NEWSLETTER

April 2015 Vol.1, Issue 2

Welcome to the second SWAPv newsletter for 2015.

As you will see from the contents it has been a busy year already. In this edition Dr. Eleni Didaskalou from the University of Thessaly is our ‘spotlight’ member. We also provide updates from our ‘Special Interest Group’ directors regarding their SIG’s activities.

If you would like to become a member of SWAPv or one of the associated SIGS please email the relevant person. If you have any research, publication or policy news relating to young people and their well-being and violence prevention please send details to us as we would love to hear about your work in the field.

Warm Regards

Phillip, Rosalind and Grace

(Directors of SWAPv)

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

2 SIG: ABBY

2 SIG: Mindfulness

3 SIG: India-Australia

4 Spotlight: Dr Eleni Didaskalou

5 SWAPv NEWS

Contact Details

Phillip Slee phillip.slee@flinders.edu.au

Rosalind Murray-Harvey Rosalind.murray-harvey@flinders.edu.au

Grace Skrzypiec grace.skrzypiec@flinders.edu.au

http://www.flinders.edu.au/ehl/swapv/

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP

Aggressive and Bullying Behaviour in Youth (ABBY) Dr Grace Skrzypiec

http://www.flinders.edu.au/ehl/swapv/special-interest-groups/aggressive-and-bullying-behaviour-in-youth.cfm

The ABBY Special Interest Group continues to develop as members find better ways to communicate and share their common interests.

Data from the questionnaires completed by 186 secondary students in India has now been entered into a database thanks to Damanjit Sandhu, Shubhdip Kaur, and other members of the team who carefully translated open-ended questions from Punjabi to English and entered details of the quantitative questions. I would describe the SPSS file as a beautiful data base - clean and accurate! Thanks guys!

Progress with data analysis has been slow. However, I will

share with you an initial finding. Of the 83.2% of students

who reported being teased (which usually ranks as the

most common form of bullying reported by students), only

3.9% fit the criteria of the teasing being repeated and

deliberately harmful and from a person perceived to be

more powerful than the victim. This suggests to me that

(at least in terms of teasing) students are subject to

aggressive and anti-social acts from peers, that may be

harmful but that is not necessarily bullying. As SWAPv

team members have suggested, this raises several questions

about definition and measurement. I am sure this will

occupy us in many hours of discussion. Please feel free to

share your thoughts and opinions with us.

The list of members and recent publications can be found on our SWAPv website.

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP

Australia and Beyond: Mindfulness Special Interest Group Dr Leigh Burrows

http://www.flinders.edu.au/ehl/swapv/special-interest-groups/mindfulness-research-special-interest-group.cfm

Some members of the SWAPv Mindfulness Special Interest Group met over lunch on Thursday 9th April. A couple of people were interstate and one – lucky person- was on an international cruise!

We began our conversation by talking about our planned series of lunchtime seminars in semester two. So far we have sessions planned on:

• .dot be mindfulness

• a mindfulness intervention at a southern school, a co-presentation by teacher and researcher

• mindfulness in Ambulance Studies at Flinders

• Buddhism and mindfulness

• based contemplative education in the US – a guest speaker

• mindfulness in a US community college context

• a mindfulness teachers course in the US

We then engaged in a rich discussion about one member's '.be ‘ mindfulness research in a number of DECD schools. It was exciting to hear about her findings so far. We talked about methodological issues and a number of us wondered if gathering some qualitative data would help shed light on what was happening for the students, and also whether their teachers noticed any differences. We are keen to hear more in semester 2!

SIG Members continue to be busy and productive publishing articles, presenting PhD proposals, writing up doctoral research findings and giving conference presentations, with a strong demand for mindfulness coming from a number of DECD primary and secondary schools.

The picture is of us engaging in a ‘soles of the feet’ meditation as you know…

Campus of the Playways Senior Secondary School, Patiala, India

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP

India-Australia: International Studies in Well-Being Dr Damanjit Sandhu

http://www.flinders.edu.au/ehl/swapv/special-interest-groups/india-australia-international-studies-in-well-being.cfm

Damanjit Sandhu was a resource person at the course of Training of Officers in Counselling at Defence Institute of Psychological Research, Defence Research and Development Organisation. She delivered a talk on “Importance of EQ’ to the Officers of the Indian Army.

