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Wellbeing and resilience in Aotearoa – act now!

Posted on November 12, 2020 by Kathryn O'Connell-Sutherland
Image by CORE Education, all rights reserved.
All images by CORE Education, all rights reserved.

Dr Lucy Hone’s keynote at #ulearn20, What do we need to learn for lifelong success? was all about reimagining success, learning and tomorrow.

In this blog I share some insights from Lucy’s kōrero. As director of New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience Lucy cited evidence of the high levels of distress among our tamariki and rangatahi, and urged us to consider success more broadly. She shared that allowing ākonga to identify, use and develop their strengths requires us to think and act differently. We learnt how an appreciative inquiry approach can build lifelong confidence, engagement, resilience and wellbeing.

What is the purpose of education in the 21st century? Lucy began by making reference to the four pillars of 21st century education: learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live together (Delors, 1996).

Lucy’s knowledge, research, and lived experiences combined in a powerful and practical way that connected with each of us at #ulearn20 in our different learning contexts. She referred to her presentation as lessons from science and living. Lucy was brave and inspiring as she shared how her studies into the science of resilience and her own personal story of tragedy and loss motivates her each day to educate and inspire others about the concept of flourishing. Learning to be and learning to live together are two of the UN’s key objectives for education that Lucy feels we now urgently need to turn our attention to.

Questions and provocations

Lucy posed several reflective questions and provocations throughout the keynote, which are helpful for us to contemplate in our own contexts.

  • What do we need to live productive, contributing, satisfying lives?
  • What does it mean to live a flourishing life?
  • What skills, capacities, friendships and cultural connections enable us to flourish?
  • How do we live a life worth living and help others do the same?
  • We are not serving our ākonga well, how can we claim to be?
  • How can we help – in ways that matter to them?
  • What questions are you asking your akonga?

Lucy’s challenge to us all to act now and with urgency to make a change to support our young people in Aotearoa comes off the back of some alarming stats about the staggering increase in rates of depression in our youth. The levels of psychological distress, and most common issues that young people report experiencing, include: stress, anxiety, a lack of energy or motivation, depression, and feelings of hopelessness/worthlessness. The NZ Union of Student Associations conducted a study using the Kessler 10 scale to measure and evaluate our current state across 1762 university students in Aotearoa. Lucy’s response is that we need to change what we are doing.

“We need to better equip our young people better to cope with today’s volatile, ambiguous uncertain times”

Useful models and approaches to support practice and systems level change

“Human systems move in the direction of their inquiry, so watch what it is you focus on” (David Cooperrider)

Lucy recommends taking an appreciative and strengths-based inquiry approach to the exploration and teaching of resilience and wellbeing. She referenced Jackie Kelm’s (2005) model describing it as simple yet powerful.

Appreciate Find what’s best (notice what’s good) Feeling Good
Inquire Think about what could be (hope and dream) Getting Clear
Act Take small steps forward Taking Action

Jackie Kelm (2005) @appreciativeliving.com

Appreciative inquiry does not ask us to ignore the reality of what is going on, nor wait until tomorrow gets better. It invites us to appreciate and inquire even in times of darkness. The underlying principles of AI provide us with a pathway forward, inviting us to build upon strengths, imagine what could be, and take small steps to make that happen. (Lucy Hone)

We can each relate this to our own learning contexts when reviewing our practices, identifying challenges, determining our priorities, developing goals and seeking feedback from others. To inquire ‘even in times of darkness’ stood out to me – this is what it means to be bold and brave. It’s a call to action that challenges educators to step into the arena, to seek to know more and to deeply understand the current context. This inquiry approach is an immediate action we can take and is a great place to start.

Strategies for implementation

We heard a range of useful and relevant everyday strategies from Lucy that we can implement into our practices to build resilience and support wellbeing. These ideas are based on applying the five principles of appreciative inquiry (Cooperrider & Whitney, 1999). They too can also be implemented instantly. Take a moment to consider the practical strategies and ideas to introduce into your practice and leadership. They are applicable for an individual and as a process model for creating sustained positive systems change across your team/s and community.

Underlying principles of appreciative inquiry

Principles of AI Strategies and ideas
  • Constructionist
  • Words make worlds
  • Simultaneity
  • Questions create change
  • Poetic
  • Focus on strengths
  • Anticipatory
  • Foster hopes
  • Positive
  • Value positive emotions

 

A strengths-based approach – characteristics and emotions

Positive affect (emotions) and inquiry are the most effective way to generate and sustain positive change. (Lucy Hone)

lucy2A strengths-based approach focuses on amplifying strengths rather than reducing weaknesses. This is an important consideration when developing and implementing learning tools for assessment. One of Lucy’s suggestions is to invite learners to undertake a character strengths survey such as the free scientific, free VIA survey or you could develop your own linked to your local curriculum to highlight the values, hope and aspirations at your place of learning. What a great way to get to know our ākonga and for them to get to know themselves – remember, what we focus on grows and builds active awareness.

