Highlands College
Research Report
Volume 2
2012-13
Contents
Foreword ..................................................................................................................... ii
Introduction ................................................................................................................ iii
Under-graduate Research .......................................................................................... 1
BA (Hons) Childhood Studies, Plymouth University ................................................ 2
Abbey Andrieux ................................................................................................... 2
Ashley Bouteloup ................................................................................................. 3
Hannah Laura Chaytor ........................................................................................ 4
Christine Gallichan............................................................................................... 5
Chloe Harrison ..................................................................................................... 6
Sally Johnson ...................................................................................................... 7
Annabel Rae ........................................................................................................ 9
Emma Tingley .................................................................................................... 10
Sian Walker ....................................................................................................... 12
BA (Hons) Financial Services, University of Plymouth .......................................... 14
Melanie Diggle ................................................................................................... 14
Rebeka Goncalves ............................................................................................ 15
Rebecca Little .................................................................................................... 17
Chloe Minson ..................................................................................................... 19
Paul Rowe ......................................................................................................... 20
Callum Shales.................................................................................................... 21
Jonathan Turner ................................................................................................ 22
William Van Neste ............................................................................................. 23
BSc (Hons) Social Sciences, University of Plymouth ............................................ 24
Ashley Batho...................................................................................................... 24
Marion Cardwell ................................................................................................. 25
Paul Mash .......................................................................................................... 26
Amelia Needham ............................................................................................... 27
Beatriz Porée ..................................................................................................... 28
Jonathon Rabey................................................................................................. 29
Melissa Rodrigues ............................................................................................. 30
Post-graduate Research and Scholarly Activity ....................................................... 32
Lynn Blakemore ................................................................................................. 33
Childhood Studies Team ................................................................................... 34
Claire Farley and Lynn Blakemore..................................................................... 34
Doctor Sean Dettman ........................................................................................ 35
Gillian Oakes ..................................................................................................... 36
Doctor Michael Oliver ........................................................................................ 37
Vicky Rice-Weber .............................................................................................. 38
Glenda Rivoallan ............................................................................................... 40
i
Foreword
I am delighted to be able to offer a few introductory remarks for Highlands College
and the University Centre’s annual Research Report. Given its relatively small size,
Highlands College is almost unique as a general further education college in offering
such a wide range of undergraduate education. Accordingly, I am hugely proud of
the work of our staff, students and university partners.
Highlands College and the University Centre are committed to supporting the
island’s economy through our aim of offering a provision which provides local
students with locally relevant degrees for local jobs. This collection of reports
provides ample evidence of how Highlands College and the University Centre have
supported individuals in developing their skills for the workplace and shows the
vocational relevance of the provision the college offers.
At a time when the island is looking to develop the skills and aspirations of people in
Jersey, this hugely relevant collection of work is testament to the dedication of
students and staff in development of those skills and aspirations. In reading these
reports, I am sure you will find much to learn and hopefully apply.
Dr Gary Jones Ed,D, MEd, PGCE, ACIB. BSc(Econ) Hons
Interim Head
Highlands College, Jersey
ii
Introduction
Highlands College is the further, higher and adult education college for Jersey and
provides a wide and exciting range of study options. Each year more than 600
courses are offered and in the academic year 2012/13 over 7,500 students attended
the college. Prospective students can choose from a vast array of educational
opportunities which are available at levels ranging from basic literacy support to fully
accredited degree programmes. There is something for everyone and we cater for
those who would like to develop a new interest or improve their existing skills by
selecting a course from our adult education leisure programme. We also provide the
opportunity for those who wish to return to study and gain a qualification which will
enable them to enter higher education, and we provide a range of choices for those
who intend to further their chosen career by selecting a vocational or degree-level
course.
The Highlands College University Centre has expanded its degree provision in
recent years and offers students first-class learning facilities, along with the
additional benefits of studying on-island such as low costs and small class sizes
when compared with elsewhere. We currently have more than 150 under-graduates
studying for our degree programmes, and last year we held our first ever graduation
ceremony solely for those who had obtained their degrees by studying with us. It
was a momentous occasion with more than 80 graduates in attendance to enjoy the
keynote speech given by the Olympic gold medallist Greg Searle MBE and to
receive their awards from Professor Raymond Playford, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of
Plymouth University.
We are delighted that more students choose to study with us to obtain their degrees
than opt to attend other UK universities, making our University Centre the destination
of choice for Jersey students embarking on higher education courses. The college
enjoys academic partnership status with Plymouth University and London South
Bank University, among others, and we currently offer the following degree
programmes:
BA (Hons) Business and Management
BA (Hons) Childhood Studies
BA (Hons) Financial Services
BSc (Hons) Architectural Technology
BSc (Hons) Construction Management
BSc (Hons) Information Technology for Business
BSc (Hons) Social Sciences
Foundation Degree Accounting and Finance
Foundation Degree Art and Desgn
Foundation Degree Sport and Management
iii
We are delighted to be able to report on our good reputation and high success rates.
The external examiner appointed by Plymouth University rated the Social Sciences
Degree as one of the best in Britain. All of our degree programmes place an
emphasis not only on theory but also on transferable skills. Consequently, workbased learning and research are at the heart of our degree courses because they
provide the opportunity for students to develop the attributes which will prove crucial
to them when pursuing careers in the current economic climate. We also encourage
our lecturers to engage in lifelong learning and scholarly activity because this
approach enables them to remain at the leading edge of current thinking and
practice and allows them to equip those who study at the college with the skills that
will be of most value when entering the workplace.
This report summarises the research that was undertaken by our Honours Degree
students and our members of staff at Highlands College during the academic year
2012-13. It highlights the vast range of diverse topics which have been studied and
the variety of methodologies employed. In some areas the research has uncovered
questions which remain to be answered and which suggest interesting directions for
further studies in the future. However, in many cases the research has drawn
conclusions and made recommendations which have contributed to the wealth of
research literature and resulted in direct and positive outcomes in the areas within
which the research was carried out.
iv
Under-graduate Research
1
BA (Hons) Childhood Studies, Plymouth University
Abbey Andrieux, BA (Hons) Childhood Studies
“Developing a behaviour management strategy in an after-school play-care
setting in Jersey.”
Behaviour management is essential in all childcare environments as learning can be
affected by the behaviour within a setting, which is why it is essential that the correct
strategy is used (Morgan, 2009). It is also important to ensure that all staff members
consistently follow the same rules and guidelines when managing behaviour to
ensure that all children are treated fairly (Mukherji, 2001).
The aim of Abbey’s research was to develop a behaviour management strategy in a
play-care setting to meet the individual needs of the children and ensure consistency
between staff in managing behaviour. The study was undertaken in an after-school
play-club with children of primary school age. With the consent of the children’s
parents and the play-group co-ordinator, non-participant observations of the children
and members of staff were conducted to determine which behaviour management
strategies were used or were effective within the club.
Twenty incidences of behaviour management were recorded during a one-week
period. These were analysed and classified according to seriousness before a focus
group meeting was held with the play-care staff members to discuss the play-club’s
behaviour management strategies and the findings of the observations. The team
recognised that there was no single method used to manage behaviour and,
together, those present developed and agreed upon a strategy to ensure improved
behaviour management. The strategy included the use of a ‘warnings and
consequences’ chart to record bad behaviour so that children who repeatedly
misbehaved could be warned before losing five minutes of play time.
The behaviour management strategy was implemented and follow-up observations
were conducted during a one-week period to determine if the strategy was right for
the setting and to allow reflection on what might need to be improved. Fourteen
instances of behaviour management were recorded and classified according to
seriousness and the findings and the new strategy were discussed at a meeting with
staff members. It was recognised that children were starting to understand when
their behaviour was not acceptable because they were given warnings and a chance
to improve their conduct before a consequence was given. Overall, the consistent
use of the warning and consequence strategy was seen to work in this environment
to decrease the number and severity of behavioural issues.
References:
Morgan, N. S. (2009), Quick, Easy and Effective Behaviour Management Ideas for
the Classroom, Jessica Kingsley Publishers: London.
Mukherji, P. (2001), Understanding Children’s Challenging Behaviour, Nelson
Thornes: Cheltenham.
2
Ashley Bouteloup, BA (Hons) Childhood Studies
“A study into whether retouched or airbrushed imagery accessed by 11- to 13year-old females affects their idea of ‘ideal’ body image.”
Body image has been widely accepted as an important part of individual identity, and
Western culture has been suggested to highly influence ‘ideal’ body image through
the use of magazines and advertising, often portraying artificial images idealised
using airbrushing and retouching techniques (Fredrickson and Roberts, 1997). The
growing accessibility of idealised images has been said to negatively influence both
males and females, impacting upon their confidence and self-esteem (Morgan,
2008).
Ashley’s study explored whether airbrushed or retouched images affect the ideal
body image of 11- to 13-year-old females. She asked three local youth groups to
distribute consent forms to the parents of girls in this age group and, altogether,
sixteen females participated in one of three focus groups.
Firstly, non-airbrushed and, secondly, airbrushed celebrity magazine imagery was
introduced into each group in order to assess the reactions to each type of picture
and understand the participants’ preferences for either natural or manipulated
images. The participants were then shown an interactive website displaying
airbrushed and non-airbrushed images of a 14-year-old female to again determine
whether the participants favoured an ‘ideal’ or natural image of a person similar in
age to themselves. Group contributions were recorded and were subjected to a
content analysis.
The findings showed that whilst the majority of participants favoured a flawless
celebrity image, when considering a person similar to themselves in both age and
status they preferred a more natural image. The focus group meetings seemed to
indicate that there was an underlying, indirect pressure from peers to conform to the
preferences of each other, suggesting that participants felt they should portray a
certain image in order to be socially accepted. Idealised magazine images were
highlighted as contributing towards negative effects for some individuals, and it
became particularly apparent that some individuals were more susceptible to
negative effects than others. This could indicate that 11- to 13-year-old females may
benefit if ‘Healthy Body Image’ projects were integrated into the Jersey Youth or
Jersey Education Curricula.
