Parents as Partners: Getting children off to a healthy start in literacy. Our nation is best served by children getting off to a healthy start in literacy. However, almost one in six children fails to do so. This group has reduced academic and vocational options, increased social, emotional and mental health problems, higher youth unemployment, and is significantly over-represented among offenders. The nation bears the costs of these problems through reduced productivity and expenditure on unemp ....Parents as Partners: Getting children off to a healthy start in literacy. Our nation is best served by children getting off to a healthy start in literacy. However, almost one in six children fails to do so. This group has reduced academic and vocational options, increased social, emotional and mental health problems, higher youth unemployment, and is significantly over-represented among offenders. The nation bears the costs of these problems through reduced productivity and expenditure on unemployment benefits, social programs, mental health services, and incarceration. This project targets both these sources of loss to the nation by utilising a hitherto untapped community resource: Training parents of preschoolers to develop critical pre-literacy skills in their children at home before they begin to fail. Read moreRead less
Reducing self-harm and suicidal behaviours in young people in WA. Aims: reduce self-harm and suicidal behaviours in young people by upskilling teachers and providing resources to respond rapidly to students at risk via an innovative intervention with near real-time measures of changes in vulnerability.
Significance: self-harm and suicidal behaviours are increasing at alarming rates in young people. Schools are ideally placed to respond but many struggle to do so. New regular measures and advance ....Reducing self-harm and suicidal behaviours in young people in WA. Aims: reduce self-harm and suicidal behaviours in young people by upskilling teachers and providing resources to respond rapidly to students at risk via an innovative intervention with near real-time measures of changes in vulnerability.
Significance: self-harm and suicidal behaviours are increasing at alarming rates in young people. Schools are ideally placed to respond but many struggle to do so. New regular measures and advanced machine learning algorithms measuring change in risk in real time will enable schools to respond in a timely and effective manner
and save lives.
Expected outcomes: a new intervention to reduce self-harm and suicidal behaviours in young people that measures fluctuations in risk via a Temporal Vulnerability Index.Read moreRead less
Enhancing adolescent mental health through positive education. Positive education is a preventative, strengths-based approach to address the mental health needs of young people in schools. This project will use innovative methods to examine the contribution of positive education to adolescent mental health, and to social and learning outcomes; and will also guide effective and widespread dissemination of positive education, more generally.
Measuring and modelling the childhood determinants of human capital formation and human capability expansion. This project aims to address significant gaps in the data infrastructure needed to advance Australian's current human capital reform agenda. It will draw on existing population and longitudinal datasets and collect specific community and family data to analyse how the social, economic and ecological contexts of child development enable life-course outcomes in health and human capability ....Measuring and modelling the childhood determinants of human capital formation and human capability expansion. This project aims to address significant gaps in the data infrastructure needed to advance Australian's current human capital reform agenda. It will draw on existing population and longitudinal datasets and collect specific community and family data to analyse how the social, economic and ecological contexts of child development enable life-course outcomes in health and human capability. Existing human capital measures will be refined to develop data standards to support the monitoring of the reform agenda. New modelling techniques to predict patterns of economic, civic and social participation in individuals and populations will also be developed and tested.Read moreRead less
Protect, prepare and engage: Does extracurricular activity participation offer sustained benefits for youth? Organized extracurricular activities such as sport and music have the potential to promote healthy development and to reduce the levels of risk behaviours in teenagers. However, current research evidence, often based on middle-class youth in the US, is inadequate for making policy recommendations for improvement to the after-school lives of Australian youth. This study will offer insight ....Protect, prepare and engage: Does extracurricular activity participation offer sustained benefits for youth? Organized extracurricular activities such as sport and music have the potential to promote healthy development and to reduce the levels of risk behaviours in teenagers. However, current research evidence, often based on middle-class youth in the US, is inadequate for making policy recommendations for improvement to the after-school lives of Australian youth. This study will offer insight into the long-term benefits of making a diverse selection of organised activities available to Australian teenagers, and will improve our understanding of which aspects of participation are most likely to enhance their social and educational opportunities.Read moreRead less
The role of extracurricular activity participation in promoting healthy development of Australian youth. Organized extracurricular activities such as sport and art have the potential for promoting healthy development and reducing the risks faced by teenagers. However, current research evidence, often based on middle-class youth in the US, is inadequate for making policy recommendations for improvement to the after-school lives of Australian youth. This study will offer insight into the importanc ....The role of extracurricular activity participation in promoting healthy development of Australian youth. Organized extracurricular activities such as sport and art have the potential for promoting healthy development and reducing the risks faced by teenagers. However, current research evidence, often based on middle-class youth in the US, is inadequate for making policy recommendations for improvement to the after-school lives of Australian youth. This study will offer insight into the importance of making a diverse selection of organized activities available to Australian teenagers, and will improve our understanding of which aspects of participation are most likely to enhance their social and educational opportunities.Read moreRead less
Executive functioning, gender, age and medication as predictors of developmental well-being among students with ADHD. This study constructs social-cognitive phenotypes of ADHD, evaluates mental health and investigates ADHD student perceptions of classroom environment and achievement in science as functions of executive functioning, gender, age and medication. The effect of standard psychostimulant intervention and a novel nonpsychostimulant option on executive function, developmental and educati ....Executive functioning, gender, age and medication as predictors of developmental well-being among students with ADHD. This study constructs social-cognitive phenotypes of ADHD, evaluates mental health and investigates ADHD student perceptions of classroom environment and achievement in science as functions of executive functioning, gender, age and medication. The effect of standard psychostimulant intervention and a novel nonpsychostimulant option on executive function, developmental and educational outcomes will be investigated. The expected outcomes will inform more effective teacher professional development, and reduce school problems associated with psychostimulant medication and its illicit distribution by students. The linkage of health and education partners meets a nationally identified need for more effective collaboration to improve education outcomes for ADHD students.Read moreRead less
A legally-informed intervention for schools to prevent and intervene in cases of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a growing problem for young people as well as amongst adults in the workplace. This project will develop and trial a legally-informed intervention which will be delivered by young people in order to increase student, parent and teacher knowledge of the law to prevent and manage cyberbullying incidents.
From child learner to adult musician: Factors leading to success and ongoing participation in music. Building on recommendations from the Commonwealth Government's National Review of School Music Education (2005), this project seeks to clarify the factors that facilitate engagement in music. Building on data collected 10 years ago, the proposed follow up study will enable us to trace how Australian education in the form of school instrumental programs influence musical development, interest and ....From child learner to adult musician: Factors leading to success and ongoing participation in music. Building on recommendations from the Commonwealth Government's National Review of School Music Education (2005), this project seeks to clarify the factors that facilitate engagement in music. Building on data collected 10 years ago, the proposed follow up study will enable us to trace how Australian education in the form of school instrumental programs influence musical development, interest and attainment from childhood through to early adulthood. With this information, the study will enable us to identify how Australian education can be developed to facilitate the life-long enjoyment that artistic appreciation and participation can offer as a result of school music. Read moreRead less