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Item To take all reasonable steps : what does this mean for school boards of trustees? : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University(Massey University, 2004) Niven-Simpson, Patricia MargaretThis thesis explores the meaning of the legal phrase contained in s63 of the Education Act 1989, 'to take all reasonable steps'. It questions how Boards of Trustees in New Zealand schools view it and if and how it influences the ways they control their schools. The restructuring of education resulted from the adoption of neo-liberal economic theory by the Labour government in 1984. These reforms had the effect of devolving power to Boards of Trustees through a charter that acted as an undertaking by boards to implement community derived goals and objectives within a legislative and regulatory framework. The 1989 Act introduced the legal requirement 'to take all reasonable steps' that legislatively describes the wide discretion Boards have to control their schools within the parameters of that framework. No prior research into this specific legal requirement exists, and therefore this study extends into the domains of reasonableness in law, education and law, aspects of neo-liberal theory, concepts of power and empowerment, decision-making, and compliance. These domains informed the research approach, which explored the narratives of the members of school boards. The research demonstrates tensions between the intent of the NPM model of self-governing schools and the reality of self-governance for New Zealand schools. The study reveals a generally poor understanding of the legal requirement 'to take all reasonable steps' and the consequently minimal direct impact the requirement had on the ways the participating Boards governed and managed their schools. Further investigations revealed widely differing opinions over the meaning of this legal requirement and, in particular, the strong influence of government agencies on the ways these Boards attained assurance that their governance and management practices were reasonable. The research demonstrates that alternative influences, such as common sense and altruism were informing Boards' decision-making practices. The research concludes that the complexity of the legal concept of reasonableness and the seeming reluctance of the law to define its meaning in special circumstances limits its effectiveness as a tool for devolving power and discretion to Boards of Trustees.Item Women as governors : powerful leadership with a difference : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Administration, Massey University(Massey University, 1997) Hawk, KayThis research project involved the Board of Trustee chairwomen of six Auckland secondary, co-educational state schools working together over an eighteen month period using an action research methodology. The group met monthly to discuss issues of importance to individuals or the whole group. A high level of trust developed early and the discussions became the focus for the sharing of ideas, strategies and resources as well as an opportunity for shared problem solving and support The researcher, as a chairwoman, was a fully participating member of the group. The research was guided by a set of research questions. Data collection strategies included group discussions, interviews with each of the chairwomen and with their Principals and observations of Board of Trustee meetings. Data from these sources were brought back to the group who shared in the interpretation of it. There is no research information on how chairpeople of school Boards of Trustees enact their positions and very little information on voluntary leadership. The voluntary and elected nature of this leadership is an important influence on the motives of the women and on their determination to lead from within and with the group. The similarities in the motives and chosen styles of enacting the chairwoman's position were many and they corresponded closely to those described in the literature on women's leadership. On the other hand, there were also important differences which the current literature did not seem to explain. It appeared, therefore, to be too simplistic to explain the similarities by taking an essentialist view that could not explain the differences. This thesis looks to a feminist post-structuralist analysis to help understand both the similarities and the differences. Being a woman was an influential factor in leadership style but not because of gender as such. It was important because of the many subject positions taken up and held concurrently by the women and the ways they had learned to reconcile the conflicting demands of those positions. Some of these positions, such as 'woman', 'mother', 'wife', 'neighbour' and 'community volunteer' are very much products of the discursive ways in which gender relations in our New Zealand society have been constructed. The influence of some, such as 'responsible person', 'victim' and 'nurse' were particular to the unique experience of the person when growing up in their childhood family and within their marriage. The inpact of others, such as 'career woman', 'leader', 'educator', 'change agent' and 'trustee' were a result of choices made by the women about how they wanted to construct their lives. The order in which they were taken up and the interrelationships between these various subject positions forced the women to make decisions and choices about how they would work within and between them. Throughout their lives the six chairwomen had each occupied very similar subject positions and recounted very similar learnings resulting from the experiences. This similarity of experiences accounts, to a large extent for the similarity in motivation and in preferred ways of operating within the chairperson position. The differing orders in which the various subject positions were taken up appears to explain many of the differences in their confidence levels and operating styles.