- Department: Education
- Module co-ordinator: Dr. Dusana Dorjee
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2019-20
This module aims to introduce students to various conceptions of well-being and their underlying psychological and neurocognitive mechanisms from the perspective of their implications and applications for education.
Occurrence | Teaching cycle |
---|---|
A | Spring Term 2019-20 to Summer Term 2019-20 |
This module aims to introduce students to various conceptions of well-being and their underlying psychological and neurocognitive mechanisms from the perspective of their implications and applications for education. It will enable students to develop understanding of different types of well-being, how these are measured (including neuroscience methods) and how they could be fostered through education. Students will consider relevant research evidence, education policy guidance and practice, they will examine possible discrepancies and overlaps between these from an applied perspective.
Subject content
Students will:
Develop understanding of the different conceptualizations of well-being and their psychological and neurocognitive underpinnings.
Acquire analytical comparative knowledge about different ways to measure well-being and foster well-being in education.
Critically examine the theoretical bases and research evidence grounding of existing well-being programmes.
Apply their knowledge and skills in appraising overlaps and discrepancies across academic research evidence, policy and practice on well-being in education with a focus on an issue they identified independently.
Academic and graduate skills
Students will develop skills in:
Assimilating information from different sources and develop their own perspective on a range of issues within an important topic in psychology in education.
Formulating reasoned arguments building on a variety of evidence and presenting them in both oral and written form.
Identifying, critically evaluating (reliability, validity, relevance) and synthesizing a range of resources including academic research articles, policy documents, media reports and educational practice recommendations.
Analysing how theories and data from different disciplines can inform each other and can be applied in various contexts to enhance understanding.
Working proactively and autonomously to select and manage information and use this to engage effectively in debate.
Spring Term
Week 1 - What is well-being and how can we measure it?
Introducing the concept of well-being, well-being policy, prevention vs. intervention approaches
Different types of well-being and their measures
Week 2 - Can neuroscience measure well-being?
Introduction to methods of neuroscience
Examples of measuring neural bases of different types of well-being
Week 3 - The stress response and well-being
Developmental neurobiology of stress – understanding how it impacts well-being
Role of appraisals and their modulation by psychological strategies
Week 4 - Self-regulation (1) – Metacognition and attention regulation
Attention networks and their neural bases from a developmental perspective – links to well-being
Example measures of self-regulation and school-based interventions
Week 5 - Self-regulation (2) – Emotion regulation
Emotion regulation and its neural underpinnings form a developmental perspective – links to well-being
Example measures of emotion regulation and school-based interventions
Week 6 – Well-being interventions in education
Based on readings we will critically examine existing well-being programmes for education with particular focus on the underlying well-being conceptualizations of the programmes, their aims and limitations.
Week 7 - Rumination and well-being
Positive and negative rumination, contribution to psychopathology, neural bases of rumination
Strategies for managing negative rumination
Week 8 – Purpose and meaning in life and well-being
Distinguishing religious and existential well-being, existential awareness; relevant neuroscience evidence
Approaches to fostering existential well-being in education
Week 9 - The role of education in supporting well-being of the population
Comparing education policy with research theory/evidence
Considering implications of education practice – whole school approach and long-term perspective
Summer Term
Week 1 – Well-being in primary schools
In this problem-based learning session students will discuss in groups and propose innovative well-being programs for primary schools based on their understanding of developmental well-being trajectories of this age group and existing programmes
Week 2 – Well-being in secondary schools
In this problem-based learning session students will discuss in groups and propose innovative well-being programs for secondary schools based on their understanding of developmental well-being trajectories of this age group and existing programmes
Week 3 – Psychology and Neuroscience of Well-being in Education – Reading group
Students will critically discuss two papers they will be asked to read ahead of the session
Week 4 – Wrap up and essay preparation session
Students will critically discuss overarching links between the main topics of the module
This session will also provide an opportunity for students to discuss specific queries about their essays
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework Essay 5000 words |
N/A | 100 |
None
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework Essay 5000 words |
N/A | 100 |
Written feedback on summative assignment report sheet and face-to-face feedback in supervisions.
Students will receive in-session formative feedback on critical writing and also formative feedback on their essay plans.
The feedback is returned to students in line with university policy. Please check the Guide to Assessment, Standards, Marking and Feedback for more information.
Davidson, R. J., & McEwen, B. S. (2012). Social influences on neuroplasticity: stress and interventions to promote well-being. Nature neuroscience, 15(5), 689-695.
Frankl, V. E., & Boyne, J. (2017). Man's Search for Meaning: Young Adult Edition. Beacon Press.
Hanh, T. N., & Weare, K. (2017). Happy teachers change the world: A guide for cultivating mindfulness in education. Parallax Press.
Lewis, G. J., Kanai, R., Rees, G., & Bates, T. C. (2013). Neural correlates of the ‘good life’: Eudaimonic well-being is associated with insular cortex volume. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 9(5), 615-618.
Lupien, S. J., McEwen, B. S., Gunnar, M. R., & Heim, C. (2009). Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on the brain, behaviour and cognition. Nature reviews neuroscience, 10(6), 434-445.
Posner, M. I., & Rothbart, M. K. (2000). Developing mechanisms of self-regulation. Development and psychopathology, 12(3), 427-441.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American psychologist, 55(1), 68-78.
Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of personality and social psychology, 57(6), 1069.
Selligman, M. (2018). The Optimistic Child. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Thorburn, M (Ed.) (2017). Wellbeing, Education and Contemporary Schooling. Routledge.
Unicef. (2007). Child poverty in perspective: An overview of child well-being in rich countries (No. inreca07/19).
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