title: Teaching Bioethics as a Stand-alone Subject in a New Zealand State Secondary School

authors: Stevens, Deborah Anne Ellen

subjects: Bioethics

abstract: This study is based on the contention that there is a lack of theoretical values education, that is, ethical thinking, ethical consideration and understanding of ethical theory, within New Zealand’s schools and communities at a time when societies globally are facing significant ethical, legal, social, environmental, economic and political challenges resulting from rapid technological advances.

This project’s principal aim is to explore the cognitive and affective outcomes for students interacting with a specially designed bioethics curriculum presented as a stand-alone subject within the timetable at their urban, decile six, co-educational, state secondary school. It explores the proposal that if the teaching and learning of bioethics is conducted in a student-centred context and includes the teaching of ethical theory, in addition to exploring applied bioethical situations in which learners are encouraged to generate and test their opinions, then it can engage many learners and provide them with a successful way to critique their personal value systems; develop an understanding of values systems that differ from their own; and develop the key academic and social competencies of critical thinking skills, relating to others, managing self, participating and contributing, and understanding language, symbols and text required by the New Zealand curriculum. The study proposes a constructivist view of learning as a multifaceted and continuously evolving developmental process in which new ideas are generated or assimilated based on an individual’s personal values, which have cultural, ethical and spiritual dimensions.

Specifically, this investigation examines and describes the teaching and learning of bioethics through two case studies conducted in a state school environment across 78 students aged between 15 and 18 years, with a wide range of interests, backgrounds and academic abilities. This research has adopted a triangulated mixed-methods design in which both qualitative and quantitative data were generated and merged to develop a deep understanding of affective and cognitive outcomes for students participating in the full-year, stand-alone bioethics course. Participating students demonstrated high levels of engagement with the bioethics curriculum and the narrative, discussion-based pedagogy integral to the study. Results show that all participating students, regardless of their academic histories, had a positive affective and cognitive response to the bioethics curriculum. The stand-alone bioethics curriculum taught within the two bounded case study groups proved an effective vehicle for explicit and comprehensive values teaching and learning, incorporating both theoretical–cognitive and character–behavioural aspects. Students’ values appreciation, critical thinking skills, skills of argument, attitudes and behaviour towards others, and philosophical and scientific conceptual understanding, improved through their participation in the full-year, stand-alone bioethics trial. Data and experience acquired through this study will be of relevance to teachers from a wide variety of disciplines including the physical sciences and humanities, and to curriculum managers at individual and national policy levels.

text: Teaching Bioethics as a Stand-alone Subject in a New Zealand State Secondary School This study is based on the contention that there is a lack of theoretical values education, that is, ethical thinking, ethical consideration and understanding of ethical theory, within New Zealand’s schools and communities at a time when societies globally are facing significant ethical, legal, social, environmental, economic and political challenges resulting from rapid technological advances.

This project’s principal aim is to explore the cognitive and affective outcomes for students interacting with a specially designed bioethics curriculum presented as a stand-alone subject within the timetable at their urban, decile six, co-educational, state secondary school. It explores the proposal that if the teaching and learning of bioethics is conducted in a student-centred context and includes the teaching of ethical theory, in addition to exploring applied bioethical situations in which learners are encouraged to generate and test their opinions, then it can engage many learners and provide them with a successful way to critique their personal value systems; develop an understanding of values systems that differ from their own; and develop the key academic and social competencies of critical thinking skills, relating to others, managing self, participating and contributing, and understanding language, symbols and text required by the New Zealand curriculum. The study proposes a constructivist view of learning as a multifaceted and continuously evolving developmental process in which new ideas are generated or assimilated based on an individual’s personal values, which have cultural, ethical and spiritual dimensions.

