Best Practice Pastoral Care in the UK, USA and Australia

Emerging Best Practice Pastoral Care in the UK, USA and Australia. By Meg Orton

This article provides an overview of the current position and recent developments in chaplaincy and pastoral care in health care settings in England, Scotland, the United States of America and Australia.Overall, the picture is one of significant change. 

www.pastoraljournal.findaus.com/pdfs/Emerging.pdf

Evaluation of Skylight’s Travellers programme

Travellers is an early intervention programme run by Skylight for students (generally in Year 9) in New Zealand secondary schools.In order to build on existing studies on Travellers, Skylight commissioned the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) to conduct an external evaluation that explored the short- and medium-term outcomes for the young people who took part in this programme in 2008 or 2009. This study
began in April 2011 and finished in January 2012. The overarching evaluation questions were:

• What are the short- and medium-term impacts of the Travellers programme for young people?
• How well is the Travellers programme meeting the needs of particular target groups?
• How can the Travellers programme be improved?

http://www.nzcer.org.nz/research/publications/evaluation-skylight-s-travellers-programme

The Wellbeing@School website

The Wellbeing@School website provides schools with self-review tools to build a safe and caring climate that deters bullying.

http://www.wellbeingatschool.org.nz/

Wellbeing at School: Building a safe and caring school climate that deters bullying –  This booklet is a summary of the key ideas from a literature review of New Zealand and international research about ways to create a caring and safe school climate that addresses bullying behaviours.

http://www.nzcer.org.nz/research/publications/wellbeing-school-building-safe-and-caring-school-climate-deters-bullying-0

Discipline, Democracy, and Diversity: Working with Students with Behaviour Difficulties

Completely eliminating behaviour difficulties in schools is probably not possible but reducing them is a realistic aim. This book provides a useful range of practical approaches, responses, practices, and procedures that teachers can use in their everyday work. The main focus is to illustrate the links between behavioural theory and competent teaching practice. The combination of research scholarship and on-the-job experience will support teachers to be more skilful managers of students with challenging behaviours.

The title, Discipline, Democracy, and Diversity recurs as a theme throughout the book.

• Discipline is about teaching and modelling responsible individual and collective behaviours that will encourage students to become self-motivated and self-regulated learners.
• Democracy is about putting into practice skilful and respectful approaches for meeting the needs of students experiencing behaviour difficulties.
• Diversity is about creating an inclusive and safe environment: one that stimulates the development the development of knowledge, creativity, acceptance, and participation, and encourages the expression of feelings. 

Angus Macfarlane affiliates to the Te Arawa confederation of tribes in the central Bay of Plenty. He is an experienced teacher and educator in secondary schools, Special Education Services, and the Ministry of Education. Currently, he is an associate professor at the University of Waikato where he co-ordinates teaching and research in the Master of Special Education programme. His research has focused on the classroom management skills that can make teaching and learning more culturally relevant. In 2003 Dr Macfarlane was awarded the inaugural Senior Research Fellowship by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. His landmark book Kia Hiwa Ra! Listen to Culture: Maori Students’ Plea to Educators is also published by NZCER Press.

http://www.nzcer.org.nz/nzcerpress/discipline-democracy-and-diversity-working-students-behaviour-difficulties

Responsive Pedagogy

Teachers are looking for new ways to respond to challenging behaviour. The premise of the book is that teachers can make a difference and that schools and early childhood education settings can be places where behaviour is addressed with courage and conviction.

Both the education sector and wider society are increasingly exploring culturally responsive and relationship-based principles and practices. This booksets out the theory and practice of a range of restorative practices and shows they can work in education settings. There is discussion of issues such as building systems-level engagement, leadership approaches and adults modelling restorative practice. 

The editors have drawn together educators and researchers who are experts in their field and who care deeply about students and teachers.

http://www.nzcer.org.nz/nzcerpress/responsive-pedagogy

Uni Bound? – Students’ Stories of Transition from School to University

http://store.educationcentre.auckland.ac.nz/uni-bound-students-stories-of-transition-from-school-to-university/

There is nothing like a good story to capture the imagination and help us engage with other people’s experiences. This book is made up of fifteen such stories, written by young NZers as they look back on their individual journeys from school to tertiary education. They come from rural and urban schools located mostly in economically disadvantaged communities, and many are the first in their family to embark on university studies. The authors reflect the ethnic mix of Aotearoa New Zealand today – with Maori, Pacific, European/Pakeha, and other voices telling of their dreams, experiences and lessons learned along the way. If you are a high school student planning to go to university (or wondering if you should), or a teacher, parent or mentor to a young person in this situation, then this book will give you some helpful pointers. Sometimes funny and at times painfully honest, these stories go beyond the glossy brochures and university guidebooks to provide a real glimpse of what it is like to leave the familiarity of school, family and community and become a university student.

Stumbling blocks or stepping stones? Students’ experience of transition from low-mid decile schools to university

 http://www.education.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/about/research/starpath-home/starpath-research/stumbling-blocks-or-stepping-stones

 

The Starpath Project

A pioneering research project focused on transforming educational outcomes for New Zealand students who are currently under-achieving at secondary school and hence are under-represented in tertiary education.

http://www.education.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/about/research/starpath-home

 

EDEN – eating issues and body image specialists in Auckland

EDEN is a non-profit community agency based in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. We have been New Zealand’s eating issues and body image specialists since 1990.

http://www.eden.org.nz/

edanz – Eating Disorders of New Zealand

Eating Disorders Assoc NZ (EDANZ) offers parents and carers help. EDANZ was established by parents of people with eating disorders in New Zealand. They understand how challenging the illness is for the person and the family.

http://www.ed.org.nz/