title: Young women and leadership development: Co-constructing leadership learning in a New Zealand secondary school.

authors: McNae, Rachel Elizabeth

subjects: Leadership

abstract: Young women’s leadership is an area frequently overlooked in educational leadership development. When it is addressed, it is often done so from the perspective of adults resulting in planned learning opportunities being disconnected from the contexts in which young women lead. This thesis brings young women’s voices into educational leadership conversations and illustrates the importance of including their beliefs and understandings about leadership when developing an alternative approach to leadership development. This thesis describes a qualitative, collaborative action research study conducted between 2007 and 2008 with twelve Year Twelve female secondary school students from a Catholic Girls’ School. This research sought the perceptions and views these young women held about leadership in the secondary school context. The students were involved in co-constructing a leadership development programme (Revolution) with the researcher and participating in it. After the delivery of the leadership programme the students and the researcher evaluated both the programme and the process by which it came about. The questions that guided this research were: 1. What are young women’s beliefs about leadership and how are these influenced by contextual factors in their secondary school? 2. What would a leadership curriculum that was co-constructed through an adult/student partnership look like? 3. How effective is the process of co-construction in developing a youth leadership programme and how successful is the programme in developing leadership understanding? Within an action research framework youth-adult partnerships were formed that allowed the voices of the young women and the researcher to be included in the process of designing the leadership programme. The students and the researcher met regularly in the process of creating a collaborative learning community to share perceptions, create, participate in and reflect upon the leadership programme. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used to ascertain the young women’s beliefs and perceptions about leadership as well as their preferred ways of learning, what content should be included in the programme and how the programme should be structured, both prior to participating in the programme and after completing the leadership programme. First, the perceptions and understandings about leadership that the young women held about leadership were addressed. The findings indicated that the school was a site of significant influence on the young women’s beliefs and understandings of leadership and the opportunities to develop and practice leadership. There was a wide range of beliefs about leadership ranging from very basic to highly complex and this influenced the process of co-constructing the leadership programme. The changes to these understandings were later explored after participating in the Revolution leadership programme and this process served as a means of evaluating the effectiveness of the leadership programme. Second, the process of co-construction that created the content and structure for the created leadership programme was examined. The findings indicated that co-construction was an effective way to create a relevant and authentic leadership programme for young women. It was also a highly complex process that required significant efforts to balance input and share ownership between the researcher and the young women. The co-constructed programme was different from programmes constructed by adults, was influenced by the school context and challenged the young women’s existing views of teaching and learning. Overall, both the co-construction process and the leadership programme itself enhanced the young women’s leadership understandings and feelings of ownership towards the learning process, and was enjoyable. This study adds to the sparse literature on young women and leadership as it provides details of how young women perceive and practice leadership in the secondary school. This research suggests that involving young women in designing their leadership learning experiences can help ensure the experiences are meaningful and relevant to the contexts in which they practice leadership.

text: Young women and leadership development: Co-constructing leadership learning in a New Zealand secondary school. Young women’s leadership is an area frequently overlooked in educational leadership development. When it is addressed, it is often done so from the perspective of adults resulting in planned learning opportunities being disconnected from the contexts in which young women lead. This thesis brings young women’s voices into educational leadership conversations and illustrates the importance of including their beliefs and understandings about leadership when developing an alternative approach to leadership development. This thesis describes a qualitative, collaborative action research study conducted between 2007 and 2008 with twelve Year Twelve female secondary school students from a Catholic Girls’ School. This research sought the perceptions and views these young women held about leadership in the secondary school context. The students were involved in co-constructing a leadership development programme (Revolution) with the researcher and participating in it. After the delivery of the leadership programme the students and the researcher evaluated both the programme and the process by which it came about. The questions that guided this research were: 1. What are young women’s beliefs about leadership and how are these influenced by contextual factors in their secondary school? 2. What would a leadership curriculum that was co-constructed through an adult/student partnership look like? 3. How effective is the process of co-construction in developing a youth leadership programme and how successful is the programme in developing leadership understanding? Within an action research framework youth-adult partnerships were formed that allowed the voices of the young women and the researcher to be included in the process of designing the leadership programme. The students and the researcher met regularly in the process of creating a collaborative learning community to share perceptions, create, participate in and reflect upon the leadership programme. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used to ascertain the young women’s beliefs and perceptions about leadership as well as their preferred ways of learning, what content should be included in the programme and how the programme should be structured, both prior to participating in the programme and after completing the leadership programme. First, the perceptions and understandings about leadership that the young women held about leadership were addressed. The findings indicated that the school was a site of significant influence on the young women’s beliefs and understandings of leadership and the opportunities to develop and practice leadership. There was a wide range of beliefs about leadership ranging from very basic to highly complex and this influenced the process of co-constructing the leadership programme. The changes to these understandings were later explored after participating in the Revolution leadership programme and this process served as a means of evaluating the effectiveness of the leadership programme. Second, the process of co-construction that created the content and structure for the created leadership programme was examined. The findings indicated that co-construction was an effective way to create a relevant and authentic leadership programme for young women. It was also a highly complex process that required significant efforts to balance input and share ownership between the researcher and the young women. The co-constructed programme was different from programmes constructed by adults, was influenced by the school context and challenged the young women’s existing views of teaching and learning. Overall, both the co-construction process and the leadership programme itself enhanced the young women’s leadership understandings and feelings of ownership towards the learning process, and was enjoyable. This study adds to the sparse literature on young women and leadership as it provides details of how young women perceive and practice leadership in the secondary school. This research suggests that involving young women in designing their leadership learning experiences can help ensure the experiences are meaningful and relevant to the contexts in which they practice leadership.

