Education and Wellbeing Q&A Promotion
On Wednesday 14th November at 7pm AEDT (6pm in Brisbane, 4pm in Perth & 8am in London) PLANE will be hosting a live online Q&A webinar addressing a range of issues around education and wellbeing. I will be on the panel taking questions alongside 2009 Young Australian of the Year for Tasmania Sam Cawthorn, Daily [...]
Tips for ensuring good mental health in children
25% of people with a mental disorder experience their first episode before they are 12 years old.* The Australian Medical Association (AMA) Vice President, Professor Geoffrey Dobb, said that “Good mental health is vital to our wellbeing - it allows us to think and learn and interact meaningfully with others.” The main influences on a [...]
The Virtuous Cycle
(Genuine) Engagement & Wellbeing enhance achievement, yet how many schools pursue achievement at the expense of engagement and wellbeing? The following is an extract from my recently published manifesto, “Still Trying to Find X”. It is essential that we create a Virtuous Cycle for all students in our schools. The Virtuous Cycle relies on having positive relationships at its heart or [...]
Tips to give teenagers on low risk drinking
90% of students have tried alcohol by the age of 14* With schoolies week fast approaching and the planning of wild parties to celebrate the end of exams well underway, it is a good time for parents and carers to remind young people about low risk drinking. It is important for young people to always [...]
Wellbeing or Education? It begins with belief
Dan Haesler asks which should come first, wellbeing or education? This is a no brainer - and possibly the wrong question altogether! The national and international evidence is quite clear: though we have yet to persuade all school principals across Australia - and probably most politicians - to believe the evidence. It is unequivocal that [...]
The Five Hallmarks of Highly Respected Achievers
What are the characteristics that describe highly driven, achievement-oriented people who are also among the most well-respected in any organization? We all know people who are highly driven but think nothing of running others over along the way. And, we know examples of people who are respected but stagnant. Highly respected achievers manage to balance these [...]
Obsessing over happiness has adverse effects
An obsession with happiness is having an adverse effect for those who seek it, experts say. Over the last 30 years, the pursuit of happiness has come to define the ultimate modern goal. Yet a new study shows levels of expectation about happiness are unreasonable and set young people up for failure. Researchers at Yale [...]
Wellbeing or Education – which should come first?
We all know the general message that "Student wellbeing is important as it impacts on their ability to learn and achieve." But just as wellbeing affects education, I believe it is crucially important to understand how education affects wellbeing. How we educate our students can have a direct impact on their wellbeing - and ours! It's [...]
Top model: 10 tips on how to be a teen role model
No matter what young people might say; parents and care givers are still the most influential role models in their lives. Children learn how to behave from the people closest to them. This includes how they deal with their emotions and cope with stress and anger and how they relate to others socially. It also [...]