References:
Fredrickson, B. and Roberts, T. (1997), ‘Objectification Theory: Towards
Understanding Women’s Lived Experiences and Mental Health Risks’, Psychology of
Women Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 173-206.
Morgan, F. J. (2008), The Invisible Man: A Self-help Guide for Men with Eating
Disorders, Compulsive Exercise and Bigorexia, Routledge: East Sussex.
3
Hannah Laura Chaytor, BA (Hons) Childhood Studies
“The effects of praise on a child’s intrinsic motivation, focusing on children
aged 6-7 years in a town primary school in Jersey.”
The recognition of the importance of motivation has a general acceptance amongst
theorists and practitioners. What raises conflicting views is how the development
and support of intrinsic motivation should be supported within schools, with
continuous scrutiny and debate about the implications of praising children, types of
praise and the effects of these on a child’s motivational tendencies (Dweck, 2007;
Faber and Mazlish, 1995). Dweck (2000) separates praise into two categories:
‘person praise’ (which provides feedback on a child and their abilities holistically, for
example, “you’re a clever girl”); or ‘process praise’ (which acknowledges the efforts
that a child has gone through to achieve the outcome, for example, “you have cut
that out very neatly”, informing the child of why they are receiving the praise).
For her dissertation Hannah chose to investigate the impact of different types of
praise on the intrinsic motivation of six- and seven-year old participants in a town
primary school to assist in providing a better understanding of this topic. Ethical
approval was gained and other ethical considerations relating to research involving
young children were addressed. A pilot study allowed the development of a
questionnaire which included a five-point Likert-type scale with options ranging from
‘very true’ to ‘not true at all’ accompanied by ‘smileyometer’ images used to
represent the ordinal rating scale in a visual context. Twenty-one participants were
randomly assigned into one of three conditions: ‘person praise’, ‘process praise’ and
‘non-specific praise’. Following a junk-modelling activity in which each group
received a different form of praise, participants completed a self-report questionnaire
to measure intrinsic motivation immediately after the activity.
The research found a statistically significant difference between the two praise
conditions and the non-specific praise condition (p<0.05), with participants in the
praise groups generally recording higher intrinsic motivation than those who received
‘non-specific’ praise. ‘Process praise’ produced slightly higher positive ratings than
‘person praise’ and Hannah concluded that praise can be a beneficial tool for
practitioners to utilise within classrooms to support the development of intrinsic
motivation. However, she highlighted that additional research on a larger scale is
warranted to further determine the effects of each type of praise at a longitudinal
level.
References:
Dweck, C. S. (2000), Self-theories: their Role in Motivation, Personality and
Development, Psychology Press: Hove.
Dweck, C. S. (2007), ‘The Perils and Promises of Praise’, in K. Ryan and J. M.
Cooper (Eds.), Kaleidoscope, Contemporary and Classic Readings in Education
(12th Edition), Cengage Learning: Wadsworth.
Faber, A. and Mazlish, E. (1995), ‘Praise that doesn’t Demean, Criticism that doesn’t
Wound’, American Educator, Vol. 19, pp. 33-38
4
Christine Gallichan, BA (Hons) Childhood Studies
“Can sand and water play help develop children’s literacy skills within the preschool environment?”
A recent report found it of concern that there are young people who leave secondary
schools in Jersey with inadequate employability skills due to low levels of functional
literacy (Howard, 2010).) As it is recognised that the process of becoming literate
begins early in the life of a child (Whitehurst and Lonigan, 2003:12), Christine chose
to conduct an observational study to examine whether sand and water play within a
pre-school environment can be utilised to encourage early growth in the area of
emergent literacy, thereby better-equipping children to enter formal schooling with
confidence and enthusiasm.
The research took place at a pre-school where 20 children aged three or four had
access to sand and water trays to which toys could be added. The play stations
could accommodate four children playing at one time. Parental consent was
obtained and two pilot studies and six pre-observations informed the design of the
study and assisted in the construction of the observation check lists. Christine
prepared each play area by adding selected items to the trays and carried out two
10-minute observations at each. During the first, nine children approached the tray
with coloured pencils in dry sand but none chose to play there. The second 10minute observation of magnetic letters and fishing rods in the water tray attracted a
total of six children, all of whom involved the attendant adult by asking questions
about the toys and talking about the letters they had ‘caught’. Shaving foam was
sprayed into the empty water tray and some letters were ‘written’ into it for the third
observation, and four children played there for the whole 10 minutes with three of
these ‘writing’ letters and one making shapes in the foam. For the final observation,
magnetic letters and fishing rods were placed in the dry sand and this activity was
accessed by a total of nine children, seven of whom ‘caught’ letters with five
identifying them by name.
The water and foam activities were found to be more successful than those with the
sand because they elicited more conversation, interaction and laughter between
participants. More boys (12) than girls (7) accessed the play areas, which
corresponds with the broadly held view that in general boys prefer more active play
than girls. Overall, the research concluded that incorporating more sand and water
activities into the early years’ curriculum along with appropriate accompanying
resources and greater adult involvement could contribute to valuable opportunities
for developing literacy being embraced.
References:
Howard, U. (2010), Literacy and Numeracy Needs for Employment, Skills Jersey.
Available from:
http://www.gov.je/SiteCollectionDocuments/Education/ID%20Literacy%20and%20Nu
meracy%20Needs%20for%20Employment%2020122707%20JOB.pdf [Accessed
21st February, 2013].
Whitehurst, G. J. and Lonigan, C. J. (2003), ‘Emergent Literacy’, in S. B. Neuman
and D. K. Dickinsen (Eds.), Handbook of Early Literacy Research, The Guildford
Press: New York.
5
Chloe Harrison, BA (Hons) Childhood Studies
“The effects of family structure on the educational aspirations of young people
aged 14-16 years in Jersey.”
Chloe noted that good education is a key factor in ensuring that young people have
greater opportunities in life (States of Jersey, 2011). However, although parents are
often considered to be the main influence on the aspirations of their children
(Majoribanks, 2003), the number of children in Jersey living with both parents has
decreased by 9% since 1998 (Birbeck and Heaven, 2010). Chloe felt that this raises
concerns regarding the consequences of changing family structures on the
educational aspirations of future generations and so she chose to explore this topic
for her dissertation by conducting a survey. After consent had been received from
the head of Jersey Youth Service, a pilot study was conducted before 100
questionnaires were distributed equally between four local youth clubs. A total of 54
responses were received from the targeted sample of 14- to 16-year olds.
Seventy-four percent of those surveyed indicated that they were planning to continue
in education after the age of 16 and nearly half (48%) stated that their family had
influenced this decision. Forty-one percent of those who returned the questionnaire
reported that they were living in single-parent households, compared to 39% who
lived with both parents and 13% who were residing with a parent and step-parent,
but there was no effect of family structure on respondents’ educational aspirations.
However, the findings did highlight the impact that the educational achievement of
immediate family members may have on the aspirations of young people. The
majority (68%) of those surveyed who expressed a desire to study for a degree
reported that they lived in households where family members had undertaken postcompulsory education beyond the age of 18. Chloe felt that perhaps this indicates
that low educational attainment levels of parents can stem the educational
aspirations of young people aged 14-16 years in Jersey. Overall, it was recognised
that although family structures are regarded to have a profound effect on the
educational aspirations of young people, it is a complex issue due to the many
varying individual circumstances.
References:
Birbeck, J. and Heaven, A. (2010), A Picture of Health Jersey 2010, States of
Jersey. Available from:
http://www.gov.je/Government/Pages/StatesReports.aspx?ReportID=587 [Accessed
15th March, 2003].
Majoribanks, K. (2003), ‘Family Background, Individual and Environmental
Influences. Aspirations and Young Adults’ Educational Attainment: a Follow-up
Study’, Educational Studies, Vol. 29, pp. 233-242.
States of Jersey (2011), Children and Young People: a Strategic Framework for
Jersey, November 2011. Available from:
http://www.gov.je/SiteCollectionDocuments/Government%20and%20administration/
R%20StrategicFrameworkFullVersion%2020111121%20CPG%20v1.pdf [Accessed
27th September, 2012].
6
Sally Johnson, BA (Hons) Childhood Studies
“Does ‘blue space’ affect the subjective well-being of children of primary
school age in Jersey?”
This research project was inspired by a conversation with a local 13-year-old who
had never been to the beach and Sally’s realisation that this was not an isolated
case. This is despite the island of Jersey being surrounded by coastline with the
cleanest sea water in the United Kingdom (CREH, 2012). It is known that the
outdoor environment has positive effects on children’s health and well-being (Maller,
2009; Moss, 2012), and both Jersey and the UK have embraced ‘forest schools’
throughout many schools and early childcare settings (O’Brien, 2009). Sally chose
to investigate whether the ‘blue space’ of the seashore and water at the beach had
an effect on children’s subjective well-being in order to determine if children are
missing out on a potentially valuable, freely accessible, restorative resource.
The study explored whether children prefer ‘blue space’, the ‘green space’ of parks
or forested areas, or the ‘indoor space’ of gyms and halls, and examined children’s
associations between these environments and any positive or negative emotions.
The research involved two stages both involving samples with even numbers of male
and female participants. For the first stage semi-structured interviews were
conducted in the ‘quiet rooms’ of three different schools in Jersey. Four groups of
three 8- to 10-year-old children were shown four photographs of different types of
environment accompanied by a recording of the corresponding background sounds,
for example birds singing or waves crashing. Participants were asked to choose a
response from a five-point attitude scale to indicate how each location makes them
feel. They were also asked to discuss their feelings regarding these environments.
The second stage of the research involved a survey of 50 8- to 10-year old children
from one local school who used tick lists to indicate which of the four locations was
their most and least favourite ‘space’ to be in.
