The National Institute of Education invites suitable applications for the position of Research Assistant on a 10-month contract at the Office of Teacher Education.

Award Title: Harnessing Positive Psychology Principles in Fostering Academic Motivation/Engagement and Wellbeing of Low-Progress Learners in Singapore

Project Title: "Being Permalicious": Intervention and Impact for Secondary School Students' Wellbeing and Academic Achievement

Project Introduction: The study seeks to determine the impact of a positive education intervention on the well-being of secondary school students. Positive education may be described as a holistic form of education that brings the science of positive psychology together with best pedagogies to encourage and support schools and individuals to flourish. In the process, students' social, emotional, moral and intellectual facets are developed. This study is conceived to promote flourishing and wellbeing amongst students in Singapore, while buttressing "immunity" against the possible onslaught of mental health issues, through the design and evaluation of a positive education programme.

Specifically, the study seeks to develop and evaluate a positive education intervention supported by a mobile application that is targeted at Singaporean secondary school students. It is hoped that this study would contribute to evidence-informed school and classroom practices that facilitate for overall student wellbeing and mental health, as well as to help build schools as enabling institutions in Singapore.

In each school, all Secondary 1 classes across all groupings (G1, G2, G3) would be randomly assigned to the experimental group as well as the control group. The intervention would be implemented over 7+1 sessions, each lasting one hour, during the school's CCE lessons. The intervention program will be implemented for one full term.

The effectiveness of the intervention program will be assessed based on an quasi experimental-control group design in which participants in both groups will be administered the same set of questionnaires three times: before the intervention, after the intervention, and three months after the conclusion of the intervention to test for sustained effects. Indicators of academic achievement such as assessment scores for English and Mathematics will also be collected.

The impact of the intervention will be measured using a locally-adapted measure of wellbeing based on the PERMA-Profiler and the EPOCH Measure.

Interviews with students, teachers and parents will be conducted to corroborate and complement the quantitative findings from the questionnaire. Selected student participants would be interviewed regarding their experiences and perceptions of the positive education programme. The interview questions will focus on students' perceptions of the effect of the intervention on their levels of wellbeing, resilience, academic achievement, depression, anxiety and stress in a variety of contexts, such as in school, at home and within social circles. Interviews with the CCE teachers and parents pertaining to their perceptions of the positive education programme and its impact upon the students, would be conducted to validate the preceding self-report measures..

Requirements

• Minimally, a good honours degree in the relevant fields (social science, psychology, education).
• Proficient knowledge in quantitative and qualitative analysis.
• Relevant skills in academic research (e.g., conducting literature review, interviews, survey design and administration).
• Prior experience in research either at the undergraduate or postgraduate levels.
• Technologically competent: able to exploit hardware and software for quantitative and qualitative data analysis; contribute to technological refinements of the mobile application.
• Excellent project management skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work independently.
• Applicants with prior related experiences preferred.

Responsibilities

• Conduct literature reviews in the relevant fields.
• Quantitative and qualitative data collection and analyses.
• Conduct focused-group and individual interviews with students, teachers and parents.
• Code, organise and analyse all data and present the findings.
• Liaise with schools and vendors.
• Prepare final reports and presentations.
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned by the PI.

Application

Applicants (external and internal) will apply via Workday. We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

Closing Date

Closing date for advertisements will be set to 14 calendar days from date of posting.

Hiring Institution: NIE