Research
Keystrokes Per Minute - The Women in the Public Service Typing Pool from 1945 til the Present Day
Keystrokes per Minute (KPM) is a project that aims to record the oral history of women in the New Zealand Public Service Typing Pools from 1945 to the present day.
The Public Service has for many decades relied entirely on the work of women employed in the typing pool and related jobs. This oral history records their highly skilled work, the way they adapted to changes in technology, and status of their profession since 1945.
The collection of oral interviews captured is presented as a podcast series, and all material is held in the National Library. Follow this link to listen to the podcast. Go to this link to read more about the Keystrokes Per Minute project.
Filling the knowledge gap for administrative professionals undertaking their National Diploma in Business Administration Level 5
Research funded by Ako Aotearoa in 2012 undertaken by: Vivienne Kermode AAPNZ (deceased was employed at the former Waiariki Institute of Technology) and Eth Lloyd MNZM M.Ed. NDBA AdmiNZ (Life, Fellow, Cert.) (now retired, was formerly Enderby Associates Ltd)
Vivienne and Eth worked together over 4 years to support and assist administrative professionals to gain their National Diploma in Business Administration (NDBA) L5 while in the workplace.
For some of these administrative professionals completing their qualification in the workplace with Eth Lloyd also required a way to fill a ‘knowledge gap’ identified during the workplace assessment process. Waiariki Institute of Technology supported the Tutor of their on-line NDBA L5 programme, AAPNZ member Vivienne Kermode, to provide single course one-off enrolments for these NDBA candidates to fill that knowledge gap through formal new on-line learning.
This approach was so successful that Vivienne and Eth approached Ako Aotearoa with a proposal for funding to assist them in researching their approach. This funding request was successful, and their research project allowed Vivienne and Eth to provide credible results from that research to demonstrate to other Polytechnics/Institutes of Technology how it worked in the hope they could perhaps consider the same approach. Eth and Vivienne also presented these results at the Polytechnics National Business Administration Forum in Napier in April 2012.
AdmiNZ (renamed 2020) members again participated in this research by responding to the on-line survey, providing a context for Vivienne and Eth’s research and data included in the research report. Vivienne and Eth’s report is available on the Ako Aotearoa website.
While the qualifications and delivery have since changed due to both the Total Review of Qualifications (TRoQ) and the Review of Vocational Education (RoVE) there are still qualifications available through what is currently known as Te Pukenga. This is primarily face-to-face or on-line learning. These qualifications are New Zealand Certificates and Diplomas in Business (Administration & Technology).
However, AdmiNZ has now developed its own Micro-credentials at Level 5 each of 20 credits which can be used to build either a Level 5 60 credit Professional Certificate in Business Administration or a Level 5 120 credit Professional Diploma in Business Administration both of which are workplace assessed. These Micro-credentials have been assessed by NZQA for equivalency at Level 5. They can lead to AdmiNZ Provisional Certification (Certificate) or Certification (Diploma).
Administrative professionals in New Zealand: their professional development opportunities and career pathways.
Master’s Thesis – Eth Lloyd MNZM M.Ed., P.G.Dip Ed, NDBA, AdmiNZ (Life, Fellow, Cert.) (eth.lloyd@gmail.com)
In 2010 this thesis was the first academic research to be conducted solely in New Zealand into the profession of Administrative Professionals. It looks at the perceptions of Administrative Professionals of their professional development opportunities and career pathways.
In 1995 a survey focusing on the changing roles for secretarial staff was conducted in Australia by Heather Maguire. This survey used members of the respective Administrative Professional associations in Australia and New Zealand; Australian Institute of Office Professionals (AIOP) and the then New Zealand Society of Executive Secretaries, now the Association of Administrative Professionals New Zealand Inc (AdmiNZ). The results of that research were presented at a conference in Australia in 1996, in a paper titled; “Just a Sec! A comparative study of the changing role of secretarial staff in Australia and New Zealand”.
It is interesting to note that internationally there has been little research of the Administrative Profession. In fact, in a six year search I retrieved only about 10 academic papers. There had been some research undertaken prior to 2008, based primarily in Australia, United States, United Kingdom but only post 2010 in New Zealand. All these papers are of real interest and are worth of reading. However, mostly the older papers do not specifically apply to New Zealand and focus on secretaries, not today’s wider generic role of the Administrative Professional. In Australia in 2008, a PhD thesis titled “Women, work and learning” by Dr Jillian Cavanagh was completed, researching ‘auxiliary workers’ (Administrative Professionals) within legal offices in Queensland.
In 2003 I presented a paper at the 5th International Secretarial Summit in London titled “Value ourselves so others value us”. Writing this paper and at the same time developing the then named AAPNZ’s Certification process as National President, contributed to my realisation that there was little research into the Administrative Professional role which is a valuable part of the workforce and economy. This prompted me starting my research and to a presentation on the initial results in 2009, at the 7th International Office Professionals Summit in Trinidad & Tobago.
I submitted my thesis in May 2010 and was informed in July that after achieving a B+ for my thesis I would be awarded my Master of Education with Merit, in December. The contribution of the now renamed AdmiNZ members to the survey and those non-members, who participated through the snowball survey, was invaluable. In particular, the voices of those in the research focus groups were crucial to gathering the rich deep qualitative data required in my thesis. Without the quality of the voices of those who responded to the survey and the depth of the stories from the participants in the focus groups, the validity of the data gathered would have been reduced.
This research was supported by AdmiNZ through allowing me access to the members for the survey and by awarding me the 2009 Doreen Smart $1,000 Scholarship. AdmiNZ was the environment in which the whole idea for undertaking this research was developed and AdmiNZ provided support to me during the research and writing of my thesis.
I hope that those who wish to read this document get value from doing so and I look forward to hearing comments and discussion on the reported results. Follow this link to read my Masters which is all about you and your profession.