What is a person?

By Monica Short, Karen Dempsey,

Janice Ackland, Emma Rush, Eric
Heller and Helen Dwyer.

Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education

 'As manuhiri I would like to start this talk
by paying respect to the mana whenua of
Auckland. That is the Ngati Whatua iwi
and the hapu of Ngati Whatua ki Orakei'.

Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education

 Purpose
The purpose of this research is to clarify the
ambiguity around ‘personhood’ within field
education environments using dialogue between
the fields of social work, sociology, philosophy,
chaplaincy and theology and with additional
reference to the approach of NonViolent (sic)
Communication.

Research question:
What is a person?
Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education
 Aim
• To present a
multidisciplinary
perspective about
personhood.
• To deepen students’
and colleagues’
understanding of the
person in person-
centred and other
personalisation
approaches. Photo by artist Raymond Howes

Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education

Mind the gap

Addresses a gap which

occasionally occurs in
literature and education,
that is the lack of
reference to the person
on whom the
approaches are
centred.
Mind the gap by artist Raymond
Howes
Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education
Literature review
Burning Bright
Sometimes I picture myself
Like a candle.
I used to be a candle about eight
feet tall-
burning bright.
Now every day I lose a little bit of
me.
Someday the candle will be
very small.
But the flame will be
just as bright.
(Noon, 2003, as cited in Benson
Photo by artist Jan Stead
& Killock, 2004).
Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education
Social work
• Liberation of people.
• Regarding some
social work literature,
any understanding of
what constitutes a
person or a human
being appears often
to be assumed, as
these terms are
consistently used
without specific
definition. Photo by artist Raymond Howes

Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education

 Critical thinking activity

Think of a time when you were with a group of people

and that group made you feel important as a person
and that your opinion counted. What did it feel like?
Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education
Methodology
• Co-operative inquiry.
• Six inquirers
(participants)
• Multi-disciplinary
approach: social work,
sociology, theology,
chaplaincy, philosophy
and NonViolence (sic).
Figure 1: Co-operative inquiry phases
(Short & Healy, 2017)

Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education

 Theme 1: Humanity and
Personhood
• Disconnection
approach to humanity
versus
• Connection (secular
human rights)
approach to humanity
• Connection (essential
Photo by artist Jan Stead
spirituality) approach
to humanity
Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education
Theme 2: The Importance
of Love for Upholding Personhood
Janice (chaplain and social worker): Every little
positive effort everyone makes to understand [and
love] others, especially people who feel
dehumanised is worthwhile. In prison… A Christian
program made the women attending all
[personalised] placemats. A young woman looked at
[her placemat with her] name and its meaning, all
nicely decorated. Tears flowed. She said ‘often I
have not been called by my name’. She listed the
expletives others often have called her.
Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education
Theme 3: A Person-centred
Approach Transforms Practice
and Field Education
It ensures that the person (i.e., the service user)
is central to any action, is listened to by workers
and students, and has power in the relationship
(Beresford et al., 2011, p. 355).

Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education

Theme 4: A Person Is and Is
Always Becoming a Person
We argue it is important that practitioners and
students do not limit views of personhood to one
feature or isolate people’s personhood to one or a
few stages of life. We argue that all people have
purpose and are interconnected within society and
that personhood is expressed in community.

Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education

Limitations
• Inquiry is small
• Reflects a
discursive moment
in time
• Community of like
minded colleagues
• Does not represent
the full spectrum of Photo by artist Jan Stead
thinking

Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education

Recommendations
• Students on placement access cross-disciplinary
resources about personhood, particularly on the
connected views of personhood.
• Students undertake activities that encourage them
to listen to the voices of people receiving
assistance, observe their lived realities and then
explore these experiences in supervision and
assessment tasks.
• Encourage students to explicitly define
personhood and to develop relevant skills, such
as those embedded in the NonViolent
communication model.
Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education
 Celebrate the inherent
dignity, worth and autonomy
of every person.
(Australian Association of Social Workers, 2010, p.12)

Photo by artist Raymond Howes Photo by artist Jan Stead

Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education
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Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education

 Questions and chat time

Photo by artist Raymond Howes

Monica Short mshort@csu.edu.au Faculty of Arts and Education