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    Designing hybrid spaces for learning in higher education health contexts
    (Springer Nature, 2021-10-23) Green JK
    In Aotearoa New Zealand, undergraduate, professional health courses include social work, nursing, and biosciences courses that focus on learning how to support people with physical, mental, spiritual, and psychosocial/relational health and well-being concerns. Recently, the need for a nuanced understanding of how technologies might extend students’ experiences across and beyond physical classrooms has emerged. Drawing on contemporary ecological perspectives in education, this paper emphasises that design for learning involves a complex web of elements. Anchored in practice theory, the paper uses the analytical lens of the Activity-Centred Analysis and Design (ACAD) framework to explore how tools, tasks, and various social arrangements influence student learning activity. A multiple case study investigated the experiences and insights of five higher education teacher-designers, discussing the relationship between features of course design and their perceived impact on emergent learning activity. Design elements are also discussed in relation to the experience of teacher-designers adapting and transitioning to hybrid environments during Covid-19, whilst working with diverse learners in different contexts and disciplines. Interviews with teacher-designers revealed what they believe contributes to productive learning activity, such as the importance of creating safe learning environments, an overall appreciation for the opportunity to use technology for teaching and learning, and their use of a heutagogical approach, which emphasizes the development of knowledge and skills for teaching in hybrid learning environments. The paper argues for practical and targeted support to acknowledge, encourage, and enhance teacher-designers’ capabilities for transformational use of hybrid learning environments in health education.
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    In search of a working philosophy for the faith-based nongovernmental development organisation : a case study of The Salvation Army : a faith based N.G.O. and its involvement in primary health education in East Africa : a thesis presented in partial completion of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Philosophy in Development Studies at the Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2001) Le Leu, Seth
    The role of the Nongovernmental Organisations in development has rapidly expanded over the past thirty years. This growth in scope has resulted in a number of significant problems and benefits. For most NGOs there has been a move from being solely a charity welfare organisation to being required to take over many services previously undertaken by governments in the area of development. A recent further development has been the major change in emphasis by many international development organisations from long-term development to humanitarian assistance as a result of a series of major humanitarian disasters globally. The challenge faced by the international NGO is how to synthesise a comprehensive development philosophy that embraces all its activities. The dominant approach over the last thirty years has been funding projects, with the presumption that these activities would result in sustained community change in the recipient communities. Despite the fact that project-related funding is the main source of development funds, it is very confusing for NGOs in search of a workable philosophy to read the theory on the subject and to find that the development project is almost universally derided as being inappropriate. A synthesis is needed to evaluate the correct place of the project in community development if NGOS are to be consistent in their theory and practice.
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    The Johnson report : a critique of selected aspects : a thesis ... for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1979) Dalzell, Rex Stewart
    In August 1977 Mr J G Johnson, Chairman of the Committee on Health and Social Education, submitted to the New Zealand Minister of Education his Committee's report, Growing, Sharing, Learning. The Report of the Committee on Health and Social Education. This Report, subsequently to become known as the Johnson Report, declared that the Committee had endeavoured, in the light of its terms of reference, to produce a blueprint for action in the realm of health and social education. This thesis examines selected aspects of this Report and argues that in the areas examined the Committee has been unsuccessful in its endeavour. Following a brief historical introduction, four observations concerning response to the Report are presented. Against this background of response and within the historical context outlined, selected aspects of the Report are then examined in detail. Under the heading "General Concerns" the Committee's statements on the topics of "Research", "Social Education", "Academic Standards" and "School Climates" are examined in turn. Conceptual confusions are exposed, ambiguities are revealed and the detail necessary in a blueprint is shown to be absent. Under the heading "Specific Concerns" those areas of the Committee's Report which have occasioned most public debate, viz: "Moral, Spiritual and Values Education" and "Education About Human Development and Relationships", are then considered in some detail. In addition, the area of "Teacher Training", an area seen by the Committee as the key to change in education, is also considered. It is claimed that in all these areas the lack of conceptual clarity, the lack of precision in expression and the lack of any effective attempt to grapple with the central issues involved, militate strongly against the use of the Report as a blueprint for action. By way of conclusion a summary statement relating to the central claim of the thesis is presented.
