Rate My Professor Jill Hayhurst

Dr. Jill Hayhurst serves as Senior Research Fellow at the Educational Assessment Research Unit (EARU) in the College of Education at the University of Otago. She completed her MSc and PhD in Psychology at the University of Otago from 2011 to 2017. Her career trajectory includes serving as Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant in the Department of Psychology at the University of Otago from 2006 to 2017, Postdoctoral Researcher in the same department from 2017 to 2020, and Lecturer in Human and Community Services at Otago Polytechnic from 2021 to 2023. In her current role, she contributes to the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study, a large-scale independent assessment involving approximately 160 schools and over 6,000 students annually to monitor progress and achievement in education.

Hayhurst's academic interests lie in social, developmental, and positive psychology, focusing on theory of mind, civic engagement, prosocial behaviour, wellbeing, generosity, belonging, resilience, youth development, education assessment, social identity theory, intergroup discrimination, control, and self-esteem. Her expertise spans early childhood development and theory of mind, primary education wellbeing, civic engagement, belonging, and resilience, as well as educational assessment and curriculum. Notable publications include 'Somewhere I Belong: Long-term Increases in Adolescents’ Resilience are Predicted by Perceived Belonging to the In-group' (Scarf et al., 2016), 'Enhancing Resilience in Youth through a 10-Day Developmental Voyage' (Hayhurst et al., 2015), 'Promoting Resilience in Adolescents: A New Social Identity Benefits Those Who Need it Most' (Scarf et al., 2019), 'Increasing Resilience in Adolescents: The Importance of Social Connectedness in Adventure Education Programmes' (Scarf et al., 2017), 'Elevated Self-Esteem 12 Months Following a 10-Day Developmental Voyage' (Hunter et al., 2013), 'Satisfying Psychological Needs on the High Seas: Explaining Increases in Self-Esteem Following an Adventure Education Programme' (Scarf et al., 2018), and 'Exposure to Repeated Behaviors in Everyday Life and Pattern Recognition Ability Predict Preschoolers’ Subsequent Theory of Mind' (Ruffman et al., 2026). Her scholarship, cited over 1,080 times on Google Scholar, advances understanding of interventions like developmental voyages that foster positive youth outcomes and civic values in New Zealand.