West Yorkshire Police And A Merger Research Proposal

West Yorkshire Police And A Merger - Research Proposal Example The goal being to incorporate the police together so they would ultimately be together under one unit. The proposal will investigate the issues that would arise for the public sector as a result of the mergers. In addition, the perception of the police regarding the merger will be examined. The purpose of the research on the merger is to investigate and present the action methods that will work best to formulate a decision regarding the merger and reach a conclusion as to the best and most ethical course. There are many fact ors to be taken into consideration regarding a merger.. Included in the Yorkshire Police merger are legal issues, A recent newspaper article re ported on these issues. That the government was being taken to the high court over its plans to merge police forces, while rebel Labour MPs plan to derail the scheme in the Commons. Cleveland police force is to seek a judicial review of the home secretary's plans to merge it with the Durham and Northumbria forces. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 It further reportd thar While this was going on a group of Labour MPs led by John Grogan intends to sabotage the merger plans when they come through the Commons in the autumn. This twin opposition is John Reid's second major headache since being appointed at the start of the month, following the debacle of the failure to deport released foreign prisoners. The idea of bigger, better resourced, forces came in the wake of criticism of the small Cambridgeshire police force's response to the Soham murders. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 My research concluded that a go od merger is contingent on good planning and research Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is not the responsibility of one single police service serving the general public; with the exception of various special police forces and of Northern Ireland (which has one unified force, the Police Service of Northern Ireland), police forces are arranged in geographical areas matched to the boundaries of one or more local authorities; in recent years being increasingly described as "territorial police forces". (Baskerville 2004 p 329) In turn, these forces are regulated by the laws of the appropriate country within the UK (administration of police matters is not generally affected by the Government of Wales Act 2006), i.e., Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales. It is common for the territorial police forces in England and Wales to be referred to as "Home Office" police forces, after the government department which exercises control at a national level in England and Wales but this is erroneous as the description can encompass a number of miscellaneous forces subject to some kind of control by the Home Office but which are not the concern of the various Police Acts which control territorial police forces. (Bakersville 2004 p330) In 1981, James Anderton, the then Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police called for 10 regional police forces for England and Wales, one for each of the regions which would be adopted as Government Office Regions in England, and Wales.[2] A 2004 proposal by the Police Superintendents Association for the creation of a single national police force, similar to the Garda Sochna na hireann was rejected by the Association of Chief Police Officers, and the government has thus far agreed.[3] In September 2005, in a report[4] delivered to the then Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary suggested that the

Describe and evaluate its role in understanding the psychology of Essay

Describe and evaluate its role in understanding the psychology of adult learning of Personality - Essay Example a greater understanding of the psychology of learning and development, as applied to educational contexts. Adult education promotes the development of adults in a variety of domains--cognitive and intellectual, social and emotional. Psychology has an important role in the field of adult education. The word Psychology originated from the two Greek words ‘psyche’ and ‘logos’ which means soul and science respectively. Psychology was the study of soul earlier. Then it was modified as study of mind and now it is the study of behavioral changes. According to the modern psychologists, behavior includes all those activities of an individual which can be observed by any person with or without the aid of an instrument. Psychology has several branches of study. General psychology, abnormal psychology, Industrial psychology, Development psychology, Child psychology, Adult psychology, Clinical psychology, Educational psychology are some of them. It is interesting to note that adult educators have, traditionally, been interested in understanding the different â€Å"styles† or modes of learning that adults demonstrate much more so than they have been in understanding or assessing cognitive and intellectual abilities. This has taken place despite the fact that the psychological research fails to find compelling evidence for quantitative as opposed to qualitative differences in these learning styles. There is no evidence to support some adult educators’ claims that instruction which is designed to capitalize upon an individual’s preferred manner of learning. Still, as adult educators have often pointed out, psychologists have generally been more concerned with understanding the â€Å"average† or â€Å"typical† performance of a group of learners rather than focusing on the phenomenological experience of the individual learner. And, historically, psychologists have

Comparative paper examining some aspect of the legal regime governing Essay

