title: Discourses of economic investment and child vulnerability in early childhood education

authors: Mitchell, Linda

subjects: Early Childhood Education

abstract: This article explores discourses of economic investment and child vulnerability that have become dominant under New Zealand’s National-led Government as a rationale for policy directions in early childhood education. It highlights the need for explicit values about children and childhood to be a basis for early childhood policy development, with a commitment to equity and democratic citizenship being a good place to start. The article draws on policy document analysis, policy evaluations and research to argue that current policies have run counter to a democratic view of citizenship, and led to a swing away from universal approaches to education for all towards targeted interventions for priority children. At the same time, a drive for measurable outcomes is in danger of funnelling early childhood education into narrow goals that bypass a broad view of what education might possibly be. Ideas for future policy directions are discussed.

text: Discourses of economic investment and child vulnerability in early childhood education This article explores discourses of economic investment and child vulnerability that have become dominant under New Zealand’s National-led Government as a rationale for policy directions in early childhood education. It highlights the need for explicit values about children and childhood to be a basis for early childhood policy development, with a commitment to equity and democratic citizenship being a good place to start. The article draws on policy document analysis, policy evaluations and research to argue that current policies have run counter to a democratic view of citizenship, and led to a swing away from universal approaches to education for all towards targeted interventions for priority children. At the same time, a drive for measurable outcomes is in danger of funnelling early childhood education into narrow goals that bypass a broad view of what education might possibly be. Ideas for future policy directions are discussed.

year: 2017

title: The effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions on employee well-being: A meta-analytic study

authors: Thierstein, Simone

subjects: Mindfulness

abstract: Organisations have started to acknowledge that employee stress and well-being have a central role in organisational performance and can also impact individuals’ overall health. Poor employee well-being and stress have been linked to psychological, physiological, and behavioural issues such as loss of productivity, work accidents (Fries, 2009), cardiovascular disease, hypertension (Tennant, 2001), and increased staff turnover (Murphy, & Sauter, 2003). Furthermore, distress can decrease life satisfaction and have a major influence on our daily lives (Berger, 1994). Employee well-being programmes became popular in the 1970s, such as the programme developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn which is known as the ‘mindfulness-based stress reduction’ intervention. In this meta-analytic study, the effect of MBSR interventions categorised in three groups (tMBSR, mMBSR, and cMBSR) on employee stress and well-being is examined.
Statistical data of stress levels was taken from the following measures: GHQ, DASS, MBI, and PSS. Statistical data of well-being levels was taken from measures such as the SPWB, the SWLS, the SF-36 and the SF-12v2, and the PSQI.
The meta-analysis on MBSR and its effect on stress reduction resulted in a medium summary effect size (g= -0.489). A smaller summary effect size (g= -0.242) was found when carrying out a meta-analysis only comprising of studies which included a control group. The meta-analysis on the effect of MBSR on enhancing well-being outcomes resulted in a moderate effect size (g= 0.512).
The findings in this study are in line with previous research outcomes supporting the claim that MBSR assists in stress reduction and increases well-being in employees. There are various limitations to this study such as few controlled studies and a majority of samples working in the health care sector. Future research could focus on cMBSR interventions in the workplace and explore why they may have a larger effect size than traditional MBSR.

text: The effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions on employee well-being: A meta-analytic study Organisations have started to acknowledge that employee stress and well-being have a central role in organisational performance and can also impact individuals’ overall health. Poor employee well-being and stress have been linked to psychological, physiological, and behavioural issues such as loss of productivity, work accidents (Fries, 2009), cardiovascular disease, hypertension (Tennant, 2001), and increased staff turnover (Murphy, & Sauter, 2003). Furthermore, distress can decrease life satisfaction and have a major influence on our daily lives (Berger, 1994). Employee well-being programmes became popular in the 1970s, such as the programme developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn which is known as the ‘mindfulness-based stress reduction’ intervention. In this meta-analytic study, the effect of MBSR interventions categorised in three groups (tMBSR, mMBSR, and cMBSR) on employee stress and well-being is examined.
Statistical data of stress levels was taken from the following measures: GHQ, DASS, MBI, and PSS. Statistical data of well-being levels was taken from measures such as the SPWB, the SWLS, the SF-36 and the SF-12v2, and the PSQI.
The meta-analysis on MBSR and its effect on stress reduction resulted in a medium summary effect size (g= -0.489). A smaller summary effect size (g= -0.242) was found when carrying out a meta-analysis only comprising of studies which included a control group. The meta-analysis on the effect of MBSR on enhancing well-being outcomes resulted in a moderate effect size (g= 0.512).
The findings in this study are in line with previous research outcomes supporting the claim that MBSR assists in stress reduction and increases well-being in employees. There are various limitations to this study such as few controlled studies and a majority of samples working in the health care sector. Future research could focus on cMBSR interventions in the workplace and explore why they may have a larger effect size than traditional MBSR.

year: 2019

title: Sylvia’s place: Ashton-Warner as New Zealand educational theorist.

authors: Middleton, Sue

subjects: educational theorist

abstract: Sylvia Ashton-Warner’s New Zealand educational context has been – and continues to be – misrepresented as antithetical to her creative methods. Sue Middleton, a professor of education, locates Sylvia’s educational ideas within the national and international Progressive Education movement, indicating that key education officials in post-war New Zealand encouraged creativity and self-expression.

This chapter makes the case that, as a teacher, an educational writer and theorist, Sylvia Ashton-Warner grew in, and not in spite of New Zealand. My argument unfolds in two parts. The first reviews theoretical ideas in the local and international educational environment in which Sylvia lived and worked. Sylvia and Keith Henderson taught in what was referred to until 1946 as the Native School system (and from 1948 until its abolition in 1968 as the Maori Scholl system). They trained and began work as teachers during the Great Depression; and Sylvia began serious writing during World War Two. The war and the Native Scholl system interested in complex ways with the wider international Progressive Education movement and its promotion ‘from the top’ in New Zealand’s public schools. An overview of Progressive (or New ) Education, the changing theories of culture and race in the Native School system, and relations between these during World War Two, opens a wide-angled aperture through which to read Sylvia’s early writing.

text: Sylvia’s place: Ashton-Warner as New Zealand educational theorist. Sylvia Ashton-Warner’s New Zealand educational context has been – and continues to be – misrepresented as antithetical to her creative methods. Sue Middleton, a professor of education, locates Sylvia’s educational ideas within the national and international Progressive Education movement, indicating that key education officials in post-war New Zealand encouraged creativity and self-expression.

This chapter makes the case that, as a teacher, an educational writer and theorist, Sylvia Ashton-Warner grew in, and not in spite of New Zealand. My argument unfolds in two parts. The first reviews theoretical ideas in the local and international educational environment in which Sylvia lived and worked. Sylvia and Keith Henderson taught in what was referred to until 1946 as the Native School system (and from 1948 until its abolition in 1968 as the Maori Scholl system). They trained and began work as teachers during the Great Depression; and Sylvia began serious writing during World War Two. The war and the Native Scholl system interested in complex ways with the wider international Progressive Education movement and its promotion ‘from the top’ in New Zealand’s public schools. An overview of Progressive (or New ) Education, the changing theories of culture and race in the Native School system, and relations between these during World War Two, opens a wide-angled aperture through which to read Sylvia’s early writing.

year: 2009