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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 international playwork workforce understands to be the purpose of playwork. The International Playwork Census (IPC) was an online survey which asked participants from 19 different countries about their knowledge and experience of playwork. This paper reports on one question from the IPC: what is the purpose of playwork? A thematic analysis was undertaken from 193 responses on what was considered "the purpose of playwork" and three themes emerged: Facilitate and Provide for children's play; Support and Advocate. This paper describes how these three themes reflect both the historical change in understandings of the purpose of playwork and how different understandings of playwork are developed through the experience of practitioners working in range of different contexts.

Objective: This study examined the inter-rater agreement between child-self and parental proxy health-related quality of life (HRQoL) ratings (overall and domain level) using two different generic child-specific measures, the Child Health Utility 9D (CHU9D) and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL TM ), in a community-based sample of Australian children. A secondary objective was to investigate the impact of age on child-parent agreement across the dimensions of the two measures., Methods: A total of 85 child-parent dyads (children aged 6-12 years) recruited from the community completed the self and proxy versions of the CHU9D and the PedsQL TM , respectively. The inter-rater agreement was estimated using Concordance Correlation Coefficients (CCC) and Gwet's Agreement Coefficient (AC 1 ) for the overall sample and across age-groups., Results: Agreement was low for overall HRQoL for both the CHU9D (CCC = 0.28) and the PedsQL TM (CCC = 0.39). Across the CHU9D dimensions, agreement was the highest for 'sad' (AC 1 = 0.83) and lowest for 'tired' (AC 1 = 0.31). The PedsQL TM demonstrated stronger agreement (AC 1 = 0.41-0.6) for the physical health dimension but weaker for the psychosocial dimensions (AC 1 < 0.4). Except for the 'tired' dimension, agreement was consistent across age-groups with the CHU9D, whilst the PedsQL TM showed poor agreement for most of the psychosocial health items among the older age-groups only (8-10 and 11-12 years)., Conclusion: This study highlights that the agreement between child and parent proxy reported HRQoL may be influenced by both the measure used and the age of the child. These findings may have implications for the economic evaluation of healthcare interventions and services in child populations when both child and proxy perspectives are considered in the assessment of child HRQoL., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

This paper explores schools' new role in promoting children's mental health, as a key focus for policy makers across the global north. An education policy analysis is conducted for England and Australia, two nations advocating a 'bottom-up' approach to mental health promotion, granting flexibility to schools and municipal authorities. Here it is argued that a common policy lexicon is evident where key concepts--wellbeing, resilience, character--are constructed on taken-for-granted assumptions. These are argued to be limited by an emphasis upon the individual constituents of mental health, which is contrasted against a broader conception of wellbeing, evident in recent non-governmental international policy. Empirical data is then presented from two separate studies in England and Australia, where young peoples' perspectives are used to arbitrate the efficacy of the policy construction of wellbeing, in canvassing a relational and social identity approach as a viable alternative. Both studies privilege the voices of young people on wellbeing and identity, with findings from England highlighting that the dominant schooling narrative of resilience perceived by students, misses the ontological and social dimensions of their wellbeing. Research with Indigenous young people in Australia is then evaluated for the affordances generated by identity building and affirming programmes in schools. Notwithstanding cultural differences, common aspects were evident across both datasets, revealing the centrality to young people of self-authenticity, relatedness, and connectedness to nature, as key to their wellbeing. The paper concludes in advancing a set of principles to underpin a relational and social identity approach to schools' wellbeing promotion strategy.

