Joanne Burnett (Southern Cross University) discusses her paper on ‘What Is “Good” Practice Addressing Family Violence in Family Law Mediation?’ with members of the Australasian Dispute Resolution Research Network.
Claire Holland and Dr Judith Rafferty (James Cook University) discuss their paper on ‘A Case for Conflict Engagement’ with members of the Australasian Dispute Resolution Research Network.
Dr Amira Aftab (Western Sydney University) discusses her paper on ‘Navigating Cultural and Religious Needs in Family Dispute Resolution’ with members of the Australasian Dispute Resolution Research Network.
Thank you to all those in the community who participated in the recent NMAS Review Survey. The NMAS Review team is now in the initial stages of analysing the data. The NMAS Review Survey, along with the NMAS Effectiveness Survey, workshops, reference groups and other consultative opportunities will inform the recommendations we will make to the Mediator Standards Board (MSB) from the current review of the National Mediator Accreditation System (NMAS).
As part of our commitment to an honest, ethical and transparent process, new findings from the NMAS Effectiveness Survey are now available. Following on from the release of Part 2 of the Effectiveness Survey, Part 3 of the NMAS Effectiveness Survey Report is now available to download from the NMAS Review Hub and the Mediator Standards Board (MSB) website.
This blogpost provides:
a. Insight into Part 3 of the NMAS Effectiveness Survey Report
b. Background information
We welcome your thoughts and comments about the Reports!
a. NMAS Effectiveness Survey Report – Part 3
What have we learned so far?
Part 1 of the Report provides insight into who participated in the survey.
Part 2 of the Report provides insight into whether mediators perceive the National Mediator Accreditation System (NMAS) as helpful in relation to six contexts.
Part 3 of the Report drills down even further into these contexts, and analyses them against four factors:
Findings from the Part 3 indicate it has become ‘evident that some of these factors may indeed shape mediators’ perceptions of the NMAS’. In response to the main themes arising from the findings, Part 3 also includes six preliminary recommendations, signalling potential priorities for the MSB or its member organisations (MSB Orgs).
‘Celebrate the ongoing legacy of NADRAC and its potential role in shaping how many mediators perceive the NMAS today’
PART 3: EFFECTIVENESS SURVEY NMAS REVIEW 2020-21
Here is a sample of the findings and recommendations contained in Part 3:
1. ‘Commercial mediators, conciliators and civil mediators are more likely than other types of mediators to perceive the NMAS as helpful’. This is surprising considering ‘community mediators, the group often most closely associated with facilitative mediation as described in the NMAS, were not as consistent or as positive as what some may have expected. For example, some may find it surprising that, while the numbers were small (8%), they, like FDRPs, reported the highest proportion of mediators labelling the NMAS as not helpful in connection to training and accreditation.’
RECOMMENDATION: ‘Identify ways to maximise the NMAS’s capacity in guiding everyday practice and promoting/developing mediation services irrespective of mediator type, level of experience or age.’
2. ‘The amount of time in practice or years of experience (YE) played a role in how mediators perceived the NMAS, with a number of statistically significant differences observed between YE groups regarding promoting and developing mediation services, promoting mediator credibility and promoting mediation as a profession.’
‘Notably, many of these differences centred around comparisons to the responses of mediators with 25–28 YE. This group reported the highest proportion of ‘very helpful’ responses in five of the six contexts.’
‘Curiously, these sentiments were often not reflected in the adjacent YE groups, prompting the question, “Was there a major change or event between 1993 and 1996 that may shed light on this group of mediators?”’. Part 3 of the Report makes the connection ‘that this period saw quite a surge in ADR-related reforms[1], including the establishment in 1995 of the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council (NADRAC)’.
Interestingly, ‘mediators with 17–20 YE had the highest proportion of respondents labelling the NMAS as helpful in developing services, participating in CPD, promoting mediator credibility and promoting mediation as a profession.’ ‘Again, the corresponding period between 2001–2004 coincided with the release of several seminal NADRAC papers, including ‘A Framework for ADR Standards’ (April 2001)[2]‘.
