Hauora and physical education in New Zealand: perspectives of Māori and Pasifika

Discussion surrounding the concept of Hauora (Durie, 1994) in the document Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1999) has been controversial. Some writers have praised or justified its inclusion (Culpan, 1996/1997; Tasker, 1996/1997; Tinning, MacDonald, Wright & Hickey, 2001), while others accuse the writers of tokenism and misappropriation of indigenous knowledge (Hokowhitu, 2004; Salter, 2000). While existing at a political level, these debates have generally ignored student responses to and interactions with Hauora. Thus, this article intervenes in the existing debate and makes the case for the inclusion of student perspectives. My claims are made on the basis of a study into the perspectives of Māori and Pasifika students of physical education in New Zealand. The experiences of these students are related to the theory of hybridity (Besley, 2002; Bhabha, 1994), which suggests that young people actively negotiate and make critical decisions about what they think is relevant to them. I argue that the debate surrounding the concept of Hauora needs to include students' perspectives and consideration of the agency of young people in interactions with curriculum concepts

Is physical education relevant? Interpersonal skills, values and hybridity

Discussion surrounding the relevance of the document Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum has focused on a range of areas. While some writers claim it has the potential to be emancipatory and the inclusion of interpersonal skills and values is important and meaningful, others have levelled criticisms that the document is trying to do too much and has a middle class agenda. This article reports part of the findings of a small study which explored how some Maori and Pasifika students viewed their experiences of physical education in one major urban New Zealand high school. The experiences of these students are related to Besley's notion of hybridity. Her argument suggests that young people actively negotiate and make critical decisions about what they think is relevant to them. The students believed physical education has provided them with opportunities to develop and practice care for others and to learn and apply interpersonal skills as well as to gain confidence and apply their skills in situations outside the school setting. The study argues the need for curriculum to connect with the wider lives of students and any degree of connection can only occur if students are given a voice in the curriculum implementation process

The Interaction of Metropolitan Cost-of-living & the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit: One Size Fits All?

This paper explores the interaction between the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the cost-of-living faced by single mothers. After the 1993 EITC expansion, we identify up to a 10 percentage point increase in labor force participation for single mothers in the lowest cost areas but no discernable response in the highest cost areas. We conclude that the EITC’s welfare-enhancing properties are undermined by the interaction of the program’s fixed national rules and geographic variation in wages and cost-of-living. In addition, our findings suggest that the EITC does little to reduce joblessness in many of the nation’s largest cities.EITC; Cost-of-Living; Tax reform; Labor supply

The Harvest Box will increase hunger for SNAP recipients. Here's what Congress should consider instead

In February, the Trump administration proposed some major changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. Under the proposal, at least half of recipients' benefits would be replaced by a 'Harvest Box' containing shelf-stable staples rather than fresh produce. Katie Fitzpatrick argues that the plan would increase hunger and the stigma of receiving SNAP. Rather than going forward with the administration’s proposed reforms, she writes that Congress should strengthen the program by increasing benefits and improving access to healthy food

Lack of a car is more important to elderly residents of food deserts than lack of a nearby supermarket.

New policies at the local, state, and federal level seek to address the problem of food deserts because living far from a supermarket is thought to be related to food hardship and unhealthy eating patterns. In new research, Katie Fitzpatrick and co-authors find little evidence that living in a food desert affects food-related distress among the elderly. Rather, transportation difficulties are more important than limited access to a grocery store. Elderly individuals residing in a food desert without a vehicle are 12 percentage points more likely to report experiencing food insufficiency than food desert residents with a vehicle. Additionally, SNAP recipients living in food deserts are 11 percentage points more likely to receive Meals on Wheels

Letter to William Younger regarding SEAALL Officers, August 13, 1974

A letter from Katie Fitzpatrick to William Younger asking for a list of current SEAALL Officers

Letter to William Younger regarding the AALL Directory, July 29, 1975

A letter from Katie Fitzpatrick to William Younger requesting information on various matters related to SEAALL for an AALL Directory

