Current Projects

Good practice in restorative justice in schools

This project undertakes ten case studies of schools that have taken a 'whole school' approach to restorative practices. What are the characteristics of such schools? What policies and practices make them successful? Can school stand-downs and suspensions be eliminated by changing school practices? This project is funded by the Ministry of Education. Completion date June 2011.

Education and the law

This is a collaborative project with Community Law Canterbury. The project involves scoping and updating the legal information available on the Educational Leaders website, a site for school leaders sponsored by the Ministry of Education. This project is funded by the Ministry of Education. Completion date June 2011.

Māori whānau and tamariki of prisoners

Following on from our two year study of the children of prisoners, this study re-analyses our data using only the Māori data from the prison surveys and the interviews. A report will be written. Completion date June 2011.

Improving the effectiveness of large class teaching in law degrees

This is a University of Canterbury project and we are working in a research mentoring and researcher position, putting together and analysing the online survey and undertaking some focus group work. Funded by Ako Aotearoa small projects. Completion date December 2011.

Building Kaupapa Māori into Early Childhood Education

We are playing a mentoring and support role and assisting in editing and completing the final report. Funded by Ako Aotearoa. Completing date May 2011.

Boys Mentor Boys: an evaluation

We have been asked to undertake an evaluation of a mentoring scheme involving boys from restorative justice (RJ) secondary schools mentoring boys in low-decile primary schools. This scheme may be run in both Auckland and Christchurch. Organisations involved include Edmund Rice Justice and Pillars. Funding to be negotiated. Completion daye December 2011.

Student codes and contracts 2010

Commissioned by Ako Aotearoa, this study is examining the nature of the contractual relationship between students and tertiary organisations. A key theme is reciprocity, the extent to which students and organisations work together to achieve learning goals. The study involves a survey, a stocktake of codes, contracts and policies and a series of 10 case studies. Completion in early 2011.

A study of the children of prisoners 2009-2010

Do the children of prisoners follow in their parents’ footsteps? Is crime somehow hereditary? Do children come to see a criminal life as just normal? Or are the social, economic and emotional effects such that children are stuck in poverty with no apparent way out?
These are some of the questions that we seek to answer in our three year study of the children of prisoners. We began, in fact, from a much more basic question: How many children of prisoners are there at any given time in New Zealand? Our preliminary and tentative answer is - about 20,000 at the moment, and increasing. See Invisible Children, [PDF 1.8mb], our first year report.
Our study interviewed prisoners, caregivers of the children, some children themselves and a wide range of stakeholders from community and government organisations with an interest in the prisoners of children. In the first year we interviewed or surveyed over 250 people.

Alcohol and Drug Use Survey 2007 and Adult Nutrition Survey 2008-09

A North Island Health Research Company, CBG Health Research Ltd engaged Networkers to undertake the project management of the ADUS and ANS.

Inclusive Education and Teacher Education

This is a large ongoing project headed by Dr Missy Morton which seeks to understand why, despite clear policies of educational parity, people with disabilities are often unable to secure a high quality education in mainstream classrooms.

Adult and community education development and research

We have now completed three projects under this general banner and two more are under way: one relating to regional systems and the other providing support for a large provider to develop its development and reporting processes.