Otitis Media (OM) is an important global issue that can have a long-lasting impact on a child's life. There is no easy fix! For a family who has a child with OM, the ramifications can be short term and have minimal consequences, or they can be very complex and involve medical, educational, behavioural and wellbeing issues, and may even be life-threatening. Navigating diagnosis and then the combinations of interventions in all areas is just the start of a very daunting journey. As a preventable disease, we have the opportunity to make a difference. This paper presents the development and implementation of the Hear our Heart Ear Bus Project (HoHEBP) within a regional city in western New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The HoHEBP supports families of Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous children with OM through a transdisciplinary approach incorporating health and education, in partnership with families and communities to ensure the best possible outcomes for children and young people. We present how the HoHEBP provides a unique vehicle for change in the way we approach OM as a transdisciplinary team. Longitudinal data from 2014 to 2019 shows that numbers of children and young people being tested and diagnosed with OM, and referred to medical and educational specialists through the HoHEBP have increased, with over one third identifying as Indigenous (in this paper Indigenous is used respectfully to refer to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples).

We evaluate the role of behavioral attributes in predicting engagement in an intervention program. Distinct from the previous studies, we investigate how parental preferences influence their engagement behavior in a health program when the targeted outcomes relate to the health of their children, as opposed to their own. We use an artifactual field experiment where the participants were former parent enrollees in a child health management program in Australia. Our findings suggest that parents' time preference and risk tolerance are robust predictors of engagement, measured by program attendance. Attendance is positively associated with patience and risk tolerance in the health domain, after controlling for a host of personality traits and socioeconomic factors. By improving our understanding of the behavioral risk factors for attrition, these findings offer important insights for enhancing participant engagement in intervention programs that are beset with the problem of high attrition., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: Patient-reported outcomes of health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) are important descriptors of population health. A recent Australian adolescent population survey provided a unique opportunity to derive preference-based HRQoL., Methods: Data from 2967 adolescents aged 11-17 years were analysed. An interviewer-led parent/carer questionnaire was administered for demographic variables and mental disorders of adolescents during previous 12 months using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. A self-report survey was administered to derive HRQoL using the child health utility nine-dimensions instrument (CHU-9D). Weighted HRQoL was derived for several demographic groups, mental disorder diagnosis, and youth risk behaviours., Results: The total population had a mean utility of 0.78 [standard deviation (SD): 0.20]. Males had a significantly higher mean utility (0.81, SD 0.18) than females (0.76, SD: 0.21) (Cohen's d = 0.23, p < 0.001), and utility decreased with age for both males and females (p < 0.001). Family type and some parent/carer variables were associated with significant lower HRQoL scores with small effect size. Youth risk behaviours were associated with reduced HRQoL with moderate effect sizes. Adolescents who self-harmed, had suicidal ideation, or had a mental disorder had significantly lower utilities scores with moderate to large effect sizes compared to those who did not have such conditions., Conclusions: This study has provided contemporary Australian population norms for HRQoL in adolescents that may be used as cross comparison between studies as well as indicators allowing estimation of population health (e.g. estimation of the burden of disease) and can be used to populate future economic models., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Over the past decade the issue of food and in particular, food consumed within schools has come to encapsulate a broad range of concerns regarding children and young people's health and wellbeing. In Australia, the UK and more recently the USA, attempts to ameliorate a range of public health concerns have provided the impetus for an unprecedented proliferation of school food initiatives and legislative reforms governing the types of foods that may or may not be provided within schools. While academic enquiry in this area has largely focussed upon attempts to govern children, recent initiatives in the UK and Australia have begun to target parents in their attempts to promote healthy food practices. In this paper we interrogate the ways in which parents, or more specifically, mothers are positioned in relation to school food discourses in Australia and in the UK and suggest that school food has become a site through which an array of pedagogical opportunities are opened up to invoke particular subject positions premised on normative views of affective middle class motherhood. In short, we seek to explore the means through which mothers come to be regarded as legitimate targets of school food pedagogy. The paper draws on empirical data from Australia and the UK to compare a range of pedagogic techniques employed in the two countries. Drawing on governmentality studies we explore how school food pedagogies seek to regulate mothers and their children's food related choices. We consider school lunches and the various techniques that have been deployed in both countries to consider the moralising work that takes place around food and motherhood. (Contains 1 figure and 1 footnote.)

