Browsing by Author "Mincher N"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Children's informal learning at home during COVID-19 lockdown
    (NZCER, 2021-08-24) Bourke R; O'Neill J; McDowall S; Dacre M; Mincher N; Narayanan V; Overbye S; Tuifagalele R
    The national COVID-19 lockdown during school Term 1 2020 provided a unique context to investigate children’s experiences of informal, everyday learning in their household bubble. In Terms 3 and 4, 178 children in Years 4–8 from 10 primary schools agreed to participate in a group art-making activity and an individual interview about their experiences. The research adopted a strengths-based approach on the basis that most children are capable actors in their social worlds. This report documents children’s accounts of the multiple ways in which they negotiated the novel experience of forced confinement over a period of several weeks with family and whānau. The report is rich with children’s own accounts of their everyday living and learning during lockdown. To foreground children’s descriptions and explanations of their lockdown experience in this way is an acknowledgement of their right to express their views on matters of interest to them in their lives, and to have those views listened to, and acted on, by adults. Similarly, the approach reflects a growing educational research interest in student voice: enabling children to articulate their experiences so that adults can use this knowledge to better respond to and support children’s learning aspirations and needs. This research report does not speak for all children or all children’s experiences. Nevertheless, it does provide valuable insights about the phenomenon of children’s informal and everyday learning during lockdown, gained from a group of children for whom it was a mostly positive experience, and through which they learned much about themselves as persons and as members of a family and whānau. Several months after the event, children in this study were able and willing to recall their experiences of learning during lockdown. They could identify social, cultural, and historical dimensions of their learning at home. Some children were able to recount rich, detailed stories about their lockdown experience and the ways in which they organised their days and activities. For some others, their days were largely shaped for them by family and whānau members, but even so, the children were able to explain what they enjoyed, or did not, and why. Variations in children’s learning across the group highlighted the complexity of learning that each child experienced, and the importance of having social relations, environments, and contexts that encourage and support their learning. Children demonstrated an understanding and appreciation of the value of this learning.
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    Teacher and Student Well-being in the Covid-19 pandemic - Full report
    (2022-04-30) Dharan V; Pond R; Mincher N; Muralidharan V
    This project sought to understand the perspectives of teachers and students in the lower North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand at the time of the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in March 2020 and during the following several months. Thirteen teachers from seven schools in the Manawatū-Horowhenua and Greater Wellington area and seven focus groups of Year 4 to 8 students from four of the schools participated in this project. This final report includes the findings from teachers and students’ perspectives of the affordances and challenges of lockdown and subsequent return to school, and their perspectives on helpful strategies in the event of similar situations given the unpredictable times. Analysis of teachers’ perspectives highlighted three interrelated themes –Stepping up Ngāwhiringatanga; Building Resilience and Reflecting and Recalibrating. The lockdown provided teachers time for introspection and have some time for their own personal well-being and growth. Although the challenge of adapting to online teaching sessions was stressful, the increased knowledge of the impact of COVID-19 on families and communities, had a profound impact on ongoing pedagogy of teachers. Teachers were resilient to the challenges and supported the resilience and well-being of students both during lockdown and on their return to school. They were supported by their school systems to ease pressure on academic learning and focus on holistic well-being of students such as spending quality time with their families. The lockdown highlighted the importance of work life balance, with teachers experiencing the benefits of having the time and space to focus on their personal well-being, which is critical for the well- being of their students, enabling them to support their students becoming resilient in the face of adversities caused by the ongoing presence of the pandemic. The students’ on the other hand while feeling isolated from their peers and anxious about the effects of the virus on their near and dear ones, appreciated the quality time that they could spend with their families and pets, and more importantly the flexibility that lockdown offered in terms of their learning. The key inter-related themes from their perspectives were: worry about safety and changes; restrictions and isolation; freedom and autonomy; friendship and connection; and quality family time.
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    Understanding ethical drift in professional decision making: dilemmas in practice
    (Informa UK Limited trading as Taylor & Francis Group, 2021-11-29) Bourke R; Pullen R; Mincher N
    Educational psychologists face challenging decisions around ethical dilemmas to uphold the rights of all children. Due to finite government resources for supporting all learners, one of the roles of educational psychologists is to apply for this funding on behalf of schools and children. Tensions can emerge when unintended ethical dilemmas arise through decisions that compromise their professional judgement. This paper presents the findings from an exploratory study around educational psychologists’ understandings and concerns around ethical dilemmas they faced within New Zealand over the past 5 years. The study set out to explore how educational psychologists manage the ethical conflicts and inner contradictions within their work. The findings suggest that such pressures could influence evidence-based practice in subtle ways when in the course of decision making, practitioners experienced some form of ethical drift. There is seldom one correct solution across similar situations. Although these practitioners experienced discomfort in their actions they rationalised their decisions based on external forces such as organisational demands or funding formulas. This illustrates the relational, contextual, organisational and personal influences on how and when ‘ethical drift’ occurs.