Another way to socialise positive emotions and focus on understanding strengths is to create games and cards. There are some great resources and ideas already out there – check out All Right? and Sparklers for Chitter Chatter cards, Downtime Dice or Te Waioratanga – the Kapa Haka poster set. Have some fun with gamification – design your own kete of tools and use the words and meanings that resonate with your learning environment and culture.

Wellbeing and resilience – mana, rights and agency

Kia tū rangatira ai
To stand like the chief we were born to be

Lucy shared this whakatauki from Melinda Webber’s (2019) research ‘learning, succeeding and thriving in Aotearoa’. It speaks to me of three really important concepts: mana, rights and agency. How can we honour and foster each of these to support our learners to develop a strong sense of self-efficacy? Lucy’s kōrero is relevant to us all across the education system and society – parents, educators, leaders alike. While listening to Lucy I made several connections to my own learning context. When Lucy talked about adopting a strengths-based mindset, the importance of holistic wellbeing and applying mana enhancing practices, these concepts resonated for me with the kaupapa of Te Whāriki; the early years curriculum and the newly released resource He Māpuna te Tamaiti. I also saw a connection to learning dispositions and the key competencies of The New Zealand Curriculum – how powerful for us to develop a shared understanding and language no matter the context. We equally have an important role across the education sector to support social and emotional development, so let’s keep talking.

We have to work together to change the dialogue

An exercise designed to promote hope – best possible future self

Hope is a powerful agency of change. Lucy shared a scientifically validated intervention strategy tested by psychological researcher Lyubomirsky (2004) that we can use to promote hope and future goal setting. It is designed to foster the belief in a positive future, that you can alter the future and take steps to get where/what you want. Have a go with your learners and encourage them to write their aspirations and hopes for the future, then store them in a sealed bottle. This, says Lucy, provides them with a permanent artefact of their future hopes that they can nurture over time. Lucy says …

Cultivating hope in this way works because it provides us with an opportunity to learn more about ourselves; it highlights what’s important and therefore helps us structure our priorities, it can help you move from the realm of foggy ideas and fragmented thoughts to concrete, real possibilities. Keep asking each other about your plans and dreams, what do you want to be when you grow up? How do you want to be?

 

Our collective hopes and dreams for children and young people in Aotearoa

It is exciting that we are bringing wellbeing and hauora into focus and I am hopeful for the future. When I think about flourishing I can see the synergies between Lucy’s kōrero and the across-government vision of the Child, Youth and Wellbeing Strategy to make Aotearoa the best place in the world for children and young people. A key takeaway for me from Lucy’s keynote is not only the need to do more, but to be deliberate and intentional – we need to prioritise this when designing curriculum. We need to intentionally focus on strengths, share positive emotions, foster hope and awe in our learning settings, ask questions as opportunities for change, and be careful with our language – ‘words create worlds’. There are lots of practical ways we can do this – redesign our learning environments, do a stocktake on key words and messages displayed, create space for imagination and what if/possibility thinking, develop a series of cards with images and words of positive emotions and strengths that provoke conversation and ask questions. We need to inquire into, and invite, discussion around strengths, values, hopes and emotions.

Last words from Lucy:

What’s one change you can make to redefine success for our rangatahi?

Image by CORE Education, all rights reserved.

Dr Lucy Hone is a director of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing and Resilience, adjunct senior fellow at the University of Canterbury, a published academic researcher, best-selling author, and blogger for Psychology Today. She has a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in wellbeing science/public health from AUT. She is the conference convenor of Wellbeing in Education, he akonga aumangea, he akonga tu maia, and the only representative of the International Positive Education Network (IPEN) in Aotearoa. Her research has been published in a number of psychology and wellbeing journals within Aotearoa and worldwide. The loss of her 12-year old daughter, Abi, in a tragic road accident in 2014, resulted in the best-selling non-fiction title Resilient Grieving (Allen & Unwin, 2016).

Resources for further reading

VIA Character Strengths Survey
Sparklers
All Right?
Child, Youth and Wellbeing Strategy
He Māpuna te Tamaiti

References

Child and Youth Wellbeing. (2019). Overview: The Framework. Child and Youth Wellbeing. Retrieved from https://childyouthwellbeing.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2019-08/strategy-on-a-page-child-youth-wellbeing-Sept-2019.pdf

Cooperrider, D.L., & Whitney, D. (1999). A Positive Revolution in Change: Appreciative Inquiry. Tas, NM:Corporation for Positive Change

Delors, J. (1998). Learning: the treasure within. UNESCO.

Free Resources. All Right?. Retrieved 11 November 2020, from https://www.allright.org.nz/free-resources.

Kelm, J. (2005). Appreciative Living: The Principles of Appreciative Inquiry in Personal Life. Venet Publishers.

Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change. Review Of General Psychology, 9(2), 111-131. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.9.2.111

Personality Test, Personality Assessment: VIA Survey | VIA Institute. Viacharacter.org. Retrieved 11 November 2020, from https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register.