All of the four environments used in the study evoked generally positive emotions,
especially towards a recurring theme of physical activity. However, the beach was
rated as the clear favourite place to be (54%) and received the highest response for
subjective well-being (73%). Many children also made reference to a feeling of
comfort and relaxedness, which matches an underlying ideology of adults towards
the coast that has been present for many generations (Depledge, 2009). The
research concluded that the beach is an underutilised public resource and that there
is an evident need for policy makers, parents and the community to understand the
value of this space. Sally felt that as Jersey’s ecosystem and landscape differs to
that of the UK, reflective practitioners and policy makers have a duty to ensure that
these aspects of the island’s culture and heritage are manifested in the choice of
education and care offered to children. She recommended that beach schools
should be integrated into education in line with the use of forest schools in Jersey to
increase children’s well-being and to promote the sustainability of this essentially
restorative resource that can be seen as invaluable to the population of Jersey.
7
References:
CREH (Centre for Research into Environment and Health) (2012), ‘Assessment of
Bathing Water Quality for the States of Jersey 2012: A Report to Environmental
Protection, Department of the Environment, States of Jersey, States of Jersey
Website. Available from:
http://www.gov.je/SiteCollectionDocuments/Environment%20and%20greener%20livi
ng/R%20Jersey%20BW%202012%20Exec%20Summary%20(size%20262kb)%20D
M%2020130326.pdf [Accessed: 10th December, 2012].
Depledge, H. M., and Bird, J. W. (2009), ‘The Blue Gym: Health and Well-being from
our Coasts’, Marine Pollution Bulletin, Vol. 58, No. 7, pp. 947-948.
Maller, C., Townsend, M., Pryor, A., Brown, P., and St. Leger, L. (2005), ‘Healthy
Nature Healthy People: ‘Contact with Nature’ as an Upstream Health Promotion
Intervention for Populations’, Health Promotion International, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 4554.
Moss, S. (2012), Natural Childhood, The National Trust
O’Brien, L. (2009), ‘Learning Outdoors: the Forest School Approach, Education 3-13,
International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, Vol. 37, No.
1, pp. 45-60.
8
Annabel Rae, BA (Hons) Childhood Studies
“An investigative study into the main factors influencing parents’ decisions to
send their children to private or public schools in Jersey.”
Annabel chose to conduct a study to ascertain the main factors which influence
parents’ decisions when choosing whether to send their children to non-fee paying
States of Jersey public schools or private fee-paying primary schools in Jersey. She
felt that the findings would be of benefit to local schools in informing them of the
factors that have an effect on parental choice and highlighting the main reasons
parents find particular schools desirable or undesirable.
The main research method involved a 14-item structured questionnaire which staff
members at three private and two public schools in Jersey distributed to all parents
of reception-aged children. The parents were asked to return their completed
surveys to the school office of the school where their child was in attendance to
minimise the effort required to take part in the study. A total of 52 responses were
received and a 29% response rate was seen from each type of school.
Twenty-six percent of parents stated that the school being either single- or mixedsex influenced their decision as to where to educate their child and 93% of these
were parents of children attending private schools. The results showed that the most
influential factors affecting the parents of children in the fee-paying sector were the
ethos or expectations of the school and the family’s financial circumstances.
Financial considerations were also important to the parents of children at public
schools but to a lesser extent, and they reported that the convenience of the location
of the school was more influential in their decision-making with the before- and afterschool care facilities also proving to be an influencing factor. Overall, Annabel’s
research concluded that 94% of parents had children attending their first choice of
school, indicating that the admissions policies for private and public schools in
Jersey provides parents with a more than adequate service with regard to school
choice. She felt that the findings of this study could be used by local schools, giving
them possible areas for improvement in their educational and marketing strategies.
9
Emma Tingley, BA (Hons) Childhood Studies
“Exploring the role of technology play and traditional play in the early years:
should technology be used in the early years?”
Early years education advocates play as the most developmentally appropriate
learning activity for young children (for example see Bruce, 1996). In today’s
increasingly digital age, it is important that children’s education reflects the society in
which they are growing up. Consequently, early years educators are faced with the
challenge of supporting children’s natural development at the same time as
incorporating technologies into educational settings.
Emma’s research compared and assessed traditional play and technology-based
play in a local primary school by conducting observation of three girls and three boys
aged either four or five. The participants were observed for two minutes each in two
different play settings. The first was a traditional setting where a story was read out
by an adult before the children were asked to engage in role play, and the second
was a technology-based setting where a story was presented by an adult using a
whiteboard before the children were allowed to play with technology such as an
iPad, the interactive whiteboard or computers.
Participants’ levels of involvement were graded by using the ‘Child Involvement
Scale’ (Bertram and Pascal, 2012), and their areas of learning were identified by
referring to the communication, language and literacy ‘stepping stones’ on the ‘Early
Years Foundation Stage Profile Assessment Scale Reference Sheet’ (Qualifications
and Curriculum Authority, 2008). Immediately following the play in each setting,
discussions took place with the participants who were invited to express opinions
about how enjoyable they found both types of play.
The research found moderate to high levels of involvement and high scores of
learning areas addressed in the traditional play environment, which suggests that it
is a motivating activity for children at this age. However, technology-based play
when used alone was clearly limited in comparison to traditional play, with far lower
numbers of learning areas encountered and less involvement observed. It was also
noted that when participants worked in pairs for the technology-based play rather
than playing on their own, they achieved more areas of learning. The study
concluded that for developmentally appropriate technology to be used in early years
education, it needs to be used in conjunction with traditional forms of play and
learning. The report also suggests that there is scope for further study in the quest
to find the most developmentally appropriate ways in which technologies should be
incorporated within early childhood education.
10
References:
Bertram, T. and Pascal, C. (2012), Effective Early Learning Programme Child
Involvement Scale’, Centre for Research in Early Childhood, University College
Worcester and St. Thomas Centre: Birmingham. Available from:
http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/farnorthandaboriginallands/files/links/link_104984.pdf
[Accessed: 5th November, 2012].
Bruce, T. (1996), Helping Young Children to Play, Bath Press: London.
Laevers, F. (1993), ‘Child Involvement Scale’, The Effective Early Learning Project,
(obtained by e-mail).
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (2008), ‘Early Years Foundation Stage
Profile – Assessment Scale Reference Sheet’. Available at:
http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415485586/data/EarlyYearsFoundationStage
-AssessmentScales.pdf [Accessed 30th November, 2012].
11
Sian Walker, BA (Hons) Childhood Studies
“Is the lack of maternity law in Jersey a barrier for mothers to continue
breastfeeding?”
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life followed by prolonged
breastfeeding as part of the weaning process is the best start to an infant’s life
(WHO, 2012; AAP, 2012), yet in developed countries there is currently only a very
small percentage of infants who receive any amount of breast milk at six months of
age (Save the Children, 2012). This research project looked at breastfeeding
statistics in terms of working mothers in Jersey, which is one of the few remaining
jurisdictions in the world that has no maternity leave entitlement given by law (Hunt,
2012).
A semi-structured questionnaire was subjected to pilot testing before being
distributed to seven local nurseries which had consented to assist with this study.
The questionnaires were handed out by the nurseries to working mothers of children
aged 24 months and under. These mothers were invited to answer the questions
anonymously before the responses were collected from the nurseries. Fifty-six
questionnaires were returned to the researcher and a further 19 internet versions of
the questionnaire were completed on-line through the ‘Mums in Jersey’ (2012) social
networking site specifically for parents of infants in Jersey.
Two of the
questionnaires were disregarded because they were not fully completed and another
was excluded because the respondent was self-employed and therefore not part of
the target group for the research. In total, 72 completed questionnaires were
analysed for this research.
The results in Sian’s study showed that two-fifths of the mothers surveyed were able
to completely feed their infant in their preferred method for as long as they desired,
compared to three-fifths of mothers who were restricted, with returning to work
identified as a key obstacle. The report then compared the level of leave mothers
were entitled to through their individual employers to the amount of leave proposed
in the maternity law which was due to be introduced to Jersey in 2014.
The report concluded that though a mother’s employment status doesn’t appear to
deter her from initiating breastfeeding it does impact the duration she is able to
breastfeed for. Sian recommended that further in-depth research should be
conducted to gain further insight into the reasons why women stop breastfeeding
and to investigate the many potential benefits of introducing a maternity law. The
Jersey Child Care Trust quoted Sian’s work in a multi-agency press release in June
2013 and the local radio station Channel 103 chose to lead the story with the
headline from her dissertation, “returning to work is providing an unwanted barrier for
many mothers preventing them from continuing to nurse their infant.”
12
References:
AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) (2012), ‘Breastfeeding and the Use of
Human Milk’, PEDIATRICS, Vol. 129, No. 3, pp. 827-841 [Online]. Available from:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/02/22/peds.20113552.full.pdf+html [Accessed 13th April, 2013].
Hunt, C. (2012), ‘Don’t Wait for 2014 to Introduce a Parental Leave Policy,
Employment Lawyer Warns Jersey Employers’, 29th May, 2012. Available from:
http://www.businesslife.co./Features.aspx?id=dont-wait-for-2014-to-introduce-aparental-leave-policy-employment-lawyer-warns-jersey-employers [Accessed 8th
April, 2013].
Mums in Jersey (2012), Mums in Jersey. Available from:
http://www.mumsinjersey.co.uk/ [Accessed 8th April, 2013].
Save the Children (2012), Nutrition in the First 1,000 Days: State of the World’s
Mothers. Available from: http://www.savethechildren.org/atf/cf/%7B9def2ebe-10ae432c-9bd0-df91d2eba74a%7D/STATE-OF-THE-WORLDS-MOTHERS-REPORT2012-FINAL.PDF [Accessed 8th April, 2013].
WHO (World Health Organisation) (2012), ‘Breastfeeding’.
Available from:
th
http://www.who.int/topics/breastfeeding/en/ [Accessed 7 April, 2013].
