Caitlyn Forster, Arisa Hosokawa, Eliza Middleton and Ryan Keith look at encouraging young nature detectives in the backyard! During lockdowns, millions of homes were transformed into mini schools as parents and teachers joined forces to facilitate remote learning. The experience proved education doesn’t only happen in...
When I tell people I’m an environmental psychologist, they often assume that means I am a “tree hugger”, says Kathryn Williams, and they are not entirely wrong. But it really means I spend a lot of time thinking and finding out about people’s relationships with...
There’s more value to pocket money than just the cash, says Mary Pearl. I was having my morning caffeine fix at the local cafe and overheard two young mums discussing pocket money. One wanted her daughter to learn about the real world and how she would...
Sue Thomson reports that almost one in four (23%) Australian year 8 students were being taught maths in 2018 by teachers whose major qualification was in a field other than maths, hitting disadvantaged schools even harder. Internationally, on average, just one in ten year 8 equivalent...
Pat Thomas relives his sort-of musical past when his son brings home his first recorder. A shrill, piercing sound hits me as soon as I open the front door, and the memories come flooding in – my childhood, warm summer days at school, yelling teachers and...
An attentive canine can boost a shy reader’s confidence reports Helen Lewis Since COVID-19 hit British shores, 3.2 million pets have reportedly been purchased. Animals provide a valuable sense of companionship and a wide variety of species, including dogs, cats, fish, birds and horses have helped...
The arrival of two guinea pigs marks the end of Jodie McEwen’s pet procrastination. I’m just not an animal person; love of creatures is not in my nature. My dad tried to pass on his love of animals, so we had rabbits, guinea pigs, fish, birds,...
Starting behind: more than half of young Australian kids living in adversity don't have the skills they need to learn to read, report Sharon Goldfeld, Hannah Bryson, and Jodie Smith Around one in three (36%) Australian children grow up in families experiencing adversity. These include families...
Parents, your kids are watching you, writes Katy Thomas Recently, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Australians the treatment of women is not “of a scale that any government can simply change, it is something we must change as a society”. And as a society, we are in...
We know that quality early childhood education is critical, writes Dr Jan Deans and Professor Collette Tayler but what is actually happening in kindergartens, childcare and homes across Australia? Over five years, dozens of researchers from the University of Melbourne and Queensland University of Technology have...