Responding to the social, relational and emotional needs of school students is now squarely within the purview of schools, teachers and school support staff. The everyday work of teachers may involve grappling with student disengagement, especially in regards to students who have experienced past trauma. It is a problem that presents ongoing challenges for educators and school policy-makers seeking to work out how to respond to student disengagement through social and emotional learning. This research aims to identify the skills and knowledge that are foundational to supporting and engaging students at educational risk in social and emotional learning. Using a phenomenographic research methodology, interviews were conducted with experienced teachers who specialise in the areas of engagement, behaviour and social-emotional learning. This research identified nine domains of engagement, and presents these as a conceptual framework that can guide where and how staff in schools can intervene with modifications that will positively impact students' lives. The paper outlines a framework to help teachers and other school staff to plan and implement a responsive and dynamic approach to social and emotional learning, which can support improved immediate, short-term and long-term, health and well-being outcomes for students.

Ear infection or otitis media (OM) occurs in many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children at a young age and tends to persist over a long period of time. Chronic OM is associated with conductive hearing loss that reduces a child's access to sounds. This can have a negative impact on development of listening and communication skills. Primary health and early childhood workers are best positioned to detect children with hearing and listening problems. However, they lack appropriate tools to screen and triage young children for early referral. By using a co-design approach with Aboriginal primary health workers and early childhood teachers, we have developed the Parents' Evaluation of Listening and Understanding Measure (PLUM) listening skills questionnaire. The PLUM provides a systematic framework for front-line workers to explore a parent's observations of their child's listening behaviour in everyday situations to detect hearing and listening problems in young Aboriginal children. This paper reports the development of the scale. PLUM scores for 438 children from urban, regional and remote communities in Australia were collected. The internal consistency reliability was 0.87. Normative data from 235 children with normal hearing (hearing thresholds averaged between 0.5 and 4 kHz in the better ear to be no greater than 20 dB HL) were used to define the relationship between PLUM scores and age. The functions allow performance of individual children to be related to their normal-hearing peers.

The majority of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter referred to as "Aboriginal") people live in urban centres. Otitis media (OM) occurs at a younger age, prevalence is higher and hearing loss and other serious complications are more common in Aboriginal than non-Aboriginal children. Despite this, data on the burden of OM and hearing loss in urban Aboriginal children are limited. This project was initiated following a request from urban Aboriginal people who felt the focus on more remote communities often meant urban communities were forgotten. This paper describes the development of an urban Aboriginal birth cohort study of OM that is culturally secure, outlines the process of community consultation and establishment of an Aboriginal Community Advisory Group to provide cultural governance, and presents preliminary results. "Djaalinj Waakinj" is an ongoing study being conducted in Perth, Western Australia, on Noongar "Boodja" (country). Aboriginal researchers visit people's homes to collect sociodemographic and environmental data at enrolment of babies aged <3 months; otoscopy and tympanometry are conducted by an Aboriginal research assistant or a nurse at ages 2-4, 6-8 and 12-18 months, and full audiological assessment conducted at 9-12 months. To date, 125 participants have been enrolled; 39% of 71 children aged 2-4 months and 52% of 44 children aged 6-8 months had evidence of OM. To our knowledge, this is the first prospective cohort study aiming to determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with OM in Aboriginal infants residing in an urban area.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore relationships between students' self-reported mental health and their perspectives about life at school in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. Design/methodology/approach: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and a purpose designed Living and Learning at School Questionnaire (LLSQ) were administered to 1,715 early adolescents in school Years 7-9. Correspondence analysis, which is a perceptual mapping technique available in SPSS, was used to examine relationships between students' SDQ subscale scores (Emotional Symptoms, Hyperactivity, Conduct Problems, Pro-social Skills) and the LLSQ subscale scores (Motivation, Learning Strategies, Coping with Schoolwork, Bullying, Numbers of Friends, Safety at School and Teacher Intervention in Bullying Events). Findings: The correspondence analysis produced a two-dimensional visual display (a perceptual map) showing that students' abnormal, borderline and normal SDQ subscale scores were closely related to their low, medium and high LLSQ subscale scores, respectively. A clear Dimension (factor) emerged, showing a progression from mental health difficulties to strengths, in close association with students' reports about their school experiences. Research limitations/implications: Caution should be exercised when using the results to interpret events in other contexts. The limitations of self-report methods must be considered. Practical implications: The two-dimensional visual display provides a powerful tool for dissemination of the findings of this study about students' perspectives to system-level and school-based personnel. This can inform the selection of intervention programs, such as strategies for self-regulation of emotions and learning behaviours, fostering friendships, and supporting academic achievement, that are related to positive mental health. Social implications: This paper can inform school-level policies and practices, such as those relating to professional development to support teachers' and students' capabilities (e.g. to manage and prevent bullying) and thus influence the nature of the school experiences that shape students' perceptions. Originality/value: This paper adds students' perspectives to the emerging field concerned with designing programs for mental health promotion in schools.

