Making Work Better

Show 30 - Rowan Taigel - Turning Wellbeing onto Its Head - How can we make learning engaging and meaningful for students?

This was the challenge Rowan Taigel took on when she turned the curriculum, and the traditional approach to NCEA, upside down - focusing first on the problems students wanted to solve, then the skills they needed to do that, and engaging them to find their own solutions. Rowan explains to Denise why building relationships and students learning about their strengths and values were at the heart of this programme’s success. Listen as Rowan describes how students, parents, and teachers appreciated this approach where students got to drive their own learning, with one student describing the course as “the reason I come to school”.

Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz

Real-time Resilience: Supporting Young People during COVID-19 with Dr Denise Quinlan and Dr Emma Woodward

Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz

Real-time Resilience: Supporting Young People during COVID-19 with Dr Denise Quinlan and Dr Emma Woodward

Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz

Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin oar.org.nz

Show 29 - Jillian Coppley-Darwish - Thriving Communities - How can we build thriving learning communities by focusing on what’s strong and not what’s wrong?

Denise talks to Jillian Coppley-Darwish, about Thriving Learning Communities – a programme that works by helping educators to focus on ‘what’s strong not what’s wrong’ in their students. Listen as Jillian explains how Thriving Learning Communities helps build self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship-building and responsible decision-making. Jillian talked to us from Cinncinnati Ohio during a huge storm outside so apologies for occasional sounds of thunder and alarms.

Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz

S2 - Show 28 - Tayyab Rashid - Tayyab explains to Denise how his experience of living in other cultures has taught him to notice variation within each culture. He encourages us to notice that variation rather than stereotyping, and to always pay attention to our shared humanity. After working with people from many and varied cultures he believes there is good in all of us. Listen as Tayyab explains how open-mindedness, respect and curiosity can help us learn about other cultures, and why faith, resilience and flexibility are strengths he is proud of in his fellow Muslims.

Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz

Leading Change for Wellbeing - How can we remind people that they are part of a collective and that a collective can solve anything?

In this podcast Denise talks with Dr Chris Jansen about leading change. In contrast to old models of the heroic leader dashing in to save us all, Chris emphasises the need for everyone to be involved in finding the solutions to solve the problems we face. Listen to Chris’ experience of supporting change in education and why he believes that if we can come together and respect and learn from each other, we can solve any problem.

Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz

S2 - Show 26 - Wellbeing learning for students and parents with Dr Ase Fagerlund - How can we help parents – as well as children - to learn about wellbeing?

In this interview, Dr Ase Fagerlund shares the story of a multi-year, multi-school project she has led in Finland. As well as working with schools to support teaching of wellbeing to students, Ase also worked with groups of parents to help them find engagement, meaning, hope and flow. Listen to Ase share her insights from these projects (and find out how a Swedish scientist living in Finland came to speak Te Reo Māori!)

Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz

Show 25 - Coaching for Whole-school Wellbeing - with Professor Christian van Niewerburgh - Can coaching be about whole-system change as well as individual support?

In this interview with Denise Quinlan, Christian van Niewerburgh explains why coaching is not an indulgence – at its heart, coaching is about being able to support the wellbeing of others. Christian values the range of ways coaching can support wellbeing in education: teachers offering wellbeing coaching to each other, students coaching their peers, and coaching being used to develop and strengthen teacher professional practice. When a school is doing all of this work, the school social climate also improves. Listen to Christian explain why coaching skills are vital life skills for educators and students alike.

Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz

Show 24 - Teaching Health - an Essential Part of Whole-school Wellbeing - with Dr Katie Fitzpatrick and Kat Wells - How can we use the Health Curriculum in schools to teach students about individual and collective wellbeing?

Dr Katie Fitzpatrick and HPE leader Kat Wells talk to Denise about Mental Health Education and Hauora - their HPE curriculum resource for NZ schools. They explain how important HPE is for building wellbeing literacy and why ‘educative’ rather than ‘interventionist approaches’ are essential in schools. They are advocates for more curriculum time for this area and more PD to build teachers’ expertise in mental health and wellbeing. Listen to find out why Katie and Kat believe that whole-school wellbeing must include curriculum time for mental health and wellbeing education.

Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz