The measurement of training opportunities course outcomes: an effective policy tool?

Training Opportunities is an active labour market policy initiative, and part of a response to the entrenched problems of unemployment in Aotearoa New Zealand. The funding and implementation of Training Opportunities are determined in part by a particular system for measuring course outcomes. This paper argues that this measuring system should not be used for policy development, due to measurement errors and problems assigning causality to the intervention. Consequently, various disincentives arise that contradict the objectives of Training Opportunities. While accountability is important, the over-reliance on the narrowly defined Training Opportunities outcomes undermines the ability of providers to assist the unemployed, and thereby contribute to the policy goals of reducing unemployment and labour market disadvantage in New Zealand

Training the 'disadvantaged' unemployed: Policy frameworks and community responses to unemployment

This research examines active labour market policy, and in particular, training schemes targeted towards unemployed individuals who are the most disadvantaged in the labour market in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The purpose of this research is to first, highlight the main tensions between the current policy frameworks for the design and the practice of such training. The second purpose is to offer explanations for these tensions by highlighting the competitive free-market and rational individualistic assumptions that underpin the current frameworks and, in particular, how these constrain the 'choices' and possibilities for the most disadvantaged unemployed. The study identifies and examines State Active Neoliberalism, as a specific place-time articulation of neoliberalism, adopted by two successive Labour-led governments in New Zealand from 1999-2005. Thirdly, a community development theoretical framework is proposed to underpin recommendations that could support more enabling and empowering policies for the most disadvantaged unemployed and the organisations that seek to assist them. The thesis draws on case studies of major State-funded training schemes for long-term unemployed individuals to illustrate the 'on-the-ground' consequences of the discursive shifts in policy rhetoric. This research combines an in-depth, qualitative field research approach with a critical analysis of policy frameworks and political representations of unemployment, training and labour market issues in documents, publications and communications. The findings of this research are that a competitive quasi-market for training provision and the increased reliance on narrow outcome measurements, position commercial imperatives ahead of assisting the most disadvantaged unemployed. In order to remain viable, training organisations are increasingly faced with the need to sacrifice social motivations for commercial survival. This situation erodes the scope, at the local level, for services that are relevant to the various needs and circumstances of disadvantaged unemployed people. While the overarching policy discourses maintain that training schemes serve the needs of the most disadvantaged unemployed, policy mechanisms and competitive labour market contexts undermine such objectives. Not only are the most disadvantaged unemployed people frequently unable to access services claiming to be for their benefit, they are by definition less likely to succeed in the context of competitive labour markets and individualised society

Metonymic objects, cultural practices and narrative repair: Sri Lankan responses to the Indian Ocean tsunami

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami resulted in a tragic loss of life and immense suffering. This article explores the ways in which a group of people from Sri Lanka worked to address the disruption to their life narratives caused by the loss of loved ones. We go beyond a focus on ‘talk’ in narrative research in health psychology to explore the importance of material objects in sustaining continued bonds with the deceased. This article provides an alternative to the tendency in mainstream psychology to pathologise grief and highlights the importance of culturally patterned responses to disaster

Hybrid identities and interconnected spacialities: The role of cricket in the settlement of Sri Lankan migrants in New Zealand

This article explores the ways in which Sri Lankan migrants in New Zealand establish a sense of continuity between the host nation and country of origin by forging interconnected spatialities. Particular attention is paid to the complex and fluid cultural identities of migrants, evident in their negotiations of place through material social practices. Drawing insights from postcolonial, Indigenous and social practice scholarship, we focus on cricket as a social practice that has become entangled within the settlement experiences of our participants who have moved from one postcolonial nation to another. This research foregrounds the agency and resilience of migrants, and acknowledges the complexities of postcolonial identities in the context of migration

Dual-heritage households: Food, culture, and re-membering in Hamilton, New Zealand

Food is deeply connected to processes of re-membering, identity construction, the texturing of shared spaces, and social relationships. This case-comparative research focusses on how everyday food-related practices (sourcing, preparing, serving and eating) reproduce aspects of culture and communal ways of being. We will consider the food practices of three dual-heritage households who took part in a series of biographical, ‘go-along’, ‘eat-along’ and photo-elicitation interviews. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which food is intimately interwoven with familial relationships, the reproduction of hybrid ways of being, and connecting the present, past, and future

Street health: Practitioner service provision for Maori homeless people in Auckland

