Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Family policy Australia'

One of the most discussed topics in labour and demographic studies, population ageing and stability, is closely related to fertility choices. This thesis explores recent developments in the fertility literature in the context of Australia. We investigate individual preferences for child bearing, the determinants of fertility decisions and the effectiveness of policies implemented by the government aimed at improving total fertility. The first study highlights the impact of monetary incentives on the decision to bear children in light of potentially differential responses across the native and immigrant population. The second study analyses the role of unemployment and job stability on the fertility choices of women. The final study examines whether the quality-quantity trade-off exists for Australian families and explores the impact of siblings on a child's health and educational outcomes.

Four different case management programs delivered by UnitingCare Community Options (UCCO) in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne were examined against the expectations of case management as a policy solution to a range of perceived policy problems at the micro-, meso- and macro-levels. The micro-level expectations were related to client and family experiences of the service system and outcomes. At the meso-level expectations were focused on perceived service delivery problems such as poor matching of services to the needs of ‘complex’ clients including a lack of integration, flexibility and responsiveness to clients’ needs and preferences. Perceived macro-level policy problems were concerned with a variety of issues including increasing rates of institutionalisation, increasing costs to governments, lack of economic efficiency and the desire to create market or quasi-market conditions in the community care service delivery sector. (For complete abstract open document)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2005.
Title from title screen (viewed 21 May 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Discipline of Government and International Relations, Faculty of Arts. Degree awarded 2005; thesis submitted 2004. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - James Cook University, 2004.
Thesis submitted by Sally Marie Babidge, BA (Hons) UWA June 2004, for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Anthropology, Archaeology and Sociology, James Cook University. Bibliography: leaves 283-303.

Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library.
This thesis identifies and elaborates on the way in which notions of genetic inheritance connect with notions of ’proper’ families and hence shape policies concerning reproduction and family formation. Assumptions about the structure and shape of the ’proper’ or ’traditional’ family - as a heterosexual two-parent unit with biological children - and its claim to naturalness, are embedded in policies related to reproductive technologies and family formation. The thesis explores the discourses surrounding the following specific policies - surrogacy, IVF, adoption, abortion, child support and posthumous reproduction - to elucidate the frameworks of meaning within which we understand these issues.
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Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2006

This thesis identifies and elaborates on the way in which notions of genetic inheritance connect with notions of ’proper’ families and hence shape policies concerning reproduction and family formation. Assumptions about the structure and shape of the ’proper’ or ’traditional’ family - as a heterosexual two-parent unit with biological children - and its claim to naturalness, are embedded in policies related to reproductive technologies and family formation. The thesis explores the discourses surrounding the following specific policies - surrogacy, IVF, adoption, abortion, child support and posthumous reproduction - to elucidate the frameworks of meaning within which we understand these issues.
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2006

This study examines South Sudanese-Australian parenting practices in the resettlement context from the perspective of both parents and youth. It locates their experiences in the cultures, which inform their parenting, in the changes in their families, and in the challenges they face because of these changes. This thesis has created opportunities for South Sudanese participants to narrate their stories and perspectives, which are essential in exploring cultural changes in societies with strong oral communication traditions. The study seeks to develop a nuanced understanding of South Sudanese experiences of parenting and being parented in South Sudan, and how these differ to their parenting practices in Australia. Through increased cross-cultural knowledge, awareness and understanding, policymakers and service providers can offer improved family support.

"June 2002"
Bibliography: p. 347-360.
xiii, 360, [200] p. : ill. ; 30 cm.
Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library.
Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Public Health, 2002

Many workers report difficulty in balancing work and family responsibilities and a critical factor in this difficulty is time demands. The workplace bargaining provisions and the minimal protection provisions in the Industrial Relations Reform Act 1993 were promoted by the Government as an opportunity to address work and family issues. This study investigates the manner in which work and family issues have been addressed in agreements registered in this industrial framework by considering two questions: (i) what evidence is there of changes to working time arrangements within selected agreements that purport to be family-friendly; and (ii) have these changes been consistent with the promotion of a family-friendly workplace? Eleven agreements that were reported by the Department of Industrial Relations as containing family-friendly provisions were selected for examination. The working time provisions contained in the contents of the agreements were compared with the parallel provisions in preexisting awards and agreements to establish whether changes had occurred. Changes to working time provisions were assessed according to whether they promoted family-friendliness. Two of the most important principles for workers with family responsibilities are the ability determine the amount and schedule of working hours and the ability to vary working hours. Workplaces can assist employees in the balance between work and family responsibilities by providing a diverse range of consistently family-friendly working time options within a family supportive workplace culture. Most agreements provide extensive evidence of changes to the amount, the schedule and the variability of working time. However, on the question of the direction of the changes, these agreements provide evidence of family-friendly changes as well as changes that detract from work and family balance. In particular, changes to provisions that concerned the amount of working time, such as part-time employment and access to carer's leave, were consistently family-friendly, while changes to schedule and variability of working time both enhanced and detracted from family-friendliness. Only two of the eleven agreements have addressed work and family issues by changing a diverse range of working time provisions in a consistently family-friendly direction within family supportive frameworks. The extent to which a lack of consistency, or a lack of diversity, or an absence of family-supportive environmental parameters, has limited the promotion of family friendliness in the other nine agreements requires further workplace investigation. Although family-friendliness has been enhanced in these agreements through changes to a broad range of working time provisions within family-supportive environmental parameters, the degree of enhancement has been tempered by changes that are not family-friendly.