year: 2011

title: An investigation of self-learning and self-protection for Adaptive Digital Twins

authors: Anderson-Scott, Chris

subjects: Digital twins

abstract: Adaptive Digital Twins are applicable to a number of fields, including the cybersecurity of industial control systems. This thesis prototypes a Self-Learning adaptive digital twin and posits an architecture for the creation of digital twins based on the learnings gained from the prototype. The prototype shows the efficacy of control theoretical approaches for adaptive digital twins for both modelling and protecting a system, and the architecture posits a generalised method for developing adaptive digital twins.

text: An investigation of self-learning and self-protection for Adaptive Digital Twins Adaptive Digital Twins are applicable to a number of fields, including the cybersecurity of industial control systems. This thesis prototypes a Self-Learning adaptive digital twin and posits an architecture for the creation of digital twins based on the learnings gained from the prototype. The prototype shows the efficacy of control theoretical approaches for adaptive digital twins for both modelling and protecting a system, and the architecture posits a generalised method for developing adaptive digital twins.

year: 2021

title: Kaupapa Māori antenatal wānanga: A solution to refocus New Zealand health service delivery for improved engagement and responsiveness with Māori māmā hapū and pēpi.

authors: Barrett, Nikki Maree

subjects: antenatal

abstract: The revitalisation of traditional Māori birthing knowledge and practices is a significant space to enhance Māori maternal and infant health outcomes. This thesis with publications examined the potential of two Kaupapa Māori antenatal wānanga to enhance maternal health outcomes for Māori. Using a mixed methods approach, underpinned by Kaupapa Māori research principles and supported by Māori centred research and a mana wahine theoretical perspective, this thesis reveals transformative solutions to address maternal and infant inequities. 
This thesis explores three key areas. First, maternal and infant education and knowledge during hapūtanga (pregnancy). Second, the connection and engagement of Māori māmā hapū (expectant mothers) and whānau (family) with health and community services, and third, the lived experiences of Māori māmā engaging with community services to identify barriers and enablers of service providers.  
The introductory chapters provide a contextual overview of maternal and infant health. I begin by canvassing traditional and contemporary factors that influence the current state of Indigenous, notably Māori, maternal and infant health. I then present four chapters that have been submitted to academic journals for publication. Each chapter focuses on one or more of the three key areas identified above. The final chapter draws each of the chapters together to demonstrate how Māori led health initiatives work to enhance and improve maternal health .
Chapter 3 provides a rationale for focusing on Indigenous antenatal education. Within Western countries, antenatal education is a recognised and encouraged service provided during pregnancy. Providing education and information, antenatal education is an opportunity for expectant parents to prepare for pregnancy and parenting. With poor maternal and infant health outcomes, Indigenous Peoples from Aotearoa, Australia, Canada, and the United States, are particularly encouraged to attend antenatal education. Yet, the low rates of Indigenous Peoples attending antenatal education (will be interchangeably referred to as childbirth education throughout this thesis) do not reflect this need. Therefore, the first process in this thesis was to explore Indigenous Peoples participation and engagement in antenatal education. Using a standardised protocol, chapter 3 is a systematic review that explored how Indigenous Peoples are involved, prioritised, and privileged in antenatal education. Specifically, this systematic review examined the extent to which Indigenous Peoples, and their aspirations of health, were prioritised in academic scholarship. With only two studies involving Indigenous participants, it was evidenced that the voice of Indigenous Peoples in antenatal education is lacking in academic scholarship. A key finding was that Indigenous antenatal education programmes were not reflected in academic scholarship. Yet, within Aotearoa there are existing Kaupapa Māori antenatal education. Therefore, the next chapter (4) focused on a retrospective audit of Hapū Wānanga, a Kaupapa Māori childbirth education class.  