Resources. Sparklers.org.nz. Retrieved 11 November 2020, from https://sparklers.org.nz/resources/.

Rohan, T. (2019). He Māpuna te Tamaiti [Ebook]. Ministry of Education. Retrieved 11 November 2020, from https://tewhariki.tki.org.nz/assets/Uploads/files/He-Mapuna-te-Tamaiti-complete-book.pdf.

Webber, M. (2019). Learning, succeeding and thriving in Aotearoa. Auckland: University of Auckland.

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Used with permission from Anahera McGregor

In pursuit of ora

Posted on September 23, 2020 by Anahera McGregor
Used with permission from Anahera McGregor
Used with permission from Anahera McGregor

This blog is about my approach to life, wellbeing, and ora. What I share is my personal understanding, and the understanding of those who have shared knowledge with me. Some information comes from the study of Māori health at university. The blog is designed as a taster, hopefully highlighting aspects of ora for you to consider for yourself and those around you. 

ora

  1. (verb) to be alive, well, safe, cured, recovered, healthy, fit, healed.

 

Ora means to be alive and to be well. We all want to feel a state of ora for ourselves and for those around us. It’s something that we strive for. But ora can be elusive. Some days when we wake up we are in a natural state of ora. On other days we can’t see a glimpse of it. Life can be hard, sometimes dark. We are alive but we aren’t always well.

The pursuit of ora is very real in my own world. Family members live with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder. I have a cheery and positive disposition and I also experience anxiety. I live the whole spectrum of wellness in a very real way.

When I’m not feeling well I have to push through and take actions that will help me back to a state of ora. I take a holistic approach using strategies to support myself physically, mentally and spiritually. I carry out deliberate acts that I know will shift my energy.

When I’m pursuing ora I often draw from te ao Māori (the Māori worldview). Te Whare Tapa Whā is a Māori model of health developed by Sir Mason Durie that focuses on four dimensions of wellbeing:

Image by CORE Education, all rights reserved.
Image by CORE Education, all rights reserved.
  • taha tinana (physical wellbeing)
  • taha hinengaro (mental wellbeing)
  • taha wairua (spiritual wellbeing)
  • taha whānau (family wellbeing).

A wharenui is used to illustrate Te Whare Tapa Whā with each side, or cornerstone, of the wharenui representing a wellbeing dimension. If one of the four dimensions is missing or damaged, a person may become ‘unbalanced’ and subsequently unwell.

I use Te Whare Tapa Whā as a gauge for my own wellbeing; to reflect on my waiora (health, soundness). I view each wellbeing dimension as a kete that needs to be filled. If I feel low, flat, or unwell then I look to my four kete to see which of them needs replenishing. Over the years I have identified things that I can do to top up each kete.

Taha tinana, physical wellbeing

I’m unfit and overweight which sometimes takes a toll on my physical wellbeing.

Walking is something that I do to gain a sense of physical strength and wellness. Walking is especially helpful when I’m stressed and busy, or after a big meeting. It empowers me and at the same time it grounds me. I don’t know if it is a spiritual or chemical thing, but something really shifts in me after a walk.

 

Taha hinengaro, mental wellbeing

Our beings are filled with the demands of work and whānau which can sometimes be overwhelming.

I love my job but it can sometimes consume me and take a toll on my mental wellbeing. There are moments when it feels like my ora is getting chomped down by Pac-Man. When I feel like this I need to deliberately switch off and activate some taha hinengaro boundaries.

  • If I have too many back to back meetings then I calendar in a half hour break. I make that an important part of my working day.
  • When I feel like my mind is overloaded with mahi I give myself permission to switch off for a little while. I put my work away and have a break.
  • At night I consciously deactivate and rest my work brain so that I am ready to go again in the morning.

It’s all about scheduling and making time for wellness.

Caring for our hinengaro is especially important for our tumuaki and kaiako who carry an enormous workload in schools, kura and centres throughout Aotearoa.

 

Taha wairua, spiritual wellbeing

harakeke
Used with permission from Anahera McGregor

I boost my taha wairua in a range of ways.

  • I get out in nature.
  • I weave if I find time. Touching harakeke makes my wairua feel ora.
  • I listen to music and taonga pūoro (traditional musical instruments). I also sing mōteatea (a centuries-old tradition of chanted song-poetry) which connects me with the depth of my culture.
  • I love podcasts and listening to them are part of my Saturday morning routine and a great way to transition from a busy week.
  • I take time to pause and participate mindfully in karakia.

These acts draw me to a special place. They shift my energy and bring solace and comfort.

 

Taha whānau, family wellbeing

My waiora is impacted by the health of my whānau. I can do all these things to lead me to a state of ora but I can’t escape the ‘mum thing’ where I think about the ora of others.

I struggle when my kids and loved ones are struggling. My best heightened sense of whānau ora is when those I love are in a state of ora.

