title: Holistic Education: A Vision for 21st Century New Zealand Primary School Classrooms

authors: Hall, Sherilyn

subjects: holism

abstract: In today’s world, teachers in New Zealand primary schools struggle to meet the requirements of an over-full curriculum and pressure from politicians to raise student achievement. Despite a curriculum document that speaks of developing “lifelong learners who are confident, creative, connected, and actively involved” (MoE, 2007, p. 4), teachers are being compelled to return to traditional forms of teaching in an attempt to ensure that students are meeting required ‘standards’ in reading, writing and mathematics (MoE, 2013a).  
A common theme in current educational discussions is concerns around the ‘tail of underachievement’ (Hattie, 2011; Te One, 2011) that continues to plague classrooms despite on-going professional development and the introduction of National Standards (MoE, 2009a, 2009b).  This research, therefore, attempts to define a viable alternative to the status quo, holistic education, a teaching paradigm that has produced pockets of success, mainly outside mainstream education, over the last few centuries and which may hold promise for the 21st Century.
	Holism is not new.  It spans much of human history from early Greek philosophers in the West and traditional ways of thinking in many non-Western indigenous cultures through to the current day, although the term itself was not ‘coined’ until 1926 (Esfeld, 1998).  In recent years, holism has found some legitimacy in healthcare (McEvoy & Duffy, 2008), Western judicial systems (Takagi & Shank, 2004) and even education (R. Miller, 2006).  
Although holistic education has taken various forms throughout history, one overarching theme is that it is focused on the whole child – body, mind and spirit – and their relationships with others and the world around them (J. P. Miller, 2007).  The literature even suggests that holistic education is a matter of the heart – a paradigm or worldview that underpins everything the teacher does in light of this understanding (Mahmoudi, Jafari, Nasrabadi, & Liaghatdar, 2012) rather than a pedagogical style.  Thus, holistic teachers select from a toolbox of practices in order to find what is most appropriate for each learning situation and student.
Beginning with an analysis of research into holistic education, this thesis then considers the practises of some local teachers that appear to have holistic underpinnings, to discover how viable they are in practice, and what difference they make to the students and their learning.  Interviews with teachers and their students produced data was grouped into themes.  One overarching theme showed that connecting learning to the students’ lives, increased their motivation and engagement.  The development of strong relationships with students was another clear theme, and the knowledge teachers gained as a result, informed their teaching decisions.
Though holistic teaching is time consuming it is rewarding, and these teachers felt the rewards far outweighed the cost, a sense that was echoed in literature on the subject (Apple & Beane, 2007).  Furthermore, these teachers did not think of their practice as holistic, but clearly taught from the heart.  It is this sense of a change of ‘heart’ by teachers, rather than specific practices, which suggests that holistic education could be a viable vision for today’s primary school classrooms.