One reason for undertaking a retrospective audit of Hapū Wānanga (HW) was because I was genuinely interested to understand how other māmā hapū, and their whānau, experienced the programme. I wanted to give voice to these wāhine and was excited to learn whether the programme had similar value to them, as it did for me when I participated in a similar wānanga. This mixed-method interpretive study used retrospective post-course survey data of 1,152 participants over a three-year period from the HW based in the Waikato District Health Board region. This chapter amplified the experiences and voices of HW participants to affirm positive aspects of the class. Participants regarded the information that was shared as life changing, describing the constituents that separated this programme from other health service experiences. Findings revealed that an Indigenous, strengths-based approach to childbirth education service design and delivery, has positive and transformation results for whānau.
Chapter 5 focused on supporting another Kaupapa Māori antenatal wānanga, Whirihia Te Korowai Aroha, to co-design a holistic assessment tool (Whirihia tool). The Whirihia tool aimed to increase access and enhance experiences between health services and māmā hapū by identifying health or social need, then providing a dedicated referral pathway. Using the Indigenous He Pikinga Waiora Implementation (HPW) framework as a guide, this chapter provides an autoethnographic reflective account of the co-design process that led to the development and implementation of the Whirihia tool. This reflective account provides examples of key considerations that align to the HPW framework in the hopes that it will afford some guidance for fellow emerging researchers who wish to undertake ethical co-designed health research with Māori (and non-Māori) communities and organisations. The intention of this chapter is to encourage our research community to provide opportunities and platforms for community health initiatives such as Whirihia Te Korowai Aroha to be foregrounded in academic scholarship. Kaupapa Māori programmes such as these have the solutions to address issues that predominantly affect Māori, however they need the vehicles and tools to make Māori voices, visibility, and vision, heard.   
A cohort study was used to extend on the findings from the autoethnographic co-designed Whirihia tool. This chapter explored the experiences of māmā hapū and their interactions with health and social services immediately after Aotearoa’s first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020. 17 participants completed the Whirihia tool with a subsequent seven māmā participating in a semi-structured, open-ended telephone interview. Findings showed that when services enabled participants to enact their autonomy and self-determination participants valued their engagement with that service. To be responsive to Māori health needs and aspirations, services must demonstrate empathy and compassion for māmā and operate in a passive role of support rather than a position of authority and power.
The final chapter draws together the findings from the previous chapters and challenges preconceived notions that Māori do not engage with maternal and infant health services. Instead, this thesis demonstrates that Māori-led, designed, and delivered, initiatives attract Māori māmā hapū, wider whānau, and non-Māori engagement and endorsement. Foregrounded by the voice and experiences of Māori māmā hapū and their whānau, I suggest three practical steps that can be enacted immediately at both a health system, and health service delivery level to positively enhance antenatal health. First, determine the extent to which CBE classes are meeting Māori end-user needs. Second, using findings from end-user experiences as a foundation, reorient the Ministry of Health pregnancy and parenting service specifications to ensure appropriate content is prioritised in CBE classes, particularly Māori knowledge. Third, adequately resource CBE providers who can deliver programmes that meet the needs of Māori end-users. With the new Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand and Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority, now is the time to deliver on the various strategic documents to authentically meet the needs of māmā hapū and whānau. 
The evidence-based research delivered in this thesis provided the basis for the three recommended changes noted above. These recommendations can be implemented into the health system to enable positive and meaningful change for Māori, in addition to supporting efforts of other Indigenous Peoples to improve Indigenous perinatal health and wellbeing.