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    The effect of a nutrition and health education programme on the dietary choices and body composition measures in 10-12 year old New Zealand children : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Nutritional Science at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2004) Denton, Christina
    Childhood dietary patterns are formed at a young age and influenced by a number of factors including the media, family members and school environment. With the increasing prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity it is therefore important to educate children on appropriate dietary and lifestyle behaviours. This research aimed to investigate: (1) the effects of a 12-week nutrition and health education programme on the dietary intakes of children aged 10-12 years; and (2) the effects of the education programme on children's body composition measures including height, weight and body mass index values. Two New Zealand intermediate schools were chosen for the study and consisted two hundred and forty four children (aged 10-12 years) in the intervention school and one hundred and six children in the control school. At baseline and at 3 months, dietary intake and body composition was assessed in the children. The intervention school also received a 12-week health and nutrition education programme taught by class teachers and consisting of nine different modules looking at healthy lifestyle and nutrition behaviours. Dietary intakes were measured by a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) that collected information on the daily frequency of foods consumed within the last 4 weeks. Height and weight measurements were collected and this allowed body mass index (BMI) values to be calculated. The food frequency questionnaire has been previously validated against twenty four hour dietary records and the New Zealand Food Composition Database 2000 (NZFCD). There were no significant differences between the two groups for body composition values. Both groups displayed some significant differences (p≤0.05) among dietary intake between baseline and follow-up with changes in median number of servings per day. A larger number of changes were seen among intervention subjects and may have been attributed to the school education intervention programme however no definite conclusions can be made. Other influences such as ethnicity, socioeconomic status and other lifestyle factors may have affected results but these were not investigated. Although results were inconclusive, significant findings from the study are encouraging for future studies. Limitations and future recommendations are provided.
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    An analysis of health promotion discourses in the context of New Zealand's school health curriculum : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2002) Tuffin, Anne
    This thesis is concerned with the problem of a health promotion discourse within a health education curriculum. The problem is addressed through an analysis of health education and health promotion discourses which have been in use over the past half-century. It uses Michel Foucault's archaeological methodology to analyse the discourses of both the public health sector and the education (school) sector. It is argued that fifty years ago, both sectors used a health education discourse, but that since then, following policy directions from the World Health Organisation, the public health sector has developed and progressively favoured a health promotion discourse. It is only recently that New Zealand's education sector has begun to use a health promotion discourse in health curriculum documents. The thesis discusses some of the issues that surround this shift in discourse in schools.
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    Parent and teacher knowledge of head injuries : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2011) McKay, Erin Anne
    This study examined parents and teachers knowledge of aspects of head injury (HI). Part one examined the various sources of information and education parents and teachers have access to that could impact on their knowledge of HI. Part two surveyed 64 parents and 64 teachers of young children (<5 years) from the North Shore, Auckland, to examine the extent of their personal knowledge of HI, and the sources of their knowledge (e.g. media). Participants were asked about the source of their knowledge of HI (i.e. various types of media, personal experiences etc), and the qualifications they hold that could impact on their knowledge (i.e. first aid training, teacher training qualification). Participants were also asked to complete a questionnaire about aspects of head injury - general knowledge, memory, recovery. Results indicated that there is a wealth of information in the public domain regarding HI. First aid courses provide information that can help a person deal with a HI immediately following the incident, but are not compulsory for teachers to have. Various other sources of information such as doctors, Plunketline and the internet also provide information and advice for the public to access. When parents and teachers were surveyed it was found that they have similar levels of knowledge regarding HI, although on average parents had slightly higher scores than teachers. Having a first aid certificate did not mean parents and teachers had higher levels of accuracy - in fact those who did not have a first aid certificate had higher average scores than those who did. Doctors and Plunketline were the most likely source of information for parents and teachers. The most popular media-specific sources were daily newspapers and television news. Further studies could examine the wider public's knowledge of HI. A more complete form of the survey could be used to get a well rounded picture of the current knowledge base of HI.
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    Teaching health education in New Zealand secondary schools : policy into practice : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2009) Weir, Kama Jean
    Teaching Health Education in New Zealand secondary schools: Policy into practice. Health education has a long informal history in New Zealand schools. This study attempted to illuminate and explain the effects on a small sample of secondary school health teachers of official policy changes in curriculum and assessment for Health Education in the period 1999 – 2004. These teachers were deeply concerned about the health issues that they perceived their students were facing, and saw Health Education as a means of helping students address these. The publication of Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1999) legitimated their teaching in a general way through the inclusion of issues they were concerned with (such as mental health and sexuality). Teachers positioned themselves idiosyncratically in relation to a variety of personal discourses. Different subject positions were possible at school level because of the weak classification (Bernstein, 1971; 1996) of the 1999 curriculum. This was less likely to occur in senior health which was assessed at system level through the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (the NCEA). Health Education‘s inclusion in the NCEA resulted in pedagogical change for teachers in the study due to greater prescription of content and assessment requirements. This study also illustrated the pedagogical and relational tensions that were created when Health and Physical Education were placed within the same official curriculum. Internal subject politics were intensified as teachers competed for resources within the one learning area. Sexuality, gender and emotionality were three further layered discourses of teaching secondary Health Education illuminated by this study. Teachers generally positioned themselves in relation to a reproductive health discourse and several positioned themselves within an essentialist gender discourse. Emotionality was shown to have both personal and institutional dimensions. Implications based on the findings were considered for teachers, policy makers, teacher educators and researchers.