Society & Culture

Students Driving Wellbeing In One School

It’s interesting isn’t it? We often talk about approaches to student wellbeing in school, without ever really chatting to students themselves. Indeed I’ve spoken to many students in schools all over Australia, and whilst they are aware of phrases like resilience, social & emotional learning and/or wellbeing, not too many can actually articulate what those [...]

Weighed down by excess worry

A survey by the Dietitians Association of Australia reveals 42 per cent of young women are resolved to lose weight this year. Nothing new here. They had the same resolution last year. Around the developed world, the situation is the same. One study found 95 per cent of 16- to 21-year-olds in Britain want to [...]

Empowering The Student Voice

I recently heard Student Voice being described as the ‘latest trendy term in education.’ That may be so, but I’d argue it’s a pretty important concept to understand if we are serious about reaching every kid. Research indicates that disengagement from school rises with age, to the point that nearly half the kids sitting in [...]

Racial Discrimination Act changes will hit vulnerable

Australian of the Year and AFL star Adam Goodes has slammed the Abbott government's proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act, claiming they attacked the most vulnerable Australians. The Sydney Swans veteran said the changes were unnecessary - ''I don't see that the system is broken'' - and thought the freedom of speech guaranteed in [...]

Turn back the bogans-Australians at their worst in Bali

How come we spend billions of taxpayer funds each year preventing what may well include some perfectly decent people from entering our country when, on an annual basis, we inflict hundreds of thousands of our most egregious citizens on a poor old place like Bali? Forget about "stop the boats'. It's time, please, to "turn [...]

Private Schools And Their Moral Failings

Not every private school kid emerges as a Ja’mie, a Danny, nor any of the other bitches and bullies portrayed in these fictions. But these fictions tell a certain truth: there’s much more to education than what’s taught in the classroom. If public schools are values-neutral, as John Howard (who attended one) famously suggested, private [...]

Commissioner Opens Generation Next Seminar To Support Youth

On Friday 30 May, NSW Mental Health Commissioner, John Feneley addressed teachers, nurses, social workers, police and mental health professionals as he officially opened the Sydney Generation Next seminar. Held at the Sydney Town Hall, the Generation Next seminar saw more than 1000 professionals from across multiple disciplines come together to learn how to support [...]

Casual Marijuana Use Linked To Brain Abnormalities In Students

Young adults who used marijuana only recreationally showed significant abnormalities in two key brain regions that are important in emotion and motivation, scientists report. The study was a collaboration between Northwestern Medicine and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. This is the first study to show casual use of marijuana is related to major brain changes. [...]

Bullying Also Affects Popular Kids

Most of us science nerds vividly remember episodes of bullying that took place throughout our childhood, but a new study has found that the popular kids are victimized by bullies too. In fact, the study, published in the American Sociological Review, found that becoming more popular actually raises the risk of getting bullied. “Most people [...]

Hopefully, Literally, Begs The Question: The Three Most Annoying Misuses In English

Atrocities in English are committed every day. Here are three of the worst. You may be surprised, but hopefully you won’t literally explode with anger. When we talk of words, even if we don’t know it, we tend to divide ourselves into two schools of thought - the descriptivists and the prescriptivists. Prescriptivists tend to [...]

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