text: Holistic Education: A Vision for 21st Century New Zealand Primary School Classrooms In today’s world, teachers in New Zealand primary schools struggle to meet the requirements of an over-full curriculum and pressure from politicians to raise student achievement. Despite a curriculum document that speaks of developing “lifelong learners who are confident, creative, connected, and actively involved” (MoE, 2007, p. 4), teachers are being compelled to return to traditional forms of teaching in an attempt to ensure that students are meeting required ‘standards’ in reading, writing and mathematics (MoE, 2013a).  
A common theme in current educational discussions is concerns around the ‘tail of underachievement’ (Hattie, 2011; Te One, 2011) that continues to plague classrooms despite on-going professional development and the introduction of National Standards (MoE, 2009a, 2009b).  This research, therefore, attempts to define a viable alternative to the status quo, holistic education, a teaching paradigm that has produced pockets of success, mainly outside mainstream education, over the last few centuries and which may hold promise for the 21st Century.
	Holism is not new.  It spans much of human history from early Greek philosophers in the West and traditional ways of thinking in many non-Western indigenous cultures through to the current day, although the term itself was not ‘coined’ until 1926 (Esfeld, 1998).  In recent years, holism has found some legitimacy in healthcare (McEvoy & Duffy, 2008), Western judicial systems (Takagi & Shank, 2004) and even education (R. Miller, 2006).  
Although holistic education has taken various forms throughout history, one overarching theme is that it is focused on the whole child – body, mind and spirit – and their relationships with others and the world around them (J. P. Miller, 2007).  The literature even suggests that holistic education is a matter of the heart – a paradigm or worldview that underpins everything the teacher does in light of this understanding (Mahmoudi, Jafari, Nasrabadi, & Liaghatdar, 2012) rather than a pedagogical style.  Thus, holistic teachers select from a toolbox of practices in order to find what is most appropriate for each learning situation and student.
Beginning with an analysis of research into holistic education, this thesis then considers the practises of some local teachers that appear to have holistic underpinnings, to discover how viable they are in practice, and what difference they make to the students and their learning.  Interviews with teachers and their students produced data was grouped into themes.  One overarching theme showed that connecting learning to the students’ lives, increased their motivation and engagement.  The development of strong relationships with students was another clear theme, and the knowledge teachers gained as a result, informed their teaching decisions.
Though holistic teaching is time consuming it is rewarding, and these teachers felt the rewards far outweighed the cost, a sense that was echoed in literature on the subject (Apple & Beane, 2007).  Furthermore, these teachers did not think of their practice as holistic, but clearly taught from the heart.  It is this sense of a change of ‘heart’ by teachers, rather than specific practices, which suggests that holistic education could be a viable vision for today’s primary school classrooms.

year: 2014

title: Applying generalisability theory to differentiate between trait and state in the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ)

authors: Truong, Quoc Cuong

subjects: mindfulness

abstract: Mindfulness has been applied as an effective therapy in clinical settings to treat psychological symptoms (e.g., depression, stress, anxiety) and also in many other contexts (e.g., the workplace, educational contexts, and sports). Accurate evaluation of mindfulness-based training or mindfulness research requires distinguishing between state and trait changes. The failure to distinguish trait from state in a mindfulness measurement may confuse the assessment results of neurophysiological and psychological mindfulness studies, as well as mindfulness-based treatments, because mindfulness can be understood as either a state or a trait. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) is the most widely used multidimentional assessment tool of dispositional mindfulness, comprised of five subscales: “act with awareness”, “describe”, “nonjudge”, “nonreact”, and “observe”. Its short version, consisting of 18 items (FFMQ-18), was proposed by examining and comparing the existing short versions of the FFMQ. However, the ability of the FFMQ to accurately capture stable aspects of mindfulness has not been studied thoroughly, using robust methodology. The generalisability theory (G-theory) is the most suitable and robust statistical approach to differentiate and measure these aspects.
In this study, G-theory was applied to distinguish between dynamic (state) and enduring (trait) aspects of mindfulness and to evaluate the reliability of the FFMQ and the FFMQ-18 over time. The study used data from 83 participants, who completed the test on three occasions separated by 2-week intervals. The full 39-item FFMQ and the shorter FFMQ-18 version proved to be very reliable in measuring trait mindfulness, with G coefficients of 0.89 and 0.75, respectively, while individual facet subscales of the FFMQ appeared to be less reliable in measuring trait mindfulness. Subsequent analyses attempted to combine the FFMQ items that were least stable over time to form a measure of state mindfulness. However, these did not result in acceptable psychometric properties for such a state subscale. The findings of this study indicate that a reliable assessment of stable aspects of mindfulness can be achieved by using the full FFMQ scale or its short FFMQ-18 version, with scores that can be generalised across the sample population and assessment occasions. The scores obtained on individual facet subscales of the FFMQ predominantly measure trait mindfulness but their reliability is affected by measurement error, resulting from interaction between persons, items and occasions.

