Background: Schools are increasingly recognized as key facilitators of child and youth well-being. Much attention has been directed to the school social environment and the areas of school climate or school connectedness/identification. Drawing on the social identity approach and related work, it has been argued that school social identification…

An approach to action research of innovative and disruptive socioecological understandings of young people's wellbeing, resilience, and engagement in middle school was piloted with a coalition of school principals, lead teachers, police, and community development professionals by an RMIT research team. This coalition was built around the…

This scoping review explores the role of school leadership in the improvement of teacher well-being by utilizing the Locus of Control (LOC) Framework identified by psychologist Julian Rotter in 1954. The internal and external environments impacting teacher well-being were explored, and the specific responsibilities of school leadership were…

Sessional academic staff form most of the teaching staff cohort in Australian universities. The available literature supports that this important staff cohort often experience precarious and insecure work, restricted access to training, support and development, and limited opportunities for career progression (compared to their colleagues in…

Playwork is a recognised profession in the United Kingdom (UK) and is currently a growing area of interest internationally. However, debates about the nature and purpose of playwork have raged in the playwork field since the profession was invented in the early adventure playgrounds. This study is the first to capture data about what the now…

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruption to education and highlighted the importance of effective leadership during times of crisis. This paper considers the impact of the pandemic on school leaders in Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand. A secondary analysis of data from five interpretivist, qualitative studies was conducted. The aim of the…

University employees experience high levels of workplace stress, with the perception that it is increasing, due to less autonomy, increased student numbers, excessive administrative work and role ambiguity. This study is part of a larger evaluation of the effectiveness of a Mindfulness, Self-Care and Resiliency (MSCR) program to improve the…

The childcare setting is a critical environment to observe, and also influence, children's mental wellbeing. However, little research has examined the experiences and ability of Australian family day care (FDC) educators in supporting children's mental wellbeing. The present study aimed to explore how training, COVID-19, and partnerships influence…

While researchers broadly agree on what enables and constrains teacher professional learning, reconfigured large teaching spaces potentially create new processes and content for this learning. In this paper we draw on six years of study of teacher adaptation to these settings in 10 schools in regional Australia to identify the nature of, and key…

Workplace bullying in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector is a pervasive and significant issue in Australia and globally. Workplace bullying can negatively impact early childhood professionals' mental health, contributing to staff turnover and attrition. Given the current, and predicted, future shortages of ECEC staff, it is…

The aim was to explore the literature for instruments that assess school well-being, identifying their design features and construct appropriateness. A systematic review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020, and the PICO strategy to formulate the research questions. Fifty-two…

Purpose: The Mentally Healthy Schools Framework (MHSF), based on the population-wide Act-Belong-Commit mental health promotion campaign, is a whole-school approach primarily targeting student mental health, but it is also intended for staff. This paper presents the results of an impact survey on staff after the implementation of the Framework in a…

The well-being and mental health of principals is being threatened by changing working conditions such as a broader variety of roles and tasks. In this article, we argue that social capital might buffer against declining (mental) health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential influence of social capital, including both internal…

This paper examines principals' perceptions of school autonomy and leadership as part of a 3-year research project looking at the implications of school autonomy on social justice across four states of Australia (Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland). Drawing on interviews with principals and representatives from principal…

Early childhood educators are key to delivering early childhood education and care (ECEC) for the benefit of children, their families and society alike. For the benefits of ECEC to be realised, however, the educators who deliver these services need to be well. Despite growing attention to attracting and retaining a high-quality early childhood…