Education eldership and pastoral care in schools

The paper sets out a discussion on the theme of eldership in the context of schools, with particular reference to implications for school eldership and pastoral care. The author provides a commentary on the decline of available support for school leaders in terms of informal eldership networks and the changing demographic of the teaching profession. The discussion considers specific consequences of this changing demographic, and a subsequent shift in focus amongst new entrants to teaching, with particular attention to the impact for delivering pastoral care. The author presents a perspective on eldership, suggesting a range of qualities and expertise that constitute the role of the elder, raising questions and challenges for re-establishing eldership in education.     

Studies in mindfulness: widening the field for all involved in pastoral care

Abstract

Since 2010, the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, has offered an MSc in studies in mindfulness degree programme within its School of Education. The programme has attracted over 200 students from multiple professional contexts, providing the authors with the opportunity to gather and analyse demographic data, as well as data regarding student motivations and expectations, both personal and professional. The paper initially creates a picture of the current UK ‘studies in mindfulness’ landscape by describing the established programmes at UK universities. Data from an entry questionnaire completed by three cohorts of students on the ‘Aberdeen’ programme and data collected from students throughout their studies is then presented, analysed and discussed. The authors argue that, in their professional roles, graduates from programmes and courses at Universities in the UK are introducing an ever-increasing number of people to mindfulness. They are implementing and integrating mindfulness into diverse social, business contexts as well as into all sectors of education. The University of Aberdeen’s programme, based in the School of Education, perhaps represents a move towards more holistic, pastoral and multi-professional applications of mindfulness. This contrasts with the clinical, pathological settings for mindfulness to date.     

Martin Buber,Hasidism, and Jewish spirituality: the implications for education and for pastoral care

Abstract

There is a legal requirement that schools engage with the spiritual aspects of education, which encompasses pastoral care. This reflects the ethical sensibility that is present in individuals and underlies interactions with Others; and which should be part of the ethos of all educational institutions and especially schools. This is because spirituality is important to leading a moral life and to understanding the Other. The article considers specifically the potential of Jewish spirituality, and uses Martin Buber’s thought, to gain a better understanding of its contribution to education and to pastoral care. In the first part, we comment on the ‘basic words’, I-Thou and I-It, which are connected with Hasidism, the Jewish spiritual movement which had a great influence on Martin Buber. Hasidism understands that it is our duty to find and connect with the ‘divine sparks’, as genuine relations merge with the Divine, and when humans relate genuinely to one another, they relate to God. This is crucial for understanding the superiority of I-Thou relations over I-It relations. In the second and third parts of the article, we consider the implications of this understanding of Jewish spirituality for education and for pastoral care. This is done through highlighting the importance of I-Thou relations if the spiritual aspects of education and of pastoral care are to be encouraged and fulfilled.     

Cyberbullying and moral disengagement: an analysis based on a social pedagogy of pastoral care in schools

The practice of cyberbullying in its various forms carried out by pupils has increased substantially. Many pupils, on a daily basis, are now using electronic devices such as mobile phones, smart phones and tablets, to transmit distressing messages and images to their peers. These often include the use of publically accessible social networking sites, such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Given this increase, cyberbullying in schools has been widely investigated by researchers in many countries. A common feature of cyberbullying is the moral disengagement of those who practise it, based on the desensitization of prosocial values and emotional empathy towards another person. A consensus has emerged regarding the importance of establishing anti-cyberbullying policies and practices, and the need to address cyberbullying within the school’s pastoral care system and its personal and social education programme. However, few researchers have justified anti-cyberbullying practices within the framework of a particular educational theory. This paper examines how the theoretical and methodological assumptions underpinning a social pedagogy of pastoral care in schools can enable the education community to better understand and avert the moral disengagement which commonly underpins cyberbullying.     