Drawing insights from interviews with Maori homeless people, health professionals, and relevant local and international literatures, this chapter focuses on the provision of medical care to homeless people. In particular, we propose that health services orientate to accommodate the worldviews and circumstances of Maori homeless people. Below we consider colonialism and societal developments that have led to homelessness among Maori today. We then present a case study of ‘Grant’, which was compiled from common aspects of various Maori homeless people who access health services at the Auckland City Mission (ACM); an organisation with a long history of catering to the needs and hopes of dispossessed groups, providing food, clothing, advocacy, social and health services. The relational orientation of healthcare at the ACM is discussed, and leads to an exploration of ‘judgement-free service space’ for meeting client needs (cf., Trussell & Mair, 2010). Lastly, we focus on how health professionals can respond to the multiple healthcare needs of Maori homeless people, in partnership with social services

Māori men renewing cultural embeddedness through engagements in tangihanga

Research on Māori (Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand) men have been predominantly deficit-focused and reliant upon negative stereotypes relating to crime, anti-social behaviour, and poor parenting practices. There has been little research on the positive contributions Māori men make to their whānau (immediate and extended family), communities, and broader society. This research draws on Kaupapa Māori research (KMR) and elements of ethnographic and case-based methods to study men's contributions during a series of tangihanga (traditional Māori funeral process of grieving) held on a marae (ceremonial arena specific to the socio-cultural history of a Māori sub-tribe and/or tribe). Our approach was guided by Kaupapa Māori research principles and included Pūrākau (narrative) interviews with five men who were working to support the tangihanga, and direct go-along observations by the first author who worked with participants at the marae where tangihanga were being held. By participating in collective practices of work, grief and mourning during tangihanga, these men embraced opportunities to reflect on their lives and ways of being Māori men, and to share their emotions in positive ways rarely considered in literature on contemporary Māori masculinities. By contributing positively to tangihanga, participants were able to renew themselves within culturally patterned ways of being Māori men both within the Māori world and broader settler society of Aotearoa New Zealand. The cultural institution of tangihanga contributed positively to participants’ sense of cultural continuity and self as Māori

Homeless lives in New Zealand: The case of central Auckland

Homelessness is a pressing and increasingly visible concern in New Zealand. Many people sleeping rough are male and of Maori or Pacific descent. This research focuses on understanding the nature of resilience through the lived experiences of homeless people. To gain insights into cultures of homelessness, a qualitative case study research design was used to engage six homeless people who took part in a series of interviews and photoproduction exercises. Participants are of Maori, Pacific Island, and Pakeha ethnic backgrounds. It therefore may become important to document how homeless people see themselves in relation to their communities of origin and the wider public

Māori men: An indigenous psychological perspective on the interconnected self

The positive relational practices of Māori men are seldom explored in academic research. Responding to this gap in the literature, this article explores how Māori men negotiate a positive sense of self and relationships. This research is guided by kaupapa Māori research practice, Māori cultural concepts, and relational understandings of identity and wellbeing. Our ethnographic approach involved direct observations, engagement in shared cultural practices and narrative interviews. During these interactions, participating men invoked a positive sense of self through accounts of belonging, reciprocity, dialogue, intimacy, and care for themselves, their whānau, and traditions. We found that Māori men's identities are negotiated through interactions with whānau (immediate and extended family), and particular places and practices. Our participants demonstrated how Māori men’s positive self-constructions are fundamentally interconnected with other people, cultural traditions, socio-cultural practices, physical and symbolic places, as well as their own health and the health of those around them

Migrants straddling the "here" and "there": Explorations of habitus and hybrid identities among Sri Lankan migrants in New Zealand

Migrant settlement is of particular interest to the field of psychology due to a notable increase in the movement of people over the past few decades. This article explores the ways in which Sri Lankan migrants in New Zealand establish a sense of continuity between the host nation and country of origin. The theoretical framework for this research is informed by elements of ethnographic and indigenous research. We provide a rich understanding of migrant experiences that foregrounds the agency and resilience of migrants, and acknowledges the complexities of the notion of identity and migrant settlement. We explore complex, fluid, and hybrid cultural identities as experienced by Sri Lankan migrants and their negotiations of space and place, material practices, and objects of significance, such as an educational institution, antique dinnerware, and furniture with colonial origins. The present research thereby, argues for the need to acknowledge both the historical and current contexts that shape migrants' sense of habitus and cultural identities