title: Managing work-family conflict: Exploring individual and organisational options

authors: Haar, Jarrod M.

subjects: work-family conflict

abstract: The current work-family conflict literature often fails to examine how employees attempt to manage conflict. This study of 203 government workers examined individual options (e.g. hiring domestic help) and organisational options (e.g. use of flexitime) as predictors of work-family conflict. Of the individual options, help from family and relatives, and the use of domestic services were positively associated with work-family conflict, while time spent on self was negatively linked. Use of domestic services and stress reduction techniques were positively associated with family-work conflict, while time spent on self was negatively linked. Of the organizational options, use of the childcare subsidy was positively associated with work-family conflict, while use of unpaid leave was found to be negatively linked with work-family conflict. Use of unpaid leave was also negatively linked to family-work conflict, while use of flexitime was positively associated. Overall, findings indicate individual and organizational options are more likely to increase rather than decrease conflict suggesting a reaction to conflict rather than a buffer.

text: Managing work-family conflict: Exploring individual and organisational options The current work-family conflict literature often fails to examine how employees attempt to manage conflict. This study of 203 government workers examined individual options (e.g. hiring domestic help) and organisational options (e.g. use of flexitime) as predictors of work-family conflict. Of the individual options, help from family and relatives, and the use of domestic services were positively associated with work-family conflict, while time spent on self was negatively linked. Use of domestic services and stress reduction techniques were positively associated with family-work conflict, while time spent on self was negatively linked. Of the organizational options, use of the childcare subsidy was positively associated with work-family conflict, while use of unpaid leave was found to be negatively linked with work-family conflict. Use of unpaid leave was also negatively linked to family-work conflict, while use of flexitime was positively associated. Overall, findings indicate individual and organizational options are more likely to increase rather than decrease conflict suggesting a reaction to conflict rather than a buffer.

year: 2009

title: Teachers' experiences in curriculum implementation: General curriculum, the arts, and health and physical education

authors: McGee, Clive

subjects: National School Sampling Study

abstract: This report is part of the National School Sampling Study, a Ministry of Education initiative to investigate how teachers work with the curriculum, 2002-2003. The first report in June 2001 outlined how teacher focus group discussions informed the development of national questionnaires. In April 2002 the research team reported on the first round of questionnaires: general curriculum; mathematics; technology; and Māori medium. A subsequent report in April 2003 outlined the results of questionnaires to investigate teachers' experiences in teaching from the New Zealand national curriculum documents in English, languages (Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Samoan), science and social studies.
The major content of this report is the results of another general questionnaire and questionnaires on the arts and health and physical education. The report presents statistical data based upon frequencies and ratios, often organised into school type. Where appropriate, additional comments from `other' categories are presented. Questionnaires included open-ended questions, and results from these are from a sub-sample drawn up for each set of questionnaire responses.
The questionnaires were designed to allow teachers to self-report their curriculum experiences, particularly in using the documents that form a central part of New Zealand's national curriculum: The New Zealand Curriculum Framework (Ministry of Education, 1993), and the statements for the seven curriculum areas which were all relevant to this survey round. Some teachers focused upon the arts or the health and physical education curriculum statements; others on the curriculum generally. Teachers were asked about the documents themselves, professional development, assessment, reporting achievement, school curriculum organisation, the impact of various national curriculum policies, support and resources, and curriculum manageability. They were also encouraged to describe effective aspects of their teaching from the documents, and to reflect upon the impact upon student achievement.
The results show that national curriculum implementation is a complex matter. In general, teachers were reasonably positive about various aspects of their own teaching. Many reported increased confidence in planning, assessment and reporting. The curriculum documents were fairly positively regarded. A number of other factors contributed to teacher confidence such as professional development, resources, review of schools and teachers, and the influence of other teachers. However, there were concerns that need to be taken into consideration in future policy; for example, the quality and type of professional development and resources, curriculum and teacher overload, and teachers' reservations about some aspects of the curriculum documents.

text: Teachers' experiences in curriculum implementation: General curriculum, the arts, and health and physical education This report is part of the National School Sampling Study, a Ministry of Education initiative to investigate how teachers work with the curriculum, 2002-2003. The first report in June 2001 outlined how teacher focus group discussions informed the development of national questionnaires. In April 2002 the research team reported on the first round of questionnaires: general curriculum; mathematics; technology; and Māori medium. A subsequent report in April 2003 outlined the results of questionnaires to investigate teachers' experiences in teaching from the New Zealand national curriculum documents in English, languages (Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Samoan), science and social studies.
The major content of this report is the results of another general questionnaire and questionnaires on the arts and health and physical education. The report presents statistical data based upon frequencies and ratios, often organised into school type. Where appropriate, additional comments from `other' categories are presented. Questionnaires included open-ended questions, and results from these are from a sub-sample drawn up for each set of questionnaire responses.
The questionnaires were designed to allow teachers to self-report their curriculum experiences, particularly in using the documents that form a central part of New Zealand's national curriculum: The New Zealand Curriculum Framework (Ministry of Education, 1993), and the statements for the seven curriculum areas which were all relevant to this survey round. Some teachers focused upon the arts or the health and physical education curriculum statements; others on the curriculum generally. Teachers were asked about the documents themselves, professional development, assessment, reporting achievement, school curriculum organisation, the impact of various national curriculum policies, support and resources, and curriculum manageability. They were also encouraged to describe effective aspects of their teaching from the documents, and to reflect upon the impact upon student achievement.
The results show that national curriculum implementation is a complex matter. In general, teachers were reasonably positive about various aspects of their own teaching. Many reported increased confidence in planning, assessment and reporting. The curriculum documents were fairly positively regarded. A number of other factors contributed to teacher confidence such as professional development, resources, review of schools and teachers, and the influence of other teachers. However, there were concerns that need to be taken into consideration in future policy; for example, the quality and type of professional development and resources, curriculum and teacher overload, and teachers' reservations about some aspects of the curriculum documents.