COVID-19 has brought added pressures to whānau. Pursuing ora has become more challenging for us all because some of our usual coping strategies are not readily available. But there are silver linings. My whānau has dug deep and found other ways to feel good.

  • We have pursued spaces that are good and healthy to shift the energy.
  • We have also taken time to practice gratitude and acknowledge how blessed we are.

 

Sometimes the pursuit of ora is hard. There are moments when I sit for a while in the uncomfortable space of not feeling mentally, physically, or emotionally well. But I have learned that it passes. The small actions that I can take to fill my four wellbeing kete bring me hope, peace, and calm. I know that I will eventually return to a state of ora if I hang in there.

My pursuit of ora is unique to me. What fills my kete might not fill yours. I encourage you to reflect on the wellbeing dimensions of Te Whare Tapu Whā and consider what actions you can take that will fill your kete and lead you to a state of ora.

References

Durie, M., 2017. Māori Health Models – Te Whare Tapa Whā. [online] Ministry of Health. Available at: <https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/populations/maori-health/maori-health-models/maori-health-models-te-whare-tapa-wha> [Accessed 22 September 2020].

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wellbeing

Wellbeing: What’s it about?

Posted on May 6, 2019 by Ara Simmons

wellbeing

Image by CORE Education, all rights reserved.

Wellbeing everywhere

Wellbeing has permeated every facet of our social psyche. It’s in vogue, a fashionable word, possibly even overused. A bit like resilience, but that’s a word for another day. It’s even made CORE’s Ten Trends this year. Wellbeing is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “The state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.” Internationally there is no agreement on a definition for wellbeing, however, those who research the area agree that wellbeing is more than the absence of disease, it is a construct with many parts. In order to flourish, people need to experience high levels of wellbeing.

Positive Psychology is the field of science that explores optimal human functioning and aims to discover the factors that enable individuals and communities to thrive. Where traditional psychology explores what’s wrong with us and is very much focused on a disease model, Positive Psychology asks what is right with us. This science is also about the permission to be human and being able to experience the full range of human experiences and emotions without getting stuck or hiding from emotions that are hard. As humans, we can become mentally unhealthy when we get stuck in anger, anxiety, depression, judgement or guilt. Positive Psychology offers us tools for coping with negative events, enhancing positive experiences and flexibly moving through the whole gamut of human emotions as we journey through life. It is this lens that I write with.

Focusing on the adults first

It makes sense that if we look after our teachers that they are going to look after our ākonga. I like psychology professor Felicia Huppert’s description of wellbeing: Feeling good and functioning well. So for the purposes of this post, this is the definition we will keep in mind

To operate at our best we need to be well. We all have personal stories about people who, by their own admission, contributed to the outcomes of challenging and difficult situations because they were not operating at or even near their full potential. I’ll never forget the highly stressed doctor (her very own words, and she looked it) repeatedly failing to insert a needle that would drip feed essential medication to our fragile premature son’s heart. Thankfully a mindful nurse intervened, took over and got the vein on her first attempt. We intuitively know it, and the evidence backs it up, when an organisation or individual’s wellbeing is high, performance is enhanced, people are happier, healthier and more connected.

As a profession here in New Zealand, educators are a generous bunch. At times it appears that working hard in education is like a badge of honour. How can you really care when you don’t put your life and soul into the vocation. Give, give, give until we’re spent! Let’s be realistic, this is not sustainable, certainly not if we expect the best outcomes for our ākonga. We instinctively know this is right. How could it not be true? Yet the conveyor belt that is modern life, and our education system, continues to rattle around at an ever faster pace.

We need to be mindful that giving everything for others and leaving nothing in the tank for ourselves can leave us utterly depleted. Again sustainability is the issue here, particularly given the critical teacher shortage that we are currently experiencing in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

We need to be more mindful about our lives, including our workspaces. We need to make the connection that our wellbeing impacts on our ability to be great at what we do. We need to tune in. We need to make wellbeing a part of daily routines.

Just one small step

We often talk about the idea of micro-steps when working with teachers around their wellbeing. There is a variety of wellbeing frameworks out there. However, one of the most widely used wellbeing frameworks referred to as PERMA, comes from the work of Professor Martin Seligman.

Seligman believes there are five foundational pillars to wellbeing:

  • Positive emotions (some describe this as happiness)
  • Engagement
  • Relationships
  • Meaning and purpose
  • Accomplishment.

perma

PERMA model credited to Professor Martin Seligman, graphic by CORE Education. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Want to measure your own wellbeing?

Your responses to the 23 questions on the PERMA meter will give you an idea of how well you are doing in relation to the five pillars. Other researchers have since added an additional pillar of vitality or health which refers to our sleeping, eating, physical movement and our ability to cope with stress. I like the PERMAH (where the H stands for Health) survey created by McQuaid and Kern, leading researchers in the applications of positive interventions.

When considering being well from a Te Ao Māori stance, one of our well-known wellbeing frameworks is Te Whare Tapa Whā, developed by Professor Sir Mason Durie ,1995).

