are central to the education of social workers today. Curriculum and the goodness of fit between agency demands and professional standards, accreditation, provision of social work courses, and more recently, the competency movement, have constantly been significant, albeit in changing forms. In New Zealand, cultural awareness and knowledge of indigenous models for practice together with re-organisation of social service delivery systems have implications for social work education. Managerial devices such as the purchaser/provider split and risk/case management approaches to social work and their impact on social work education and practice are discussed. The role of the national accrediting body and the ensuing tensions around accreditation are discussed. A discussion of opportunities and concerns for the future considers relationships between those who teach social work, those who practice it, their employers and the role of Industry Training Organisations.     

Social Marketisation and Policy Influence of Third Sector Organisations: Evidence from the UK

The marketisation of social sector organisations or social marketisation emerged and spread around the world in the past three decades. In contrast with existing literature which claims that social marketisation makes social sector organisations reduce their efforts on advocacy and thus harms a civil society, this research argues that social marketisation is positively contributed to the influence of third sector organisations on government policies, and thus it strengthens civil society, rather than erodes it. Based on the National Survey of Charities and Social Enterprises in the UK, the results of regression analyses indicate clearly that, when other factors are equal, the two indicators of social marketisation, social entrepreneurship and achieving government contracts for purchasing services, are both statistically significant in estimating the level of policy influence of third sector organisations. The contribution of this research is that it finds a positive, instead of a negative, relationship between social marketisation and the perceived policy influence of third sector organisations.     

Community development and control in a state-local partnership in Aotearoa New Zealand

This paper is a case study of an attempt, using community developmentmethods, by local members of a state-local partnership to gainmore governance control in the face of central government dominance.The process highlighted in this case study was a community visioningexercise that built on existing networks at a local level todevelop the higher degree of active community involvement requiredto achieve more autonomy to meet felt community needs throughoutthe local district. The resources activated through the community development processenabled the partnership to successfully challenge central governmentdominance and develop local initiatives. It also raised issuesaround the autonomous development of mana whenua (the indigenouspeople of that place) initiatives and those of outlying ruralcommunities. The overall conclusion is one that supports a strategicapproach to local empowerment through the community developmentprocesses of enhancing local interactive multi-stakeholder networksand using leverage to negotiate change, in this case, by exploitingseemingly endemic structural weaknesses of the central government.     

Quoting ethnicity: Constructing dialogue in Aotearoa/New Zealand1

Within the system of direct quotation, speakers have a number of resources at their disposal from which they can select to construct dialogue. This article presents an investigation of the ways in which Maori and Pakeha English speakers deploy these resources. The analysis reveals extensive differences in the construction of dialogue between Maori and Pakeha which include, but are not limited to, quantitative differences in the use of individual verbs of quotation. Distinct effects of tense/temporal reference and mimetic re‐enactment permeate the systems, and patterns of use surrounding the zero quotative emerge as central to many points of differentiation. It is argued that these patterns form distinct strategies in the deployment of quotative resources and in this sense are indexical of ethnic identity in Aotearoa/New Zealand.     

Competing Drivers of Hybridity: Third-Sector Housing Organisations in Northern Ireland

This paper explores the complex process of hybridisation of third-sector housing and support organisations (TSOs) in Northern Ireland. The focus of the study is the policy field of housing-related support services, known in the UK as ‘Supporting People’. This is a hybrid policy field involving several government departments, a number of market mechanisms and two types of third-sector actors. The exercise of organisational agency to adapt to competing drivers is illuminated through mental health and homelessness case studies. The paper explores how competing external influences from the Northern Ireland Assembly, horizontal policies for the third-sector and vertical service commissioning policies interact with TSOs’ own adaptation strategies involving the deployment of robust third-sector identities. Hybridisation is found to involve not only the dominance of state drivers and the promotion of market mechanisms in both fields, but also enactment of third-sector identities. Our analysis of hybridization in this case counters Billis’ (2010) representation of third-sector identity as weak, in flux, and subject to erosion by focusing on the agency of TSOs to strategically adapt to and negotiate external drivers and thereby achieve competitive advantage. Through the enactment of identity in this adaptation process, resources such as legitimacy, charitable income and volunteers are secured. This provides opportunities for policy makers to add value if they are prepared to emphasise horizontal over vertical policy goals.     

Social Work Practice Placements in Aotearoa New Zealand: Agency Managers Perspectives

Agency managers are one of the key stakeholders in social work education, particularly in respect of practice placements. Managers play several roles within the placement context, acting as gatekeepers, supporters, mentors, potential employers and sometimes assessors of students. This study sought the perspectives of the managers of 13 social service organisations in New Zealand on practice placements. The findings of the study show that managers have preferences for specific attributes in social work students, including flexibility, humility, confidence and resilience. Challenges with placements are associated with student personal, interpersonal and cognitive capabilities, organisational factors and the tertiary institution. The findings also illustrate that the main benefits and motivations for supporting students are for the professional development of staff, completion of agency work, recruitment and workforce development. The article concludes that it is time for a new focus on understanding and supporting the development and assessment of student personal and interpersonal capabilities as well as skill and knowledge competencies. Furthermore, since managers are directly engaged with social work practice and are ultimately deciding which graduates to employ, greater consideration should be given to how institutions and employers can work together to determine which personal and interpersonal capabilities are relevant and necessary for the workplace.     