While grappling with their traditional core business of imbuing students with official curricular knowledge, schools have simultaneously, increasing demands to take on health promotion responsibilities. This paper examines the mandated implementation of the Eat Well Be Active (EWBA) Action Plan and its subsidiary "Smart" policies in schools in the state of Queensland, Australia. Within the context of health promotion, the interaction between the health and education policy interfaces was explored. In particular, we paid close attention to the responses of the schools and their staff to the convergence of various health policies within their institutions. Drawing on Bernstein's concept of field, this paper reports our analyses of responses within the reproduction field to the imperatives of the Smart policies. The results suggest that there exists a disjunction between the recontextualising and reproduction fields in terms of the EWBA policy intent and implementation.

This paper reports on mixed methods research that was part of a larger investigation into the impact of an inclusive, physical activity intervention programme on a broad range of variables including children's enjoyment of, and participation in physical activity, self-perceptions, physical self-efficacy and how this influenced their overall social-emotional health and well-being. A six-month intervention programme based on Traditional Indigenous Games (TIG) was conducted in a total of five schools with 235 children and their seven teachers, in Queensland, Australia. Student reflective surveys used a four-point Likert scale to collect quantitative data relating to enjoyment and inclusion, perceptions of ability and physical self-efficacy. Qualitative data were also obtained through teachers' anecdotal notes and post-intervention semi-structured interviews. Statistically significant differences across time were found for student enjoyment, inclusion, perceptions and physical self-efficacy and were supported by the teacher's qualitative data. Improvements in students' physical self-efficacy through inclusive physical activity occurred as a result of the positive experiences created by the TIG intervention programme. This study demonstrates the huge potential for the inclusive and cooperative approach foregrounded in TIG, to support the development of inclusive physical activity in schools which enhances physical self-efficacy and promotes the social-emotional health and well-being of children.

This paper critically analyzes a community collaborative approach for implementing Health and Physical Education (HPE) lessons within Gippsland primary schools (Victoria, Australia). The rural community collaborations reflected upon are embedded within the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) "School Centres for Teaching Excellence" (SCTE) initiative and are timely with the current curriculum reform in Health and Physical Education. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on and share the experiential learning offered where the curriculum is relevant, engaging, contemporary, physically active, enjoyable and developmentally appropriate for all stakeholders; namely university pre-service teachers, primary school children and primary teachers. It is envisaged that through sharing the various dynamics involved in a SCTE program, educators may benefit and subsequently consider the suitability and possibility of establishing similar collaborations within their context.