Te Whare Tapa Whā has four foundational walls:
Te Taha Hinengaro (psychological health)
Te Taha Wairua (spiritual health)
Te Taha Tinana (physical health)
Te Whānau (family health)

whare

Image by gerard on Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0.

We also have Te Wheke, which was developed by Dr Rangimarie Turuki Arikirangi Rose Pere. This model provides the additional dimensions of Mauri (life force in people and objects), Hā a koro mā, a kui mā (breath of life from forbearers), Mana ake (unique identity) Whatumanawa (the open and healthy expression of emotion).

The Fonofale model created by Fuimaono Karl Pulottu-Enderman considers the Pacific view on health. Here the idea of cultural values and beliefs as being the shelter of life are expressed.

faleImage by Michael Coghlan on Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0.

All these frameworks have much in common. Our head health, body health, our relationships, and meaning and purpose matters to our overall state of being well. Which framework you decide to use, and there are more than I have mentioned here, depends on your own needs in aligning with culture and or personal preference.

Formulating your wellbeing plan

There are a number of positive interventions that we can use to dial up our pillars of wellbeing.

If I had used Martin Seligman’s PERMA framework and completed the survey, a helpful next step for me to consider might be to focus on two of the pillars to keep it manageable. For argument’s sake, let’s say I chose the positive emotion and engagement pillars as my foci.

Positive emotion – To boost this pillar, I may want to engage in the jolts of joy activity. Here I would write down five things that bring a smile to my face and then reach for this list when I need a boost of positivity (such as after an excruciatingly long meeting).

Engagement – Create my play history – remember a time during my childhood where I did something that brought me great joy and excitement, and then think about ways I could recreate this in my work.

Other examples of activities can be found within the PERMAH survey.
When we talk about positive interventions, they are usually simple in nature and often have us referring back to something in our past, present or future. Very doable indeed.

Wellbeing as a collective endeavour

‘Wellbeing’ is very subjective and means different things to different individuals, so a nice place to start is to have a collective understanding of what wellbeing can mean for all those who have a role in supporting our ākonga and then growing your shared understanding from there.

If Positive Psychology were to be distilled into three words it would be that “other people matter”. These are not my words, but those of the late Professor Chris Peterson.

We know from the research that if we wish to impact the wellbeing of our ākonga, we must first impact the wellbeing of our educators. This is not just our teachers, but also any other adult who works directly or indirectly with our ākonga.

Embracing wellbeing: a few compelling reasons

  • We often mirror our teaching counterparts in the UK. In the 12 months leading up to April 2018, the Guardian reported that the number of teachers seeking mental health support had risen by 35% from a charity that specialises in supporting teachers in education.
  • A 2016 NZ teacher survey discovered that around 87% of teachers (mainly primary) used no strategies to respond to stress and just carried on regardless.

Strategies that enable staff wellbeing

Some effective strategies and practices include:

  • Regular conversations about wellbeing with staff
  • Leaders being approachable and open to discuss issues around workload and how to collectively manage this
  • Flexible spaces and places to work from when on release
  • Wellbeing as a regular agenda item on meetings
  • Individual/group coaching to support the wellbeing of teachers and leaders
  • Having a well-being team that is able to support a planned approach.

In a recent article from one principal who prioritised the wellbeing of their own staff found that they were able to positively impact stress levels and feelings of working in a much more supported environment. Ākonga achievement was also positively impacted.

As nation builders, I believe that our profession is a splendid torch and we want to make it burn as brightly as possible for our future generations. It is imperative that we can do this with our wellbeing intact. We all deserve to feel good and function well.

By being able to focus on wellbeing we are able to build on our emotional resources so that when we are faced with challenging times, either individually or collectively, we can draw on these bank of resources to support us through.

Find out more

  • Explore the Hauora | Wellbeing programme
  • Talk to your PLD facilitators about how you can weave in wellbeing into your context when considering growing your leaders, staff wellbeing, inclusive practices.
  • Chat to Ara about wellbeing facilitation and the next steps in your own learning.

References

Ao Ako Global Learning. About Rose – Ao Ako Global Learning. Retrieved from https://aoakogloballearning.co.nz/about-rose/

Central PHO. (2017). Central PHO Pacific Cultural Guidelines (pp. 3-4). Central PHO.

CORE Education. (2019). Ten Trends 2019 – Wellbeing. Retrieved from http://www.core-ed.org/research-and-innovation/ten-trends/2019/wellbeing/

Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand. (2011). Te Whare Tapa Whā: Mason Durie – Hauora. Retrieved from https://hauora.co.nz/te-whare-tapa-wha-mason-durie/

Lang, D. (2018). Every school needs a staff wellbeing team – here’s how to start one. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2018/feb/01/staff-wellbeing-team-school-improved

McQuaid, M. Kern, P. (2017). Your Wellbeing Blueprint: Feeling good and doing well at work, Australia.Michelle McQuaid.