text: Applying generalisability theory to differentiate between trait and state in the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) Mindfulness has been applied as an effective therapy in clinical settings to treat psychological symptoms (e.g., depression, stress, anxiety) and also in many other contexts (e.g., the workplace, educational contexts, and sports). Accurate evaluation of mindfulness-based training or mindfulness research requires distinguishing between state and trait changes. The failure to distinguish trait from state in a mindfulness measurement may confuse the assessment results of neurophysiological and psychological mindfulness studies, as well as mindfulness-based treatments, because mindfulness can be understood as either a state or a trait. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) is the most widely used multidimentional assessment tool of dispositional mindfulness, comprised of five subscales: “act with awareness”, “describe”, “nonjudge”, “nonreact”, and “observe”. Its short version, consisting of 18 items (FFMQ-18), was proposed by examining and comparing the existing short versions of the FFMQ. However, the ability of the FFMQ to accurately capture stable aspects of mindfulness has not been studied thoroughly, using robust methodology. The generalisability theory (G-theory) is the most suitable and robust statistical approach to differentiate and measure these aspects.
In this study, G-theory was applied to distinguish between dynamic (state) and enduring (trait) aspects of mindfulness and to evaluate the reliability of the FFMQ and the FFMQ-18 over time. The study used data from 83 participants, who completed the test on three occasions separated by 2-week intervals. The full 39-item FFMQ and the shorter FFMQ-18 version proved to be very reliable in measuring trait mindfulness, with G coefficients of 0.89 and 0.75, respectively, while individual facet subscales of the FFMQ appeared to be less reliable in measuring trait mindfulness. Subsequent analyses attempted to combine the FFMQ items that were least stable over time to form a measure of state mindfulness. However, these did not result in acceptable psychometric properties for such a state subscale. The findings of this study indicate that a reliable assessment of stable aspects of mindfulness can be achieved by using the full FFMQ scale or its short FFMQ-18 version, with scores that can be generalised across the sample population and assessment occasions. The scores obtained on individual facet subscales of the FFMQ predominantly measure trait mindfulness but their reliability is affected by measurement error, resulting from interaction between persons, items and occasions.

year: 2020

title: HIEMPA: Hybrid Instruments from Electroacoustic Manipulation and Models of Pütorino and Aquascape

authors: Whalley, Ian

subjects: music

abstract: The HIEMPA project combined a team of people with technical, artistic, environmental and cultural expertise towards an artistic outcome aiming to extend the New Zealand sonic art tradition. The work involved collecting audio samples from the aquascape of the Ruakuri Caves and Nature Reserve in Waitomo, South Waikato, New Zealand; and samples of a variety of pütorino – a New Zealand Mäori wind instrument. Following a machine learning analysis of this audio material and an analysis of the performance material, hybrid digital instruments were built and mapped to suitable hardware triggers. The new instruments are playable in realtime, along with the electroacoustic manipulation of pütorino performances. The project takes into account the environmental and cultural significance of the source material, with the results to be released as a set of compositions. This paper discusses the background research and process of the project.

text: HIEMPA: Hybrid Instruments from Electroacoustic Manipulation and Models of Pütorino and Aquascape The HIEMPA project combined a team of people with technical, artistic, environmental and cultural expertise towards an artistic outcome aiming to extend the New Zealand sonic art tradition. The work involved collecting audio samples from the aquascape of the Ruakuri Caves and Nature Reserve in Waitomo, South Waikato, New Zealand; and samples of a variety of pütorino – a New Zealand Mäori wind instrument. Following a machine learning analysis of this audio material and an analysis of the performance material, hybrid digital instruments were built and mapped to suitable hardware triggers. The new instruments are playable in realtime, along with the electroacoustic manipulation of pütorino performances. The project takes into account the environmental and cultural significance of the source material, with the results to be released as a set of compositions. This paper discusses the background research and process of the project.

year: 2008