Monash University (Gippsland campus) is situated in Churchill, Latrobe Valley, located in central Gippsland, eastern Victoria. A large percentage of the Gippsland region comprises of a socio-economically disadvantaged population (Figure 1). In Semester One, 2011 as part of the Bachelor of Primary Education course at Monash, it was decided that a pathway be created to achieve these national ideals and goals through the implementation of swimming and water safety education in Primary schools. Swimming and water safety education represents the specific curriculum to be implemented in rural schools, it is representative of any aspect of the curriculum to be delivered. This paper comprises a narrative memoir by the author of his involvement in the pathway and subsequently the paper sheds light on the barriers, benefits and strategies for implementing such policies in practice. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

There is an increasing support from international organizations and the research community for stepping beyond infant or child mortality as the most common child level social indicator and progressing towards an international measure of child development. The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a teacher-completed measure of children's developmental health at school entry, which to date has been used in more than a dozen countries. The EDI includes five developmental domains (Physical Health and Well-being, Social Competence, Emotional Maturity, Language and Cognitive Development and Communication Skills and General Knowledge) and 16 subdomains. This paper examines the EDI's psychometric properties in four English-speaking countries (Canada, Australia, United States and Jamaica) by evaluating both the internal consistency and factor structures, as well as exploring the association between the EDI's Language and Cognitive Development Domain and a direct assessment of children's receptive vocabulary (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, PPVT). Overall, the factor loadings and internal consistencies of domains and subdomains were similar across the countries. The comparisons of the Language and Cognitive Development Domain with the PPVT showed high specificity and low sensitivity. The results of this paper indicate that the EDI, a measure of children's developmental status at school entry, demonstrates similar psychometric properties in a number of countries, thus building the evidence for the instrument to be added to the limited array of internationally comparable child social indicators.

The complexities associated with living and learning in a rapidly changing world impact on children's play, learning, wellbeing and resilience. Evidence suggests that parent education and parent-teacher partnerships in the early years can support positive outcomes for young children and their families. This paper provides an overview of a pilot project that used an interactive parent education project to support early learning, and young children's wellbeing and resilience. School personnel, parents and university academics came together to share their unique perspectives on children's play, learning and wellbeing. The project was implemented at two sites with some variations in delivery in response to local contextual factors. At each site the participants were provided with relevant findings from current research, and opportunities to share experiences, knowledge and perspectives. Participation in experiential learning tasks and reflective dialogue encouraged collaborative conversations and built common understandings between parents, teachers and academics. The outcomes of the project suggest that "Learning Together" can contribute to new knowledge and perspectives that are likely to have positive outcomes for children and their families.

Purpose: This paper aims to determine educators' perceptions about the benefits of contact with nature for children's mental, emotional and social health. Design/methodology/approach: The approach was exploratory using qualitative methods. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with school principals and teachers as well as professionals from the environmental education industry. Interviews focused on the perceived benefits for children's health from school activities involving hands-on contact with nature. Findings: Hands-on contact with nature is perceived by educators to improve self-esteem, engagement with school and a sense of empowerment, among other benefits. Different types of activities are perceived to have different outcomes. A model is proposed to illustrate the findings. Research limitations/implications: Activities involving hands-on contact with nature may have significant health outcomes for children. Further empirical work is needed to determine the extent of the benefits and provide further evidence. Practical implications: Findings support the value of activities involving nature and provide further incentive to include such activities in teaching curricula. Activities involving hands-on contact with nature at school may be a means of promoting children's mental, emotional and social health at a crucial time in their development. Originality/value: This paper addresses two gaps in current knowledge: much research on contact with nature and health and wellbeing has focused on adults not children; despite the popularity of nature-based activities in schools there has been no investigation into the potential of these activities to promote children's mental, emotional and social health. (Contains 3 figures.)

"Fitnessgram"® is a digital platform designed to help physical education teachers measure, record, disseminate and analyse the results of school-based student fitness testing. Despite important questions about the ethics, educational value and costs of "Fitnessgram"®, it is now widely used in the United States and is spreading to other countries. In this empirically investigative study, we draw on academic studies and commentary, media stories, government and funding body reports, press releases and advertisements to describe the emergence of "Fitnessgram"® and the convergence of factors that appear to guarantee the programme's increasing ubiquity. We also discuss the various ways the data sets built by "Fitnessgram"® may reshape the practice and purpose of physical education as well how young people understand their own health in light of this. In the face of puzzling academic silence on the "Fitnessgram"® phenomena, this paper stimulates lines of critical academic enquiry about the financial self-interest, educational shortcomings and policy implications that its rise suggests.