The report states that ‘while correlation is not causation, it would seem remiss not to acknowledge the correlation between these pivotal moments in ADR and’ the ‘statistically significant’ findings, ‘as they are likely to be representative more broadly’.
RECOMMENDATION: ‘Celebrate the ongoing legacy of NADRAC and its potential role in shaping how many mediators perceive the NMAS today.’
3. ‘There was minimal variation between genders and no statistically significant findings. This suggests that gender is unlikely to influence whether the NMAS was perceived as helpful across the given contexts.’
RECOMMENDATION: ‘Acknowledge that gender appeared to play almost no role in mediators’ perceptions of the NMAS’s helpfulness.’
b. Background
NMAS Review
In late 2020, the MSB engaged the team at Resolution Resources to review the NMAS. We encourage everyone in the dispute resolution community to learn more about the purpose and methodology used to conduct this current review.
NMAS Effectiveness Survey
The Effectiveness Survey was conducted in March 2021. The purpose of the survey was to ascertain the extent to which MSB member organisations and mediators perceive the NMAS Standards to be helpful. It was also an opportunity to gather data about the mediation community, some of which informed design the recent NMAS Review Survey.
The Effectiveness Survey Report will be released in four parts:
To review the complete summary of findings and recommendations, we invite you to read Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the Effectiveness Survey Report – available to download now on the NMAS Review Hub. The MSB is also releasing findings on their LinkedIn page and website. Follow them for more updates.
The NMAS Review Hub has been specifically constructed to provide up-to-date and transparent information about the review. We invite everyone in the DR community to visit regularly and/or subscribe to receive news updates and information about the upcoming NMAS Survey!
The NMAS Review Team
Emma-May Litchfield and Danielle Hutchinson
[1] Such as the Courts Legislation (Mediation and Evaluation) Amendment Act 1994 (NSW); For more information in reforms during this time see Tom Altobelli, ‘Mediation in the Nineties: The Promise of the Past’ (2000) 4 Macarthur Law Review 103.
[2] NADRAC papers including , A Framework for ADR Standards (April 2001), Principles on Technology and ADR (March 2002), Dispute Resolution Terms (September 2003) can be accessed via Trove, a collaborative initiative of the National Library of Australia <https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20191107002242/https://www.ag.gov.au/LegalSystem/Alternate
Karen Bowers (University of Newcastle) discusses her paper on ‘Is Mediation the Best Medicine? Evaluating the Impact of Pre-Court Procedures for Medical Negligence Cases in Australia’ with members of the Australasian Dispute Resolution Research Network.
Kate Yeoman discusses her paper on ‘Designing and Engaging with a Structured System of Reflective Practice’ with members of the Australasian Dispute Resolution Research Network.
The System of Reflective Practice described in this talk is the intellectual property of Kate Yeoman. All rights reserved.
The NMAS Review Team are pleased to announce that the NMAS Review Survey is now open from 14 February – 4 March 2022.
The NMAS Review Survey is the important final stage of our consultation process for the current review of the National Mediator Accreditation System (NMAS). The Mediator Standards Board (MSB) will conduct further consultation in response to the recommendations arising out of the review.
Who can answer the survey?
This survey is designed for the entire dispute resolution community. We need your help to extend the invitation to people or organisations in your network. With your support, this survey has the potential to be one of the largest data gathering processes of its kind ever attempted in Australia, and will make an important contribution to the field of industry-based research into dispute resolution.
As academics, we all know that the the more people who answer the survey the more robust the data will be. We want all stakeholders to be represented — practitoners, organisations, academics, users — anyone with an interest in dispute resolution can make a valuable contribution. Consider distributing the invitation to your students who are participating in ADR subjects, members of committes (e.g. ADRAC, The Alernative Dispute Resolution Committee, etc.) lawyers who work with mediators, other academics, mediators and other non-determinative dispute resolution practitoners.
What is in the survey?
The NMAS Review Survey considers the current Approval and Practice Standards for NMAS accredited mediators (the Standards), the technical and structural elements of the NMAS (the System), as well as other areas for further investigation that have arisen from consultation so far.
