Abstract
Volume 24 No. 1, 2018
Volume 24 No. 1, 2018
Academic Papers
Wellbeing, policy and practice among further education teachers
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(1), 3–14
Adult providers as well as further and adult education colleges are a major part of an economically driven society improving skills for developing careers as well as for new interests and jobs. Further education (FE) colleges deliver courses that not only meet the demands of school leavers but also serve the wider community in terms of delivering higher education courses allied to universities. FE advocates the concept of ‘inclusiveness’, in terms of, for example, disabilities, ethnicity and race. This complies with the Equality Act (2010), which points out that facilitating learning conditions for the vulnerable is essential. Additionally, staff should be appropriately trained to deal with issues such as the wellbeing of learners and day-to-day teaching (e.g. The Wolf Report, 2011; Ofsted, 2014; and the Society of Education and Training, 2017). However, this may be hampered by lack of resources to deal with such issues (Field, 2015). It is suggested there may be repercussions on the wellbeing of teaching staff and this may have negative effects on work-family balance. The Education Support Partnership (2017) advise that the effects of exhaustion/burnout should not be underestimated and this is the focus of this paper. The paper argues that there is sufficient evidence to show that what policy intends to achieve is unachievable given the current climate of FE. One effect is that teachers may feel pressurised. How exhaustion and burnout is dealt with must be a joint effort between policy makers, researchers, teachers and managers.
Keywords
Wellbeing, further education, teachers, work-life balance, policy and practice
Mental health and wellbeing in a pre-tertiary setting: BPS Annual Conference 2017; Division of Academics, Researchers and Teachers Symposium
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(1), 15–20
Mental health in children is a topic that has been prominent in the news due to the publication of the Government’s Green paper on ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision’.
Keywords
Mental health, schools, stress, mindfulness, meditation
Evaluating and measuring how new technologies and ubiquitous connectivity affect university students’ psychosocial wellbeing
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(1), 21–34
Where universities focus on the benefits of technology-enhanced learning (TEL), they tend to underestimate the impact on learners’ experiences and wellbeing. The goal of the research reported in this article was to investigate how new technologies and ubiquitous connectivity affect students’ day-to-day life, learning habits and consequent psychosocial wellbeing. A mixed methods approach was taken to allow qualitative data (stage 1) to inform the development of a quantitative measure (stage 2). Stage 1 involved 88 students and eight staff participating in semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Constructivist grounded theory found that students used ubiquitous connectivity to enhance wellbeing by satisfying four basic psychological desires and needs: ease, freedom, engagement and security. However, students’ wellbeing seems negatively affected by their struggles in coping with the ubiquitous availability of resources, in managing: information, communication and expectations regarding support. From stage 1, the factors from the model of students’ psychosocial wellbeing helped develop a quantitative measure and the development of this Learning Technique Well-being Scale (LTWS) is described in stage 2. The LTWS was completed by 102 students on various courses and levels at one University. Preliminary analysis shows that the scale differentiates between five different learning techniques (tutor contact, lectures, published books, student-student discussion and course handouts) in terms of negative and positive emotional perceptions. Further research will involve thorough testing of the LTWS across different courses, ages and gender.
Keywords
e-learning, emotions, wellbeing, stress, flexibility, student preferences
Exploring statistics anxiety: Contrasting mathematical, academic performance and trait psychological predictors
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(1), 35–43
Statistics anxiety is experienced by a large number of psychology students, and previous research has examined a range of potential correlates, including academic performance, mathematical ability and psychological predictors. These varying predictors are often considered separately, although there may be shared variance between them. In the present study a wide range of predictors were measured in a sample of 112 first year undergraduate psychology students. For statistics anxiety, trait anxiety was the clearest predictor, with students who have higher levels of trait anxiety also having higher levels of statistics anxiety. For attitudes towards statistics, students who have better mathematical ability, and greater enjoyment of and confidence in their maths ability, also having more positive attitudes towards statistics. These findings suggest that models of statistics anxiety need to consider a wide range of predictors, which may in turn necessitate the development of a range of different interventions to alleviate statistics anxiety.
Keywords
Statistics anxiety, mathematical ability, academic performance, psychology
Predictors of student resilience in higher education
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(1), 44–52
Resilience, when coping with stress, can protect against serious negative life outcomes and lead to greater lifetime satisfaction. The current literature suggests that there are internal factors that may moderate the development of resilience. These factors could be used to inform targeted interventions for young people experiencing stress within the educational sphere. The current study extends previous literature by confirming known predictors and testing novel predictors of resilience in female students within a Higher Education context. Psychological measures of resilience, attachment quality, self-esteem, and exposure to stressful and adverse childhood experiences were utilised. Statistical analysis revealed that self-esteem, exposure to stressful events, levels of avoidance in maternal relationships, and levels of anxiety in paternal relationships were significant predictors of levels of resilience. The practical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed alongside potential interventions.