Profile: Christopher Peterson. (2013). Retrieved from https://www.livehappy.com/science/profiles/profile-christopher-peterson

Save Our Schools NZ. (2016). Teacher Stress & Anxiety in New Zealand Schools. Retrieved from https://saveourschoolsnz.com/2016/12/01/teacher-stress-anxiety-in-nz-schools/

Seligman, M. E. (2011). Flourish. North Sydney, N.S.W.: Random House Australia.

Stanley, J. (2018). Teachers are at breaking point. It’s time to push wellbeing up the agenda. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2018/apr/10/teachers-are-at-breaking-point-its-time-to-push-wellbeing-up-the-agenda

University of Pennsylvania. Profile of Dr. Martin Seligman | Authentic Happiness. Retrieved from https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/faculty-profile/profile-dr-martin-seligman

University of Pennsyvania. Professor Felicia A. Huppert, Ph.D. | Authentic Happiness. Retrieved from https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/faculty-profile/professor-felicia-huppert-phd

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ratings

What kind of feedback do you give? Constructive or destructive?

Posted on August 15, 2018 by James Hopkins

Providing someone with feedback is valuable. In our roles as educators, whether facilitator, leader, teacher, or a combination of all, we leave ourselves open to opinion. From time to time this feedback is shared constructively, points are collaboratively established to be worked through and targets are set. The outcome? Positive change. And then there are other times when feedback or criticism is destructive.

criticism“The difference between constructive criticism and destructive criticism is the way in which comments are delivered. Although both forms are challenging your ideas, character, or ability, when someone is giving destructive criticism it can hurt your pride and have negative effects on your self-esteem and confidence. Destructive criticism is often just thoughtlessness by another person, but it can also be deliberately malicious and hurtful. Destructive criticism can, in some cases, lead to anger and/or aggression.” (Dealing With Criticism)

For those of you who have been on the receiving end of destructive criticism, I truly empathise. We stand in front of our peers or learners, delivering, teaching, or supporting with passion. From personal experience, I have been astounded by how hard some comments have hit me. It hurts! It can be completely unexpected and feels almost impossible to prepare for.

What troubles me most is the long-term damage that destructive criticism can cause. Whether motivated by a sense of helping, or, in rare cases, actively designed to cause turmoil, in the education sector it simply isn’t good enough. Our roles and much of our professional development relies heavily on the feedback of peers. Education remains an intriguing mystery at times as I watch amazing middle leaders deliver well-constructed feedback for their students, personalising comments, and finding deeper meaning, while the same is not done for their peers.

How could you frame feedback?

In 2004, Emily Heaphy and Marcial Losada conducted a study of the nature and ratio of effective feedback. Although their data has now been widely reviewed and challenged on a statistical level (not on a wider interpretation of impact level), the basic premise of their findings is well worth understanding. They found, “The average ratio for the highest-performing teams was 5.6 (that is, nearly six positive comments for every negative one).” (Zenger and Folkman 2013). Taking the meaning into account over the data as a fact, this leads us to believe that we perform better when the ratio of positive comments is much greater than negative. This in itself is not a revelation. A happy team who feel supported and trust their leadership will perform more effectively and cohesively than a team who feels the opposite — it’s human nature. However, seeing this ratio made me reflect on the feedback I had given to a peer when reading through their sabbatical report recently.

example of criticism

In no way am I suggesting my feedback here is perfect — far from it! Prior to this paragraph was a list of wider thinking questions that were designed to start deeper conversations, but upon rereading, I realised quickly that they could be seen as highly critical. After some rephrasing, but without losing the direction and with the addition of positivity to balance the challenge, I sent the feedback. It was well received and acted upon. I think the key here was to understand what it might feel like to be on the end of the email before pressing the send button. This is not always easy, but brings us back to the old proverb, ‘treat others as you would wish to be treated.’ It’s not perfect, but I don’t know anyone who would want to be on the end of destructive criticism!

When should you deliver feedback?

So, what if you’ve carefully phrased the criticism, balanced positive and negative elements, but made sure the meaning and direction has been maintained. When do you send it? Think carefully here. Have you ever received a challenging email late at night or over the weekend? It could be argued that we need a level of self-control and don’t need to check emails or messages in our personal time, but digital technology has changed things and we live in a predominantly ever-connected world. Switching off and demarcating non-message/email time is a whole different conversation. In this instance, imagine receiving something constructive over the weekend. It could go either way, right? Gently nagging at you throughout the weekend and distracting from time with whānau and friends. Or, it could be well received and not worry you until Monday morning. But dare we assume? I think, perhaps, the biggest question to ask here is: can it wait until the morning or Monday? If the answer is no, shouldn’t it to lead to asking, how the best way to share might be?

How should you deliver feedback?