13
BA (Hons) Financial Services, University of Plymouth
Melanie Diggle, BA (Hons) Financial Services
“Commercial banks are mandated to hold minimum levels of capital and
liquidity in their balance sheet. How, therefore, did the liquidity crisis of 2007
happen in the UK and what implications does this have for future policy? – A
critical analysis of the Basel II Accord.”
In 1988, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued the Basel Capital
Accord which, for the first time, set minimum levels of capital that banks needed to
hold with the intention of strengthening the soundness and stability of the banking
sector. The Basel II Accord was introduced in 2004 and Melanie conducted this
research to establish how and why these later regulations did not prevent a liquidity
crisis in the UK. The regulations are split into three areas known as pillars: 1)
minimum capital ratios; 2) increased supervisory controls of the regulator; and 3)
market discipline. The study critically analysed each pillar in order to understand
what they aimed to do and evaluated their effectiveness in controlling the banking
sector with regards to liquidity risk management.
Melanie’s research concluded that there were three main themes which could
explain why the Basel II Accord did not prevent a liquidity crisis in the United
Kingdom. The validity of the model has been challenged with respect to how well
capital adequacy ratios work in ensuring liquidity remains in the system:
inconsistencies in calculations meant that risk could not be accurately measured.
The way in which the banks implemented the regulations was also a major factor
which undermined the effectiveness of Basel II in preventing a liquidity crisis
because the pursuit of increased profits was often at the expense of stability of the
market and appropriate liquidity risk management procedures. It could be argued
that the regulations should have been extensive enough to have foreseen and
prevented the ways in which balance sheet managers would try to decrease their
capital ratios. The last theme involves the idea that market confidence and
contagions may have been too extreme to have been countered by the third pillar.
Reduced consumer confidence compounded by contagions spreading internationally
meant that although transparency was increased, through the Basel Accord, this was
insufficient to counteract the increased credit risk perceived within the market which
limited liquidity and compounded the liquidity crisis. Overall, although Melanie’s
study accepted that the way in which Basel II was implemented by the banks and
market shocks played a major part in the liquidity crisis, it concluded that the crisis
occurred in the UK due to major oversights in its design.
14
Rebeka Goncalves, BA (Hons) Financial Services
“Employee engagement: a study into the variety of theories and methods in
practice and their effectiveness, with a focus on their application to financial
services companies.”
Increasing emphasis is being placed on human resources management owing to
mounting awareness of the relationship between employee engagement and
business performance (Harter, Schmidt and Hayes, 2002). Now more so than ever
due to the tough economic climate, companies are realising that this relationship is
something that needs to be addressed (Robertson, 2012). “In good times and bad,
low engagement reduces performance and profit.
And under the current
circumstances, many companies can’t afford to let those drop” (Harter, 2007 cited in
Robison, 2009), therefore, employee disengagement is costly to a business, both
financially and in terms of time resources. This realisation has led to companies
promoting their engagement strategies to stakeholders, professional bodies
educating members on employee engagement and the UK government backing a
cross-sector engagement project (Engage For Success, 2013).
The aim of Rebeka’s research was to identify the most effective employee
engagement methods used by financial services companies. She achieved this
through analysis of the literature and then an examination of the methods used in
practice by five organisations working in Jersey’s financial services sector. A semistructured questionnaire was compiled and a combination of telephone interviews,
face-to-face interviews and e-mail correspondence was used to gather the relevant
data from those companies involved in the study.
The research revealed that a wide variety of employee engagement methods were
implemented by the financial services companies interviewed. These ranged from a
rewards and recognition programme to staff appraisals, salary reviews and bonus
programmes. Furthermore, one of the organisations that took part in the research
provided fully-funded professional qualifications and training to its employees along
with paid study leave. The findings of the study suggested that financial incentives
were not used as often as other means of engaging employees, with three
organisations reporting an emphasis on non-financial methods of employee
engagement such as offering flexible working, social clubs and extra-curricular
activities. Overall, the research concluded that having strong leadership is the most
effective means of achieving employee engagement for financial services companies
in Jersey, owing to its cost efficiency and its link to key drivers of engagement such
as recognition, job satisfaction and two-way communication.
15
References:
Engage for Success (2013), ‘What is engage for success?’ Available from:
http://www.engageforsuccess.org/about/our-purpose/ [Accessed 25th March, 2013].
Harter, J., Schmidt, F. and Hayes, T. (2002), ‘Business-unit level relationship
between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: a
meta-analysis’, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 87, pp. 268-79.
Robertson, I. (2012), ‘The importance of employee engagement in difficult times’.
Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/public-leadersnetwork/2012/may/03/importance-employee-engagement-difficult-times [Accessed
16th April, 2013].
Robison, J. (2009), ‘Building engagement in this economic crisis’, Gallup Business
Journal. Available from: http://businessjournal.gallup.com/content/115213/buildingengagement-economic-crisis.aspx [Accessed 12th February, 2013].
16
Rebecca Little, BA (Hons) Financial Services
“Have CSR programmes become more of a necessity rather than a choice for
the financial services industry in Jersey?”
The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility is highly controversial. There are
those who suggest that CSR is something that companies should be actively taking
a part in, and then there is the opposition who argue that the only reason companies
are taking part in it is solely to increase their reputation and make a profit. Some,
such as Bowen (1953, cited in Schreck, 2009:10) define it as “the obligations of
businessmen to pursue those policies, to make those decisions, or to follow those
lines of action which are desirable in terms of the objectives and values of our
society”. However, others, for example Friedman (1970) argued against this and
claimed that a business cannot be said to have responsibilities, and even went so far
as to say that social responsibilities could harm the foundations of a free society. He
further argued that there is one and only one social responsibility of business: to use
its resources to engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays
within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition
without deception or fraud. Thus, the idea of CSR is highly contentious yet it has
now become an important part of many modern companies’ strategic plans. This
has been noticeable within Jersey’s financial services industry which undertakes a
large amount of CSR programmes within the island.
Rebecca’s study asked whether taking part in CSR programmes has become more
of a necessity than a choice within financial services organisations in Jersey. Her
research first placed CSR in an historical context and reviewed the literature
regarding the motives of companies who choose to take part in CSR. It also
examined models and theories relating to the topic and the effect of the recession
and being an Offshore Finance Centre on the CSR programmes being undertaken
by companies within Jersey’s finance industry. The main research method involved
conducting three semi-structured interviews with representatives of financial services
companies in Jersey and this also provided the opportunity for Rebecca to collect
bespoke corporate literature from these companies relating to their CSR
programmes. A further two unstructured interviews took place with representatives
from the Jersey Association of Charities and the Jersey Evening Post.
The research concluded that companies within Jersey’s finance industry do not
seem to be taking part in CSR programmes in order to increase their profit as such
but rather that CSR provides a way for them to make a positive contribution to the
island’s community which in turn increases their reputation and image. In addition,
the programmes were reported to help motivate and engage employees. Overall,
the research found that CSR programmes have not become a necessity within
Jersey’s finance industry. However, they have become very significant to many of
the companies working in that sector. Therefore, taking part in CSR programmes
can be seen as a choice for the majority of those in Jersey’s finance industry and it
appears to be a decision they are glad to have made.
17
References:
Friedman, M. (1970), ‘The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits’,
The New York Times Magazine. Available from:
http://www.umich.edu/~thecore/doc/Friedman.pdf [Accessed 15th April, 2013].
Schreck, P. (2009), The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility:
Understanding and Measuring Economic Impacts of Corporate Social Performance,
Physica-Verlag: Heidelberg, Germany.
18
Chloe Minson, BA (Hons) Financial Services
“An investigation into the benefits online finance offers the financial services
industry in comparison to traditional methods, with reference to Jersey’s
financial industry.”
The emergence of e-commerce is creating fundamental changes to the way in which
business is conducted, and powerful communication technologies enable
organisations to streamline their business processes, enhance customer service and
offer digital products and services (Chang, Jackson and Grover, 2002). The internet
has changed and is still changing the rules for traditional business and this in turn is
increasing consumer expectations for the services provided. Evidence of this online
shift can be seen within the banking, investment and insurance industries around the
world with many companies offering online delivery channels. The banking industry
is being adapted through online services such as internet banking; the investment
industry is changing through the introduction of online brokers who removed the
need for traditional personal investment brokers and client relationships and have
opened up the market for individuals looking to invest; and the insurance industry
has seen a shift to online providers as opposed to only offering services through
traditional methods.
Chloe’s research examined the effectiveness of the online finance industry in order
to discover which section of the financial services industry will benefit most from the
online revolution and to identify any advantages and disadvantages associated with
conducting business online. The views of theorists in relation to the banking,
investment and insurance industries were summarised before a questionnaire was
distributed to 60 locally-based industry professionals, 20 in each of these three
sectors, in order to ascertain industry viewpoints to compare with the literature.
The research concluded that the introduction and development of online finance has
affected each industry within financial services differently and created both
challenges and advantages for each but, overall, the survey revealed that the
majority of respondents believed that online services are of most benefit to the
banking industry. Not only does online technology offer cost benefits to both the
provider and consumer, it can help to improve the services offered by the providers
with regards to efficiency and will provide providers and consumers with useful
applications and opportunities which can help improve both quality of service and
economic development.
Reference:
Chang, K., Jackson, J. and Grover, V. (2002), ‘E-commerce and corporate strategy:
an executive perspective’, Journal of Information and Management, Vol. 40, No. 7,
pp. 1-13.
19
Paul Rowe, BA (Hons) Financial Services
“Monetary policy, with an emphasis on quantitative easing: an assessment of
its effectiveness in the cases of the UK, USA and Japan during the years 2008
to 2012.”
In the spheres of finance and economics it is common knowledge that monetary
policy decisions are made and implemented by central banks. Conventional
monetary policy is typically associated with the setting of interest rates and
unconventional monetary policy is associated with schemes such as asset
purchases which are more often referred to as ‘quantitative easing’ in the United
Kingdom and Japan or ‘credit easing’ in the United States of America.