year: 2004

title: Ngā niho tēte o Pekehāua: An indigenous articulation of governance

authors: Mahuika, Rangimarie

subjects: Indigenous Governance

abstract: This thesis originally set out to examine the structures and models available within New Zealand for a post-settlement tribal governance framework that would meet the Office of Treaty Settlements requirements while empowering the needs and aspirations of Ngāti Rangiwewehi. During the course of the study, as a result of the fast-tracking of our tribal settlement this emphasis changed. With Ngāti Rangiwewehi electing to utilise the government recommended templates for the post-settlement entity, the research shifted to consider the evolution of governance within the tribe, looking at the ways tribal governance had developed from traditional practices to our current governance frameworks. It was anticipated that gaining a deeper understanding of the factors that have shaped and influenced our governance would also give us the necessary insights to adapt the Crown model the tribe had adopted to ensure it was able to meet Ngāti Rangiwewehi’s future aspirations. This belief was grounded in an understanding that prior to the arrival of Pākehā to Aotearoa/New Zealand Ngāti Rangiwewehi, along with all other iwi Māori, had their own systems of Governance. Our governance frameworks, encapsulated within our tikanga and kawa, operated to produce a strong, vibrant, and self-determining society. Through colonisation, and its imposed Western frameworks for governance within Aotearoa New Zealand, traditional Māori frameworks for law and governance were undermined, deconstructed, or marginalised to make way for the civilizing discourses and structures of the Settler, as enforced by the British Crown. Although the dominant system of law and frameworks for governance may have changed, Ngāti Rangiwewehi and Māori desires for self-determination have not.
Against this background the central question of this study has itself evolved, initially contemplating to what extent Ngāti Rangiwewehi might be able to remain self-determining in and through their post-settlement governance arrangements. The overwhelming conclusion the study could not avoid was that any governance approach drawn from the settler-colonial Eurocentric system currently dominant in New Zealand would be incapable of supporting tribal aspirations for self-determination. What was equally evident was the continued determination that the tribe, collectively and individually, maintained to mediate the imposed governance frameworks that interfere in our ability to fully exercise our tino rangatiratanga, or in our iwi-specific context, our tino Rangiwewehitanga. This observation led to the final iteration of the thesis question which asks what frameworks for governance would best empower Ngāti Rangiwewehi to be self-determining in and beyond this post-settlement governance era? Throughout the research what became apparent was the potential to utilise our traditional frameworks for governance, described and encapsulated within this study as Rangiwewehitanga, a decolonial paradigm for tribal governance. Viewed in this way, Rangiwewehitanga expands our understanding of governance beyond the limited perspectives imposed through colonization and requires our people to recognise and return to the wisdom of our ancestral teachings to craft the most appropriate pathways forward.

text: Ngā niho tēte o Pekehāua: An indigenous articulation of governance This thesis originally set out to examine the structures and models available within New Zealand for a post-settlement tribal governance framework that would meet the Office of Treaty Settlements requirements while empowering the needs and aspirations of Ngāti Rangiwewehi. During the course of the study, as a result of the fast-tracking of our tribal settlement this emphasis changed. With Ngāti Rangiwewehi electing to utilise the government recommended templates for the post-settlement entity, the research shifted to consider the evolution of governance within the tribe, looking at the ways tribal governance had developed from traditional practices to our current governance frameworks. It was anticipated that gaining a deeper understanding of the factors that have shaped and influenced our governance would also give us the necessary insights to adapt the Crown model the tribe had adopted to ensure it was able to meet Ngāti Rangiwewehi’s future aspirations. This belief was grounded in an understanding that prior to the arrival of Pākehā to Aotearoa/New Zealand Ngāti Rangiwewehi, along with all other iwi Māori, had their own systems of Governance. Our governance frameworks, encapsulated within our tikanga and kawa, operated to produce a strong, vibrant, and self-determining society. Through colonisation, and its imposed Western frameworks for governance within Aotearoa New Zealand, traditional Māori frameworks for law and governance were undermined, deconstructed, or marginalised to make way for the civilizing discourses and structures of the Settler, as enforced by the British Crown. Although the dominant system of law and frameworks for governance may have changed, Ngāti Rangiwewehi and Māori desires for self-determination have not.
Against this background the central question of this study has itself evolved, initially contemplating to what extent Ngāti Rangiwewehi might be able to remain self-determining in and through their post-settlement governance arrangements. The overwhelming conclusion the study could not avoid was that any governance approach drawn from the settler-colonial Eurocentric system currently dominant in New Zealand would be incapable of supporting tribal aspirations for self-determination. What was equally evident was the continued determination that the tribe, collectively and individually, maintained to mediate the imposed governance frameworks that interfere in our ability to fully exercise our tino rangatiratanga, or in our iwi-specific context, our tino Rangiwewehitanga. This observation led to the final iteration of the thesis question which asks what frameworks for governance would best empower Ngāti Rangiwewehi to be self-determining in and beyond this post-settlement governance era? Throughout the research what became apparent was the potential to utilise our traditional frameworks for governance, described and encapsulated within this study as Rangiwewehitanga, a decolonial paradigm for tribal governance. Viewed in this way, Rangiwewehitanga expands our understanding of governance beyond the limited perspectives imposed through colonization and requires our people to recognise and return to the wisdom of our ancestral teachings to craft the most appropriate pathways forward.

year: 2019