Towards a whole-school approach to the pastoral care module in a Postgraduate Certificate of Education programme: a South African experience

This study explores the potential of adopting a whole-school approach to the pastoral care module in a Postgraduate Certificate of Education Programme to ensure that all newly qualified teachers practice effective pastoral care in their classrooms and promote the learners’ academic engagement and performance. A non-experimental survey research design involving quantitative data was used. A group-administered questionnaire was used to collect the sampled student teachers’ (n?=?59) opinion on the competencies they obtain from the module. The student teachers ranked knowledge first, beliefs and values second and skills third. For the student teachers to perform their academic and pastoral roles constructively together in a challenged education system, it is recommended that, in the short term, a learning unit, which is grounded in Best’s needs-focused model of pastoral care, be included in the module; and, in the long term, given the context of the South African schooling system, the nurturer professional model of teacher education be implemented. This article reports the outcomes of a follow-up study of an earlier preliminary study.     

An interactional analysis of one-to-one pastoral care delivery within a primary school

Despite an interactional analysis being able to offer valuable insight into the institutional workings of pastoral care practice, pastoral care delivery remains largely unstudied. This paper will contribute new knowledge to the field of counselling and education by offering an interactional analysis of one-to-one pastoral care provision within a primary school. Much pastoral care practice is informed by theory, often accompanied by guidelines about how to deliver pastoral care activities effectively. The pastoral carer needs to convert these guidelines into talk in order to deliver the intervention as an interactional encounter. However useful these guidelines are, they cannot show what the actual delivery of those pastoral care activities might look like in real life. Using conversation analysis, we examine video recordings of pastoral care delivery to reveal the ways in which a pastoral carer supports a child’s behaviour, social and emotional well-being. The significance of the findings is that those who provide pastoral care can see in close detail what delivery might look like as a real-life encounter, imparting valuable knowledge that can then be applied alongside theory and guidelines to enhance professional practice. Of further significance is that the findings can also show how an interactional analysis of pastoral care work can be used to demonstrate social and emotional learning and that the work being done effectively supports children.     

Participatory creativities: developing a research design for children’s pastoral encounters with the natural world

ABSTRACT

In this paper, the author discusses the interrelationship between creativity, children’s experiences of the natural world and pastoral education. Based on a research design developed whilst undertaking a professional doctorate in education (EdD), and grounded in a theoretical framework of children’s rights, the author explores the creative uncertainties of collaboratively researching children’s educational experiences with nature. The paper considers the ways in which the research design supports a pastoral care agenda, whilst encouraging the emergence of ‘creative artefacts’, alongside the extent to which the focus of the research, encounters with the natural world, might be deemed pastorally minded in its own right. The children who have participated in the research then draw the paper to a close, sharing what their involvement in the project has meant to them. Images and excerpts of children’s own creative reflections are offered as illustration of the powerful confluence of the Creative and the Pastoral.     

The biomedical doctorate in the contemporary university: education or training and why it matters

The form and function(s) of doctoral education continue to be a subject of much debate by stakeholders internal and external to the university. Notable concerns driving this debate derive from a seemingly discursive array of factors including increasing student numbers, increased understanding of the economic value of doctoral graduates, capitalisation of the academic market and a focus on allocating funding using ostensibly narrow, arbitrary measures of ‘program success’ such as completion rates/time to completion, all framed by a wider debate regarding precisely what constitutes valid knowledge in contemporary society. Within the university, the biomedical sciences are one area of scholarship undergoing rapid change in this respect. One of the salient outcomes of these internal and external dialogues is the apparent transition of biomedical doctoral education towards a ‘training model’ that places increasing emphasis on rapid completion and the generation of ‘industry ready graduates’; a transition that is, potentially, occurring at the expense of the edifying and transformative aspects of biomedical doctoral education. Focusing on the effects of academic capitalisation, this paper draws on data from Australia and Europe to examine the drivers and potential effect(s) of this shift on contemporary doctoral education in the biomedical sciences. This paper acknowledges the potential benefit of contemporary developments whilst simultaneously concluding that by progressing too far towards a quantitatively assessed, industry-driven training model we risk eliminating the intellectual and societal transforming aspects of biomedical doctoral education that make graduates increasingly valuable to our economy and, just as importantly, to our society as a whole.     