Comparative paper examining some aspect of the legal regime governing media in Hong Kong and in the United States - Essay Example Under this principle, the media are the voice of the ruling Party and play by its rules and policies. Apart from that, the Party controls all activities of the media that pertains to news production and delivery to the public. Thus, the media only delivers what is authorized by the Party to the public. On the contrary, in America, the media operates freely with minimal interference from the government. Additionally, the media functions as a â€Å"watchdog,† which evaluates and monitors the actions and activities of the government. Defamation laws in these two countries clearly bring out the differences and similarities in media activities and regulations in America and China. Defamation in law is the act of making statements about a person, which damages the reputation of the individual in question. When in written format, defamation is referred to as â€Å"libel† and â€Å"slander† when in spoken form. In order to understand how defamation law works in China, it is essential to explore the structure and function of the legal system in China as it pertains to matters of the media. Thus, the first section of this paper will explore the legal system in China while drawing on any similarities and differences with the United States legal system. The second section will look at the background of defamation law in the United States and Chinese, and finally, the last section will draw on comparison between defamation law in China and the United States. This provision is similar to what is found in the United States Constitution, and at first, one may think that the Chinese media enjoys the same rights as that in America. However, application of the Chinese Constitution is different from that of the United States constitution. Unlike the Americans, citizens of China enjoy neither economic nor civil rights enjoyed by their American counterparts. This ineffectiveness in the application of the Constitution in China is because of the

How does a mainstream school support new arrivals Essay

How does a mainstream school support new arrivals - Essay Example ganised but it is important that they are organised in such a way that there is a positive ethos and a learning atmosphere where every child succeeds in some way and where every adult works towards helping every child achieve his or her maximum potential’. Generally, the main purpose of schools in accordance with the above researcher is ‘to develop the intellectual, social, emotional and physical abilities of all children’ (Smith, 2002, 4). Although this purpose is absolute understandable in practice there are many cases where schools fail to meet the necessary requirements set by the governors and the social context (ethics) and as a result they can lead to the opposite direction: the creation to the children of severe ‘psychological injuries’ related with their presence in the school environment but also within their families (the influence of conflicts created within a school environment often ‘follows’ children to their homes). When d ealing with children that have recently entered a school environment, the difficulties during their ‘adaptation’ within the new school can be many. Issues like gender or race discrimination, equality and inclusion are then very likely to appear. The behaviour of children towards these ‘adverse’ conditions is usually depended on the support offered by the school administrator and the staff either directly (psychological support, punishment of those who have the responsibility for this situation) or indirectly (provision of extra benefits compared to other pupils of the same school). In this paper the main issue under examination is the support offered to bilingual learners in a particular Scottish school (the one of the Secondary Schools in the Support for Learning Department). Issues like the access to curriculum, barriers in language, equality, discrimination and social exclusion are being examined in order to identify the most appropriate plan of action for the development of support offered to bilinguals

Reward System And Its Impact On Employee Motivation Essay Example for Free

Reward System And Its Impact On Employee Motivation Essay Social networking also referred to as social media. The growing usage of social media indicates a potentially effective new platform for advertisers. Social Media, today, is among the ‘best opportunities available’ to a brand for connecting with Prospective consumers. Social media is the medium to socialize. These new media win the trust of consumers by connecting with them at a deeper level. Social media marketing is the new mantra for several brands since early last year. Marketers are taking note of many different social media opportunities and beginning to implement new social initiatives at a higher rate than ever before. Social media marketing and the businesses that utilize it have become more sophisticated. One cannot afford to have no presence on the social channels if the competitor is making waves with its products and services. The explosion of social media phenomenon is as mind boggling as that and the pace at which it is growing is maddening. Global companies have recognized social media marketing as a potential marketing platform, utilized them with innovations to power their advertising campaign with social media marketing. - KEY WORDS: Social networking, Marketers, Socialize, Media SOCIAL NETWORKING Social networking, also referred to as social media, encompasses many Internet-based tools that make it easier for people to listen, interact, engage and collaborate with each other. Social networking platforms such as Face book, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, message boards, Wikipedia and countless others are catching on like wildfire. People use social networking to share recipes, photos, ideas and to keep friends updated on our lives. SOCIAL NETWORKING IN MARKETING Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites. Social media itself is a catch-all term for sites that may provide radically different social actions. For instance, Twitter is a social site designed to let people share short messages or â€Å"updates† with others. Face book, in contrast is a full-blown social