A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Kylie Message, Australian National University More than half of Australia’s universities dropped in global rankings this week. Individual results always bounce around. But this drop, via the Centre for World University Rankings, suggests the decline of Australia’s standing in many global rankings systems is more than a blip. Centre for World University Rankings [...]
Narendar Manohar, Black Dog Institute; Hiroko Fujimoto, Black Dog Institute, and Peter Baldwin, Swinburne University of Technology; UNSW Sydney Many Australian children struggle with their mental health. Recent data shows around one in seven children (13.9%) aged 4–17 experiences a diagnosable mental illness. So what can actually help? Our research shows the most [...]
Erin Harper, University of Sydney and Marianne Fenech, University of Sydney Governments have spent about a year announcing new policies to make early education safer for Australian children. In the wake of reports of shocking abuse and neglect in daycare centres, there have been moves to improve training and screening of educators, as [...]
Linda J. Graham, Queensland University of Technology and Callula Killingly, Queensland University of Technology New data shows 27.2% of Australian students are receiving an adjustment for disability at school. This is up from 25.7% in 2024 and 18% in 2015. An educational adjustment helps students participate on the same basis as their peers [...]
Fotini Vasilopoulos, University of Sydney Pretend play is a significant and often magical part of childhood. Children have huge imaginations and use these to turn rocks into spaceships, tables into forts or pens into fairies. They might pretend to be “mum” or to “cook dinner”. Or they may invent their own characters, worlds [...]
Brendon Hyndman, Charles Sturt University and Vaughan Cruickshank, University of Tasmania For Year 12 students, final exams are getting closer and applications for university and other courses are opening. So naturally, conversations at home and with wider family and friends are turning to what’s going to happen next year. Some young people will [...]
Books and brain development: why reading is much more than a pastime for children and teens Lucía B Palmero Jara, Universitat de València; Eva Mª Rosa Martínez, Universitat de València; Javier Roca, Universitat de València; Marina Pi-Ruano, Universitat de València, and Pilar Tejero Gimeno, Universitat de València While some of us enjoy curling [...]
Are we really programmed to be lazy? Nathalie André, Université de Poitiers For decades, psychology and neuroscience have suggested that if humans and animals naturally try to make as little effort as possible, it is because putting in the effort is not enjoyable. Another possible interpretation: is that it’s not the actual effort that [...]
School hours have barely changed since the 1800s. This doesn’t suit teenagers’ sleep Ken Purnell, CQUniversity Australia This year, students at The King’s School in Sydney are starting lessons later on Wednesdays. The start of the usual day has been pushed back from 8.50am to 9.40am. This is to allow students to do self-directed learning [...]
Margherita Malanchini, Queen Mary University of London Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is arguably the most celebrated child prodigy in history, composing his first pieces of music aged five, his first symphony at eight and his first opera at 11. After a study in 1993 found that listening to Mozart could improve spatial IQ – prompting [...]
