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Subject: search.filters.subject.520102 Educational psychology

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    Supportive schools : an investigation of rainbow-affirmative inclusivity in schools and its effects on rainbow and non-rainbow young people : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2024) Power, Elise
    Rainbow young people experience higher rates of mental health problems relative to their non-rainbow peers, a phenomenon theorised to be linked to Rainbow people’s experiences of identity-related marginalisation. School is an important setting for young people, and one in which policies and curriculum content choices may have a large impact on young people. This project sought to understand the impact of Rainbow-affirming school policies and curriculum content on both Rainbow and non-Rainbow students alike. This two-study research project sought to determine how having an inclusive curriculum impacts rainbow and non-rainbow students. Study one focused on the impact of rainbow inclusive content and policies in schools on non-rainbow students’ allyship behaviours. Study two extended this investigation to rainbow students, examining whether rainbow inclusive content and policy increases perceived support, safety, and pride at school for rainbow students. Participants (N = 5241; n non-rainbow = 434; n rainbow = 4807) completed questions about inclusive policies, curricula, allyship behaviours, perceived support, safety and pride as part of the broader Identify Study (Fenaughty et al., 2022). I ran descriptive statistics for each domain and the sum of each domain, and regression models were run to predict each study’s findings. Contrary to our hypotheses, results for study one found that exposure to rainbow inclusive content and policy did not predict allyship attitudes or behaviours. Similarly, study two results found that exposure to rainbow inclusive content and policy did not predict perceived support, safety, or pride for rainbow students. Future research is needed to establish the impact of inclusive curricula and content on other aspects of rainbow and non-rainbow students’ educational, behavioural, and emotional outcomes.
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    Life stories as psychoeducation : their effect on a teacher’s ability to support high and complex needs students in their classrooms : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of a Masters of Arts (Psychology) at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2023) Daley, Marykate
    This thesis explored the use of life stories as an effective psychoeducational tool to improve teachers’ empathy towards a student exhibiting challenging behaviours. This study aimed to explore if reading a strength-based narrative about a young person’s life impacted how teachers attributed responsibility for student behaviours; the responses that they deemed appropriate to respond to their behaviour; the supports identified to successfully address their behaviour; as well as the barriers to implementing successful support(s). Teachers in this study, although already highly empathetic, increased in their level of empathy and compassion after reading a trauma informed, strengths-based life story. Teachers in this study before and after reading the life story preferred restorative responses; of note is that they significantly increased in their use of preventative strategies after reading the life story. As expected, the supports identified to successfully address challenging behaviour remained largely focused within the school context; however, there was a noticeable uptake in tailored supports focused on addressing the child’s needs in the context of their home, school, and community environments. This indicates that the life story allowed teachers to effectively individualise supports to meet the unique needs of the student. This was further reinforced by the significant decrease in identified barriers to successfully implementing supports following the life story. Life stories could be adopted by many social services to support those around young people with high and complex needs to better understand, respond to, and support them. Life stories can be a valuable tool to build better relationships and make positive changes in the lives of those being supported, and also those doing the supporting.
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    “It’s our responsibility to make sure that we develop citizens of the future” : a thematic analysis exploring the beginnings of global consciousness in primary school children in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Albany Campus, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Fuller, Victoria Louise
    Background: Social, political, and ethical challenges such as the climate crisis, COVID-19, and the fragmentation and integration of culture and identity, are magnified by globalisation. One way to resolve these challenges is for people to advance in global consciousness (GC). Globally conscious people may express beliefs and an identity which reflect global citizenship and empathy and compassion towards others all over the world. They have a willingness and openness to engage with others who are culturally different to themselves, exhibit prosocial behaviour, show concern for global issues, and demonstrate pro- environmental attitudes and behaviours. Aim: This study explored the beginnings of GC in primary school children (aged 10 to 11) in New Zealand and how two socialising agents, parents and school, may contribute to, or act as barriers to, developing globally conscious children. Methodology: Ten semi-structured one-on-one interviews with five year six children and their five mothers, along with one semi-structured focus group with three of their year six teachers, from a high socio-economic community, were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis with a critical realist epistemology and ontology. Analysis: Three overarching themes were generated. Firstly, ‘Access to resources’, includes digital and media technology, printed media, inquiry-based learning, education addressing environmental well-being, intercultural experiences, people as experts, and financial resources that can lead to enriching experiences and opportunities. Secondly, ‘Adults as gate keepers’, argues that adults act as the gate keepers to experiences, opportunities and information which could develop globally conscious children. Lastly, ‘positive behavioural support and other-oriented mechanisms’, which refer to approaches and strategies used by both parents and schools to nurture a child’s emotional and social development. Conclusions and implications: The findings indicate that access to resources, support and scaffolding from parents and schools, and positive behavioural support approaches alongside other-oriented mechanisms, contribute to the development of characteristics and values which could further grow into GC when required. Enriching educational opportunities, experiences and interactions should be prioritised by both socialisation agents to foster these characteristics and values. This could contribute to increased cohesive collaboration on global challenges, a thriving future for humanity and a restored planet.
