Research Team

The Research Programme on Education Employment Linkages drew upon the heritage of three national research centres to create a new and unique capability for cross-disciplinary research into education employment linkages by youth in transition.

The AERU research unit at Lincoln University has been a major source of independent business and economic research expertise in New Zealand since its foundation in 1962.

The New Zealand Council for Educational Research is the prime independent educational research organisation in New Zealand, with extensive networks among schools nationwide.

He Pārekereke at Victoria University of Wellington works closely with Māori and Pacific communities, providing support for educational leadership for Māori and indigenous peoples.

Through NZCER, the AERU and He Pārekereke, the research team has had access to collegial support and other resources necessary to complete the project successfully.

The research team is led by four senior social science researchers:

Dr Karen Vaughan is a Senior Researcher at NZCER. She has published locally and internationally on youth transition and careers development, alternative education, training in SMEs and research methodology. She was a member of the Operational Advisory Group for the Creating Pathways and Building Lives initiative. She is the leader of the NZCER Pathways and Prospects research programme (a 5-year longitudinal study of how young people negotiate and make sense of life and career choices after leaving school). Dr Vaughan has primary responsibility for the project's Objective 1.

Dr Jane Higgins is a Senior Researcher at the AERU. She has published locally and internationally on social policy, youth employment and young people in transition from school to post-school lives. She was a co-leader of the Marsden Fund In Transition project at Auckland, Lincoln and Otago Universities, which has reported that many young people struggle to make sense of the vast range of training, education and employment opportunities presented to them as they leave secondary school. Dr Higgins has primary responsibility for the project's Objective 2.

Dr Hazel Phillips was Senior Lecturer, He Pārekereke, at the School of Education Studies, College of Education at Victoria University until 31 December 2009. Her PhD thesis submitted in 2003 was Te Reo Karanga o Ngā Tauria Māori - Māori Students: Their Voices, Their Stories at the University of Canterbury, 1996-1998. She was awarded a National Māori Academic Excellence Award in 2004. Dr Phillips resigned from He Pārekereke at the end of 2009 and is now a Senior Researcher at the AERU. Dr Phillips has primary responsibility for the project's Objective 3.

Professor Paul Dalziel is Professor of Economics at Lincoln University. He is the author of several books and a large number of academic papers on New Zealand economic policy. He is a former Vice-President of the New Zealand Association of Economists, and is currently on the Australian and New Zealand Regional Science Association International Council. He has recently participated in several AERU research projects related to the needs of high growth sectors for skilled workers. Professor Dalziel has primary responsibility for the project's Objective 4.

The research team is supported by an External Reference Group of senior officials nominated by seven central government agencies supporting the research programme:

• Janis Freegard,   Career Services

• Paul Barker,   Department of Labour

• Ian MacDonald,   Ministry of Education

• Doug Gorman,   Ministry of Social Development

• Marten Hutt,   Ministry of Youth Development

• Anne Hardman,   Te Puni Kōkiri

• Felicity Wong,   Tertiary Education Commission

A high level of international interest in youth transitions has allowed the research team to build linkages with four world-class researchers, all of whom have expressed strong support for the programme:

• Professor Paul Ryan, Former Professor of Labour Economics and Training, Department of Management, Kings College, University of London.

• Professor Johanna Wyn, Director of the Youth Research Centre and Head of the Education Department at Melbourne University.

• Professor David Raffe, Professor of Sociology of Education and Director of Research at the Centre for Educational Sociology, University of Edinburgh.

• Dr Denise Henning, President and Vice-Chancellor, University College of the North, Canada.

Through Dr Vaughan's participation in ISCDPP (2006), the research team also has a linkage with Ms Deidre Hughes, the Director of the Centre for Guidance Studies (CeGS) at the University of Derby. These international linkages will ensure the programme is informed by best-practice conceptual and methodological frameworks.