Unconventional monetary policy was implemented by the Bank of England in 2009,
the Federal Reserve of the USA in 2008, and was used by the Bank of Japan in
2010.
Paul recognised that there is a distinct lack of theory surrounding unconventional
monetary policies such as quantitative easing. Therefore, the aim of his research
was to identify the variations in unconventional monetary policies implemented by
the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan between 2008 and
2012, before critically analysing the success or failure of these policies in order to
ascertain what constitutes effective unconventional monetary policy.
The research was literature-based and began by contrasting the monetary policy
theories of Friedman (1970) and Keynes (see Congdon, 2007) before examining
data relating to each of the three jurisdictions included in the study. This included
quarterly bulletins, inflation reports and financial statements from the websites of
central banks, speeches from members of committees responsible for monetary
policy, and economic data including interest rates, inflation rates, GDP growth rates
and market rates including share indices and bond yields. It was found that whereas
the UK and Japanese central banks have taken a view to unconventional monetary
policy that would please theorists such as Friedman (1970) by taking action in their
economies to stimulate spending and to bring inflation to its target, the USA seems
to have disregarded spending and inflation to some extent and placed more
emphasis on improving its unemployment statistic. In evaluating the success of
these different policies it was found that the economy in the USA in particular has
recovered more readily than those of the UK and Japan.
References:
Congdon, T. (2007), Keynes, the Keynesians and Monetarism, Edward Elgar
Publishing Limited: Cheltenham.
Friedman, M. (1970), ‘A Theoretical Framework for Monetary Analysis’, Journal of
Political Economy, Vol. 78, No. 2, pp. 193-238.
20
Callum Shales, BA (Hons) Financial Services
“Does the Capital Asset Pricing Model provide a suitable framework on which
to base investment decisions in equity portfolios? An empirical study into the
effectiveness of the Capital Asset Pricing Model in relation to FTSE 100 based
investments.”
When making investment decisions the relationship between risk and return is an
important dynamic, with investors aiming to obtain the maximum possible return as
compensation for adopting a defined level of risk. In order to try and encapsulate
this risk-return relationship and quantify the level of risk, Sharpe (1964), Lintner
(1965) and Mossin (1966) developed the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM),
based on the earlier work of Harry Markowitz (1959). In principle this linear
equilibrium model allows investors to calculate the level of risk in their portfolio and
formulate an expected rate of return that is representative of the level of risk.
Callum’s study defined the extent to which the Capital Asset Pricing Model can be
deemed effective in the case of UK-based investments on the FTSE 100 share
index. This was achieved by sampling ten portfolios and calculating the average
slope value (gradient) for the relationship between actual returns and (beta) risk.
This was then compared to the findings of Black et al. (1972) who provided evidence
in support of CAPM. The actual rates of return for the portfolios were compared to
CAPM’s expected rates of return. Lastly, the CAPM’s expected rate of return was
compared to the performance of both individual shares and an overall portfolio
during the one-year test period. Hypothesis testing was used throughout to validate
the significance of the findings and this research found that the relationship between
risk and return was not as positive as suggested by the literature, and provided
evidence against the relationship’s linearity. It also discovered an apparent optimum
beta level, for which CAPM appears to be most accurate when predicting the returns
of assets on the FTSE 100.
References:
Black, F., Jensen, M., and Scholes, M. (1972), The Capital Asset Pricing Model:
Some Empirical Tests, Harvard Business School: USA, pp. 2-52.
Lintner, J. (1965), ‘The Valuation of Risk Assets and the Selection of Risky
Investments in Stock Portfolios and Capital Budgets’, The Review of Economics and
Statistics, Vol. 47 (1), pp. 13-37.
Markowitz, H. (1959), Portfolio Selection: Efficient Diversification of Investments,
John Wiley & Sons: London, pp. 37-116.
Mossin, J. (1966), ‘Equilibrium in a Capital Asset Market’, Econometrica, Vol. 34 (4),
pp. 768-783.
Sharpe, W. (1964), ‘Capital Asset Prices: A theory of Market Equilibrium under
Conditions of Risk’, The Journal of Finance, Vol. 19 (3), pp. 425-442.
21
Jonathan Turner, BA (Hons) Financial Services
“Has Jersey’s economic performance justified the use of fiscal policy to
stimulate a recovery from the 2008 recession, brought on by the global
financial crisis?”
As a result of unprecedented levels of devalued subprime mortgage debt, in 2007
the United States of America fell into an economic recession. By 2008 this had
spread to Europe and around the globe. Many countries introduced expansionary
fiscal policy measures to stimulate demand and rejuvenate their faltering economies.
Since then a combination of discretionary, demand-boosting activities combined with
a loss of tax receipts has left many governments with record levels of debt, which in
some cases are almost uncontrollable.
In 2011, Jersey’s economic outlook was relatively positive as, despite having entered
a recession in 2009, growth was forecast in 2013. Johnathan’s research examined
the fiscal stimulus package of almost £44 million that was implemented in 2009 in an
attempt to stimulate the island’s economic output. The aim of his literature-based
research was to ascertain whether or not this fiscal stimulus was justified and to
determine the extent to which it reduced the effect of the islands’ recession.
The study first assessed the condition of the economy of Jersey before the recession
began in 2009. It then examined the circumstances surrounding the implementation
of the fiscal stimulus package by the States of Jersey, which saw the majority of
funding allocated to construction, maintenance and infrastructure works. The
research concluded that there was justification for allocating funds for the fiscal
stimulus package. However, although it is unlikely that Jersey could have avoided
following many of the world’s largest economies into recession, it is possible that
actions taken by the States of Jersey may have magnified its impact. The analysis
indicated that the time taken to implement the fiscal stimulus package could have
proved detrimental to its success because although the plans were approved in
2009, projects were not scheduled until 2010 and further time was needed for the
effects of a fiscal stimulus to filter into the economy, and this proved to be too late to
prevent a significant drop in the island’s economic output.
22
William Van Neste, BA (Hons) Financial Services
“A study discussing the growth within small businesses and the key factors in
achieving it.”
Growth within small businesses and financial services organisations is what many
business owners aim to achieve because it creates financial security and the
opportunity for expansion, and to many individuals represents success for the
business. However, “the growth objective is not one universally sought by small
business owners” (Fundahunsi, 2012:106) and, for many, growth within their
business would be hugely detrimental and would not be seen as creating success.
For these businesses survival is instead what is deemed as success. William
recognised that academic understanding of growth strategies in the context of small
financial services providers and small businesses generally is limited and so his
literature-based research asked what constitutes growth and aimed to identify the
key factors in creating it.
The research revealed that growth, although not necessarily aimed for or desired by
some small business owners, is positive for a business. Growth in income, sales or
profit of any kind provides financial security to both the business as a whole as well
as the owner, and any negative effects of growth can be easily mitigated and
controlled. It is, however, the factors that are required to create growth which can be
negative to small businesses as the expenditure or time spent in order to ensure
successful growth can adversely affect a small business or firm.
William’s research identified two key factors for those small businesses which want
to achieve growth. Employee retention was found to be a key component in creating
growth as high staff turnover negatively affects a business through loss of intellectual
capital and productivity, and costs the company time and money in replacing lost
employees and training new ones, as well as loss of reputation with clients or
customers. Employee retention strategies are thus needed and the research
provided recommendations on how best to achieve optimum employee satisfaction
and productivity. The use of strategic business plans was also identified as key in
creating growth in small businesses, as they allow for a business to find a
competitive ‘edge’ and a niche or target and also ensure a structure is in place to
deal with this through management, operational and financial planning. Plans such
as these provide the internal and external stakeholders with confidence in the
business and the study summarises the key attributes needed in strategic business
plans to provide the greatest assistance in achieving the growth of a small business.
References:
Fundahunsi, A. (2012), ‘The growth of small businesses: towards a research
agenda’, American Journal of Economics and Business Administration, Vol. 4, Issue
1, pp. 105-115.
23
BSc (Hons) Social Sciences, University of Plymouth
Ashley Batho, BSc (Hons) Social Sciences
“The growing misuse of legal highs: investigating the reasons for this
growth.”
In recent years the use of legal highs has increased rapidly (Gibbons and Zloh,
2010). Ashley’s study questioned why and aimed to gain an understanding of what
influences people to use these substances, which at that time were legal to use and
possess as they were not covered by Jersey’s Misuse of Drugs Law, although they
were still considered illegal to supply to others.
The principal methodology employed the use of structured questionnaires which
were distributed in one of three ways throughout a six-week period: they were
handed out face-to-face to known users of legal psychoactive substances and they
were also distributed online via Survey Monkey and Facebook. Participants were
assured of their anonymity and a total of 71 questionnaires were returned by selfselecting respondents who were predominantly male (52 male vs. 18 female) with
68% of respondents aged between 18 and 25.
Respondents were asked what influences them to use legal highs: 56% reported that
it was the feeling they obtained, 22% stated that it was their friends, 15% cited the
cost and 7% said that availability was an influential factor. Those surveyed were
also asked to rate how influential six different factors were to their legal substance
use by using a four-item attitude scale. Peers were found to be the most influential
of these factors, with 68% of respondents giving this response and family was rated
as the least influential factor with only 1% citing it in this respect. However, both age
and gender differences were found with, for example, 100% of female respondents
stating that the legal status of substances was influential in their legal high use
compared to only 32% of males. Ashley’s main recommendation following her study
was that further research is needed in order to help to understand the issues
surrounding the use of new psychoactive substances and to help in preventing the
harm that results from it.
References:
Gibbons, S. and Zloh, M. (2010), ‘An Analysis of the ‘Legal High’ Mephedrone’,
Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Journal, Vol. 20, 14, pp. 4,135-4,139.
24
Marion Cardwell, BSc (Hons) Social Sciences
“What are the barriers facing women seeking treatment for substance abuse?”
