First day of school ‘indefinitely postponed’ for millions of children
With the summer break coming to a close, many children – and their parents – will be looking forward to their first day of school. But the continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic mean that...Read more
Promoting health in schools: Old ideas, new opportunities
The idea of health-promoting schools is not new. Defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), these are schools that are “constantly strengthening their capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working” for all...Read more
Children are more than just a return on investment
If you spend just five minutes thinking about young children, how do you see them? Where do you see them? Playing on the playground? Being rocked to sleep? Holding hands with an adult as they...Read more
COVID – Poorest countries’ children have lost nearly four months of schooling
Schoolchildren in low-and lower-middle-income countries have already lost nearly four months of education since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to six weeks of loss in high-income countries, according to a new report. Read more
Taking positive psychology into the classroom
It’s early morning at Heathmont College, a government high school in Melbourne’s sprawling eastern suburbs. Students are not in their individual year groups but spread across the campus in various classrooms, years seven to 12...Read more
Birmingham city to pilot car free school streets
In September the Birmingham City Council will ban vehicles from roads that surround six schools. The roads will be closed for about an hour at the start and end of each school day. The goal...Read more
Schoolchildren helped redesign a city to cut air pollution and climate warming
Air pollution has a particularly damaging effect on children. They’re still growing and breathe faster than adults do. They also live closer to the ground, where the most polluting gases from vehicles accumulate. Pollution from...Read more
Is Indiana using the best method for counting children living in poverty?
Indiana lawmakers are once again considering cuts to the funding that schools receive for students in poverty, saying the number of families in need has been declining as the state’s economy heats up. The federal...Read more
Helping ‘impatient’ students stay in school
Keeping young people in school is a key element in addressing inequality. Completing school is a minimum requirement for many jobs, as well as necessary for getting access to most types of training and university...Read more
A chance to even the odds
A child’s destiny is heavily influenced by the lottery of socio-economic status and where they happen to grow up, but access to quality early learning can help even the odds for all Australian children. Each...Read more
Preschool has enduring benefits for disadvantaged children — and their children, new research finds
It’s not just at-risk children who reap long-term educational and earnings benefits from high-quality preschool programs. It’s also their siblings and their eventual offspring. The potential for preschool to lift multiple generations out of poverty...Read more
Children are our future, and the planet’s. Here’s how you can teach them to take care of it
As the global climate crisis accelerates, early childhood teachers and researchers are considering whether and how to approach the issue with children. Should we talk openly about the crisis and encourage children to change their...Read more
Why early childhood education is everyone’s business
Early childhood education and care has received significant attention during the 2019 election campaign, due mainly to major Australian Labor Party announcements about funded three-year-old preschool for all children and a $4 billion overhaul of...Read more
An alternative to the traditional playground in Chicago
Jessica Fong experienced her lightbulb moment one day when she was taking her Spry Elementary School preschool students to play at a nature park near the Little Village school. The park, which is called Jardincito,...Read more