networking site that allows for sharing updates, photos, joining events and a variety of other activities. ORIGINATION OF SOCIAL NETWORKING According to a BBC Radio 4 documentary, the origins of social networking can be traced back to the 1970s. While conducting research for the radio show, The Secret History of Social Networking, the BBC’s Technology Correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, found that in 1973 the owner of a record shop in Berkeley California placed an analogue computer in his store and invited people to come in and type messages. The computer quickly became a popular attraction, especially amongst University of California students who would come in to the store to post messages and take part in discussions on the analogue machine. One of the first social networking Web sites, launched in 1997, was SixDegrees. com. This site started the trend of enabling users to create personal profiles and make lists of their friends. Two years after the fall of Six Degrees, Live Journal offered authors options to add a list of friends to their profile page. Other early social networking sites include Friendster and online dateing service Ryze. MySpace launched in 2003. However, the site didnt start drawing the attention of the masses until well into 2004, due largely in part to MySpace changes that allowed teenagers to join the social network. Since their introduction, social networking sites (SNS) have attracted millions of users, whereby many people integrate these sites into their daily practices. The conception of Googlebuzz. com has been recently introduced to rival the likes of facebook, which has 350 million users. Here is a timeline to show the progress of the social networking world. 1995: Classmates. com is a social media website created by Randy Conrad. The website helps members find, connect and keep in touch with friends and acquaintances from school life. Classmates has more than 40 million active members in the US and Canada. In early 2008, Nielson Online ranked Classmates as number 3 in unique monthly visitors among social networking sites. 1997: Sixdegrees. com was named after the six degrees of separation concept and allowed users to list friends, family members and acquaintances and see their connection with any other user on the site. It was one of the first manifestations of a social networking websites in the format now seen today. Sixdegrees closed in 2007. At its height, the website had about a million users. 1999: Cyworld. com is a South Korean social networking service. Users can have â€Å"apartment like† spaces which make for a sim-world like experience. The ‘cy’ in Cyworld could stand for Cyber; however, it also plays on the Korean word for relationship. A 2005 survey showed that 25% of South Korea was users. 2002: Friendster. com has over 115 million registered users and over 61 million unique visitors per global month. Over 90% of friendster’s traffic comes from Asia. The website is also used for dating, discovering new events, bands and hobbies. 2003: Myspace. com launched after eUniverse employees with Friendster saw its potential and mimicked the more popular features of the social networking site. Myspace became the most popular social networking site in US 2006. The 100th million account was created on August 9 2006. 2005: Bebo. com is an acronym for â€Å"blog early, blog often†. It is similar to other networking sites; the site must include two specific modules, a comment section and a list of users’ friends. The site claims 40 million users. 2006: Facebook. com is the most popular social networking site boasting 350 million users. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg who studied at Harvard University. The websites membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges. Facebook has met with some controversy being blocked in countries such as, China, Syria and Iran. The original concept for Facebook came from the colloquial name for books given out at the start of the academic year by universities designed to help students get to know one another better. 2006: Twitter. com is a social networking site that that enables its users to send and read messages known as â€Å"tweets†. Tweets are text based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the authors profile page and are delivered to the author’s subscribers known as followers. It is sometimes described as the â€Å"SMS of the internet† and is widely popular with about 5 million users. ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN MARKETING: Social media is now increasingly becoming an ingrained aspect of political campaigns, national defence strategies, public policy, public relations, brand management and even intra company communication. Since the major task of marketing as tool used to inform consumers about the company’s products, who they are and what they offer, social marketing plays an important role in marketing.  · Social media can be used to provide an identity about the companies and the products or services that they offer.  · Social media helps in creating relationships with people who might not otherwise know about the products or service or what the companies represent.  · Social media makes companies â€Å"real† to consumers. If they need not just talk about the latest product news, but share their personality with them.  · Social media can be used to associate themselves with their peers that may be serving the same target market.  · Social media can be used to communicate and provide the interaction that consumer look for. THE GLOBAL IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS IN MARKETING According to comScore, a marketing research company that tracks Internet traffic, social networking sites accounted for 13. 