What we know about our children after 2021

By Associate Professor Hernan Cuervo, Dr Annie Gowing, Dr Yong Zhao and Professor Jim Watterston
Community contribution / January 20, 2022

In 2021, families across the nation and around the world endured a second year of interrupted schooling, with the associated challenges of home-learning, working from home and isolation from the support networks of extended family and friends.

For our youngest learners the proportion of their lives spent living in a pandemic is very large, and we don’t ...

Teacher Librarian (0.600FTE) - Granville East Public School

Granville East Public School Granville

Teaching - Primary / Apr 22, 2026

School Counsellor - Red Hill Public School

NSW Department of Education Sydney NSW

Teaching - Primary / Apr 22, 2026

Teacher Agriculture - Rutherford Technology High School

Rutherford Technology High School Rutherford

Teaching - Secondary / Apr 22, 2026

School news / Consumption gumption: schools’ new push to get kids eating more vegetables

Nutritional intake by children in Australia is well short of where it needs to be, with 96 per cent failing to eat enough vegetables and more than 40 per cent of their daily energy intake often coming from unhealthy “discretionary” foods, but a ma...

Community / WHAT MATTERS to young Australians in 2026? A national What Matters? Writing Competition helps young students to find their voice!

In classrooms across the country, the most powerful moments often begin quietly. A question. A pause. A student finding the words to say something that matters to them.

School news / Sweet Swahili: award-winner promoting community harmony and social cohesion

You might not know it, but you can speak a tiny bit of Swahili. Who doesn’t know the words ‘Hakuna Matata’, from Disney’s 1994 animated feature film The Lion King?

Community / Five classroom strategies to help build calm in a chaotic world

Hasn’t the world seen more than its fair share of upheaval in recent weeks?

School news / Priced out: ‘Key worker housing’ for NSW teachers could save the profession

A housing affordability crisis is derailing Australia’s efforts to tackle chronic teacher shortages and poses a significant threat to the future of the profession, with researchers warning that median house prices in Sydney are now more than 13 ti...

School news / Ex-teacher appointed as first Minister for Men and Boys, experts urge for schools focus

Tackling the harmful influence of the manosphere will the main goal of Victoria’s new Minister for Men and Boys – an Australian-first portfolio that has been broadly welcomed by experts who say a close focus on schools should be the priority.

School news / ‘A mystifying position’: AERO CEO calls out critics of explicit instruction

A cohort of ideologically-driven academics opposed to the idea that evidence should inform teachers’ practice pose a threat to the progress Australian schools have made over the last five years, AERO’s CEO has warned.

School news / Burning below the surface: Australia’s high schools far from sun smart

When it comes to sun safety and skin care Australia’s high schools are worryingly uninterested and hopelessly ill-equipped when it comes to actively teaching sun safety and skin care.

School news / Single school mental health checks may miss students in need: new research

Schools relying on one-off wellbeing surveys may be overlooking students who need mental health support, new research suggests.

Opinion / Teachers ought to be better protected from violent and abusive students

As a University Liaison, I was visiting a young student teacher on her first placement. She revealed that while she was on yard duty she had been kicked and spat upon by a boy in Prep. I was shocked on two counts!

What we know about our children after 2021

Comments

EducationID

Our services

Ad centre