A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
By Vasso Apostolopoulos, Victoria University; Athina (Tina) Soulis, The University of Melbourne; Jack Feehan, Victoria University, and Maja Husaric, Victoria University Australian children aged five to 11 could begin receiving the Pfizer vaccine by the end of November, with the nation’s regulator currently reviewing the health and safety data. Pfizer submitted a partial application to [...]
By Andrea Reupert, Kelly-Ann Allen, Emily Berger, Zoe Morris, Dianne Summers, Gerald Wurf and Fiona May School psychologists and counsellors provide a critical service supporting students with learning and emotional needs. During COVID-19 restrictions, they had to change the way they provided this service. Given that there have been seven international health crises over the [...]
By Helen Forbes-Mewett, Associate Professor of Sociology, School of Social Sciences Australian universities are understood to have the highest number of international students per capita worldwide. Their wellbeing is paramount to the higher education sector. Despite the struggles international students face while studying in an unfamiliar environment, there’s a counter-narrative regarding the many associated positives [...]
By Dr Monika Raniti, Dr Ruth Aston and Professor Susan Sawyer The idea of health-promoting schools is not new. Defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), these are schools that are “constantly strengthening their capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working” for all members of the school community. A health-promoting school [...]
By Paul Harpur, The University of Queensland and Peter D. Blanck, Syracuse University Should universities require students to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before attending campus once vaccines are readily available in Australia? Professor Iain Martin, vice-chancellor of Deakin University and former dean of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of [...]
By Associate Professor Clare Newton, Associate Professor Ian McShane, Dr Benjamin Cleveland, Dr Philippa Chandler, Dr Ruth Aston, Professor Janet Clinton and Sarah Backhouse When the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close in 2020, the staff at Doveton College in Melbourne picked up the phone. “Our staff made over 19,000 phone calls during the second [...]
By Rigissa Megalokonomou, The University of Queensland and Sofoklis Goulas, Stanford University Remote learning online has been a common tool in the battle against COVID-19. School and university campus closures have affected over 1.5 billion learners in 165 countries. The reduced need for students to be in their physical classrooms gives them greater autonomy, with [...]
By Naomi Barnes, Queensland University of Technology The central role of schools in the Brisbane COVID-19 outbreak means the virus might move through the community differently from previous outbreaks. Previously, the focus has been on the spread of the virus through the aged care sector and via service workers. People in education systems move and [...]
By Nicole (Nikki) Brunker, University of Sydney Adding to the clamour of argument over whether schools should be open to all during lockdown is confusion in terminology. Using the term “home schooling” to describe schooling during lockdown is disrespectful to both teachers and home schoolers. Home schooling requires parents to seek registration for their child [...]
By Margaret Kristin Merga, Edith Cowan University Parents at a loss to find activities for their children during COVID lockdowns can encourage them to escape into a book. New research shows how reading books can help young people escape from their sources of stress, find role models in characters and develop empathy. Recent media reports have [...]