8 billion display ad impressions in August 2009, representing more than 25 percent of all display ads viewed online, in a study of U. K. online display advertising on social networking sites. Social media is changing the way marketing is done. No longer can marketers rely on putting out one general message to the public. In Malaysia, 80% of affluent Malaysians use social networking sites. The opinions of bloggers and friends have become more influential than advertisements. Using social media allows businesses to reduce cost on marketing or connect with customers. A number of Malaysian companies use social network to promote their product or service. A recent example is mobile operator DiGi who used social networking to create awareness on mobile broadband. One of the many campaigns DiGi did was Pimp My Broadband which was a contest allowing people to post up creative videos to the site. DiGi used mostly Face book and Twitter to spread the word and communicate with people. In another example, the Prudential insurance company was running in December 2009 a contest for which people were asked to guess the retirement fund a fictional character named Adam would need to retire comfortably. This campaign was heavily promoted over social networks and blogs. Most organisations have jumped onto the social networking bandwagon. Large and small organisations alike maintain Facebook fan pages and groups. The leading budget travel airline, AirAsia, has more than 20 different Facebook pages and groups that promote some aspect of their service. It also has Twitter feeds as well as its own social network located at www. airasia. ning. com. The results have been impressive. It claims to lead all other airlines with a fan base of approximately 100,000. The AirAsia blog is ranked as the world’s second most popular blog site by an airline while CEO Tony Fernandes’ blog is the most popular in Malaysia by a corporate leader. Its YouTube site is very popular while its Twitter account has 15,500 followers. AirAsia’s investment of time and effort to reach out socially to Internet users must be bringing results; it recently announced plans to launch a brand new social network for travellers. The Nielsen Company estimates online advertising spent on the top social network and blogging sites increased 119 percent, from approximately USD49 million in August 2008 to approximately USD108 million in August 2009. Businesses and professionals are also connecting with one another on social networks. It has become commonplace for professionals to maintain accounts at LinkedIn. Using that platform, businessmen are able to find contacts that they can trust as introductions come from people they know and trust. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN INDIA AN OVERVIEW India has 71 million active internet users. Social Media is really picking up new heights in India. Many companies are coming big way for Social Media Optimization for their Product or Services nowadays. During Election 2009 Social Media was used for Influence Indian Voters. Social Media Marketing in India is being undertaken by brands like Tata Docomo, MTV India, Channel V, Clear Trip, Tata Photon, Axe deodorants, Microsoft, Naukri, Shaadi and many more. Besides, numerous Indian celebrities are also using SMM platform to promote their movies, music and events via Twitter, Facebook and personalized blogs. Social Media Marketing is also boosting public relations business. Several PR agencies in India are undertaking brand building exercises for corporate organizations, brands and celebrities. However, to the delight of many among us, the biggest gainers from SMM till date have been the organizations from the Not-for- Profit sector. Several Campaigns like ‘Bell Bajao’ and ‘Jaago Re’ have been quite successful on Social Networking Sites. These campaigns have been spreading the word about their cause through blogs, Twitter and Facebook. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGIES: SMM is still in its infancy. Most of the online retailers though appreciate its positives fallouts on the brand awareness and promotion; they are still in the early stages of adoption. For an organization willing to invest in social media marketing, it is important to understand why SMM is an important marketing strategy and how it can help: This is the age of consumer satisfaction. It is not about selling it is more about interacting. There is a lot to learn from the customers. Using social media one can identify customers, listen to their feedback and use them to improve and innovate on products or services. SMM is not a mass advertising strategy. It can be used to identify peer groups and advertise to that particular group. Social Media can help in identifying influencers and through them one can guide a prospective customer into making a purchase. SMM calls for novel advertising methods as the attention span of online junta is very low. This is largely due to the multitasking phenomena. A person watching a video clip on YouTube might be simultaneously updating a blog, while reading another one and watching friend’s photographs on Facebook. In order to garner their attention away from distractions the advertisement must be innovative and interesting to hold the imagination and attention of the prospect. At the same time the message must also provoke the recipient into action; like seeking a detailed description of the product/service, or suggesting to a friend, or initiating purchase. So, if the advertisement is trying to sell something then it should be conveniently placed with links so that the prospect can make a purchase with least effort. Similarly Social Media can be used to increase customer loyalty through customer support services and hence improve customer retention. Social Media Marketing can also be used by brands to ward off any negative publicity. But the brands will have to be cautious here as over doing it may further aggravate their customers / stakeholders. There are many things that social media can do for business. Developing a strategy for using it means that the firms need to think about what they want to accomplish this year and determine how social media fits into the plan. One of the benefits of a social media strategy is the fact that the available tools can customized for their particular needs. The firms can