Abstract:
This thesis focuses on changes in the notion of citizenship for girls within
GirlGuiding New Zealand’s Ranger programme from 1968-2022. Citizenship and character
education have always been defining features of the Guiding ethos, but between 1968 and
2022, there was a clear shift away from teaching specific skills towards a notion of neoliberal
citizenship, which encompassed self-management and future-orientation. I used a mixedmethods approach comprising a content analysis of six Ranger programmes from 1968-2022,
interviews with individuals involved in developing and delivering programmes at
GirlGuiding, and focus groups with current Rangers. The content analyses showed a
movement away from specific and technical skills, such as handcrafts, aviation, and farming,
towards generalised “soft” skills, such as organisation, research, and communication. The
interviews and focus groups supported this notion of neoliberal citizenship framing the
current programme. I concluded that the primary way that the Ranger programme has
changed over time is through a changing notion of citizenship: the programme has become
more oriented towards producing a flexible, productive, and self-managing future-oriented
neoliberal girl subject. However, there are also parts of the programme which contradict this
– Rangers often cited “fun”, “friendship”, and “independence” as key parts of their
experience, and these notions offered some opposition to the ideal neoliberal citizen. Overall,
there is a pattern of neoliberal subjectification within the programme, but this straightforward
reading is complicated by some potentially resistant areas of the programme and its
execution.