Substance dependence, especially among women, continues to rise yet fewer
women seek and access treatment services than men. Research has suggested
that women who are substance dependent face diverse gender-specific barriers that
discourage them from seeking treatment and impede actual recovery. Women in
this category often fear losing custody of their children if they admit to having a
substance use problem and substance use by women is more stigmatised than that
by men. Also, the majority of women with substance abuse problems also suffer
from comorbid psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, bipolar affective
disorder, eating disorders, or post-traumatic stress disorder (for examples see Boyd,
1993 and Brady, Dansky, Sonne and Saladin, 1998).
Marion’s research examined the experiences of women who were actively engaged
in treatment for substance abuse and aimed to increase understanding of what
deters women from seeking treatment and how these barriers can be eliminated.
This was achieved by conducting 10 face-to-face interviews with females who had
undertaken residential treatment for substance misuse and who were engaged in an
‘aftercare’ programme. The participants were all self-selecting and the researcher
used a 17-item questionnaire to elicit responses and to gain descriptions of the
barriers women face when seeking to access treatment for substance misuse.
All respondents who took part in this study reported that the fear of losing custody of
their children was the major barrier to them seeking treatment for substance abuse.
They were also unanimous in their agreement that stigma was another significant
barrier, with reports of stigma and discrimination from neighbours, parents and
teachers at schools, the police, Social Services and health care workers: often
painful experiences which deterred them from accessing help for their drug
dependency. The research found that there was little knowledge regarding available
treatment options and a lack of support had resulted in negative effects for these
women. It concluded that for substance misuse treatment to be effective there has
to be a supporting environment in which women can either be with their children or
be allowed to see them more. Also required are specialised programmes which
meet the particular needs of women, especially in this small jurisdiction where
problems related to anonymity are difficult to control.
References:
Boyd, C. J. (1993), ‘The Antecedents of Women’s Crack Cocaine Abuse: Family
Substance Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Depression and Illicit Drug Use’, Journal of
Substance Abuse Treatment, Vol. 10, pp. 433-438.
Brady, K. T., Dansky, B. S., Sonne, S. C, and Saladin, M. E. (1998), ‘Post-traumatic
Stress Disorder and Cocain Dependence: Order of Onset’, American Journal on
Addictions, Vol. 7, pp. 128-135.
25
Paul Mash, BSc (Hons) Social Sciences
“Jersey and electoral reform: a comparative study on electoral reform in the
Crown Dependencies.”
The dissertation prepared by Paul focused on the ongoing process of electoral
reform in Jersey. He stated that “Jersey’s understanding of democracy seems
obfuscated and there appears to be a growing anecdotal disenchantment of Jersey’s
political system [which] realises itself through Jersey’s low voter turnout.” His
research was conducted in the months immediately prior to the referendum held in
Jersey on 24th April 2013 to establish the views of the public regarding the package
of electoral reforms proposed by the States of Jersey’s Electoral Commission. It
aimed to document and provide an understanding of this debate by making
comparisons with the Isle of Man and Guernsey whilst at the same time placing the
debate in a historical context against the principles of democracy.
The research was literature-based and initially introduced the principles of
democracy and the different formats it takes throughout the world, before
summarising the historical backgrounds to electoral reform in the Crown
Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man since 1945. It described
how electoral reform in Jersey has been slow due to the make-up of the States
Assembly and the island’s political heritage and summarised the constant conflict
between voter equity, the power of the parishes, the all-island vote and the tripartite
makeup of the States.
The processes that both Guernsey and the Isle of Man went through on their journey
to electoral reform were examined before an analytical view was presented
regarding the route Jersey has taken towards a referendum, which included
discussion of the selection of members of the Electoral Commission and the process
of arriving at the package of three options presented to the electorate for the April
2013 referendum. Comparisons were then made between the electoral practices of
these jurisdictions and similarities and differences that have led to electoral reform in
the Crown Dependencies were identified.
Paul’s research concluded that Jersey’s inability to institute wholesale reform is
embedded in her political heritage, with the tripartite construction of her parliament
creating conflict due to the political divide and power struggles between the political
Left and Right. He stated that this is a constant theme which drives through the
whole machinery of government in Jersey. Paul further accurately predicted that
although the referendum may provide data for further debate, with Jersey’s
historically low voter turnout and a referendum which was consultative and not
binding, a defining result may not be forthcoming and both electoral and political
reform remain yet to be realised.
26
Amelia Needham, BSc (Hons) Social Sciences
“Gender discrimination in the workplace: has the implementation of gender
discrimination laws in the UK created a more level playing field for Women in
the workplace and is this needed in Jersey?”
Amelia chose to conduct this research because although there is legislation
protecting against gender discrimination in the United Kingdom in the form of the Sex
Discrimination Act 1975 and the Equality Act 2010, there is currently nothing of the
kind in Jersey. This is despite the high level of female participation in the labour
market seen in the island, which peaked in 2010 with 85% of women in paid work
(Jersey Community Relations Trust, 2012). Furthermore, the findings of a recent
survey of 60 organisations revealed that the majority of local organisations surveyed
support the introduction of legislation against gender discrimination in Jersey (Jersey
Community Relations Trust, 2011).
Amelia’s research involved distributing self-completion questionnaires to officeworkers in Jersey and in the UK in order to investigate the extent to which gender
discrimination exists in the workplace. Thirty-one questionnaires were returned from
the UK and 43 respondents in Jersey completed the survey, giving a total of 74
questionnaires completed. A greater number of women (61) than men (13)
responded to the surveys, although this was expected because the focus of the
survey was more relevant to women than men and also because the questionnaires
were given out to certain companies and not distributed at random.
One female respondent from Jersey reported that she had lost a job opportunity
because of her gender and 75% of female respondents in Jersey perceived that
gender discrimination exists in the workplace compared to 52% of female
respondents from the UK who held this view. The majority of those surveyed
reported that males dominated the top positions at their workplace but when only the
female respondents’ views were considered, 92% of respondents from Jersey held
this view compared to 60% of those from the UK. There was a general consensus
that men are chosen for promotion at work more frequently than women. A clear
gender difference was seen in relation to the perceived need for gender
discrimination legislation in Jersey, with only 8% of females responding that it was
not needed compared to 86% of the male respondents who felt that such legislation
in unnecessary. Overall, Amelia’s research found that the females surveyed feel that
there is gender inequality in the workplace, and males seemed unconscious of this
problem. The findings also indicated that the majority of those surveyed in Jersey
feel that legislation is needed to tackle gender inequality in the workplace.
References:
Jersey Community Relations Trust (2011), Report: Employer’s Views of the
Proposed Discrimination Law, Jersey Community Relations Trust: Jersey.
Jersey Community Relations Trust (2012), Contribution to the Women’s Resource
Centre, CEDAW Shadow Report, Submitted April 2012, Jersey Community Relations
Trust: Jersey.
27
Beatriz Porée, BSc (Hons) Social Sciences
“Is the current Jersey educational system effectively supporting children from
another language background in their early school years?”
In Jersey, the educational system has been impacted by the arrival of immigrants
with their families because it has to provide support structures for children of school
age who are either bilingual or have not been exposed to the English language at all
until they have entered primary school education (States of Jersey, 2011). For her
dissertation Beatriz chose to explore whether the educational system in Jersey is
able to effectively support these children. The study was comprised of two parts: the
quantitative information from a questionnaire survey completed by States of Jersey
primary school teachers was supplemented by a naturalistic observation of a nursery
classroom in which there was a mix of children, some of whose first language was
English and some for whom it was not.
Questionnaires were delivered to six primary schools and teachers were asked to
complete them anonymously and leave them for collection. A total of 54 responses
were received and it was found that all of the schools targeted had policies in place
to support bilingual children or those without any knowledge of the English language.
However, 20% of respondents answered that they were not aware of the language
support policy in the school they worked in. Furthermore, when asked if they were
aware of the procedures for schools to obtain the resources to make implementation
of the language policy a reality, 44% of teachers surveyed replied that they were not,
despite 70% of respondents stating that having a student for whom English was not
their first language affected their planning for the class.
The second part of the study took place in a States of Jersey nursery classroom after
approval had been given by the headmaster and parents. Six three- and four-yearold children (three male and three female) whose first language was not English
were observed interacting with the teachers during lesson time and with Englishspeaking children during playtime. The information gained from this observation
supported the findings of the survey and highlighted that planning classroom
activities is likely to be challenging where English-speaking children learn alongside
children whose first language is other than English. Overall, Beatriz’s research
highlighted the need for the full implementation of existing policies along with a
greater awareness of what is needed to effectively support pupils for whom English
is not their first language.
References:
States of Jersey (2011), Education, Sport and Culture Business Plan 2011.
Available at:
http://www.gov.je/SiteCollectionDocuments/Government%20and%20administration/
BP%202011EducationSportCulture%2020110113%20JN.pdf
[Accessed 11th November, 2011.]
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Jonathon Rabey, BSc (Hons) Social Sciences
“Should the prohibition of cannabis use in Jersey remain in its current form or
is reform required?”
The Misuse of Drugs (Jersey) Law was introduced in 1978 in response to
international prohibitionist drug legislation which saw cannabis deemed a class ‘B’
drug. However, it has been argued that the prohibition of drugs has had many
serious “unintended negative consequences” resulting not from drug use itself but
from the implementation of a punitive enforcement-led approach (Rolles et al., 2012).
As a result, an increased number of governments are adopting a variety of different
approaches to address drug use in their jurisdictions. Whilst some are increasing
their harm-reduction and public-health measures to limit the destructive impact of
problematic drug use, others have implemented an alternative policy: the
decriminalisation of drug possession and use (Rosmarin and Eastwood, 2012).
