Bristol Conversations in Education- New directions for wellbeing in Education

29 January 2020, 1.00 PM - 29 January 2020, 2.30 PM

Sian Ephgrave, Trang Mai Tran & Zibah Nwako, University of Bristol

Room 4.10, School of Education, 35 Berkeley Square, Bristol, BS8 1JA

This event is part of the School of Education's 'Bristol Conversations in Education' seminar series. These seminars are free and open to the public.

Speakers: Sian Ephgrave, Trang Mai Tran & Zibah Nwako, University of Bristol

Across diverse contexts, student and teacher wellbeing is growing out of research that draws on theory from across disciplines. This Bristol Conversations in Education seminar brings together three doctoral researchers conducting cutting edge research in this area.
 

Sian Ephgrave - Wellbeing-as-fellowship: an arts-based exploration with secondary teachers of English in England

In this seminar, I present the case for re-imagining teacher wellbeing within the democratic tripartite freedom, equality and fellowship. There is specific focus on fellowship as means and ends of human flourishing (Fielding 2014) and as a form of resistance against what Foucault (1977) describes as a disciplinary penalty that is meted out without reprieve through processes that normalise arbitrary and artificial ways of living. Within this context, wellbeing is perceived as an enlivening and opening process of radical inclusion while dysbeing (Wynter 2016) – as the antithesis of wellbeing – describes a deadening and closing process of reactionary exclusion. This is an ESRC-funded, collaborative exploration that uses poetic inquiry and other forms of creative-nonfiction writing.

Trang Mai Tran - Conceptualising well-being: A paradigm shift in how we study mental health and well-being
 
In 1948, the World Health Organisation re-defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 1948, p.459). This focus on a wholesome state of well-being was one among many signals of an ambitious paradigm shift in our conceptualisation of public health. In this talk, I discuss two important dichotomies in the field of mental health and well-being, particularly between Pathogenic-Salutogenic approaches, and between Hedonic-Eudaimonic conceptions of well-being.
 
Zibah Nwako - 'It’s like that thing that touches me inside my heart': Subjective wellbeing experiences of female students in Nigeria
 
'Wellbeing' is not a commonly used term in the Nigerian context, nor is it a familiar concept to female students at Nigerian universities. My study explores the wellbeing experiences of this demographic using a critical participatory methodology. Drawing from White’s (2010) subjective wellbeing theoretical framework, my talk problematises the contextual lack of discourse around mental health and emotional wellbeing, while exploring alternative concepts as described by my participants.

 

 

Contact information

Emma Rossiter

Edit this page