Maxim Institute produces a range of thought provoking and well-researched publications which contribute to the debate on a range of issues including education, marriage and family, political correctness and wider cultural trends.
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Is it Just Tax? The shaping of our society Is it Just Tax? continues the Maxim Institute's Tax Discussion Series by taking up the issues of justice and freedom and looking at how our current tax system measures up. This has implications for many areas, including how we use schemes like Working for Families and how we measure poverty. |
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Governing for the Good: What does it really mean? Governing for the Good: What does it really mean? is the first paper in the Maxim Institute's Tax Discussion Series that considers the basis for a just, fair and compassionate taxation system for New Zealand. Governing for the Good examines the link between taxation and government activity, outlining the role of government and the community in society. |
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Parliamentary Recklessness: Why we need to legislate more carefully On Monday 28 July, Professor Jeremy Waldron delivered Maxim Institute's inaugural Annual John Graham Lecture, in Auckland, on the topic "Parliamentary Recklessness: Why we need to legislate more carefully." In his lecture Professor Waldron suggests that "New Zealand has stripped safeguard after safeguard away from its legislative process—leaving it with virtually none of the safeguards that most working democracies take for granted." |
Education
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Roll Play: How creating better access to schools in Christchurch could affect school rolls Roll Play: How creating better access to schools in Christchurch could affect school rolls takes a fresh look at the impact of policies which could provide better access to schools for New Zealand children. The research presented in Roll Play explores the practicalities of allowing parents more equitable access to schools. It analyses data from a telephone survey of 424 parents whose children currently attend a secondary school in Christchurch, and looks at whether they think this is the most suitable school for their child or whether they would like to change their child's school. The report contends that allowing families greater opportunity to access the school they prefer for their children is a fairer way of determining access to state schools than the current enrolment system. |
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The Parent Factor 5 - Summary and policy recommendations 22 May 2006 The final report in the award winning Parent Factor series, the report highlights the need for schools and principals to be trusted with the freedom to innovate and respond to the needs of families in their local community and to empower parents to make decisions that affect their child's schooling. The Parent Factor: Summary and policy recommendations, lays out the key findings and recommendations of the previous four reports in this series, revealing what parents think about: freedom for schools, remuneration of teachers, information on schooling and choosing the school their child goes to. Download: ParentFactorReport5.pdf |
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The Parent Factor 4 – Access to Education 7 February 2006 By Steve Thomas and Ruth Porter The Parent Factor: Access to Education reveals that most New Zealand parents want to choose their child's school, but under the current system, the ability of parents to select their child's school (particularly in urban areas), is largely determined by their income. Access to Education examines the many benefits which flow from parents having wider access to schools. It finds that the current New Zealand school system prevents these benefits from being realised and does nothing to alleviate or even minimise the barriers which prevent parents from accessing the school of their choice. Download: ParentFactorReport4.pdf |
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The Parent Factor 3 - Information for parents 5 September 2005 By Steve Thomas The Parent Factor: Information for Parents paints a clear picture of the kind of schooling system parents want in this country; New Zealand parents want more information about their child's education, including more information about their child's teachers, their school's results and areas a school specialises in. The report examines the current situation in New Zealand and finds that it does not reflect the wishes of the majority of parents. Download: ParentFactorReport3.pdf |
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The Parent Factor 2 - Valuing teachers 28 June 2005 New Zealand parents want to see teachers valued and respected for the work they do and treated as professionals. Valuing teachers examines the current situation with respect to teachers in New Zealand and finds that it does not reflect the wishes of the majority of parents. Download: ParentFactorReport2.pdf |
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The Parent Factor 1 - Freedom for schools 29 May 2005 The Parent Factor - Freedom for schools finds that parents would like to select the school their children go to, that parents want schools to teach their individual communities’ positive values, and that only a minority of parents have confidence in the NCEA. The report, based on representative survey data gathered by Colmar Brunton, examines the situation with respect to school freedom, and brings the neglected voice of parents into the education debate. Download: ParentFactorReport1.pdf |
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A Snapshot of what parents think of Schooling in New Zealand May 2004 By Paul Henderson and Andrew Shamy RRP $19.95 A Snapshot of what parents think of Schooling in New Zealand features qualitative research into parents’ views on schooling, which formed the ground work for The Parent Factor series based on quantitative research. Focus groups of parents were asked what they thought about various aspects of the New Zealand education system. There were a range of passionate and deeply interested responses on school zoning, discipline, the NCEA and other topical issues. |