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    Exploring the relationship between cognitively demanding physical activities, mood, attention, and behaviour among primary aged students : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Shepherd, Kate
    Objective: Acute bouts of physical activity (PA) have shown positive effects on children’s cognitive, behavioural, and socio-emotional development. However, the impact of differing levels of cognitive demand (CD) during physical activity remains unclear. This study aimed to explore how the combined and/or separate effects of physical activity and cognitive demand affect mood, attention, and behaviour of children. Design: In a 2x 2 within-subjects experimental design, 24 children experienced four school-based conditions consisting of physical activity interventions which varied in physical exertion (high PA vs. low PA) and cognitive demand (high CD vs. low CD). Methods: The variables, mood, attention, and behaviour were measured before and immediately after each of the 25-30 minute interventions. A self-reported measure (AAPE) and classroom observations (DOF) were used to investigate whether change to these variables was due to the main effect of PA or CD or an interaction of both, ANOVAs were conducted for each intervention. Results: Compared to baseline data, all four conditions were significant in improving mood, time on task, and reducing negative behaviour. Interaction effects were found for PA and CD in mood, time on-task, and behaviour. Contrary, to the hypotheses, higher cognitive demand without PA showed the most improvement in mood and behaviour. Conclusions: The results indicate that short breaks from learning that include either physical activity, cognitive demand, or a combination of both improve mood, attention and reduce negative behaviours that can affect peers and individuals from learning in the classroom. Future research should continue to expand on these findings by investigating how these variables are affected over the day, completing these conditions over time (e.g. 6 -8 weeks), develop a measure that clearly defines CD, consider age differences, and include measures that assess how academic learning is directly affected. The findings here are promising in that children benefitted from all the interventions after only one session, thereby providing further justification for increasing daily opportunities for physical activities that also consider the level of cognitive demand for children.
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    Developing relationships that matter : educator experiences of delivering relationship and sexuality education in Aotearoa/New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, Aotearoa/New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Robertson, Carey
    Sexuality education is a contested space, wherein a variety of stakeholders and affective forces converge and respond to an adolescent sexuality that is configured as a social problem within dominant knowledge systems and power relations. Young women and girls are articulated as especially risky and at-risk, becoming anticipated burdens that threaten to trouble neoliberal capitalism and its postfeminist sensibilities. A tension emerges between the disposable bodies of transnational capitalism and the assumption that gender equality has already been achieved, playing out in the sexualised adolescent caricatures consumed within modern media consumption practices and the everyday sexual violence that inequitably targets women and girls. Manifesting through the author’s own earned experiences and the particular ways through which gendered violence informs the standpoint of this project, the process of reading through theory becomes constitutive of the doing of this research. Evolving into a feminist posthuman approach to mapping the affective flows that produce sexuality education capacities in Aotearoa/New Zealand through a close reading of theory, policy, and six educator narratives, the latest changes to sexuality education policy are interrogated, making visible the affective forces that work to territorialise sexuality education praxis. The focus of analysis is on the possibilities for building relationships that matter with young people, by centring the relational through ethical engagement with the co-constructed narratives of educators. Connecting these narratives through theory to the broader social power relationships in which they are embedded, the gendered and colonised bodies of neoliberal capitalism emerge as hidden in plain sight, while moral, professional, and institutional barriers emerge through feelings of fear and shame as individualising forces that obstruct the relational within the context of sexuality education. Bringing the voices of educators together in collaboration, horizons of hope are also identified - with student voice, acknowledgement of the embodied knowing of young people, activism that works to increase the value of creating space for students to connect in processes of becoming (political), teacher education, and a dis-identification with heteronormative practices emerging as possibilities for troubling the (still) hidden power relationships that produce relational capacities within institutional spaces.
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    What are New Zealand parents' understandings about the effect of nutrition on children's learning? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Horak, Lauren
    While there is sufficient evidence, through research or implemented public health and school programmes, to support the importance of nutrition for health and wellbeing, there is limited research on what parents’ understandings are regards the effect of nutrition on children’s learning. As parents are role models and nutritional gatekeepers for their children’s diet, gaining insight into their understanding of the relationship between nutrition and learning, would provide valuable data to inform this field of research. There is some research out of Europe but none within New Zealand. The purpose of this study was to: Gain an understanding of New Zealand parents’ views about the effect of nutrition on children’s learning? Five mothers of differing cultures, whose children attended a primary school in a large metropolitan city of New Zealand, were interviewed for this qualitative, exploratory case study. Semi-structured, in depth interviews were used to collect the data. The findings showed that parents in this study were aware and understood the physical and behavioural effects of food on children. Parents observed that diet affected learning, specifically concentration, but that this effect was an indirect effect, due to either the physical or behavioural effects of food on children. Parents distinguished between “good” and “bad” foods and what constituted a healthy diet and gave numerous examples of how “good” and “bad” food could affect a child. Quantity and the timing of food were also thought to impact children’s behaviour, particularly in terms of mood fluctuations. These effects cannot be seen in isolation though, as parent values, their culture, their health priorities, their behaviour, their parenting practices and the school support they did or did not receive, all contributed to this complex arena of feeding their children.
