Young children are developing and learning within an increasingly complex world where competing ideas are being contested and enacted in ways that impact on their daily experiences. The ethical nature of many of the decisions and beliefs that children encounter in their lives often requires complex reasoning and decision-making in which many children may not be supported. The development of ethically reasonable citizens within a society concerned for the emotional wellbeing of its members needs to begin early in life. Parents and families are primary socialisers for young children’s moral and ethical development; however, early learning centres and schools have a responsibility for providing children with opportunities for social emotional learning intended to foster ethical reasoning and empathic concern for others. This chapter introduces educators to some of the key aspects of dialogic pedagogies (namely, an empathic pedagogy that incorporates community of inquiry approaches) and sets out an argument for their use within the HASS learning area to support children’s ethical understanding. The ways in which ethical understanding are described in early years and primary curricula are explored, and suggestions provided for activities that can foster learners’ ethical understanding.

Through HASS, children critically consider the moral challenges of our time and make informed and ethical decisions. The rationale to the HASS F–6 (v.9.0) curriculum asserts that HASS empowers students ‘to value their belonging and contribution to their community and beyond’. By engaging with key topics, children can impact their surroundings and effect change. Children explore historical and geographical concepts of significance, continuity and change, and place and space before they even reach school. Upon entering school, further intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary concepts are developed and refined. Thus, early in young people’s lives, teachers aim to introduce children to the study of humanities, which helps us to understand who we are, our identity and human interaction. This chapter explores the nature of HASS learning and pedagogy in the early childhood and primary years; considers the policy basis for teaching social science knowledge and skills; and outlines how play-based and inquiry-based pedagogical approaches can be used to teach HASS; and the value of learning propositional knowledge in the humanities and the significance of maintaining the integrity of discipline-based ways of ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’ to deliver a deeper understanding of HASS topics and concepts.

Wherever we are in society, we are surrounded by the Arts. This text has been designed by artists, and the words you read are just visual artworks representing the oral storytelling foundation of all societies. Its layout was designed by artists, using multiple media forms. You are reading it in an environment where the soundscape will hopefully allow you to concentrate. Your body is probably positioned to minimise discomfort and maximise efficiency, while communicating your current state of thought to all those around you (whether consciously or not). Surrounding you may be posters, objects, noises, people interacting with facial expressions, probably some communicating via Facebook, Instagram or other social media using increasingly advanced technologies. The Arts power our lives, yet too often we power down children as they enter formal education (preschool and upwards), stifle their natural forms of communication and interaction, and slowly destroy their ability to be creative and to think diversely.

Irish is the first official language of the Republic of Ireland. However, it is spoken by just 1.4 per cent of the population on a daily basis outside of the educational system (Central Statistics Office 2023). Irish is taught as a compulsory subject to students in three educational contexts: English-medium, Irish-medium, and Gaeltacht (Irish heartland areas) schools. The education system was given a key role in the revival of Irish when the Irish Free State was established in 1922 and the policy enjoyed some initial success. We argue that the policy was too narrowly focussed and had unrealistic expectations given the amount of instructional time and lack of exposure to Irish outside the school. We critically analyse key studies on the teaching and learning of Irish conducted in primary schools. A common theme that emerges from the studies is the success of immersion approaches to Irish and the disappointing outcomes where Irish is taught as a subject. If the education system in Ireland is to reach its potential in terms of Irish language achievement, then it needs to be transformed by increasing the intensity of exposure to Irish to take full advantage of an early start to language learning.

Chapter 7 acknowledges that, despite the best planning for positive engagement, students will still exhibit disengaged and disruptive behaviours. It examines the research to discuss which behaviours are the most common and the most difficult to manage in a classroom environment. It makes the distinction between frequent disengaged behaviour and rare ‘challenging’ behaviour discussed in Chapters 9 and 10.

Building on previous chapters, this chapter also discusses the best ways to prevent disengaged behaviours through implementing consistent classroom routines, structures and expectations, including the explicit teaching of expected behaviour. Ongoing strategies such as social-emotional learning to build strong relationships, low-key techniques to remind and redirect behaviours, class meetings to support student voice and engaging lessons are explored.

Engagement theory recognises that a student’s engagement with education is impacted by factors external to schooling. It is argued that this relationship starts at birth and is continually influenced by family, community, media and individual characteristics in both positive and negative ways.

This chapter investigates the various external factors that influence student engagement. It explores an ecological approach to engagement focusing on personal, family, community and social factors. It reviews the impact of key indicators of health, wellbeing and development on student engagement and highlights what teachers can do to recognise these influences and accommodate them where possible.

