Social Work - Theses
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ItemSocial work education in Aotearoa New Zealand: Advancing an equity agenda through democratising and decolonising policy, programmes and practice(2020)Purpose The profession of social work has a long-standing commitment to addressing issues of equity and disadvantage. Giving effect to democratising and decolonising practices in social work education has nevertheless presented challenges for the discipline. An integrated three-part qualitative study was undertaken to consider how social work education in Aotearoa New Zealand operationalises its commitment to an equity agenda particularly through democratising and decolonising practices across three influencing domains: policies, programmes and practices. Methods Three mixed-method, qualitative waves of research were undertaken. A document analysis of the global, Aotearoa and Australian sets of social work education standards formed the first wave. This analysis raised questions about how the equity-based agenda, conceptualised in the twin themes of democratising and decolonising practices, was being operationalised in programmes and in teaching. In the second wave of research, interviews were undertaken with social work education leaders to examine how these two themes were being operationalised across programmes of social work education in Aotearoa. In the third wave of research, focus groups and interviews were undertaken with social work educators more broadly to examine how the equity themes were being operationalised in teaching practices in tertiary institutions in Aotearoa. Findings The findings from the first wave of research identified a number of equity themes, in particular: service user and student participation, student representativeness, indigenous rights and political action, gender and cultural equity, and equitable access for students. The findings from the document analysis specifically relating to democratising and decolonising practices informed Waves 2 and 3 of the research. In Wave 2, leaders identified opportunities for advancing democratising and decolonising practices across three spheres: first, by supporting students, including engaging with the student voice, maintaining systems of representation and creating a diverse student cohort; second, by recruiting, maintaining and supporting a diverse workforce and, in particular, developing an equity-focused workforce strategy to support these aims; and third, by using leadership to advance an equity-focused social work education. In Wave 3, social work educators highlighted the challenges in operationalising democratising and decolonising teaching and learning practices. In particular, they identified the importance of addressing issues of privilege: understanding settler and White privilege and the responsibility for addressing it in the classroom context; broader issues of privilege, including racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ableism and ageism, and the value of an intersectional approach; the relationship between regulation and privilege; and the importance of developing decolonising frameworks for practice. Conclusion This thesis highlights both the challenges and the opportunities for developing democratising and decolonising programmes and practices in social work education in Aotearoa. In giving effect to positive change, the findings of the thesis reinforce the importance of values-based policies and practices, particularly when exploring the complexities of navigating a bicultural social work education. A number of frameworks for action are presented, including a leadership framework identifying key enabling elements that are important to the creation of equity-based programmes, and a framework supporting teaching practices that are decolonising and Treaty based. The importance of advancing policy, programme and practice equity through positive activism is reinforced.
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ItemThe experiences of parents of children who have dyslexia in Victoria, Australia: a social justice perspective(2017)This study aimed to shed light on the experiences of parents in Victoria, Australia with a school-aged child diagnosed with dyslexia. Utilising a mixed method research design, the study examined the experiences of parents as they navigated the pathway to their child’s diagnosis and attempted to gain support for their child’s learning disability post diagnosis. Applying a social work, social justice lens, this study examined the impact of the current social policy status of dyslexia on parents and their children as they sought recognition and support within the education system. Nancy Fraser’s theory of need recognition (1989) was utilised to provide a theoretical lens with which to analyse parents’ experiences and provide insight into the current status of the recognition of dyslexia in Victoria. The findings provided insight into the struggle by parents for the recognition of the needs of children who have dyslexia. The experiences of parents presented in the findings of this study illustrated the complex terrain parents traversed in order to have their child’s dyslexia identified and to obtain support for their child’s learning needs. The findings demonstrated that parents of children with dyslexia in Victoria navigated, largely unsupported, the domain of the educational system and were predominantly responsible for identifying early signs of their child’s dyslexia and funding resources to meet their additional learning needs. As parents encountered this landscape, they negotiated many professional terrains in a largely unregulated marketplace of services and resources. Despite the existence of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cwlth) and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, the findings demonstrate that neither the state, nor the Catholic nor the independent school sectors consistently recognised or addressed the needs of children with dyslexia. This was largely a consequence of the absence of a mandated overarching educational policy framework and the consequent lack of comprehensive provision of pre-service and in-service teacher training in relation to dyslexia and resources for the identification and remediation of dyslexia. The failure of the state to provide resources resulted in an over-reliance on parents to support their child’s learning needs. This contributed to social injustice in the form of inequity for children, as the provision of resources was dependent on factors associated with children’s family of origin, economic context and the extent to which the child’s school was prepared and able to allocate resources to children with dyslexia. This study demonstrates that the lack of structural recognition of dyslexia results in a paucity of knowledge relating to dyslexia which is exacerbated by the lack of allocation of consistent and comprehensive provisions and resources to accommodate the learning needs of children with dyslexia. These deficits lead to discrimination in relation to the provision of education to children with dyslexia. Recommendations from this study include policy recognition of dyslexia, mandated teacher education relating to dyslexia and the allocation of resources for the identification, remediation and accommodation of students with dyslexia in the education system.