choose to concentrate their efforts on the sites that seem to offer the best return on investment, while taking a â€Å"wait and see† stand on the others. Better Marketing Communications Any marketing campaign is only as good as its effectiveness in reaching the client. As the saying goes, you can have the best product in the world but its success depends on its reach to the customers. One advantage that social media networks such as Twitter, Blogspot, MySpace and Facebook possess is that of cross-communication. In other words, much of the information is shared across different social sites. In the past, marketing strategies would target a certain audience based on the resources available. These days, however, if a company has a profile page on Facebook, for example, cross talk alone can generate interest, because of the fluidity of social media websites. Social media sites have helped do away with many geographical and communicative borders; companies who have listings with these sites can place themselves in a position where such communication can be just as effective as a targeted marketing campaign. In the same way, if one person subscribes to a certain company’s web page, it is likely his or her friends will see it and too may become interested. Qualified potential clients can come to the company rather than the other way around! Higher Customer Satisfaction When a company is seen as being active on social media sites, it has just established itself as having its proverbial â€Å"finger on the pulse† of modern society. In a very real way, people take notice and assume that the company has something to say, that it is part of the community rather than simply a static web page. By posting regular updates that subscribers can see, business can appeal to their tastes and, more importantly, that business also has the ability to follow trends and change strategies based on the requirement. A keen observation is always essential for these updates. A close association with current scenario and trends will align the business people to more accurately cater to their audience’s needs. In the past, a happy customer was a customer who could become a regular customer. Today, a happy customer or client has the ability to recommend a company to others grouped under similar target audience. Social networks can accomplish much of the work that in the past was allocated to the more traditional e-mail campaigns. Stronger Financial Returns This final factor should be the most obvious and, at the same time, the most motivating. It only stands to reason that with a larger target base, sales and publicity will naturally increase. One important thing to remember is that there are few if any costs when dealing with social sites. In the past, domain names came with a price tag. Even more relevant was the financial burden which often accompanied building a very good website (web design, maintenance, updates, etc). When a company takes advantage of social media, on the other hand, not only does exposure increase if done in the right manner, but also the financial obligation is little, if any. Why, then, are more businesses not taking full advantage of the tools in front of them? One of the issues is that many out there still consider the social media market a â€Å"niche† sector and haven’t fully implemented their campaigns to include social networking as a part of the overall strategy. Other companies state that not all of their employees are open to newer technologies. Still others just don’t have correct media policies in place; i. e. what can be said, how it can be said, the chain of command to approve updates†¦the list can go on and on. The main issue tends to revolve around the adaptation to changing technologies and sources of revenue. CONCLUSION: There is no escaping social media these days, either for individuals or for businesses. Today, it is impossible to separate social media from the online world. Companies are diverting resources and rethinking their traditional outreach strategies. And as the social media wave dissipates into the vast ocean of connected experiences, the term itself will become an entry in dictionaries and encyclopaedias and we will embark on a new era of knowledge, accessibility and experiences unbound by distance, time or physical walls. It is high time that every business adopts social media and takes it seriously!

Diversity Training Essay Example for Free

Diversity Training Essay Research diversity training programs and their effectiveness. Discuss the purpose of diversity training and review the types of programs that are most effective in meeting goals for improving diversity within organizations. Diversity training is recommended to provide employees with the knowledge and skills to effectively communicate and relate to shareholders of different ethnicity, gender, mannerisms, sexual orientation, religion, and age. Diversity training has a positive impact on the company because it helps employees to respond more sensitively to differences in the workplace. Employees will become more aware of their actions, and mannerisms with others in the workplace. Also, it may be necessary to train managers in diversity in order to comply with the equal opportunity/affirmative action laws. Managers that are trained can effectively address diversity issues in the workplace (Reasons for Diversity, n.d.). Diversity training is effective if employees can recognize the advantages of becoming a culturally diverse workplace. Advantages can include; attracting and retaining valuable employees, increased innovation and creativity, and improved team performance. Organizations that encompass diversity can provide a better service or product if employees can understand their customer’s culture and background. The most effective approach for improving workplace diversity is to create a program to promote diversity hiring. A position or task force should be created who’s primarily responsibility is to oversee diversity hiring and training. Typically, diversity training is effectively taught through group exercises, role play, lectures, and video presentations. In conjunction with diversity training programs, the organization should promote employee involvement through diversity committees, diversity staff positions, and affirmative action plans (Rolander, n.d.). When employees are more involved, they become more aware of their actions and the actions of others to help promote diversity. References: Reasons for diversity training. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2010, from Ehow website: http://www.ehow.com/facts_4912414_reasons-diversity-training.html Rolander, G.-C. (n.d.). Creating effective diversity policies . In Divesity central. Retrieved April 7, 2010, from http://www.diversitycentral.com/ diversity_practitioners/research_07_04.html What are the ways an organization can identify managers with dysfunctional behaviors? Once these managers are identified, describe the various actions that could be undertaken to help them change these behaviors. The symptoms and warning signs of a dysfunctional manager include; arrogance in leadership, lack of leadership performance feedback (from employees), favoritism, over-management that inhibits communication between staff members, lack of collaboration, lack of teamwork, low productivity, decline in employee morale, backstabbing, and high rate of employee absenteeism and turnover (Jones, n.d.). Consequently, with bad workplace politics and performance, employees will often distance themselves and can become uncooperative if they feel discriminated against and unappreciated. In some cases, employees will resort to sabotaging the company name, and the organization will risk losing their high performers. Furthermore, employees will lose their motivation and productivity (Jones, n.d.). Once the managers are identified, performance-oriented goals should be set to cure the bad behavior (Jones, n.d.). Fist, the organization must identify the performance issues and get feedback from employees. Employee feedback can be evaluated through an employee feedback survey. The manager must be willing to participate in the change program and recognize their bad behavior. Team-building workshops can be used to educate and train management on effective communication and conflict resolution (Jones, n.d.). If differences are still apparent after arbitration, replacement of the uncooperative management is necessary. References: Jones, M. (n.d.). Dysfunctional Leadership Dysfunctional Organization . In The Politics of failure: watch out for the warning signs of bad leadership. Retrieved April 7, 2010, from http://www.iim-edu.org/ dysfunctionalleadershipdysfunctionalorganizations/index.htm

Changes in Teacher Ideologies

Changes in Teacher Ideologies Summarise discuss: Sullivan, K. (1997). Theyve opened Pandoras Box: Educational reform, the new right and teachers ideologies. ln M. Olssen K. Morris Matthews. (Eds.), Education policy in New Zealand (pp. 254-261). Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press. (extracts) From page 254: Education Reform and Competing Ideologies Within the extract under investigation, Sullivan is building a case to legitimise his theory that Teachers fundamental professional and ideological principals and intentions are just as important as what and how they teach. In order to clarify his point he provides a model for defining what exactly the concept of an ideology in isolation involves and in the context of educational theories. In his argument he persuades the reader to accept that an ideology is a pre-conceived notion of what humans and in this context in particular teachers are programmed to consider appropriate and exceptional; that an ideology is an individual belief system which can alter politically but not necessarily physically. During the time this piece was written a number of educational reforms were taking place in New Zealand and teacher’s roles were having to adapt accordingly, with the school authorities and boards of trustees exacting greater control over them as employees. Consequently losing them a great deal of freedom within their teaching positions. The extract under discussion proposes that the traditional ideology adopted by most teachers is a humanist approach to life and working with children and adults in a l earning capacity. That this humanist ideal is fundamental to their character and instinctive responsibility as a teacher, or as Sullivan conveys ‘their ideology is largely intuitive and implied, based on some important but usually unstated assumptions’. He then goes on to list these assumptions in detail and proposes the notion that they have deep rooted understandings of how their own role functions under the auspices of the government and the traditional understanding of what they have always meant to mean education in its original context. The rationale for presenting this understanding is in relation to the writer’s broader argument relating to the New Right movement in New Zealand politics which has implemented new educational reforms in antithesis to this humanist ideology. Holistically Sullivan’s overall understanding and opinion of how teachers are adapting is by way of building themselves a new ideology which remains humanist but is also applying a resistance and reinforced method of working practice in response to the government’s new line and legislation. However Sullivan’s theories are not merely a personal observation, the outcomes of his conclusions have emerged from empirical data that he collated from interviews undertaken with fifty primary and intermediate school teachers employed in the Greater Wellington area of New Zealand. The new Education system in New Zealand adheres to an ideology which is essentially anti-humanist and the article is written at a time when the country had been dominated by New Right ideologies. These were in stark contrast to the humanist and liberal ideas that dominated Education in the decades before. The article quotes the progressive Educational pioneer John Dewey. He adhered to the opinion that only