Early childhood education and care in Australia is recognised as playing an important role in determining the long term educational benefits and outcomes for children across their life span. A key determinant of a quality early childhood program is the quality of relationships that educators develop with parents and families as equal partners in the education and care of young children. In 2010 the State of Victoria, Australia, launched a framework for educators working in early childhood settings. This framework identified family centred practice (FCP) as the approach to be implemented by educators in their work with families. FCP has been widely used in early childhood intervention programs since the latter part of the 20th century; however, this approach had not previously been adopted in mainstream early childhood education and care contexts.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
In the pursuit of greater equity and expanded access to higher education, a discourse of widening participation has been foregrounded within the Australian higher education sector in recent decades. This agenda has largely focused on moving towards proportional representation for six equity target groups that have been inscribed within policy for more than 25 years: people from low socioeconomic status backgrounds, people from regional and remote areas, people with disabilities, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, women in non-traditional areas of study, and Indigenous people. While the higher education landscape has transformed over this period, these groups remain core to conceptualisations of equity within policy and practice, fundamentally shaping how educational inequalities can – and should – be addressed. This thesis contributes to current debates calling for reform of the national higher education equity framework by investigating a group of students who have received comparatively little attention within the widening participation agenda and the Australian context more broadly – students who would be ‘first in family’ (FiF) to hold a university-level qualification. Drawing on data collected as part of a four-year longitudinal project (2012–2015), this mixed methods study augments policy interest in school students’ aspirations, as part of the widening participation agenda, by focusing on prospective FiF students (aged 8–18 years) enrolled in primary and secondary government schools in New South Wales, Australia. Moving beyond the simplistic notion of ‘raising aspirations’ that has been embedded within this agenda, a sociological lens was used to frame the study, with Arjun Appadurai’s theory of the ‘capacity to aspire’ and Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of ‘capital,’ ‘habitus,’ and ‘field’ utilised to develop a theoretically informed understanding of access to higher education for prospective FiF students. Quantitative data in the form of annual online surveys completed by students (n = 6,492; categorised as prospective FiF or non-FiF) from 64 schools were linked with socio-demographic and prior academic achievement records, in order to establish a portrait of prospective FiF students and their educational aspirations. Qualitative data in the form of focus groups conducted in a subsample of 30 schools were utilised to gain a deeper understanding of the formation of aspirations for university among prospective FiF students (n = 198). Collectively, these data challenge existing policy by showing that FiF status constitutes a distinct equity category. While my analysis demonstrated that many prospective FiF students had overlapping socio-demographic characteristics with one, or a number of, the existing equity target groups, FiF status did not simply overlap these categories. Specifically, prospective FiF students were more likely to identify as Indigenous and come from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds in comparison to their non-FiF peers. However, FiF students were more likely to come from English-speaking backgrounds, which is in contrast to the equity policy focus on students from language backgrounds other than English. In addition, some prospective FiF students did not fit into any of the existing equity categories at all. Moreover, my analysis illuminated the nature of FiF status beyond its relationship with the existing equity target groups. Overall, non-FiF students were more likely to aspire to university in comparison to prospective FiF students at all year levels covered in the study (Years 3–12 inclusive), even when taking into account factors such as those defining the existing equity groups, and measures of academic achievement. Many of the prospective FiF students who aspired to university faced limited access to knowledge of higher education within their families, with their parents imparting support and advice through the promotion of values and attitudes. In addition, the capacity to aspire to higher education varied among prospective FiF students depending on the capital they could access and deploy via their familial and non-familial networks, which in turn brought some students closer to higher education. Given this analysis, I argue that FiF status should be recognised within higher education policy and practice as discrete from the existing equity categorisations. My study draws attention to ways in which school students who are ‘first’ in their families to pursue higher education may need extra support. Greater recognition of this population of students must not only occur once they have arrived at university, but also during the period of early aspiration formation over the course of primary and secondary schooling. My study brings to light this period as an important juncture for supporting prospective FiF students, with schools and universities playing a critical role in informing, nurturing, and resourcing aspirations, and thus facilitating pathways into higher education.