Jonathon undertook his study to investigate whether the people of Jersey supported
the current prohibition of cannabis use or whether they believed that reform was
required. He reviewed existing literature regarding the psychological, physiological
and socio-cultural effects of cannabis use, the economic effects of its
decriminalisation and cannabis decriminalisation policies currently implemented
across the European Union. He then conducted a public opinion survey and used
systematic random sampling to interview 100 respondents face-to-face using a 12item questionnaire which was designed to reveal attitudes towards cannabis
legislation, use and the issue of decriminalisation or legalisation. The survey was
supplemented by five semi-structured interviews: three held with senior
representatives from the island’s public administration and two with cannabis users.
This research found that cannabis was seen as a ‘gateway’ drug with the potential to
lead users to harder drugs. However, the survey respondents believed cannabis to
be less physically and mentally harmful than alcohol. Respondents narrowly
supported the decriminalisation or legalisation of cannabis, although concerns about
the potential negative impact on the island’s finance industry were prevalent.
Moreover, the interviews with public administration representatives revealed that the
island’s Parish Hall Enquiry system is viewed as useful tool for the disposal of
offences relating to small-scale drug possession and keeps people out of the
criminal justice system where appropriate, and therefore can be seen as a ‘fudge’
between complete prohibition and decriminalisation.
References:
Rolles, S., Murkin, G., Powell, M., Kushlick, D. and Slater, J. (2012), The Alternative
World Drug Report: Counting the Costs of the War on Drugs. Available at:
http://www.countthecosts.org/sites/default/files/AWDR.pdf [Accessed 17th
November, 2012].
Rosmarin, A. and Eastwood, N. (2012), A Quiet Revolution: Drug Decriminalisation
Policies in Practice Across the Globe. Available at:
http://www.release.org.uk/downloads/publications/release-quiet-revolution-drugdecriminalisation-policies.pdf [Accessed 25th November, 2012].
29
Melissa Rodrigues, BSc (Hons) Social Sciences
“A study of how ethnic identity and immigration affects integration in Jersey.”
Melissa’s dissertation research recognised that Jersey Passport holders are not
eligible to work within the European Union, whereas citizens of member states within
the EU are permitted to work in Jersey (Citizens Advice Bureau, 2012). This is due
to Protocol 3 of the UK’s Treaty of Accession to the European Community, the effect
of which is that although EU rules on customs matters, quantitative restrictions and
provisions relating to free movement of agricultural goods apply to the Channel
Islands, provisions relating to the free movement of persons and services do not
apply (Channel Islands Brussels Office, 2011). Melissa acknowledged that this may
generate unfair opportunities which could potentially encourage racial tension or
negative attitudes towards immigration within the island.
The purpose of Melissa’s study was to explore the attitudes of residents in Jersey to
issues surrounding immigration and integration. The study also focused on how
social identity is constructed around ethnic differences and how these identities can
lead to racial tension.
The main research method involved conducting a
questionnaire-based survey of 100 members of the public, 20 of whom agreed to
take part in one of two subsequent focus group meetings, one for Jersey-born
residents and one for residents who were born elsewhere.
Overall, the largest group of respondents consisted of Jersey-born residents (37% of
those surveyed) and of those not born in Jersey the largest groups originated from
Madeira (13%) and Poland (12%). When asked about their attitudes to immigration
there was a clear difference between the responses of those who were locally-born
and those who were not, with only 16% of Jersey-born residents in favour of
immigration to the island compared to 51% of those not born in the island. However,
92% of those born in Jersey and 73% of those born elsewhere shared the view that
immigration to the island is not being controlled effectively and more should be done
to monitor it.
Those surveyed were asked if immigrants to the island were seen to integrate into
the community and 35% of those born elsewhere and 54% of Jersey-born
respondents felt that immigrants fail to adopt the Jersey or British culture. Jerseyborn respondents (95%) and those born elsewhere (84%) overwhelmingly agreed
that they perceived that there is racial tension towards immigrants on the island, and
22% of those born locally stated that they had been subjected to racial abuse in
Jersey compared to 60% of those born elsewhere. Overall, the results of the
research suggest that the majority of respondents have negative attitudes towards
immigration in Jersey and Melissa concluded that the main factors affecting the
integration of immigrants in Jersey are language barriers, competition for
employment and racial tension.
30
References:
Channel Islands Brussels Office (2011), ‘The EU and the Channel Islands’.
Available at: http://www.channelislands.eu/eu-and-the-channel-islands/ [Accessed
April, 2013].
Citizens Advice Bureau (2012), ‘Your Rights’. Available at:
http://www.cab.org.je/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91:jerseyinformation-for-those-wishing-to-live-and-work-in-the-island-312&catid=20&Itemid=48 [Accessed April, 2013].
31
Post-graduate Research and Scholarly Activity
32
EdD Early Childhood Education, University of Sheffield
Lynn Blakemore, BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies, MA Early Childhood
Education: Programme Manager of FdA and BA (Hons) Childhood Studies,
Highlands College
Lynn chose to undertake her studies for a Doctorate in Early Childhood Education
(ECE) primarily to support her role as Programme Manager for the Childhood
Studies degree programme. When teaching across levels four to six it is imperative
to remain current in one’s own research skills but it is often a challenge to do this
whilst working full-time. The EdD ECE with the University of Sheffield is a distancelearning taught programme which allows students to gain a doctorate in a supported
manner. Additionally they also offer three residential weekends per year for the fouryear course where students can access lectures and workshops from key
researchers in the field of ECE and also network with colleagues from all over the
world. This particular course was selected because it examines a variety of aspects
of educational research and is designed for those who wish to research their practice
in early childhood education in more depth, whether working in early years settings
with or offering other services for young children and their families. The course aims
to provide its students with both a thorough grounding in the philosophy, principles
and practice of educational research, and a critical understanding of key
contemporary issues in relation to ECE. The course aims to enable students to:

conduct high quality research into ECE in a supportive environment, with
leading scholars in the field;

explore practice, policies, theories and new ideas relating to ECE; and

acquire theoretical and applied knowledge of contemporary issues in ECE
and develop a theoretical lens to look at specific issues.
Proposed thesis: “Does teaching computer programming within Key Stage 1
of the primary curriculum enhance children’s problem-solving skills?”
The focus of Lynn’s research will be to contribute towards the current debate around
the teaching and delivery of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
curriculum, with particular emphasis on pedagogy, policy and practice in the primary
curriculum in Jersey. To date, computer science/programming has not been a core
component of the curriculum and the focus of the present ICT curriculum has been
based upon the teaching of how to use software as opposed to the concept of how to
create software. In other words, it can be argued that the curriculum has been
driven from a ‘consumer’ approach rather than being based on a creative model.
Jersey is currently at the forefront of developing policy in this domain and is currently
piloting a computing programme within two of Jersey’s primary schools with a view to
extending this provision to all primary schools from September 2014. Lynn feels that
there would be substantial value in exploring this project in greater depth over a twoyear period (2014-2016) in an attempt to capture some evidential data of both the
process and the potential impact that this project may have on the children and staff
involved.
33
Childhood Studies Team
The Childhood Studies team have been involved in two research projects through
Plymouth University (2013-2014) and these are listed below.
Childhood Studies students and staff contributed to the following research paper:
“Key attitudinal competencies for early childhood practitioners: exploring
global approaches to teaching and learning.”
The research team from Plymouth University consisted of Doctor Verity Campbell-Barr
(Principal Investigator) and Doctor Janet Georgeson. They were interested in how
Higher Education (HE) institutions involved in delivering early childhood courses define
and promote the attitudes required to work in early childhood practice.
The research project involved partners from England, Hungary, Estonia, Italy,
Greece, Jersey and Japan to enable the research team to compare the sort of
attitudes needed to be an early childhood practitioner in different countries. They
hoped to learn from examples of good practice that they identified. Their project
therefore sought to establish:


What are the key attitudinal competences that HE lecturers and students
would advocate for early years practitioners in their country?
 Is there commonality when looking at different countries?
How do HE institutions look to develop these key attitudinal competences in
their students?
 Is there commonality in approach (considering curricula content, time
spent studying and practical training) when comparing across
countries?
 What good practice can be identified for sharing?
The research entailed the following:
 a literature review conducted by the research team;
 focus groups with lecturers involved in teaching early childhood practitioners;
 collection and analysis of any teaching materials and documentation that
provided evidence of where attitudinal competences are taught on courses;
 focus groups with students; and
 an online student questionnaire.
Claire Farley and Lynn Blakemore
Two of the members of the Childhood Studies team are contributing to a chapter in a
book entitled: “International perspectives on workforce development in early
years childhood education and care: history, philosophy and politics.” It will
be edited by Doctor Verity Campbell-Barr and Doctor Janet Georgeson and
published by Critical Publishing.
34
Dr Sean Dettman, BA History and English Literature, MA Literature, PhD
History; Visiting Lecturer for the Social Sciences Degree, Highlands College
In October 2013, Sean completed his Doctorate of Philosophy in History which he
gained through the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London. His
areas of research included Anglo-American relations of the Second World War, the
Blitz of London during the years of 1940/41 and Allied expeditions in occupied
Europe, and his thesis was entitled America and the Blitz.
Sean began teaching at Highlands College in 2011 and has been lecturing in the
college’s University Centre since 2013, leading the history modules of the Social
Sciences degree and teaching students academic writing skills.
Conference Presentation and Paper
(2014) ‘The Dunne Report: A Wartime Cover-Up?’ London at War Symposium,
Birkbeck College and Imperial War Museum – May 2014
35
Gillian Oakes, Chair of EYCP Working Group, Head of Faculty for Community
Studies and University Centre at Highlands College
EYCP Qualification Framework: A guide for working with children aged 12 years and
under in Jersey (2013)
The Early Years Childcare Partnership (EYCP) is a multi-agency organisation which
works to achieve effective communication and collaborative working amongst
voluntary organisations, professionals, parents and other agencies to ensure that
children in Jersey are able to access high quality early years education and
childcare. Its members meet three times every year and although it is an
independent body, the Council of Ministers and the States are informed by the
Minister for Education, Sport and Culture whenever the EYCP makes
recommendations for improvements to early years and childcare provision.
