Background: As the burden of mental health challenges increases globally, delivering mental health education programmes to at-risk groups is critical. Important factors governing the success of health and wellbeing education include the relationships and connections formed between students and those delivering the education. This article reports…

There are currently very few resources available in New Zealand for teaching mental health education (within the Health and Physical Education learning area). Outside providers are, however, offering different programmes for sale to schools (in areas such as positive psychology, mindfulness, and growth mindset). These tend to be individualistic,…

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning (LGBTQ)+ (rainbow) young people are more likely to volunteer and join activist groups than other young people, and many engage in rainbow activism. Though activism stems from the desire to make the world a better place, it can have negative consequences for people's well-being,…

As part of their kaupapa of catering for the whole child, Pacific Advance Secondary School in Otahuhu has implemented an innovative programme called Tu Tangata to get their talavou physically active. This has led to improvements in mental wellbeing and academic achievements. Tu Tangata is an expression well known to Maori and means "stand…

The current study was a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data collected in New Zealand. Parents (n = 291) of an autistic child completed an online survey that included temporal/demographic questions relating to the parent and child, and parent ratings of the child's core ASD symptoms, their parenting stress, and psychological well-being.…

Every moment counts (EMC) is a multi-tiered mental health promotion initiative designed to build the capacity of practitioners to address the mental health needs of children and youth in school settings. This study evaluated the impact and cultural relevance of EMC workshops in supporting practitioners to apply a public health approach to…

This book is the result of a collaboration between academics at the University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau and teachers in schools. It is an excellent resource for teachers wanting to teach about resilience, mental health, interpersonal skills, and wellbeing. It contains lesson plans designed to enhance learning to enable primary students to…

The acceptability to, and feasibility of, guidance counsellors using YouthCHAT to screen New Zealand secondary school students for mental health issues and risky health behaviours was investigated. Participants were eight guidance counsellors using YouthCHAT in two schools. Over eight months, School A implemented a systematic school-wide screening…

Early childhood teachers enact a relationship-based pedagogy in contexts requiring their consistent emotional labour, not just with children but also with their families. Leaders have additional responsibilities for the wellbeing of teaching teams, meeting the expectations of those in governance roles, and accountabilities to agencies such as the…

Even though distance education from the home environment has seemed comfortable and economic for students with disability in formal higher education during the pandemic, insufficiency in their academic self-efficacy, satisfaction and an increasing tendency to drop out were observed. This quantitative research is based on development of the scales…

Perfectionism has adverse impacts on mental health and academic outcomes. We evaluated a 5-lesson classroom intervention for young adolescents delivered by teachers for impact on perfectionism, well-being, self-compassion, academic motivation and negative affect, at post-intervention and 3-month follow-up. Classes (N = 636 students, M[subscript…

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the complete closure of many university campuses and a rapid shift to complete online delivery of university teaching. Understanding the student experience of online learning under these conditions is important to inform improvements and adaptations to continued online delivery of university services. The aim of…

UNICEF Innocenti's Report Card 17 explores how the 43 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and/or the European Union (EU) countries are faring in providing healthy environments for children. Do children have clean water to drink? Do they have good-quality air to breathe? Are their homes free of lead and mould? How many…

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to widespread adaptations and unprecedented realities in the way teaching and learning in physical education (PE) is currently being implemented and experienced globally. Understanding the similarities and differing realities of some of these experiences across contexts and countries can help to inform…

The Canterbury, New Zealand, earthquake disaster of 2010-2011 had a major impact on children. The present study aims to increase understanding of schools' contributions to children's recovery by examining how this core context fosters children's effective coping in a disaster. The study uses a phenomenological approach to investigate the disaster…