Community development: working in the bicultural context of Aotearoa New Zealand

This paper explores the relationship between community developmentand working within bicultural contexts in Aotearoa New Zealand.It identifies a number of key themes that have been found bythe authors to have significance for working with biculturalcontexts. It provides definitions that are used within AotearoaNew Zealand and identifies how lessons learned in this countryhave relevance for an international context. While the paperexamines the tensions and struggles in working within a biculturalframework, it also articulates possibilities for sustained changethat has positive outcomes for diverse populations.     

Political activation and social movements: Addressing non-participation in Aotearoa New Zealand

The decline of participation in traditional civic political processes, like voting in elections and writing to elected representatives, continues to deepen in contemporary liberal democracies. However, civics comprise only one avenue for political participation. Social movements also play a key role in influencing political affairs by exerting pressure on established institutions from outside rather than within. ‘Political activation’ is key to understanding and addressing non-participation in both movement and civic settings alike, yet activation in movement settings, like non-participation more generally, remains under-researched. This article seeks to address this imbalance by exploring ways of using political activation theory to synthesise research on the fields of political participation and non-participation, in both civic and social movement contexts. After reviewing the literature on activation, which favours political participation in civic settings, I then juxtapose this existing scholarship with a case study focused more on non-participation and social movements as they are understood by movement organisers in Aotearoa New Zealand. In so doing, I demonstrate how civics, social movements, participation and non-participation can be better understood together to advance scholarship on why people do or do not engage with politics.     

Achieving pay equity: Strategic mobilization for substantive equality in Aotearoa New Zealand

In an unprecedented move the New Zealand Government in 2017 announced a $2 billion pay equity settlement for 55,000 healthcare workers in aged and disability residential care and home and community support services. The settlement reversed the Government's previous austerity stance that pay equity for carers was too expensive, and that pay parity in the sector was out of the question. The political concession followed five years of intensive equal pay feminist activism. While pay equity settlements overseas have generally used either legal opportunity structures or government intervention, this article argues it was the combination of complementary and intersecting elements of mobilization that led to the negotiated settlement. These elements include a statutory human rights inquiry; legal opportunity; civil society coalition building; increased women's voice; and a government‐led negotiated settlement. The novel theoretical contribution of this article is its empirical support for the concept of substantive equality.     

Strengths And Struggles: Overseas Qualified Social Workers' Experiences In Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

A growing number of professionals practise in a country other than the one where they obtained their professional qualification. A mixed-methods study explored the experiences of one group of such professionals, overseas-qualified social workers practicing in New Zealand. This article reports findings from four key informant group interviews and an online survey (N = 294), including this population's satisfaction with their employment, their introduction to local practice, and experiences of mistreatment and discrimination. The study highlights migrant social workers' desire for better access to information and induction opportunities to orient them to the local practice environment and notes their experience of discrimination in the workplace. Such findings require a thoughtful response from practitioners and professional bodies and is worthy of further research and discussion. We argue that migrant social workers in New Zealand require orientation activities tailored to meet their needs and a more welcoming system of recognition of the skills and experience they bring.     

The Articulation of Theory and Practice: critique and resistance in Aotearoa New Zealand

In his latest book, Understanding Disability: from theory to practice (1996), Michael Oliver (p. 111) notes the 'globalisation' of disability related issues and the absence of any satisfactory comparative studies in disability policy across the globe. This paper can be seen as laying the ground work for such a study by reviewing the theorisation of disability and its practical consequence in the articulation, development and implementation of disability policy in Aotearoa New Zealand. It will describe some current examples of policies for disabled people and provides an analysis of current debates. The paper explores the emancipatory potential of current disability theorising by analysing strategies adopted by disabled people as a response to recent policy developments in the health and disability field in Aotearoa New Zealand.     

Political entrepreneurship in the field of Māori sovereignty in Aotearoa New Zealand

Individual actors have the potential to shape political outcomes through creative use of opportunities. Political entrepreneurship identifies how such actors recognize and exploit opportunities, for personal or collective gain. The existing literature focuses on individuals operating within institutional settings, with less attention paid to other types of actors. In this article, I argue for an expansion of the political entrepreneurship framework, by considering individuals in the electoral and protest arenas. An examination of the field of Māori sovereignty, or tino rangatiratanga, in Aotearoa New Zealand allows exploration of prominent actors’ innovative strategies and practices. The findings highlight the actors’ reliance on identity in mobilizing support within the community, to press claims. Broadening the application of political entrepreneurship demonstrates the roles of social, cultural and political capital in influencing outcomes, by identifying opportunities available to individuals embedded in the community and according to the context of the arena.