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    Emotions in the classroom : exploring relationships between students' perceptions of teachers' practices and students' strengths and difficulties : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Edwards, Amy
    Despite recognition of the importance of schools as a zone of social-emotional development, there is a gap in knowledge regarding students’ perceptions of teachers’ social-emotional practices and how these perceptions relate to students’ strengths and difficulties. This thesis addresses this gap through three studies. Students’ conceptual understandings of 88 social-emotional practices were examined using Multidimensional Scaling (MDS), creating a three-dimensional map depicting item relationships. Study two used this map as a lens for analysis of survey data collected from 335 students, focussing on both student-perceived teachers’ practices and student variables including psychological flexibility, connectedness, and emotional, social, and behavioural strengths and difficulties. Findings indicated positive correlations between perceptions of social-emotional practices and students’ connectedness, which in turn was associated with fewer social-emotional difficulties. Existing social-emotional strengths of teachers were highlighted; students reported frequently perceiving teachers’ use of social-emotional practices. Importantly, however, these perceptions were not always related to students’ strengths. Study three sought to deepen insights into the findings of study two by investigating potential differences in the relationships between perceived teachers’ practices and students’ strengths and difficulties according to student gender, in recognition of common views that social-emotional variables are affected by student gender. Findings revealed few gender differences in the relationships observed between perceived teachers’ practices and student variables.
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    Guiding the way : how ESOL teachers can support refugee-background students transitioning to mainstream tertiary studies : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Fraser-Smith, Amber
    Many refugee-background students from a variety of pathways enter mainstream tertiary studies in their countries of resettlement. Yet, despite having an English level sufficient to enter these courses, a growing body of research suggests these students face a number of challenges that make succeeding in tertiary studies difficult. Through the transformative paradigm and a critical perspective, this thesis explores my experiences as an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher and those of five Middle Eastern refugee-background students about to start the next stage of their learning journey. By using two focus groups and an action research project, we work together to investigate ways that ESOL teachers can best support this cohort of students in their transition into mainstream studies. This thesis concludes with The COMPASS Model, designed as a result of this study to assist in guiding ESOL teachers to support refugee-background students through the use of Collaboration, Orientation, Multiple literacies, Personalised learning, Advocacy, Strategising and Self-care. Suggestions are also given on how to adapt the curriculum to better suit these learners and on how institutes and governments can live up to their ethical responsibilities and provide equal opportunities for refugee-background students.
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    Defining educational success through the eyes of young people who have been in foster care : a qualitative case study : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Miller, Hannah
    All children have the right to an education and a voice, as protected by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, ratified by New Zealand in 1993. Children and young people in foster care face unique and often challenging experiences that can make them vulnerable to having these basic rights eroded. This study explored how educational success was determined by young people who were in, or had been in, foster care. Specifically, this research addressed how success in educational experiences is identified and enacted by foster care experienced young people, and in what ways formal and informal educational experiences are perceived by, and impact on, these young people’s lives. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven participants, aged between 16 and 29 years old, who had experienced foster care and compulsory education in New Zealand. Interviews were analysed using grounded theory. The findings showed that educational successes as identified by young people in this study were broad and holistic. They navigated complex obstacles posed by living in foster care and these impacted on learning and interactions within school. Specific experiences of success differed between participants, and ranged from social acceptance and a sense of belonging, varying degrees of achievement at school, to simply turning up to school. Young people demonstrated marked resilience throughout the challenges they faced, which was both supportive to success, and a success in itself. Relationships with teachers, foster carers and friends were key supports to success, along with having a voice, influence over decisions and having an advocate. The implications of this study include a broadening of the concept of educational success—a concept that takes on different meanings according to people’s values and life experiences. Given the unique life experiences of children and young people in foster care, there is imperative to create space for the voices of children and young people in foster care to both determine and define what educational success means, and they need their rights to share these perspectives to enhance their own educational experiences.
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    Education following a childhood cancer diagnosis in Aotearoa : perspectives from children and young people who receive support grants and their family/whānau : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) McKeever, Teresa Catriona
    Advances in medical treatment have improved the survivorship rates of children with cancer, making it increasingly likely that schools will encounter children who have or have had cancer. Previous research has shown that the availability of resources to support children experiencing learning challenges as a result of their cancer is limited. Child Cancer Foundation’s Personal Development Grants are sometimes used to fund additional educational support that is not available through the Ministry of Education. This mixed methods study firstly examined the characteristics of children who have received a Personal Development Grant for education, before conducting qualitative interviews with a sample of children and young people who received grants and their caregivers. Interviews explored participants’ experiences of the child’s educational needs following their cancer diagnosis and the specific support provided. Quantitative analysis did not reveal any characteristics that could predict the likelihood of a child receiving a grant for educational purposes. Qualitative analysis identified four overarching themes; the overall impact of cancer on the family; gaps in the existing support provided through the education system; participants’ Personal Development Grant experience; and, the participants’ tendency to focus on the good. This study enables the voices of young people experiencing educational challenges due to their cancer diagnosis and their caregivers to be heard. Recommendations for practice include increased collaboration between families, school personnel and medical teams and promotion of inclusive practices such as Universal Design for Learning in classrooms.