The challenges of making school guidance culturally responsive: narratives of pastoral needs of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong secondary schools

Many Hong Kong schools are concerned about the growing number of ethnic minority students. How they are supported and how the diversity of their pastoral needs is fulfilled become critical. This article examines teachers’, students’ and parents’ narratives of the cross‐cultural experience of ethnic minority students from India, Pakistan, Philippines, Nepal and Thailand, and the diversity of those students’ pastoral needs. The qualitative data were collected from interviews, through which the constructs of 32 teachers and 32 students from three secondary schools were explored. Four groups of focus‐group interviews were conducted, in which 15 parents were involved. This article argues that to implement the ethos of caring, it is not only necessary for the school to promote the intercultural sensitivity of all practitioners, but equally important to develop a connected school system where ethnic minority students and parents can be consistently supported in the subsystems of classroom, school and home.     

Towards a spiritual pedagogy of pastoral welfare and care

Abstract

This paper considers the role of spirituality in the practice of pastoral welfare and care in English state schools. Set against an educational landscape of increasingly aggressive neoliberal interests combined with growing public disquiet over the mental welfare of young people, the author examines how spirituality might in response contribute to a pedagogy of pastoral welfare for pupil well-being. The paper begins by foregrounding the policy contexts for pastoral education in England and the challenges presented by the increasingly performative cultures that schools, children and young people have become subjected to. Highlighting concerns around the well-being of children and young people, the paper advances a spiritual pedagogy in pastoral care predicated on pivotal interrelated attributes of intrapersonal transcendence, care and educational practice. The paper then considers the possibilities presented by the spiritual realm in pastoral welfare and the positioning of this as an educational pedagogy and practice.     

Compliance through care and commitment: why young people do as adults ask

Although the behaviour of young people is often a focus for concern, most young people do as they are asked. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study across four educational settings that set out to explore reasons for this compliance. Forty-four young people (aged 12–21) participated in interactive focus groups and 21 practitioners were interviewed. A critical exploration of the authority relationships between the young people and the participating adults was undertaken. The research was designed to explore the relevance of the typology of authority relationships proposed by Dennis Wrong for educational settings. The findings confirmed the applicability of his work; however, the paper argues that an additional basis for authority relationships characterised by ‘care and commitment’ should be included. The results suggest the potential for long-term caring relationships, authenticity and professional competence as key factors in enhancing compliance in educational settings.     

试论宋代山水田园词人创作的深层意识

山水田园词作为宋词的一部分,它的客观存在有它自身的价值和特性,也是当时社会风气和时代背景的一个缩影。通过分析可以更好地了解宋代山水田园词人的深层意识,展现宋代山水田园词的发展与演变过程。     

Sources of Stress for Class Teachers in New Zealand Primary Schools

The authors report on the findings of a case study of parent–teacher conferences in a secondary school in Hong Kong. They explored through interviews parents’ and teachers’ perspectives of parent–teacher conferences. They noted that parent–teacher conferences were sources of stress for teachers and embarrassment for parents. Parent–teacher conferences were useful for problem‐clarification. The building of mutual trust was the most important conferencing skill. They drew out some practical guidelines which were useful to teachers of the case study school but are also valuable to all teachers who wish to work effectively and positively with parents.     

Cognitive validity of students’ self-reports of classroom mastery goal structure: What students are thinking and why it matters

Cognitive interviews were employed to systematically examine the cognitive validity of self-report survey items extensively used to assess classroom mastery goal structure. In a sample of elementary and middle school students, items were identified that functioned according to their intended meaning and those eliciting less accurate interpretations as conceptually defined by mastery goal structure cognitive validity criteria. Evidence suggested that items framed to focus on students’ teachers (i.e., teacher goals) were more cognitively valid than were items that focused students on their classroom context. Items with abstract terms yielded less accurate interpretations. We discuss implications of determining the cognitive validity of scales used to assess achievement goal structure and related self-report instruments.     