To be effective, I believe you have to know the person on a personal level so that you know how they respond to different modes of communication and which they prefer. It’s important to know that one of your colleagues likes bad news or challenges to be shared face to face, whereas another is happy to receive it via Snapchat. For some, being able to hear someone’s tone on the telephone or read their expression and body language in person (or via video call with cameras on) is important. For others, being face to face with a colleague who is sharing criticism may be intimidating and they may feel uncomfortable outside of text-based communication. Neither is right or wrong, they are simply preferences. If we don’t ascertain what our colleague’s preference is, we run the risk of getting it wrong and potentially affecting them on a personal level.

How do we deal with criticism?

depressionIt’s not fair to assume that our reaction to every piece of criticism received will be the same. It is dependent on who the sender is, how it’s worded, and what the positive/negative ratio is.

“The key thing to remember is that whatever the circumstance is, don´t respond in anger as this will cause a scene and create bad feelings – and possibly a bad image of you.” (Dealing With Criticism).

Of course, there are generic things you can do to calm and deal with situations effectively, some of which can be applied to multiple situations:

Talk to someone

It is worth remembering that teaching and education rely heavily on collaboration and cooperation. Find someone you trust and share openly with them. It’s about finding perspective and understanding that an immediate reaction could be clouded by heightened emotion- we’re human!

Don’t press send

Write the email if you need to. Draft in a document, record it as a voice memo, do whatever you feel you need to do to get it out of your system, but do not press send. Everyone needs an outlet.

Focus on the positives

It can be hard to find the positives in a pile of negatives, but if you look hard, they’re often there. Combined with possibly talking with someone for a fresh set of eyes, hunt through for anything that resembles a comment that could be a compliment. If one simply cannot be found, stop reading. Put it down. Return to step one.

Respond (at an appropriate time)

The key here is appropriate. A response doesn’t mean a defence. It may be as simple as acknowledging the criticism and knowing when to cease the conversation. If the criticism is truly unjust and undeserved, mediation may be needed. Find an alternative perspective and have a comparison. Otherwise, let it go; the damage done from holding on to something you cannot change far outweighs anything else.

Find a different cup

A close colleague of mine, who recently supported me through my own challenge, shared how strange it was that we so often end up focusing on the negative. On a page of beautifully balanced constructive criticism, our eyes immediately search for the thing we know will upset us the most! It made me wonder how often we bank the comments that make us feel good. How do we keep the cup full in the background, so we know it’s there to drink from when we need it? There is nothing arrogant about storing positivity to improve a sense of self. After all, we have a first-aid kit in the house, why not have one for the mind?

In conclusion…

In closing, something I think we all need to remember (including me as I write this) is that we are our own harshest critics. Whether that stems from the words of others or a deeply reflective sense of self, it’s about what we do with the thinking and words we receive. Do we let them stoke the flames of a raging fire of insecurity? Or, are we able to let them pass by us like a cool breeze? The internationally renowned singer Adele once said, “I have insecurities of course, but I don’t hang out with anyone who points them out.”

 

References
(n.d.). Dealing with Criticism | SkillsYouNeed. Retrieved July 10, 2018, from https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/dealing-with-criticism.html
Zenger, J and Folkman, J.
(2013, March 15). The Ideal Praise-to-Criticism Ratio — Harvard Business Review. Retrieved July 10, 2018, from https://hbr.org/2013/03/the-ideal-praise-to-criticism

Image credits
Criticism, Write a Review, Review from Pixabay CC0
Depression, Voices, Self Criticism from Pixabay  CC0

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wellbeing wordle

Nothing about us without us: Student wellbeing

Posted on April 26, 2018 by Philippa Nicoll Antipas

Schools cannot simply rely on their positive culture and respectful relationships to promote wellbeing but need to provide opportunities for students to make decisions about their wellbeing and to be active in leading their learning, Education Review Office, 2016, p. 18.

The wellbeing of young people is increasingly an area of focus for schools here in Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as overseas. In the past, we have possibly relied too heavily on an implicit approach to the wellbeing of our staff, students, and school community that:

  • teachers and students have a good rapport
  • leaders have an ‘open door’ policy whereby any issue can be raised at any time
  • the school environment has a positive feeling.

While these are indeed all strengths schools can build upon, this isn’t an approach to wellbeing in and of itself. If we see wellbeing as important, then it must be reflected in all areas and aspects of a school. Wellbeing requires an explicit approach, as the Education Review Office (ERO) calls for in the quote above.

What is wellbeing? When I asked participants this very question at a recent CORE Breakfast, this is what people said:

wellness wordle

A synonym I like to use is flourishing (as did one or two others!). That our young people are nurtured to do more than exist; they thrive. They have the right to be who they are without having to leave any aspect of their identity (such as their ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation) at the school gate.

This is all very laudable, but how do schools go about explicitly planning for our young people to flourish and thrive?

Both ERO and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) have produced useful work for schools focusing on the wellbeing of students. When we bring this material together, we can see that both organisations call for:

  • a whole-school approach to wellbeing
  • taking a youth development perspective in wellbeing work
  • seeing young people as active agents in their lives.