The EYCP has been working to ensure that there are effective frameworks in place
to promote quality practice for those working with children in the island and Gill was
tasked with preparing the Qualification Framework Guide for those who work with
children aged 12 years and under in Jersey. The guide was produced in conjunction
with a working group of the EYCP, of which Gill was the chair, to provide an outline
of the training and support choices available to those thinking about working with
children or those who are already working as professionals in this area.
Following consultation with local groups such as careers teachers in schools, the
Careers Service, professionals working in the field and other bodies offering training
and support, the working group collated relevant data for inclusion in the
Qualification Framework Guide. It provides clear and accessible information about
the different careers and work roles available in Jersey in the area of early years and
childcare, plus details of further training and continuing professional development
opportunities for those already qualified. It provides guidance to help people to
decide if a career working in childcare and education is right for them and to give
them a deeper understanding of what is involved. The core knowledge and skills
required for those working with children in Jersey are set out and details of the
qualifications required for different roles are provided for those who want to pursue
or who already have a career in one of the following areas: health and social care, in
a day nursery, pre-school, play-care or activity club, in a primary school or as a
nanny or child-carer in Jersey. Details of how to obtain the required qualifications
are also given along with a list of useful contacts.
The Qualification Framework can be downloaded here or is available to download
along with other EYCP publications from:
www.gov.je/EarlyYearsChildcarePartnership
36
Dr Michael Oliver, BA (Hons) Economic and Social History, PhD Economic
History; Senior Lecturer in Finance at the Open University; Associate of
Lombard Street Research; Co-founder of Global Partnership Family Offices;
Visiting Lecturer for the Social Sciences Degree, Highlands College
Michael’s research agenda has focused primarily on financial history with a particular
emphasis on monetary and exchange rate policy. A core theme of his research is the
conflict between domestic and external policy goals and how policymakers have
struggled to reconcile these. He has written articles, chapters and books on financial
crises, the international monetary system, exchange rate regimes and economic
policy.
Areas of expertise





Monetary history
Liquidity in financial markets
Financial crises
Economics of small island states, particularly Jersey
Family offices and ultra-high net worth individuals
Chapter in book
(2014), ‘The long road to 1981: British money supply policy from DCE to the MTFS’,
to appear in A. Hotson and D. Needham (eds.), Expansionary Fiscal Contraction:
The Thatcher Government's 1981 Budget in Perspective, Cambridge: CUP.
Published consultancy
(2013), ‘Draft 2014 Budget’, Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel, States of Jersey,
S.R.13/2013.
Conference presentations
(2013), ‘The private wealth community in Europe’, Monaco, 1 December. For a
conference organised by TravellerMade.
(2013), ‘ “Are You Being Served?” The Experience of Family Offices with Service
Providers since the Global Financial Crisis’, Family Office Congress VI,
Globalisation, Collaboration & Transition, 30 & 31 October, Sydney, Australia.
(2013), ‘Family offices and service providers’, Family offices: a 21 st Century
phenomenon, 27 November, Jersey, Channel Islands.
(2013), ‘The prevention of banking crisis’, The Causes of the Great Recession: A
Monetary Interpretation, organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs, 26
November, London.
Organised two international Witness Seminars for Lombard Street Research on the
1981 Budget and the breakup of Bretton Woods.
37
PhD in Health and Social Care, University of Bournemouth
Vicky Rice-Weber, BA English Literature, Oxford University, MSc Applied
Social Science Oxford University, CQSW, Dip CPP, UkCP accred.
Lecturer in Counselling and College Counsellor, Highlands College.
“Heart-based treatment in psychotherapy.” (2009-2015)
Vicky has worked at Highlands College for 15 years and has been undertaking her
PhD research since 2009. She is motivated in her current studies by her concerns
regarding the limitations of current mental health provision and their philosophical
roots.
“The impact of my studies upon my work as both a Lecturer in Counselling and
College Counsellor is as follows:

more knowledge base in recent contemporary research in psychological
therapies;

a wider and deeper range of therapeutic interventions at my disposal; and

more awareness of the contemporary debate surrounding evidence-based
practice in the helping professions.
Personally, it has given me a wonderful opportunity to study at depth. I very much
appreciate the College’s generosity and support.”
The aim of Vicky’s study is to explore, using the phenomenological approach, how
clients in psychotherapy describe the impact of Vajrayana practices and experiential
focusing. Specific attention will be given to exploring the two following areas of
experience:

changes to clients’ sense of embodied ‘aliveness’ or ‘lightness’; and

a shift in the clients’ sense of self.
A group of eight clients will be interviewed at least two months after therapy has
ended and this will form the sample for data collection.
The study will contribute to a growing body of work exploring the potential benefits of
Buddhist practices to mental health and serve to challenge contemporary views of
the ‘self’.
Current mental health assessment and treatment has its basis upon symptom
classification and quantification methods, which in turn have roots in the empirical
traditions of modernity, in the demands and discourses of Capitalism (Foucault,
1961) and in Cartesian dualism. This has resulted in a split between mind and body
in which we cognitively analyse the self as opposed to existentially experiencing our
human subjectivity.
38
This has had profound implications for patterns of relating and for client care. In
initial assessment questionnaires, clients are asked to circle boxes of prepared
statements in which their experiences are categorised and measured in terms of
frequency. These questionnaires are mainly concerned with thoughts; the body is
mentioned only in relation to sleeplessness and appetite. This process has an initial
impact on a client’s sense of personal agency as their own experiential sense of self,
their peaks and troughs and personal learning from their life journey, is excluded
from assessment and primary meeting. Carl Rogers (1989) proved conclusively both
that success in therapy is contingent upon a total acceptance of the entirety of the
client’s experience, and that the client’s self-concept plays a pivotal role in wellbeing. The creative power and healing potential of language, of finding words which
resonate with our experience just as it is and which convey the power and profundity
of that experience, is also negated by a model of enquiry and treatment which
fragments and disempowers the integrated self.
Contemporary treatment programmes are largely determined by the positivist
research tradition, with psychiatric definitions of mental illness and treatment models
dominating the mental health professional hierarchy. Vicky would like to create and
research a treatment model which represents a more open enquiry into the
embodied potential and the totality of the client’s experience and sense of self. She
will draw from both Gendlin’s Focusing model (Gendlin, 1982) of experiencing and
defining the self from within and from Vajrayanan Buddhist practices which have a
2,000 year history of application within the Indo-Tibetan tradition. These practices
were designed to release the self-concept from the habitual limitations which arise
from our psychohistory, our social context and the human condition in general. Their
intention is to facilitate an embodied sense of spaciousness and heart-centredness
as opposed to a process in which self-knowledge and the self-concept arises from
cognitive processing and reflection.
When complete, this research will be distributed to as wide a section of the mental
health community as possible. A more holistic and exploratory sense of identity for
client and therapist, particularly one which opens into the limitless through the
practice of ‘emptiness’, will change reductive and pathologised diagnosis and
treatment in the helping professions. Voices of clients taking ownership of their
embodied potential as existential beings will also serve to challenge models of
therapy which are over-dependent upon the analysis and restructuring of cognitive
processes alone. This research should also make awareness of the embodied heart
as a locus of evaluation more explicit in the helping professions.
References:
Foucault, M. (1961), Madness and Civilisation; A History of Insanity in the Age of
Reason, Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon.
Gendlin, E. (1982), Focusing, Bantam Dell: New York.
Rogers, C. (1989), The Carl Rogers Reader, Routledge: Abingdon Oxon.
39
DBA Business Administration, Sheffield Hallam University
Glenda Rivoallan, BEd Physical Education, MSc Applied Sport Science,
Chartered Manager CMI: Interim Quality Manager (Teaching and Learning) and
Curriculum Manager, Highlands College
Glenda decided to study for her Doctorate in Business Administration for three
reasons; the first is that it is a personal academic challenge for her to study at
educational level 8 and work towards meeting the requirements of doctorate-level
research and writing; the second is that due to her teaching both Sport and Business
(due to her business background) she would like a business-related qualification to
endorse her 20 years entrepreneurship experience; and the third reason is that her
teaching at Highlands College is predominantly to Higher Education students and so
she would like to widen her academic skill set to complement this role.
Thesis: “The relationship between mindfulness, emotion regulation and the
presentation of self in entrepreneurs.”
The focus of Glenda’s research is centred around “the relationship between
mindfulness, emotion regulation and the development of a more favourable
presentation of self (performance) in entrepreneurs”. Her study draws on Goffman’s
(1959) work on the presentation of self and the notion of performance, sometimes
referred to as impression management. Central to Goffman’s theory is the emphasis
on performance as being a process of social interaction rather than one of cognition.
However, in contrast to Goffman, Glenda’s theory is that one’s internal display of
emotion has cognitive inclination and if properly managed it will facilitate favourable
external display of emotion resulting in better impression management and
subsequently presentation of self. Accepting that a favourable presentation of self
requires emotion regulation and that mindfulness and mindfulness training have
been known to improve this, it is worthwhile establishing a causal link between the
development of mindfulness through training, emotion regulation and presentation of
self.
The research will be addressed from a realist perspective and Glenda will look for a
causal relationship between mindfulness training and the development of
mindfulness in entrepreneurs following an intervention involving mindfulness training.
The research design will be experimental in that there will be a group of
entrepreneurs which will undergo mindfulness training and a control group which will
not undergo this training. The study will also seek to establish links to work
outcomes, i.e. performance (presentation of self) and psychological well-being
(emotion regulation).
40
Glenda is intending to develop hypotheses based around the following statements:

Mindfulness can be developed through mindfulness training.

Mindfulness is positively related to emotion regulation in entrepreneurs.

Mindfulness is positively related to a more favourable presentation of self in
entrepreneurs’ performance.
The pilot study for this research will commence in autumn 2014.
Reference:
Goffman, E. (1959), The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Penguin Books Ltd:
London
41