青海牧区中小学校“阳光体育运动”实施现状调查及对策研究

采用问卷调查法,对青海牧区的15所中小学阳光体育运动的开展状况进行调查研究,结果表明：青海牧区中小学阳光体育运动实施状况令人担忧,并且牧区中小学体育教师紧缺,体育运动场地较少,体育设施差,学生参与的体育运动项目具有民族特色．据此提出了牧区阳光体育运动的开展要兼顾地区经济、文化、宗教的差异性;制订引进体育教师的优惠政策;做好现有体育教师的培训;加大教育经费的投入;民族传统体育项目和学校体育相结合等相应对策．     

诗出三家语皆奇--陶渊明、谢灵运、王维山水田园诗之比较

陶渊明、谢灵运、王维是中国古代文学史上著名的三家山水田园诗人，分属于不同的历史阶段，且在山水田园诗的创作中各放异彩。本文从生活地位、个性、对待玄理、诗的意境、语言、时代风尚等方面分析他们三家在山水田园诗方面各自的创作特点，以期用比较的方法加深对古代文学作家的理解和研究。     

It ain't just what you do and the way that you do it: why discourse matters in higher education communities of practice

A number of Australian universities have established and sponsored interdisciplinary communities of practice (CoPs) to develop teaching and learning. CoPs are popularly defined as groups of people who share a passion for something and, together, learn how to do it better. Without further specification, this definition is of limited use in understanding intentionally established CoPs in higher education settings. The term CoP is used and applied in a range of ways in higher education and has been accompanied by some scholarly debate about the meaning and relevance of CoPs to academe. The prevalent response to such debate has been to propose typologies. While typology can be useful, epistemology and discourse are also significant in understanding and developing higher education CoPs. In this paper I focus on discourse surrounding CoPs as a conceptual and developmental factor which has been insufficiently considered in the literature on higher education CoPs. I draw on findings from interviews with 33 CoP members and facilitators in three Australian universities. My findings indicate that discourse surrounding CoPs is significant in shaping notions of participatory value. Connecting with the literature, my findings also reveal a ‘big D’ Discourse of collegiality whereby CoPs offer social support and knowledge sharing to build capacity, as well as spaces in which a collegial academic identity can thrive. This coincides in complex and unpredictable ways with a Discourse of managerialism. I conclude that discourse should supplement typology and epistemology in adaptively shaping understandings of contemporary higher education CoPs and their future development.     

The Three R's of Pastoral Care: Relationships, Respect and Responsibility

The author argues that over the last twenty years we have witnessed an evolution in pastoral care that is unparalleled in any other field of education. There has been controversy over the definition and these different views are discussed. The paucity of research and literature in the field and particularly in relation to the pastoral needs of teachers andstaff is emphasized.
In this paper it is suggested that the needs of school staff in respect of pastoral care are relatively neglected in the literature. Using the three R's of pastoral care – relationships, respect and responsibility – this paper focuses attention on teachers and their needs in the workplace. It is argued that attention to relationships, respect and responsibility enablesa proactive collaborative approach in which all members of the school community play a crucial role in the pastoral care of students.     

Child Poverty in New Zealand: Why it matters and how it can be reduced

Abstract

A combination of policy changes and wider socio-economic trends led to a dramatic increase in child poverty in New Zealand during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Higher rates of child poverty have now become embedded in the system and show little sign of resolving themselves. For a country which once took pride in being comparatively egalitarian and, more particularly, a great place to bring up children, the tolerance of much greater child poverty is surprising. It is also concerning. Child poverty imposes many costs. This is especially the case, according to the available evidence, when poverty occurs during early childhood and when it is severe and/or persistent. These costs afflict not only the children directly exposed to poverty (e.g. in the form of lower educational achievement, reduced lifetime earnings and poorer health outcomes), but also the whole society. This article briefly explores the available evidence concerning the nature, magnitude, causes and consequences of child poverty in New Zealand and considers why substantial rates of child poverty have been tolerated for an extended period. Drawing on the lessons of anti-poverty approaches in other OECD countries, it then outlines a strategy for securing substantial and durable reductions in child poverty rates in New Zealand. Finally, it considers the prospects of such a strategy being implemented and suggests ways of enhancing the focus of the political system on child-related social issues.