text: Kaupapa Māori antenatal wānanga: A solution to refocus New Zealand health service delivery for improved engagement and responsiveness with Māori māmā hapū and pēpi. The revitalisation of traditional Māori birthing knowledge and practices is a significant space to enhance Māori maternal and infant health outcomes. This thesis with publications examined the potential of two Kaupapa Māori antenatal wānanga to enhance maternal health outcomes for Māori. Using a mixed methods approach, underpinned by Kaupapa Māori research principles and supported by Māori centred research and a mana wahine theoretical perspective, this thesis reveals transformative solutions to address maternal and infant inequities. 
This thesis explores three key areas. First, maternal and infant education and knowledge during hapūtanga (pregnancy). Second, the connection and engagement of Māori māmā hapū (expectant mothers) and whānau (family) with health and community services, and third, the lived experiences of Māori māmā engaging with community services to identify barriers and enablers of service providers.  
The introductory chapters provide a contextual overview of maternal and infant health. I begin by canvassing traditional and contemporary factors that influence the current state of Indigenous, notably Māori, maternal and infant health. I then present four chapters that have been submitted to academic journals for publication. Each chapter focuses on one or more of the three key areas identified above. The final chapter draws each of the chapters together to demonstrate how Māori led health initiatives work to enhance and improve maternal health .
Chapter 3 provides a rationale for focusing on Indigenous antenatal education. Within Western countries, antenatal education is a recognised and encouraged service provided during pregnancy. Providing education and information, antenatal education is an opportunity for expectant parents to prepare for pregnancy and parenting. With poor maternal and infant health outcomes, Indigenous Peoples from Aotearoa, Australia, Canada, and the United States, are particularly encouraged to attend antenatal education. Yet, the low rates of Indigenous Peoples attending antenatal education (will be interchangeably referred to as childbirth education throughout this thesis) do not reflect this need. Therefore, the first process in this thesis was to explore Indigenous Peoples participation and engagement in antenatal education. Using a standardised protocol, chapter 3 is a systematic review that explored how Indigenous Peoples are involved, prioritised, and privileged in antenatal education. Specifically, this systematic review examined the extent to which Indigenous Peoples, and their aspirations of health, were prioritised in academic scholarship. With only two studies involving Indigenous participants, it was evidenced that the voice of Indigenous Peoples in antenatal education is lacking in academic scholarship. A key finding was that Indigenous antenatal education programmes were not reflected in academic scholarship. Yet, within Aotearoa there are existing Kaupapa Māori antenatal education. Therefore, the next chapter (4) focused on a retrospective audit of Hapū Wānanga, a Kaupapa Māori childbirth education class.  
One reason for undertaking a retrospective audit of Hapū Wānanga (HW) was because I was genuinely interested to understand how other māmā hapū, and their whānau, experienced the programme. I wanted to give voice to these wāhine and was excited to learn whether the programme had similar value to them, as it did for me when I participated in a similar wānanga. This mixed-method interpretive study used retrospective post-course survey data of 1,152 participants over a three-year period from the HW based in the Waikato District Health Board region. This chapter amplified the experiences and voices of HW participants to affirm positive aspects of the class. Participants regarded the information that was shared as life changing, describing the constituents that separated this programme from other health service experiences. Findings revealed that an Indigenous, strengths-based approach to childbirth education service design and delivery, has positive and transformation results for whānau.
Chapter 5 focused on supporting another Kaupapa Māori antenatal wānanga, Whirihia Te Korowai Aroha, to co-design a holistic assessment tool (Whirihia tool). The Whirihia tool aimed to increase access and enhance experiences between health services and māmā hapū by identifying health or social need, then providing a dedicated referral pathway. Using the Indigenous He Pikinga Waiora Implementation (HPW) framework as a guide, this chapter provides an autoethnographic reflective account of the co-design process that led to the development and implementation of the Whirihia tool. This reflective account provides examples of key considerations that align to the HPW framework in the hopes that it will afford some guidance for fellow emerging researchers who wish to undertake ethical co-designed health research with Māori (and non-Māori) communities and organisations. The intention of this chapter is to encourage our research community to provide opportunities and platforms for community health initiatives such as Whirihia Te Korowai Aroha to be foregrounded in academic scholarship. Kaupapa Māori programmes such as these have the solutions to address issues that predominantly affect Māori, however they need the vehicles and tools to make Māori voices, visibility, and vision, heard.   
A cohort study was used to extend on the findings from the autoethnographic co-designed Whirihia tool. This chapter explored the experiences of māmā hapū and their interactions with health and social services immediately after Aotearoa’s first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020. 17 participants completed the Whirihia tool with a subsequent seven māmā participating in a semi-structured, open-ended telephone interview. Findings showed that when services enabled participants to enact their autonomy and self-determination participants valued their engagement with that service. To be responsive to Māori health needs and aspirations, services must demonstrate empathy and compassion for māmā and operate in a passive role of support rather than a position of authority and power.
The final chapter draws together the findings from the previous chapters and challenges preconceived notions that Māori do not engage with maternal and infant health services. Instead, this thesis demonstrates that Māori-led, designed, and delivered, initiatives attract Māori māmā hapū, wider whānau, and non-Māori engagement and endorsement. Foregrounded by the voice and experiences of Māori māmā hapū and their whānau, I suggest three practical steps that can be enacted immediately at both a health system, and health service delivery level to positively enhance antenatal health. First, determine the extent to which CBE classes are meeting Māori end-user needs. Second, using findings from end-user experiences as a foundation, reorient the Ministry of Health pregnancy and parenting service specifications to ensure appropriate content is prioritised in CBE classes, particularly Māori knowledge. Third, adequately resource CBE providers who can deliver programmes that meet the needs of Māori end-users. With the new Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand and Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority, now is the time to deliver on the various strategic documents to authentically meet the needs of māmā hapū and whānau. 
The evidence-based research delivered in this thesis provided the basis for the three recommended changes noted above. These recommendations can be implemented into the health system to enable positive and meaningful change for Māori, in addition to supporting efforts of other Indigenous Peoples to improve Indigenous perinatal health and wellbeing.

year: 2023