constant good is change for the good. Dewey did not measure levels of success based on standards, rather against human inspiration and passion (Tiles, 1990). And it is these measures of standards that Sullivan is critical of in his paper. This is emphasized further in Sullivan’s study Teachers Standards and Professionalism where he suggests that teachers have become pawns in the movement to implement right wing ideology across the country, criticising the new management approach to learning which appears to operate more as a business enterprise. How teachers have lost their authority to parents who dictate the way in which they now function. The modern philosophy of the New Right can be attributed to the breakdown of the original ideals of the Welfare State, reflected not only in New Zealand but in many countries around the world who adopted these principles during and following the outcomes of the Second World War. In particular with the English Government during the 1980’s and the new Conservative driven Education Reform Act of 1988. (Lingard et al, 1993) This new devolved system in New Zealand moved from a centralized arrangement to a structure whereby schools now take responsibility for their own governance and management. The country’s Ministry of education which was established under the 1989 Education Act takes forward the following aims and objectives: provides education policy advice to the Minister of Education and the Government; purchases services on behalf of the Crown; allocates funding and resources to schools and early childhood education providers; oversees the implementation of approved education policies; manages special education services; collects and processes education statistics and information; and monitors the effectiveness of the education system as a whole with ‘Separate education agencies hav(ing) national responsibilities for qualifications and quality assurance’. Additionally most education providers operate independently from Government and are rather controlled by boards of trustees or elected councils. Sourced from: http://www.minedu.govt.nz/educationSectors/InternationalEducation/ForInternationalStudentsAndParents/NewZealandEducationSystemAnOverview/Central_Agencies_and_Providers_A_Devolved_System.aspx, Date accessed 16/10/08 Teachers have consequently needed to adapt and find a new position for themselves as basic blue-collar working classroom teachers in a non-democratic environment. As such this has forced them to build new relationships and alliances with Boards of Trustees and amongst civil society. (Gordon, 1992) To discuss the context of this new change in thinking across New Zealand it has not merely acted in response to the UK government but has primarily acted on the issues that occurred during the 1970’s and 80’s when the country was witness to significant problems relating to trade, business, the balance of power and a dwindling economy. It was these concerns that paved the way for changes to the education system as a means of improving the national standards of the workforce and employment opportunities. (Perris, 1998) The New Right philosophy brings with it a complete list of ideals that include the necessity to implement order, reinstate traditional values, social hierarchy and family responsibility. (Dale and Ozga, taken from Lingard et al, 1993) In addition there is a strong emphasis on the relationship between power and knowledge, including a set of educational benchmarks to achieve forward New Right thinking. These predominantly include: That education should be structured in a way that enables parental influence to succeed over quality Education should be provided within a diverse range of institutions, to which admission is based on selection Provision of Education should be accountable to the parents, by way of the appraisal of teachers and through the frequent testing of students and teachers, with the right of publication of these results. (Bell and Gilbert,1996) Prior to this New Right trend vision which sought to improve schools on the basis of poor economies, gaps in the workforce and ill preparation of young people for the workplace, all curriculum development was governed by the Curriculum Division of the Department of Education and was reviewed regularly with ‘input from subject committees, the Department of Education, teacher groups, training colleges and independent schools. Later included university teachers†¦.’ This philosophy carried on into the 1950’s with a curriculum which was developed and delivered by educators who were considered the most authoritative to do so. (Davis, 2007) This was in line with the traditional concepts established during the 1877 Act which adhered to the National Public School system, with native New Zealand schools falling under the control of the Department of Education and Public Schools ministered by Education Boards. Therefore from 1879 there were two systems of state schools running alongside each other. It was the intention then to eventually integrate the teaching of native and ‘new’ residents to the country, although this was never successfully achieved. The state took control of Education in New Zealand in 1877, adopting a policy which epitomized neutrality. Even the teaching of religion was prohibited. (Bell and Gilbert, 1996). A new Education Act was taken forward in 1914 which sought primarily to consolidate all those strategies of the 1877 legislation and to make further developments to benefit Secondary Education and administration. This was followed up with 43 further amendments until A Commission on Educat ion was conducted in 1962 recommending improvements to teaching salaries, curriculum development, teacher training and the need to reduce class sizes. The proceeding 1964 Education Act failed however to implement any of these recommended changes and merely reinforced the previous statutes. (McClaren, 1974) The Curriculum Division which had been so progressive following the Second World War and into the 1950’s closed in 1989, with the politics of the New Right