Practitioner Perspectives on a Restorative Community: An Inductive Evaluative Study of Conceptual, Pedagogical, and Routine Practice

The purpose of this study is to explore restorative practice (RP) within education, highlighting practitioner views from an inductive evaluative perspective. This is in response to the suggested ambiguity over what constitutes RP in education. Practitioner perspectives are explored, providing an insight into an established restorative school. New data offer further clarity on RP in education by describing embedded practice and highlighting sites for further specific task analysis. Methods include semi-structured questionnaires in the form of employee practice statements, situated within insider research. Eleven practice statements were completed, which were then subject to in-depth thematic analysis. The main findings of this study suggest that RP is clearly understood in this educational setting and participants described a wholistic approach that is part of a wider culture, not just practice as an intervention. Analysis suggests that this can be categorised into the following three themes: Conceptual, Pedagogical and Routine Practice. When used alongside one another, it is suggested that these themes create a restorative paradigm, which is of relevance to the field of education. As such, this paper is designed to provide a useful resource for schools, policy makers and researchers alike.

A Method to Develop Critical Thinking: Playing the Devil’s Advocate

The ability to think critically is at the foundation of an equitable and just society. One aspect of critical thinking (CT) is the ability to create and develop structurally sound arguments. Curricular requirements often restrict addressing this issue. Furthermore, students arguing their own opinions often assume agreement and therefore do not see a need to fully explain. As such, I examined how CT can be developed through the use of a timed-writing activity wherein the students argue against their own positions. I employed an action research approach to compare CT development in the intervention class with another class that did not receive the intervention. Analysis of the data suggested that this method was effective, and that encouragement of dissociation has a positive effect on CT development in students.

Intervention analysis with autoregressive integrated moving average models for time series of urban air pollutants

The objective of this paper is to show an intervention analysis with autoregressive integrated moving average models for time series of air pollutants in a Latin American megacity. The interventions considered in this study correspond to public regulations for the control of urban air quality. The study period comprised 10 years. Information from 10 monitoring stations distributed throughout the megacity was used. Modelling showed that setting maximum emission limits for different pollution sources and improving fuel were the most appropriate regulatory interventions to reduce air pollutant concentrations. Modelling results also suggested that these interventions began to be effective between the first 4 days-15 days after their publication. The models developed on a monthly timescale had a short autoregressive memory. The air pollutant concentrations at a given time were influenced by the concentrations of up to three months immediately preceding. Moving average term of the models showed fluctuations in time of the air pollutant concentrations (3 months - 14 months). Within the framework of the applications of physics for the air pollution control, this study is relevant for the following findings: the usefulness of autoregressive integrated moving average models to temporal simulate air pollutants, and for its suitable performance to detect and quantify regulatory interventions.

Efficacy of a brief online mindfulness-based intervention on the psychological well-being of health care professionals and trainees during the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed method design

Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, health professionals were pushed to the front line of a global health crisis unprepared and resource constrained, which affected their mental well-being.Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a brief online mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on stress and burnout for health professionals training and working in South Africa during the COVID-19 crisis.Setting: The context of the study is the overburdened, under-resourced health care system in South Africa during a global pandemic.Methods: A mixed method framework was adopted for this study. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive analysis and the participants’ qualitative experiences were interpreted using interpretative phenomenological analysis.Results: Forty-seven participants took part in this study. The study found a statistically significant (p 0.05) reduction in stress levels and emotional exhaustion as well as an increase in mindful awareness and feelings of personal accomplishment after the intervention. The participants’ shared experiences were analysed in two parts. The pre-intervention analysis presented with central themes of loss of control and a sense of powerlessness because of COVID-19. The post-intervention analysis comprised themes of a sense of acquired control and empowerment through increased mindfulness.Conclusions: The study found that a brief online MBI can be associated with reduced levels of stress and burnout as well as an increased sense of control and empowerment, felt both personally and professionally, during a global crisis.Contribution: The impact of an online MBI for health care professionals amidst a pandemic has not been previously documented.