Early infant feeding practices are a critical part of education and care programs within Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings. With an increasing number of children attending ECEC services from a young age, adherence to best practice infant feeding will improve long-term health outcomes. This paper uses inductive and deductive thematic analysis informed by Social Cognitive Theory and inductive content analysis, to describe Australian infant feeding nutrition ECEC policy environments. Key Australian ECEC policy documents were analysed, revealing the invisibility of infants generally, and infant feeding specifically, in current quality standards. This was followed by analysis of 28 nutrition or infant feeding policies from 19 centre- and home-based ECEC services impacting over 1500 children in Queensland Australia. Five key themes characterising the content of service policies impacting infant feeding emerged: documentation, values, curriculum and pedagogy, supportive environments, and working in partnerships with parents. Service policies are required by legislation and set the foundation for a safe, supportive environment for infant feeding. The lack of infant feeding practice examples and invisibility of infants in legislation increase ambiguity, and health and safety risks. Opportunities exist to adopt separate infant feeding policies which will assist the provision of quality practice for the short-term and long-term optimal health of infants in ECEC settings.

Children's health and wellbeing are crucial to a prosperous Australia and are at the centre of health-related policy-making. Schools are considered as ideal sites to promote health and wellbeing and thus some of the responsibility of children's health and wellbeing has been assumed by schools beyond the obligations of the health and Physical Education (PE) curriculum. Notwithstanding the importance attached to schooling as a key mechanism for enhancing and maintaining positive health and wellbeing, there is little research exploring the extent to which primary PE specialists (such as in Queensland) currently undertake health work. This paper is to provide an insight into the health work currently undertaken by Queensland primary school PE specialists. Utilising a grounded theory approach, this study examines PE specialists' roles as health workers and their engagement in the explicit/implicit delivery of health education in primary schools. The study adds to the evidence of the public health role played by PE teachers beyond simple motor skill development and exercise. Four categories of health work were identified from the data, these are: curriculum work, curriculum-related work, policy work, and health-related caring teaching. This research was undertaken as part of a higher degree by research program.

Early childhood educators currently provide content focused learning opportunities for children in the areas of well-being and environmental education. However, these are usually seen as discrete content areas and educators are challenged with responding to children's interests in popular-culture inspired food products given these influence their consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor and highly packaged food in the early childhood setting. This paper reports preliminary findings from a pilot randomised trial examining the interconnectedness of sustainability, well-being and popular-culture in early childhood education. Planning, assessment documentation and summaries from twenty-four learning experiences implemented by six educators over a six-week period were analysed using a deductive approach. Twenty well-being and environmental education topics were identified and shown to be generated by the educators when considering the children's "funds of knowledge" on popular-culture inspired food products. We argue that topics derived from children's engagement with popular-culture may help educators to create an integrated approach to curriculum provision. This may impact child weight and facilitate obesity prevention and environmental sustainability as children create stronger connections between these content areas and their everyday choices and practices.

This study assessed the feasibility and impact of introducing a programme of an additional 30 minutes per day of moderate physical activity within curriculum time on learning and readiness to learn in a large elementary school in south-east Queensland, Australia. The programme, Active Kids Active Minds (AKAM), involved Year 5 students (n = 107), their classroom teachers (n = 6) and an AKAM physical education specialist, and took place across one year. The fidelity of the intervention was assessed through objective physical activity measurement, while intervention outcomes included cognitive ability and self-perception tests as well as supplementary qualitative field observations, student academic records and behaviour records, and teacher and student participant interviews. Following the intervention, no significant changes were evident in students' cognition or self-perceptions. This paper reports the quantitative data measures that found only weak increased levels of moderate physical activity, qualitative results being reported elsewhere. The limitations and pragmatics around research design and physical activity interventions of this type in schools are also discussed.

Background: Parents' play a proactive role in seeking health information to ensure optimal growth and development for their children. To date, very little is known about the differences between information seeking behaviour for child health and engagement with resources between culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and non-CALD parents., Objective: To investigate the differences in resources used and trusted for information related to child health behaviours and engagement with online features among CALD and non-CALD respondents in Australia., Methods: An analysis of a theory informed online cross-sectional survey was conducted using data from 122 CALD and 399 non-CALD parents who had a child younger than 24 months or were currently pregnant in Australia. Descriptive statistics and chi-squared were used to compare the differences, and logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with using health resources., Results: The most trusted sources for information reported by respondents were health professionals (76.2 %), websites run by health professionals (59.5 %), and government websites (53.2 %). Social media was significantly more trusted as a source of information for child health behaviours among CALD respondents than non-CALD respondents (odds ratio (OR) 1.92, P = 0.01). In contrast, booklets/ pamphlets and friends were significantly more trusted by non-CALD parents than for CALD parents (OR 0.54, P = 0.02). General search engines were used very frequently among CALD respondents for child health information (39.3 % vs 24.1 %, p = 0.013). Overall, the most common features respondents enjoyed on websites were images (81 %), videos (40.1 %), and discussion forums (39.9 %). CALD respondents significantly favoured videos (p = 0.003) while non-CALD respondents preferred obtaining information through attachments (p < 0.001)., Conclusions: Despite parents' reporting health professionals, websites run by health professionals, and government websites as trustworthy, general search engines and social media were still the most frequently used information source for parents with young children. Credible resources parents deem as trustworthy should take into account effective and engaging means of disseminating information that are accessible to both CALD and non-CALD communities., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Food allergy impairs the health-related quality of life of both the affected children and their families. In particular, parents and children become anxious about the potential risks and consequences of food allergy, including disruptions in families' and children's social activities, the need for constant vigilance, children's safety, and the daily management of children's health and illnesses. These anxieties tend to increase during children's transition to school because of the increased risks outside the home, as outlined in the review of literature in the present paper. However, there is a gap in research on the concerns and support needs of families and children when starting school. Attention to parents' and children's needs and concerns is vital to ease their smooth transition to school.

This paper reports on school readiness (SR) and its predictors in five- to six-year-old children from a prospective, longitudinal study of children from eight months to seven years (the Early Language in Victoria Study--ELVS). The ELVS children came from a representative sample of children recruited though the State Government Infant and Child Health Centres at the age of eight months who were studied at yearly intervals with a combination of parent surveys and face-to-face assessments. The study had a focus on language, pre-literacy and behavioural development. In pre-school and preparatory grade, teachers of the children completed a brief questionnaire rating SR characteristics, including cognitive, language and personal/social competencies. The data bank on these children provided a set of hypothesised child and family predictors of the SR score which were tested via factor analysis and regression analyses. Significant predictors of SR in the equation were evident from two years of age, and were all related to language and pre-literacy factors from two to six years. Twelve per cent of the children showed language impairment (LI) at five years according to their scores on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, 4th edition (CELF-4). In an additional analysis we found that these children were significantly lower on SR; they were also of lower social class compared with the remainder of the sample. The most influential factors in readiness for school were child language competencies and pre-literacy capacities, including phonemic awareness and letter knowledge. Preparation for school involving systematic emphasis on language and pre-literacy enrichment is recommended for all children before school entry and particularly for children at risk, including those coming from socio-economic disadvantage and those with delayed and impaired early language development. This addition to pre-school programmes can have lasting positive effects into pre-school and beyond, and prevent early school failure. (Contains 1 table.)

In physical education, bodies are not only moved but made. There are perceived expectations for bodies in physical education to be "healthy bodies"--for teachers to be "appropriate" physical, fit, healthy and skillful "role models" and for students to display a slim body that is equated with fitness and health. In teachers' monitoring of students with the intention of regulating health behavior, however, the surveillance of students' bodies and associated assumptions about health practices are implicated in the (re)production of the "cult of the body". In this paper, we consider issues of embodiment and power in a subject area where the visual and active body is central and we use data from Australian and Swedish schools to analyze the discourses of health and embodiment in physical education. In both Swedish and Australian physical education there were discourses related to a fit healthy body and an at risk healthy body. These discourses also acted through a range of techniques of power, particularly regulation and normalization.

This article overviews prevention and early intervention approaches focusing specifically on their relevance to the health of children and young people in Australia. Australian public health has a sound track record although concealed within the aggregate profile are a number of sub-populations with poorer health indicators. Recognition of this has increased efforts to improve the health of children and young people especially in exploring the impact of social environments within the communities where children are raised. This paper examines emerging research in this area drawing out key lessons and learning from Australian experience in the field of early intervention and prevention in community settings.

The late 20th Century saw the rapid rise of quality assurance and effectiveness measures in most industries and organisations. These trends were very much reflected in education at all levels. An associated emergent trend in primary and secondary education in Australia was growth in the use of standardised measures of student achievement that increasingly served (and continue to serve) as a major source of data in judging school effectiveness. While cognitive measures are important outcomes of schooling, it is reasonable to argue that interpretations of quality and effectiveness that do not include affective measures are too narrow. In particular, these criteria sacrifice what may be regarded as more complex and aesthetic measures of quality and effectiveness, such as student perceptions of aspects of their life at school. This paper has developmental, theoretical, and philosophical dimensions. The developmental dimension is based on a definition and articulation of a potential future of education advocating a re-aligning of academic and affective student outcomes. Affective measures are identified as important components of school effectiveness and quality assurance as well as the associated implementation of school reform and school improvement to enhance these measures. The theoretical dimension relates to definitions, clarifications, and links between school effectiveness, effective schools, school improvement, school reform, quality education, quality schools, and quality of life. The philosophical dimension aims to ensure high student quality of life, an enhanced mentoring role for educators, and a focus on children's future, health, equity, and access issues. (Contains 1 figure.)

Over the past decade there has been an explosion in the provision of computing facilities in schools for student use. However, there is concern that the development of these facilities has often given little regard to the ergonomics of the design for use by children, particularly adolescents. This paper reports on a study that investigated the ergonomics in the use of computer facilities by Year 8 students attending a private secondary school in Western Australia. In particular, it considered the use of computer in number of locations in the school and the relationship between the furniture provided and the anthropometric characteristics of the students. Data collected included general physical information of the students; furniture dimensions and adjustability; and observed student behaviours. The participants all used the facilities in each of the locations so that throughout a six-month course of the study a profile of how students related to these environments emerged. Data collected supports the findings that students are less likely to engaged in physically risky bahaviour if they have some degree of control over their environment, particularly in being able to adjust furniture to suit their own characteristics. These early adolescent students exhibited a huge rage of anthropometric characteristics leading to the need to provide adjustable furniture for use with computers. A number of recommendations are made for schools to consider as they respond to this situation. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

Eight papers on Australia's school health programs discuss: creating health promoting schools in the United States; intersectoral collaboration for developing a national framework for health promoting schools; school-based health promotion nationwide; auditing health promoting schools policy documentation; the nature of health service/school links; research; the impact of Australia's national health promoting schools initiative; and secondary HIV/AIDS education. (SM)

Argues for a child-centered approach to thinking about child cycling accidents. Helmets instill a false sense of safety in children and adults, while a profound change in the habits of adults is the only strategy that can protect children from accidents. Suggests steps for local analysis of the problem of cycling accidents. (MOK)