Browsing by Author "Brown, Charlotte"

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Collaborative Consultation: a Model for Service Delivery in the New Paradigm for Special Education
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2008) Brown, Charlotte
This study examined the application of a collaborative consultation model of special education service delivery in New Zealand focused on the work of school advisers known as: Resource Teachers Learning and Behaviour (RTLB). The aim of the research was to acquire valid data to inform special education practice in general, and RTLB practice in particular, about the effectiveness of the consultation model. The research explored and documented the specific contexts and practices of a sample of RTLB and the impact of these practices on the teachers and students with whom they worked. The study was conducted within an interpretivist/qualitative paradigm, employing case study methodology, document analysis and semi-structured interview data gathering methods. The study was carried out in two phases. In Phase I sections of the practice portfolios submitted by a group of RTLB for the final assessment of their training programme were analysed. Phase II of the study consisted of an in-depth analysis of the work of six experienced RTLB, through semi-structured interviews with those RTLB and with a sample of teachers with whom they worked. Triangulation of subjects, methods and data sources revealed that a collaborative consultation model is both viable in a New Zealand context and effective in bringing about improved academic and social outcomes for students. The RTLB were committed and enthusiastic about the model and the teachers expressed high levels of satisfaction, reporting that working in this way assisted them to develop new skills and strategies which they incorporated into their teaching repertoires. Findings suggest that a critical factor in the success of the model is the relationships formed between the RTLB and the teacher. The study demonstrates the important contribution of qualitative research to the collaborative consultation literature.
Open Access
The role of commercial insurance in post-disaster recovery: Quantitative evidence from the 2011 Christchurch earthquake
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2016) Poontirakul, Porntida; Brown, Charlotte; Noy, Ilan; Seville, Erica; Vargo, John
We examine the role of business interruption insurance in business recovery following the Christchurch earthquake in 2011 in the short- and medium-term. In the short-term analysis, we ask whether insurance increases the likelihood of business survival in the aftermath of a disaster. We find only weak evidence that those firms that had incurred damage, but were covered by business interruption insurance, had higher likelihood of survival post-quake compared with those firms that did not have insurance. This absence of evidence may reflect the high degree of uncertainty in the months following the 2011 earthquake and the multiplicity of severe aftershocks. For the medium-term, our results show a more explicit role for insurance in the aftermath of a disaster. Firms with business interruption insurance have a higher probability of increasing productivity and improved performance following a catastrophe. Furthermore, our results show that those organisations that receive prompt and full payments of their claims have a better recovery, in terms of profitability and a subjective ‘”better off” measure’ than those that had protracted or inadequate claim payments (less than 80% of the claim paid within 2.5 years). Interestingly, the latter group does worse than those organisations that had damage but no insurance coverage. This analysis strongly indicates the importance not only of good insurance coverage, but of an insurance system that also delivers prompt claim payments. As a first paper attempting to empirically identify a causal effect of insurance on business recovery, we also emphasize some caveats to our analysis.