This chapter defines and describes trauma, adversity and trauma-informed practice. We explore how trauma impacts children and young people and how this may influence their engagement with education. A summary about how a student may present when experiencing trauma is provided. As teachers often hear about and address trauma and adversity faced by children, the concepts of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma are also briefly explored. The chapter ends with examples of ways in which teachers can create trauma-informed classrooms and support and promote trauma-informed policies and practices in schools.

It is not uncommon for a student to display difficult behaviour at some point in their development. For some students, however, difficult behaviour is so frequent, persistent and severe that it has significant detrimental impacts on their affective, cognitive and behavioural engagement with education and quality of life. Teachers play a critical role in strengthening these students’ engagement with education. This chapter will provide a description of some of the emotional and behavioural disorders witnessed in school-age children and identify the associated behaviours that teachers might see in the classroom. Further, it will review and critique some of the common strategies used in schools to bolster positive behaviour and engagement with education for these vulnerable students.

Most schools and departments of education have behavioural expectations of their students. The degree to which the individual teacher has a say over how they run their class can differ widely. In some contexts, it is completely left up to the teacher to decide the best way to manage student behaviour. In other schools, all teachers will be required to follow the exact same procedures, right down to scripting language of what to say in certain situations. Most schools sit somewhere in the middle, where they will have a school-wide approach to promote consistency, but the running of the classroom is left to the professionalism of the teacher.

School-wide approaches differ in their underlying philosophy and research base. This chapter will examine four common approaches that are used in Australian schools and analyse them in terms of their potential for increasing student engagement.

Think about a relationship you have with somebody in your class or workplace. Your initial relationship might be built upon what you know about that person, your shared values and common beliefs – maybe even their personal appearance. The strength of that relationship will change as soon as you start to interact with them. A friendly smile, cheerful greeting and some positive small talk will probably make you think that you might want to get to know this person a little more. Conversely, if you feel ignored, disliked or realise that you value different things, you will probably avoid them in the future. This is what we refer to in this text as student engagement – the relationship that is formed and reformed between students and education.

This chapter will focus on one type of ‘alternative education’ that has been specifically designed for students who have been disengaged from schooling. As disengagement is the breakdown of the relationship between the student and education, a reengagement program’s job is to provide a context where that relationship can be rebuilt. It provides an opportunity to rethink the pedagogical and structural way we ‘do’ school and challenges us to think that perhaps there may be other ways to include the needs and views of students, as well as the support of the wider community.

There are over 400 schools and programs for disengaged students around Australia, providing education for at least 70 000 young people. This might be the type of teaching that you are interested in, where engagement itself is the main purpose. Working in reengagement programs provides an array of challenges but can present enormous rewards for the young people who get a second chance at education and for the staff who can see that they can make a life-changing difference.

It is difficult to believe that, not long ago, school bullying was a rite of passage. Little was known about the negative impact bullying had on individuals and communities before the late 1970s. Targets of bullying and their carers suffered mostly in silence. Thankfully, we have come a long way in our understanding of bullying. This chapter will focus on a deep conceptual understanding of bullying. It will include learning to differentiate the several types of bullying and their manifestations. This understanding will help you apply the techniques suggested for enhancing students’ engagement discussed throughout this book to recognise, prevent and manage bullying in your school and classroom.

This chapter concentrates on classroom structures that a teacher can employ, including how the room can be arranged, physically and structurally, to maximise engagement for all students. We will examine the research on learning space architecture, the role of desk configuration, group workspaces, chill-out zones and ideas for wall displays.

Structurally, we explore the use of routines in class for maintaining consistency and predictability. Examples include managing entry and exit to class, transition between learning activities and routines for what to do when students finish work, arrive late or need to use the toilet.

It is very satisfying to teach in a classroom where students are actively participating in discussions, group projects and other activities. Learning spaces are complex – both teachers and students experience numerous pressures, wants and needs that accompany them into a classroom. For instance, both teachers and their students want to be heard, to learn, to be safe and to have positive relationships with their peers, just to name a few. However, the value and sources for satisfaction that you and they place on these needs and wants at any given time may be different from one another. You may want to get on with a brilliant geography lesson, while a sleep-deprived student may just want a bit of rest and believe the right place for it is the very same geography lesson. These possibilities remind us that your lesson is taking place in a social environment with multiple stakeholders actively reacting to each other. This is why it is very important to develop strategies that will help you manage both your and your students’ expectations in the classroom. This chapter focuses on how the use of rules and expectations lays the foundations for positive and engaging learning environments.

Current societal expectations, theory and research conclude that effective teachers meet students’ needs by encouraging responsibility and having active control of their class, within a context that develops positive relationships. This chapter presents corrective strategies that have been curated to be consistent with this approach. They particularly draw from research that focuses on maintaining high expectations and structure, developing positive student–teacher relationships, treating disengagement and its associated behavioural challenges in students as opportunities to teach about self and others, and maximising student autonomy wherever possible. This approach is referred to as authoritative teaching.