A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
When are we most likely to do our best work? New research shows that, on average, our brains work best in the middle of the day – if asked to perform abstract, logical or problem-solving tasks. Monash economist Denni Tommasi and University of Granada economist Alessio Gaggero came to this conclusion after studying 500,000 exam [...]
As educators welcome students safely back to their “primary educational institution”, the COVID-19 pandemic is showing us it’s time to put the spotlight on university students – especially first year aspirational teachers. First-year pre-service teachers who have been studying their “first ever” university course have been learning online since the start of the 2020 year. [...]
Ziggi Ivan Santini, University of Southern Denmark; Paul E. Jose, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Robin Dunbar, University of Oxford, and Vibeke Jenny Koushede, University of Copenhagen We know having friends is generally good for your happiness and mental well-being. Likewise, keeping socially active and engaging in formal social activities like volunteering [...]
Australia is gradually emerging from an unprecedented lockdown, where we continue to face major threats to our health and economy. Schools have acted as shock absorbers during this period, switching in a short period of time to online learning, and supporting children and their families to learn from home while simultaneously attempting to remotely manage [...]
John Munro, Australian Catholic University How can we concentrate on a particular thing (like studies) without getting distracted? Melvina, aged 14 Thanks for this great question, Melvina! Many students are probably wondering the same thing as end-of-year assessments approach. To concentrate best we need to resist distractions. To do this, it helps if you know [...]
Zlatko Skrbis, Australian Catholic University; Jacqueline Laughland-Booy, Australian Catholic University, and Jonathan Smith, Australian Catholic University We have been following more than 2,000 Queenslanders from their adolescence into adulthood. The aim of the Our Lives study is to investigate how young people think about their future and how they master their trajectories in a world [...]
Daniella J. Forster, University of Newcastle As an educational ethicist, I research teachers’ ethical obligations. These can include their personal ethics such as protecting students from harm, respect for justice and truth, and professional norms like social conformity, collegial loyalty and personal well-being. Moral tensions in schools can come about when certain categories of norms [...]
Thea van de Mortel, Griffith University In some Australian states, kids have been back on slides, swings and monkey bars for months. But in Victoria, many families are only now getting back to playgrounds, after they were closed for much of the second lockdown. With lots of kids running around, and parents looking on, how [...]
Jill Newby, UNSW Many Melburnians are joyous at the prospect of a return to socialising, as the city regains some old freedoms this week following significantly eased coronavirus restrictions. Social media is teeming with images of people looking ecstatic about the end of lockdown. But in stark contrast to these images, some people might feel [...]
Umesh Sharma & Fiona May COVID-19 has disrupted education systems on a global scale, creating unexpected challenges. Approximately 1.6 billion children around the world have been unable to attend school due to COVID-19 lockdowns, with schools required to make rapid adjustments in the move to online teaching and learning. The pandemic has increased the educational divide [...]