Practice exchange
Implications of the coverage of the DSM-5 in textbooks on learning and teaching of psychology within higher education
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(1), 53–58
Many criticisms accompanied the development of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5), yet it was still released in 2013 and is used within clinical work throughout the United States. Despite on-going questions pertaining to its development and validity, many undergraduate psychology students view the DSM-5 as the ultimate authority in diagnosis within the field of mental health. Current publication trends indicate that a focus on the DSM-5 within college textbooks is limited in scope, which may have a profound influence on students’ understanding of mental health conditions. Implications for the teaching of psychology within higher education are discussed.
Keywords
psychology, higher ed, textbooks, DSM-5, ICD
Credibility in mindfulness training for young people
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(1), 59–62
Providing the evidence-base to establish whether mindfulness for young people is beneficial is undoubtedly more challenging than it has been for adults. First of all there are the practical difficulties in training teachers to deliver mindfulness well. Yet this is what needs to be done; teachers with the class management and pedagogical expertise are best placed to deliver mindfulness training to students with whom they have built trust. Secondly, it is difficult to measure the outcomes, particularly for teenagers, because unlike the positively predisposed adult participants of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) training, adolescents, particularly if drafted into research at school, are less likely to focus on gaining understanding of the techniques, let alone actually practise them. Thirdly, a Whole-School drive and parental involvement, to promote mindfulness practice, may seem necessary to get students to spend enough time mindfully to see measurable benefits, but may actually have counter-productive effects. Students, parents and even teachers can react badly to such initiatives from leadership, which means any null results from formal studies may not be valid. The upshot of this is that clear evidence may be some time away. In the meantime the low risk of adverse reactions to mindfulness needs to be mitigated through the use of guidelines and training for educators. In search of solutions to the challenges to research validity, randomised controlled trials using teachers (not researchers) who have training and credibility to deliver mindfulness training, will paint a clearer picture of its effectiveness for young people.
How the post-secondary classroom can benefit from positive psychology principles
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(1), 63–66
No abstract.
Primed, prepped and primped: Reflections on enhancing student wellbeing in tertiary education
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(1), 67–76
In this article, the authors describe the PERMA model of wellbeing and how it has been applied within the teaching provision at undergraduate level in a business school context. PERMA is an acronym for a model of wellbeing put forward by a pioneering psychologist in the field of positive psychology, Martin Seligman. According to Seligman (2011), PERMA comprises five important building blocks of wellbeing: positive emotions; engagement; relationships; meaning; and achievement. This article reports on the application of this model within the context of a business school undergraduate curriculum, as a way of helping students develop new cognitive and emotional tools. In these practice reflections, the authors discuss the important role that PERMA based experiential learning and teaching activities can play in undergraduate education programmes, as a means to enhance student wellbeing. The authors cite practical examples from undergraduate teaching, pastoral tutoring, and work placement induction, using PERMA activities to enhance student wellbeing.
Supporting the mental health of university students: The views and experiences of an academic
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(1), 77–78
No abstract
Expectations of the university to post-graduation transition of students with mental health conditions
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(1), 79–81
The number and percentage of students with mental health conditions (MHC) attending university is increasing. Students with MHC can be well supported during their time at university, but receive less support with the transition from university to post-graduation. This time is characterised by great change and can be accompanied by mixed feelings. This paper presents preliminary data on the transition expectations and perceptions of 35 students with MHC. High levels of fear and low levels of preparedness regarding the transition were reported. Only 55–60 per cent of students had accessed transition-related or careers-related support, but those who had found it productive. Students suggested that more condition-specific support, and support in the form of workshops, lectures and one-to-one meetings would be beneficial. This knowledge can be used to better support students with MHC with the university to post-graduation transition.
Identifying a topic for a psychology dissertation: A process map for students
Psychology Teaching Review, 24(1), 82–90
Identifying a ‘promising’ topic for a psychology dissertation is widely recognised as one of the most important, challenging, and stressful parts of the research process. Students are required to work in a relatively unstructured way (compared with other modules) to independently identify a topic that is not only appropriate, of personal interest, ethical, and achievable, but also rooted in psychological literature, methodologically sound, and with originality (for higher marks and publication potential). This typically occurs concomitantly with other modules, assessments, and obligations, within a restricted timeframe, placing heavy demands on students (and sometimes their supervisors). Although there are extensive resources on ‘doing a psychology project’ and on ‘choosing a dissertation topic’ we feel there remains scope to more effectively support students’ topic selection in a way that does not circumvent the independent nature of the activity and process. In this article, we present a ‘process map’ (the first of its kind to our knowledge) that may assist students to independently identify a ‘promising’ topic for their psychology dissertation. We believe this will be of great value to undergraduate and postgraduate psychology students, dissertation supervisors, and other module and course teams. Given the timing and importance of the dissertation module, this resource may also lead to enhancement of the overall student experience.
Keywords
Dissertation Topic, Supervision, University/College Students, FE, HE