Whole school really means whole school: that wellbeing goals are reflected in school policy, curriculum, the physical environment, pastoral care practices, in the staffroom, in the boardroom, and in the classroom. It means that we monitor the wellbeing of all students and staff, and that we iteratively design and evaluate wellbeing strategies and initiatives.

Taking a youth development perspective requires moving beyond our previous practices of focusing on responding to specific issues as they present themselves (bullying, teen pregnancy, smoking, for example) to promoting wellbeing. It also means that students are actively involved in developing and leading wellbeing programmes. This goes hand-in-hand with treating young people as agentic. Young people are experts in their own lives; they have knowledge that deserves respect and offers learning opportunities for adults.

Last year, I had the privilege of being selected for the Lifehack Flourishing Fellowship. Lifehack was a systems-level intervention in youth mental health and wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand. One of the amazing resources I was introduced to was the ‘Mapping and Mobilising Conditions for Youth Wellbeing and Hauora’. This is a tool primarily designed for youth work teams and organisations to “identify and strengthen their practices and ways of working across areas that are known to promote youth wellbeing, hauora, and positive youth development.” As soon as I saw it, I got excited. I could see its potential to be used in schools as a reflection tool. I tested it with a group of teachers, and we had a think about both its format and its language. Based on their feedback and thoughts, I had a play to create this version for use in schools and Kāhui Ako: Pathways towards student wellbeing.

In it, I pose three key questions:

  1. Agency and Engagement: How are young people involved?
  2. Cohesion and Collaboration: How do we learn and work together to nurture wellbeing systemically?
  3. Environment and Community: Do our environments show that young people are valued and important?

Agency and engagement

Much of the literature about youth wellbeing places emphasis on agency — that young people are involved in the planning, leading, and implementation of wellbeing programmes and initiatives. We should work towards the consistent involvement of diverse groups of young people, including initiatives and programmes they co-design and lead.

As a prompt to consider where you might be at in your school with regards to agency and engagement, you may like to consider student leadership.

  • Who are the student leaders in your school?
  • How are they selected?
  • What role(s) do they fulfil? How much agency do these leaders have?
  • Who is not represented in student leadership roles?

And perhaps more broadly:

  • To what extent are young people involved in the design of programmes/initiatives and in decision-making generally?
  • Are there are a variety of opportunities for young people to participate and be involved in meaningful ways?

Cohesion and collaboration

To grow the capacity of a school to support youth wellbeing, it is important to be a learning community. The principle of ako is crucial here: how do we learn with and from one another; how do we share this learning; and, how do we curate this learning? The challenge in this space is to have a commitment to cohesion, innovation, and collaboration, and iterative ways of working and learning both internally and externally.

As a prompt to consider where you might be at in your school with regards to cohesion and collaboration, you may like to consider learning as inquiry.

  • Who decides what is taught and how?
  • To what extent is learning through inquiry a basis for learning in classrooms; as professional learning and development; as building capacity for leadership?
  • How do we share the learning from our inquiries with one another?

And perhaps more broadly:

  • To what extent are individuals, groups, teams and/or departments operating in silos or in isolation?
  • How do individuals and teams draw on and contribute to data and a shared knowledge base?

Environment and community

The third aspect to consider is that of environment and community. This is intentionally broad, encompassing all aspects of the environment: the physical, cultural, social and emotional environments of the school. It is important that the input and value of young people are reflected in places, spaces and governance structures.

As a prompt to consider where you might be at in your school with regards to environment and community, you may like to consider what’s on display on the school and classroom walls.

  • Do we display learning in progress or finished products?
  • Who decides what is displayed?
  • Who decides where material is displayed?
  • How often is material for display changed?
  • What isn’t displayed on walls?

And perhaps more broadly:

  • Do young people feel welcome and included in our spaces and community places?
  • Does the design and management of amenities and spaces specifically incorporate young people’s needs?

These are big issues for schools to grapple with. However, starting by asking young people what is happening for them in their lives and in your school; auditing wellbeing programmes, initiatives and data; and then considering the strengths the school has to build upon, are useful beginning steps. The key theme is that of agency: Nothing about us without us. This is a wero all schools should wrestle with.

Resources:

  • 5 ways to wellbeing (Mental Health Foundation)
  • Education Matters to Me (Office of the Children’s Commissioner, 2018)
  • From “student voice” to “youth-adult partnership” (Bolstad, NZCER, 2011)
  • Infographic: Making a difference to student wellbeing (NZCER, 2017)
  • Junior Cycle Wellbeing Guidelines (NCCA, 2017)
  • Learning environments, belonging and inclusion (CORE Education, 2016)
  • Mapping and mobilising conditions for youth wellbeing (Lifehack, 2017)
  • Te Whare Tapa Whā (Ministry of Health)
  • Wellbeing @ School (NZCER, 2011)
  • Wellbeing for Success (ERO, 2016)

 

Let’s not forget about the importance of supporting the health and wellbeing
of all staff in centres, schools and kura, too.

Discover the Hauora | Wellbeing programme

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