Damanjit Sandhu also attended a workshop on Designing curricula at RAYAT BAHRA Institute, Kharar. She has been instrumental in starting the Psychology program at the Bachelors and Masters Level at Rayat Bahra Institute.

Damanjit Sandhu was the Keynote Speaker at a National seminar on Psychosocial Educational Impact on Cyber-Surfing, at Desh Bhagat University, Mandi Gobindgarh, Punjab (February, 23, 2015

Shubhdip Kaur, Kirandeep Kaur, Damanjeet Kaur and Haroon Shafiq presented research papers at the National Seminar on Mental Health Religion and Culture: A Psychological Paradigm, at the Department of Psychology, Government College, Malerkotla. (March 7 - 8, 2015).

Damanjtt Sandhu, Shubhdip Kaur, Kirandeep Kaur and Gaurvi Sharma have been involved in data collection and analysis on the Pre-Service Teachers Project, lead by Dr. Barbara Spears.

Recent Publications

Sandhu, D., & Kaur, D. (2014). Gender differences in Review, 2(4), 336-339.

Kaur, K., Kaur, S., & Sandhu, D. (2014). Cyber bullying: An emerging threat to pupil well-being. International Journal of Social Sciences Review, 2(4), 374-377.

PROJECTS 2014-15

1. NHMRC A Randomised Controlled Trial of a universal and targeted intervention to reduce mental health problems from bullying among school students

2. Cyberbullying, Sexting and the Law. This project, lead by Barbara Spears, is funded by the Department of Education & Child Development (DECD) and involves researchers from 'The Flinders University Centre 'Student Wellbeing and Prevention of Violence' (SWAPv) and Child Development personnel in DECD; Attorney General's Department and Schools in the Southern region (to provide program, legal and policy advice to DECD to address the issue of sexting).

3. 'Coping with School Bullying'. In 2014-15 data was collected from high schools and primary schools as part of an international Australian-Greek school based intervention. In 2014 SWAPv members presented data from the South Australian schools to Education Department personnel in Italy (University of Bologna); Malta (University of Malta) and Greece (University of Thessaly) in a series of conferences and workshops. Comparative data has been collected from 60 Central Greek schools (involving over 600 students).

4. IB Middle Years Programme: Student Social-Emotional Wellbeing and School Success Practices. Funded by the international IB Organization the research investigated the social-emotional wellbeing of students in South Australian IB schools

5. Flinders University-National Institute for Educational & Policy Research (NIER Tokyo, Japan). Since 1996 SWAPv researchers have been engaged in collaborative research resulting in the publication of a range of books, book chapters and refereed journal papers on the topic on school bullying. In 2016 an international symposium in Tokyo, Japan will be held involving data currently being collected from South Australian schools on the facilitators and barriers to the implementation of Mental Health programs in schools. Mr. Mitsuru Taki visited SWAPv researchers in March to organise details for the 2016 Tokyo conference.

6. Value me - a school based intervention to evaluate a 'Relationships Australia' –SWAPv program to address 'risky internet behaviour' amongst young teenage girls. In 2014-15 a school-based intervention commenced in 3 South Australian schools to address 'risky internet behaviour' amongst young teenage girls . The project is now being evaluated in a further 3 schools in term 2, 2015.

Border patrol soldier, India

Member of SWAPv

DR ELENI DIDASKALOU

Hello, my name is Eleni Didaskalou and I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Special Education of Thessaly University of Greece. The area of my specialization relates to students with Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBDs). My research interests unfold around educational policy issues for students with SEBDs, school-based interventions

and behaviour schemes for combating bullying and aggressiveness in schools as well as educational responses for promoting students’ well-being. Over the past few years I have been working alongside other Greek colleagues on the implementation of anti-bullying policies in approximately 100 Greek high schools. This work was carried out in collaboration with Flinders University and SWAPv Research Centre. On my two month stay at Flinders University as a visiting scholar, I had the opportunity to observe the best practices for promoting the well-being of students in southern Australian schools. Currently, I am working alongside a colleague at Boston University’s School of Education in the USA on a research project related to the promotion of school-based mental health services provision. Please contact me at edidask@uth.gr should you require further details of my/our work.