now dominating the future for educational reform across the country. Much of what had been established during the 1877 Act ‘An Act to make provision for the further Education of the people of New Zealand’ (McClaren,1974) was torn apart in 1989 and reinforced with an Education Amendment Act in 1990 and four further amendments the following year. Interestingly in McClaren’s Education in a small Democracy he emphasizes the negative aspects of Government control throughout this long period of history and the excessive amount of education administration structures that existed, which served to create an often bureaucratic and ineffectual Education system. For example he quotes ‘In 1972 25,000 laymen were working sometimes at cross purposes in the interests of separate, largely isolated sectors of the education system, their energies more often devoted to the improvement of lavatories than to the advancement of learning.’ It is an interesting contrasting theory to that of Sullivan who blames the new market ethos for undermining the ability and capacity of teachers to carry out their role effectively as essentially humanist, bureaucratic actors working for the fundamental ‘social good’ of the child and society as a whole. Considering the business culture of the New Right to be affecting the ideologies inherent in teachers and their philosophy to react against anti-humanist thinking. Sullivan insinuates in his paper ‘Educational reform, the New Right and teachers ideologies’ that teachers are essentially being forced to work against the best interests of the child and instead are having to accommodate the economics and politics being addressed by the parents, Boards of Trustees and civic bodies that they are now accountable to. The Guide to Print Culture in Aotearoa tells us that The Education Act 1877 existed to provide free, compulsory and secular education and standardized r eading systems. The emphasis of the curriculum stressed reading and writing and children were graded according against their ability measured by six standards. The reading texts were predominantly moral tales that were written for the benefit of British council schools and upheld strong values and morals and were ‘directed towards civic and moral duty’ all those considerations that are taken into account by the New Right ideology and yet quite clearly existed in the annals of the original 1877 agenda. Over a century of government control is obviously going to affect the way in which a country adapts to new measures of educational implementation and as Sullivan addresses; it is not necessarily a complete change for teaching staff that is necessary in order to work to a new ideology, but rather a need to maintain their own individual ideologies, whilst adjusting to the New Right agenda. However it is apparent that many of the original ideals of the 1877 Act and those that were adhered to and reinforced decades after are themselves questionable. Schools were segregated and their still remained everyday problems amongst the teaching profession. Department of Education Inspectors reports citing the methods and most significant problems and complaints made by teachers was the lack of reading books and materials for the children to work with. Sourced from http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-GriBook-_div3-N12E47.html, Date accessed 16/10/08 This is not a problem in today’s public Education system. It could also be argued that for such a great number of years for a country to experience no other alternative to state intervention and control it seems obvious that problems will occur with the ‘deep-seated assumptions’ that Sullivan refers to in the teaching profession in terms of their ideologies. Teachers should be acknowledged for their knowledge and skills for understanding how to deliver learning programmes and prepare children for the wider world but in addition to taking on board the legislation they are operating within as well as remembering that the child is the most important factor. Davis philosophically refers to this aptly in his paper Whose Education Is It Anyway? ‘†¦As it says in a quote on a school staff room wall: ‘No one ever got taller through being measured’. Bibliography Sullivan, K ‘Teachers Standards and Professionalism: Contested Perspectives in a Decade of Reform’: Victoria University of Wellington Lingard, B, Knight, J, Porter, P.H (1993) Schooling Reform in Hard Times: Routledge, Dale, R, Ozga, J ‘Two Hemispheres – Both New Right? 1980’s Education Reform in New Zealand and England and Wales’ taken from Lingard, B, Knight, J, Porter, P.H (1993) Schooling Reform in Hard Times: Routledge, Bell, B and Gilbert, J (1996) Teacher Development: A Model from Science Education: Routledge Gordon,L (1992) ‘Educational Reform in New Zealand: contesting the role of the teacher’, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Volume 2, Issue 1 Perris, L (1998) ‘Implementince; Ducationr Eforms In New Zealand: 1987-97 A Case Study’, The Education Reform And Management Series, vol 1, no2 Peters, M, Marhall, J.D (1996) Individualism and Community: Education and Social Policy in the Postmodern Condition: Routledge Davis, R.A (2007) ‘Whose Education Is It Anyway?’ Why It Is Important That Teachers Understand and Question the Broader Contexts Shaping the Curriculum’, New Zealand Journal of Teachers’ Work, Volume 4, Issue 1, 32-38, 2007 Leicester, M, Modgil, C, Modgil, S Education, culture and values: Routledge Tiles, J.E (1990) Dewey: Routledge McClaren, I.A (1974) Education in a Small Democracy New Zealand: New Zealand: Routledge Book Print in New Zealand: A Guide to Print Culture in Aotearoa Education Act 1877 New Zealand Electronic Text Centre Sourced from http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-GriBook-_div3-N12E47.html, Date accessed 16/10/08 Sourced from: http://www.minedu.govt.nz/educationSectors/InternationalEducation/ForInternationalStudentsAndParents/NewZealandEducationSystemAnOverview/Central_Agencies_and_Providers_A_Devolved_System.aspx, Date accessed 16/10/08