Specifically, this investigation examines and describes the teaching and learning of bioethics through two case studies conducted in a state school environment across 78 students aged between 15 and 18 years, with a wide range of interests, backgrounds and academic abilities. This research has adopted a triangulated mixed-methods design in which both qualitative and quantitative data were generated and merged to develop a deep understanding of affective and cognitive outcomes for students participating in the full-year, stand-alone bioethics course. Participating students demonstrated high levels of engagement with the bioethics curriculum and the narrative, discussion-based pedagogy integral to the study. Results show that all participating students, regardless of their academic histories, had a positive affective and cognitive response to the bioethics curriculum. The stand-alone bioethics curriculum taught within the two bounded case study groups proved an effective vehicle for explicit and comprehensive values teaching and learning, incorporating both theoretical–cognitive and character–behavioural aspects. Students’ values appreciation, critical thinking skills, skills of argument, attitudes and behaviour towards others, and philosophical and scientific conceptual understanding, improved through their participation in the full-year, stand-alone bioethics trial. Data and experience acquired through this study will be of relevance to teachers from a wide variety of disciplines including the physical sciences and humanities, and to curriculum managers at individual and national policy levels.

year: 2013

title: Intrinsic barriers to and opportunities for community empowerment in community-based tourism development in Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam

authors: Nguyen, Dung Thi Ngoc

abstract: Even though community empowerment is a crucial component of sustainable tourism, true community empowerment is in fact hard to achieve and still eludes many countries. Few studies have looked at factors that may inhibit or encourage empowerment processes for local people. In response to this gap, this article explores intrinsic barriers to and opportunities for community empowerment in community-based tourism development in Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam. Drawing on empirical data, results show that intrinsic barriers to community empowerment derived from their dependence on government, especially in top-down political systems such as in Vietnam, and the framing of knowledge associated with formal education. Findings also reveal opportunities to enhance community empowerment if community power were acknowledged, and locals were able to exercise that power. Such recognition has the potential to transform experiences of/about local people, to empower them by shifting the focus to a paradigm that starts from within local people themselves, and their community, to using their inner strength - a significant power that they could use to enable them to achieve what they desire in tourism, and to make real change occur. The paper concludes with the implications of this analysis for community empowerment and sustainable tourism development.

text: Intrinsic barriers to and opportunities for community empowerment in community-based tourism development in Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam Even though community empowerment is a crucial component of sustainable tourism, true community empowerment is in fact hard to achieve and still eludes many countries. Few studies have looked at factors that may inhibit or encourage empowerment processes for local people. In response to this gap, this article explores intrinsic barriers to and opportunities for community empowerment in community-based tourism development in Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam. Drawing on empirical data, results show that intrinsic barriers to community empowerment derived from their dependence on government, especially in top-down political systems such as in Vietnam, and the framing of knowledge associated with formal education. Findings also reveal opportunities to enhance community empowerment if community power were acknowledged, and locals were able to exercise that power. Such recognition has the potential to transform experiences of/about local people, to empower them by shifting the focus to a paradigm that starts from within local people themselves, and their community, to using their inner strength - a significant power that they could use to enable them to achieve what they desire in tourism, and to make real change occur. The paper concludes with the implications of this analysis for community empowerment and sustainable tourism development.

year: 2021

title: Do two rights fix a wrong? A study of employee and organizational responses to abusive supervision in New Zealand

authors: de Fluiter, Alida Jane

subjects: Abusive supervision

abstract: Organizational justice theories suggest that employees who are abused by their supervisor are likely to respond with lower job and personal outcomes. However, an under-explored area has been the influence of support perceptions. The present study suggests that perceived supervisor support (PSS) and perceived organizational support (POS) may moderate the influence of abusive supervision, and this was tested with three-way interactions. Data was collected from two samples: (1) 100 blue-collar workers in construction and (2) 218 random Maori employees from a variety of industries and professions. Structural equation modeling confirmed the unique constructs of the study measures towards abusive supervision and PSS and POS. Direct effects showed abusive supervision was significant and negative in both samples towards life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and organizational-based self-esteem (OBSE), and significant and positive in both samples towards turnover intentions, anxiety, depression, and insomnia. The results indicated that abusive supervision accounted for large amounts of variance towards all outcomes, with the exception of life satisfaction in study two (7%), and insomnia (8% in study one, and 4% in study two), ranging from 13%-32% variance. Significant three-way interactions were found for all outcomes except turnover intentions and insomnia. The three-way interaction towards life satisfaction in study one indicated that under abusive supervision, respondents with high PSS and high POS experienced the greatest levels of life satisfaction. Similar relationships were found toward depression (study one and two) and anxiety (study one), showing that respondents who experienced high abusive supervision, high PSS, and high POS had the lowest levels of negative mental health outcomes amongst all abused respondents. This suggested a potentially cumulative effect of multiple sources of support. Furthermore, towards job satisfaction in study two, findings show respondents with high abusive supervision and high POS reported the highest job satisfaction, irrespective of levels of PSS. A similar relationship was found toward OBSE in study two, suggesting that of the support variables examined, POS may have greater effect on outcomes, thereby supporting research of Dawley, Andrews and Bucklew (2008) who found POS to be the best predictor of organizational outcomes. Overall, this paper supports the notion that perceptions of support may moderate the influence of abusive supervision perceptions on employee’s work and personal outcomes. The findings show that while abusive supervision can play a dominant role on outcomes, this can be somewhat nullified by greater support from the organization. This has strong implications for firms dealing with problem supervisors, signaling the importance of establishing POS, and emphasizing that creating a supportive organization may be the first step to enabling employees to develop positive work and individual outcomes.

text: Do two rights fix a wrong? A study of employee and organizational responses to abusive supervision in New Zealand Organizational justice theories suggest that employees who are abused by their supervisor are likely to respond with lower job and personal outcomes. However, an under-explored area has been the influence of support perceptions. The present study suggests that perceived supervisor support (PSS) and perceived organizational support (POS) may moderate the influence of abusive supervision, and this was tested with three-way interactions. Data was collected from two samples: (1) 100 blue-collar workers in construction and (2) 218 random Maori employees from a variety of industries and professions. Structural equation modeling confirmed the unique constructs of the study measures towards abusive supervision and PSS and POS. Direct effects showed abusive supervision was significant and negative in both samples towards life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and organizational-based self-esteem (OBSE), and significant and positive in both samples towards turnover intentions, anxiety, depression, and insomnia. The results indicated that abusive supervision accounted for large amounts of variance towards all outcomes, with the exception of life satisfaction in study two (7%), and insomnia (8% in study one, and 4% in study two), ranging from 13%-32% variance. Significant three-way interactions were found for all outcomes except turnover intentions and insomnia. The three-way interaction towards life satisfaction in study one indicated that under abusive supervision, respondents with high PSS and high POS experienced the greatest levels of life satisfaction. Similar relationships were found toward depression (study one and two) and anxiety (study one), showing that respondents who experienced high abusive supervision, high PSS, and high POS had the lowest levels of negative mental health outcomes amongst all abused respondents. This suggested a potentially cumulative effect of multiple sources of support. Furthermore, towards job satisfaction in study two, findings show respondents with high abusive supervision and high POS reported the highest job satisfaction, irrespective of levels of PSS. A similar relationship was found toward OBSE in study two, suggesting that of the support variables examined, POS may have greater effect on outcomes, thereby supporting research of Dawley, Andrews and Bucklew (2008) who found POS to be the best predictor of organizational outcomes. Overall, this paper supports the notion that perceptions of support may moderate the influence of abusive supervision perceptions on employee’s work and personal outcomes. The findings show that while abusive supervision can play a dominant role on outcomes, this can be somewhat nullified by greater support from the organization. This has strong implications for firms dealing with problem supervisors, signaling the importance of establishing POS, and emphasizing that creating a supportive organization may be the first step to enabling employees to develop positive work and individual outcomes.

year: 2011