BOOK HIGHLIGHT Transforming the Future of Learning with Educational Research (Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design) Edited by Helen Askell-Williams

Several members of SWAPv contributed to the 16 chapters in this book. It brings together diverse perspectives that underscore the importance of research practices toward the enrichment of teaching. Highlighting

themes of learning, diversity, education communities, and student wellbeing, this book is an essential reference source for teacher educators, researchers, teaching practitioners, and professionals interested in the value of research within the field of education.

SWAPv GUEST SPEAKER Dr Katherine Dix from Principals Australia Institute (PAI), was guest speaker at the April 20 meeting. Kathy provided an overview of the KidsMatter (Early Childhood and Primary) and MindMAtters mental health programs and described the Pavement data management system she set up.

Kathy was a Project Manager and Chief Statistical Analyst at Flinders University before she left to join PAI and it was a pleasure to have her back in the school again.

Slides from Kathy’s presentation can be found on the SWAPv home page:

http://www.flinders.edu.au/ehl/swapv/swapv_home.cfm

PUBLICATIONS

International Journal of Emotional Education Special Edition http://www.um.edu.mt/cres/ijee/latestissue

The guest editors (Prof. Donna Cross, Dr. Grace Skrzypiec and Prof. Phillip Slee) edited the special edition of the International Journal of Emotional Education on the Promotion of Mental Health and Wellbeing in Young People. The purpose of this issue was to highlight research methodologies used to promote mental health in children and young people. This edition was supported by the Edith Cowan University Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Collaborative Research Network (CRN) and the Flinders Centre for Student Wellbeing and the Prevention of Violence (SWAPv).

This special edition brought together a number of major streams of research which focused on different methodologies used to research mental health in young people.

Other Publications

Askell-Williams, H. and Lawson, M. (2015). (in press) Relationships between students' mental health and their perspectives of life at school. Health Education

Askell-Williams, H. and Murray-Harvey, R. (2015). In Press. Sustainable professional learning for early childhood educators: Lessons from an Australia-wide mental health promotion initiative. Journal of Early Childhood Research

Burrows, L. (2015). Inner Alchemy. Transforming dilemmas in education through mindfulness. Journal of Transformative Education, February 8, pp. 1-13.

Corby, E.K. Campbell, M., Spears, B., Slee, P.T., Butler, D., & Kift, S. (2015). Journal of School Violence, 1, 1-21. DOI: 10.1080/15388220.2014.996719

Litt, J, Fasher, M., & Slee, P.T. (2015). ‘Bullying. The invisible epidemic. Royal Australian College of Practitioners. Portraits of Good Practice.

Skrzypiec, G., Slee, P.T. & Sandhu, D. (2015). Using the PhotoStory Method to understand school bullying in cross-cultural contexts. International Journal of Emotional Education (Special Issue), 7(1), 52-68.

Slee, P.T. & Skrzypiec, G. (2015). No More Bullying: An analysis of primary school children’s drawings of school bullying. Educational Psychology. (In Press)

Spears, B.A., Campbell, M., Tangen, D., Slee, P.T. & Cross, D. (2015) La connaissance et la compréhension des conséquences du cyberharcèlement sur le climat scolaire chez les futurs enseignants en Australie. Dossiers des Sciences de l'Education.

SWAPv NEWS

New SWAPv members

Dr David Armstrong is a Lecturer in Teacher Education (special and inclusive education) in the School of Education, Flinders University

Dr Ebrahim Rezaei Dogaheh works as the assistant professor of clinical psychology at the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences in Iran.

SWAPv meetings 2015

Lunch time meetings will be held in the Education Building, Flinders University, 1pm – 3pm. Drinks and light snacks provided. Dates are shown in the calendar below.

JUNE 2015

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OCTOBER 2015

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DECEMBER 2015

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