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The aim of the WEC is to help teachers, school leaders and policy makers better understand and support the wellbeing and engagement of their students.
The goals of the current study were to identify different trajectories of sadness from Grade 6 to 9 in Australian school students, and to explore the role that social support from school, teachers, friends and families play in supporting students’ mental health.
It has been well established that children's development at school entry is associated with their later academic achievement, but less is known about whether there is also an association with other measures of school success, such as students' social and emotional wellbeing.
The Human Development and Community Wellbeing (HDCW) Team focuses on improving outcomes for children, family, and the community.
Interest in how the school built environment impacts bullying behaviour has gained momentum in recent years. While numerous studies have identified locations within schools where bullying frequently occurs, few studies have investigated the potential conceptual pathways linking school locations to bullying behaviour.
Bullying in schools has been associated with poor academic and mental health outcomes in students. While students are often encouraged to report bullying incidents to school staff, some students avoid reporting incidents as they lack faith in staff members ability to intervene.
Bullying behaviour often increases in late childhood and peaks in early adolescence. While interventions to address bullying behaviour typically encourage students to report bullying incidents to school staff, students are often reluctant to report incidents for fear it will worsen their situation or because they lack confidence in a staff members’ ability to intervene effectively. This study explores school staff responses to student reports of bullying behaviour.
Recognition that schools should be responsive to children who are impacted by adversity and trauma is burgeoning internationally. However, consensus regarding the necessary components of a trauma-informed school is lacking. This research developed expert-informed and internationally relevant best-practice trauma-informed principles for schools.
Mandates provide a relatively cost-effective strategy to increase vaccinate rates. Since 2014, five Australian states have implemented No Jab No Play (NJPlay) policies that require children to be fully immunised to attend early childhood education and childcare services. In Western Australia, where this study was conducted, NJNPlay legislation was enacted in 2019.
Population-level, nationally representative data on the prevalence of minority stressors and traumatic events, mental ill-health effects, and the preventative utility of school climate, among gender and sexuality diverse young people in Australia, is significantly lacking.