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Vying for our children 2003 By Paul Henderson RRP $24.95 Maxim Partner price $20 Vying for our children takes a timely and critical look at New Zealand’s school curricula and examines the roots and flaws of the philosophies which underpin them, showing how a number of ideologies compete to influence educational policy and curricular content. Paul Henderson shows how traditional values have been largely swept aside in an unholy alliance between economic reductionism and neo-Marxism, and calls for a revised curriculum which thinks more about educational excellence, and panders less to transient fashions. |
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In Harm's Way 2003 By Paul Henderson RRP $14.95 Maxim Partner price $10 In Harm’s Way is intended for all those who have an interest in New Zealand’s ability to compete internationally, ranking this country against its international competitors. |
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Kids Adrift - Values Confusion in New Zealand Schools June 2002 By Paul Henderson RRP $20.00 Maxim Partner price $15 Kids Adrift asks how children are taught values in New Zealand schools. It also asks whether the methods employed in values education are capable of delivering a society which values character. It finds they are not. To order contact us |
Family
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Going Further With Fathers: Can fathers make unique contributions to the lives of their children? 1 November 2007 By Daniel Lees RRP $25 Maxim Partner price $20 Going Further With Fathers is a research report that asks whether fathers can make unique contributions to their children's lives. The report contains a literature review of studies that have asked this question and a brief overview of fatherhood in New Zealand. The majority of these studies found that involved fathers can have positive effects on areas including children's behavioural outcomes, their psychological well-being, their self-esteem and their educational achievement. The overview finds that data on father involvement is limited but that there may be some barriers to fathers' involvement with their children, such as increased working hours. Against this background, the report goes on to explore some of the implications of the research. There are implications for how law, policy and media should treat fathers, but the key implication is that fathers themselves should be encouraged and valued. |
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The Erosion of Marriage May 2002 By Angela Burgess RRP $19.95 Maxim Partner price $15 The Erosion of Marriage is an expanded version of Angela Burgess’ work which won the 2000 University of Otago Brookers Limited Prize for best honours dissertation. It examines the effect of law on New Zealand’s foundational institution and considers the future of marriage. |
Culture
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Silent Legacy: The unseen ways great thinkers have shaped our culture Silent Legacy: The unseen ways great thinkers have shaped our culture looks at the ways great thinkers of the past have shaped the society of today. From our modern fixation with child-centred learning, to our rationale for introducing MMP, our beliefs and assumptions have been shaped in unseen ways by great minds that have gone before us. As ideas permeate down from the academic ivory tower to the street, the pub and the cafe, we can see them begin to affect wider culture and the way we live our lives. Platonic longing for the transcendent, Aristotelian scientific method, Nietzschean rejection of weakness, Rousseau's emphasis on freedom, Cartesian dualism or postmodern suspicion of authority—we can see them all in our contemporary world, still forming our legal, cultural, moral and popular culture. |
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Pursuing Social Justice in New Zealand: 14 New Zealanders share their stories of communities helping people in ways government cannot 30 March 2007 Edited by Ruth Porter RRP $29.99 Pursuing Social Justice in New Zealand is a collection of stories, compelling arguments and unique research from a diverse group of New Zealanders, each with a common experience: when it comes to providing social justice—whether in sport or in business, in protecting the environment or helping immigrants—communities are best. This timely book unpacks this popular concept and lays out a stirring challenge: the relational fabric of family and community life must be strengthened, even reinvigorated, if social justice is to flourish in New Zealand. |
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From Innocents to Agents - children and children's rights in New Zealand 15 November 2006 By Michael Reid RRP $39.90 From Innocents to Agents is a timely analysis of the rise of children’s rights in New Zealand. It examines the evolution from a nineteenth century understanding of children as ‘innocents’ needing protection within families, and where state involvement was minimal, to a more contemporary view of children as ‘empowered agents’ where the state and its agencies are primary. The author contends that a particular interpretation of international law has impacted domestic legislation and played a significant role in changing the status of children. |
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Political Correctness and the Theoretical Struggle 2004 By Dr Frank Ellis RRP $19.95 Maxim Partner price $15 Political Correctness and the Theoretical Struggle exposes the ideology behind political correctness and the role it plays in modern western society. Frank Ellis traces PC's dark history from its invention by the Russian Soviets to its migration to the western world. Ellis also demonstrates how political correctness is being used to shut down debate and marginalise opponents of any social reform by branding them with unpopular labels. PC is destroying language and culture and making it impossible to critique what is happening in society. |
Additional publications
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Real Issues
Real Issues is a weekly email newsletter produced by the Maxim Institute. The focus is current New Zealand events with an attempt to provide insight into critical issues beyond what is usually presented in the media. |