Use of Alternative Financial Services and Childhood Food Insecurity

Low- and moderate-income (LMI) households with children often face considerable difficulties in ensuring enough financial resources for an adequate diet. This project investigates the use of financial services and other financial decisions parents make that may affect the risk of very low food security and food insecurity of children. With households in both the December 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS) Food Security Supplement and the January 2009 CPS Unbanked and Underbanked Supplement, the project studies the relationship between bank account ownership, use of alternative financial service (AFS) providers, the organization of household finances, and the food security of children. Both children in unbanked households and those in households that use AFS products are more likely to experience very low food security and food insecurity than other households. Children in previously banked households face extremely high risk of food insecurity. Children in households that use AFS products that provide credit are more likely to experience very low food security than households using AFS product for basic financial transaction services. Large associations exist between the use of AFS products providing credit and child food insecurity but only pawn borrowing appears to have a causal effect. Couples that share at least some finances and jointly participate in financial decisions reduce the risk of child food insecurity. Evidence suggests that improved financial literacy and management skills could improve outcomes. Policies to eliminate childhood hunger should include a multifaceted approach that includes financial education, appropriate bank accounts, and access to low-cost credit

Utilization of Income Tax Credits by Low-Income Individuals

The Internal Revenue Service-a sub-agency that exists to collect revenue-has the task of administering and enforcing a wide array of social policy: from subsidies for college and child care expenses, to creating jobs in depressed areas, and assisting welfare recipients with employment. While these new or expanded credits represent a new paradigm in the delivery of social policy, little is known about who uses these programs and, equally important, who does not use these programs. Understanding utilization is a key to understanding how effective this means of transferring income is and whether we are reaching the targeted populations. This paper provides a framework for thinking about utilization of tax credits among low-income individuals, supported by existing research on credit utilization. With the existing data, it appears that utilization is by far the largest for the EITC, possibly because it is the oldest of these programs, the only refundable program, and the best targeted at low-income individuals. Utilization is low among low-income individuals in some tax credits because low-income individuals are not eligible. A redesign, including reducing complexity and administrative burdens or making these programs refundable, would result in the programs reaching those that they are ostensibly targeted towards. Conditional on being eligible, one common factor associated with increasing participation in many of these programs is a high benefit to cost ratio and sophistication with the tax system, whether that be through the use of a paid preparer, higher education levels, or experience with the tax system. Policymakers should think creatively about reducing filing burdens to increase participation, such as through wider use of electronic filing

Stop playing up! A critical ethnography of health, physical education and (sub)urban schooling

This thesis explores the place of health and physical education in the lives of Otara youth in New Zealand. Situated in the southern suburbs of New Zealand’s largest city, Otara, South Auckland is known for its cultural diversity, as well as for poverty and crime. It is home to large numbers of indigenous Maori and migrant Pasifika (Pacific Island) youth. Based on a year-long critical ethnography of a multiethnic high school, this thesis explores how these young people engage with and respond to the school subjects of health and physical education. It also discusses broader issues in their lives, including the social geographies within which they reside, and how they understand their bodies, sexuality, health, gender and physicalities. The subjects of health and physical education are compulsory in most schools internationally – in New Zealand they are directly linked in curriculum policy documents and in school practice – but share a somewhat uneasy relationship and differing historical positions. Considered low status in schools, these subjects are also conflated with narrow body and health norms, possibly problematic for young women, and/or are wedded to the social and cultural world of sport. Curriculum policy documents established in the last ten years offer the possibility of critical and social approaches to these subjects, but examples of critical practice remain rare. Health and physical education are thus compulsory, contentious, contradictory and complex subjects within contemporary schooling. Critical ethnographies of schooling are relatively scarce compared with conventional ethnographic accounts, but critical ethnographies of health and physical education (PE) are almost unheard of. The use of such a methodology in this study enabled an indepth account of Otara youth in the subjects of health and PE at school. It also provided a platform for storied accounts of how one teacher, Dan, enacted a critical and culturally connected pedagogy of health and PE with the young people in his classes. This thesis explores the complex potential for health and PE as key sites of learning for Pasifika and Maori youth. It examines health and PE as subjects that are both politically fraught and spaces of hope