The survey was developed in response to consultation and designed using a well-established methodology for the development of standards. Analysis of the survey will inform recommendations made to the MSB in relation to the review of the current NMAS.
The survey is made up of two parts:
Part 1: The Professional Practice Standards
Everyone who participates in the survey is asked to complete this section. It will take approximately 60 minutes to answer all of Part 1.
Part 2: The Approval Standards and System
We encourage everyone to complete this section. MSB Member Organisation hold specific responsibilities under the NMAS and will be automatically directed to complete both Parts 1 & 2. All other participants will be given the option to complete Part 2. It will take approximately 30 minutes to complete.
FAQs
We anticipate that you may have questions. The NMAS Review Survey may look unlike any survey you have completed before — and there are several reasons for this.
For FAQs and a recording of recent NMAS Review Survey Information Session hosted by Mediation Institute, please visit NMAS Review Survey FAQs.
Thank you all for your support with the NMAS Review.
The NMAS Review Team
Associate Professor Grant Morris (Victoria University of Wellington) discusses his paper on ‘Dispute Resolution in a Pandemic: The Impact of the COVID Pandemic on the New Zealand Dispute Resolution Landscape and Beyond’ with members of the Australasian Dispute Resolution Research Network.
Professor Kathy Douglas (RMIT) discusses her paper on ‘Lawyers’ Practice in Mediation: Including Emotion as Part of Lawyer Guidelines’ with members of the Australasian Dispute Resolution Research Network.
The NMAS Review Team is pleased to announce the final stage of the consultation process for the current review of the National Mediator Accreditation System (NMAS) – the release of the main NMAS Review Survey. The NMAS Review Survey will be open for two weeks from 14–28 February 2022.
We need your help to get the message out.
This blogpost provides insight into:
What to expect
We will open the survey to the entire dispute resolution (DR) community and others with an interest in the future of mediation. With your support It has the potential to be one of the largest data gathering processes of its kind ever attempted in Australia.
You may notice that the survey is a little different from surveys you may have completed in the past. We think the DR community is up to the challenge, however, this might be one of the most challenging surveys our community has ever seen.
The questions are asked in a specific way using a well-established methodology for the development of standards. Participating in a survey of this type is a demanding task that requires deep reflection. It is rigorous and complex, perhaps unexpectedly so, as it examines all the information from the current NMAS — both the NMAS Standards and the System — as well as some questions that have emerged from our consultation with the DR community so far.
What we want from you
What we are asking of you is really important. The Mediator Standards Board (MSB) has recognised how valuable participating in this research is, by endorsing an hour of CPD for those who participate.[1] We hope that by sharing this with you early you can be prepared to put time aside to complete the survey.
Every voice counts.
Please consider who else you might wish to share this post with to spread the message as widely as possible. With your help, the invitation to participate in the survey can be extended to thousands, including mediators, other non-determinative DR practitioners such as conciliators and FDRPs, community and other organisations, government bodies, academics — the list goes on.
We know from running previous surveys that results are impacted when a group is unrepresented in the data. For example, in the NMAS Effectiveness Survey, judge mediators as a group were under-represented and, as a consequence, we could not include them in comparative analysis with other types of mediators. What a missed opportunity!
The NMAS Review Team wishes to thank everyone involved for their generosity and valuable contribution to the consultation process so far. It has helped us to develop and refine the main part of the consultation — NMAS Review Survey. Contributors include:
The NMAS Review is an independent process, however, we would also like to acknowledge and extend our thanks to the MSB, in particular those on the NMAS Review sub-committee, for their support through this process.
Background information on the NMAS Review
The NMAS Review Hub has been specifically constructed to provide up-to-date and transparent information about the review. It includes reports, videos, resources, news updates, background information and more. We invite everyone in the DR community to visit and/or subscribe to receive updates or for a link to the NMAS Review Survey once released.
Emma-May Litchfield and Danielle Hutchinson
Leading the NMAS Review Team
[1] If you are an NMAS accredited mediator, we have been advised by the MSB that you can collect one CPD point for completing this survey under Section 3.5 of the NMAS. Please contact your RMAB for clarification.
The Australian Dispute Resolution Research Network 