Schools alone cannot fully compensate for children’s disadvantaged circumstances, but they can make a big difference and are powerful influencers in improving life course outcomes. In this episode, Professor Matt Sanders discusses the importance of schools with fellow Life Course Centre Chief Investigator Professor Donna Cross from the Telethon Kids Institute and The University of Western Australia. Donna is Program Head, Development & Education at the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth, and an internationally renowned child development and health promotion expert. Donna is committed to bringing researchers, educators, policymakers, families and communities together to improve children’s and young people’s social and emotional development and wellbeing. She has led extensive research on the power of schools to disrupt disadvantage and improve life course outcomes, particularly for children from vulnerable families and communities. Matt and Donna explore how schools can address children’s developmental disadvantage and positively influence life course trajectories. They highlight the critical relationship between parents and teachers, the importance of family engagement in children’s learning, and opportunities to harness the evidence base and new technologies to enhance child development and wellbeing. *** More information: Professor Donna Cross https://www.telethonkids.org.au/contact-us/our-people/c/donna-cross/ Telethon Kids Institute https://www.telethonkids.org.au/ Life Course Centre https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/ Professor Matt Sanders https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/174 Parenting & Family Research Alliance (PAFRA) https://www.pafra.org/

Social science has a critical role to play in tackling the defining challenges of our times – from reconciliation, climate change and inequality to post-COVID recovery and the future of work. In this conversation, Professor Mark Western and Professor Matt Sanders examine ‘why the social matters’ and the priorities, challenges and opportunities for social science in Australia. Professor Mark Western is a sociologist and the Director of the Institute for Social Science Research at The University of Queensland. He works on applied projects across social policy, is a former Chief Investigator in the Life Course Centre, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. Mark recently launched the 2021 State of the Social Sciences Report at the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia’s 50th Anniversary Symposium: The Social Future of Australia. This report highlights the depth and breadth of the social science ecosystem in in Australia, grand challenges for social science to address, and key priorities for the sector moving forward. Mark and Matt discuss this important report in more detail, highlighting the importance of social science collaboration in understanding and explaining some of the largest and most complex problems facing Australia, and the world, today – and, most importantly, its vital role in designing and developing solutions that can make a real difference to society and improving people’s lives. *** More information: Professor Mark Western http://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/909 Institute for Social Science Research https://issr.uq.edu.au Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia https://socialsciences.org.au State of the Social Sciences Report 2021 https://stateofthesocialsciences.org.au 50th Anniversary Symposium Recordings: The Social Future of Australia https://socialsciences.org.au/anniversary-symposium/ Professor Matt Sanders https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/174 Life Course Centre https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au

Never Let a Crisis go to Waste: Opportunities to Reduce Social Disadvantage from COVID-19. This is a special episode, recorded as part of a panel discussion hosted by Life Course Centre research leaders. In the midst of a global crisis that has upended almost all aspects of how we live and work, a life course approach turns attention to the long-term impacts of COVID-19. Looking at the pandemic through a life course lens also provides a chance to reflect on opportunities from COVID-19 for examining long-standing, taken-for-granted rules and regulations about living and working. In the paper, ‘Never let a crisis go to waste: Opportunities to reduce social disadvantage from COVID-19’, Life Course Centre researchers offer ideas on potential opportunities for rethinking, redesigning and reworking social policies to address disadvantage. This provides an optimistic, forward-looking counterpoint to what has been a catastrophic global social, health and economic event. In this special webinar recording from Anti-Poverty Week, Life Course Centre Chief Investigators Professors Janeen Baxter, Stephen Zubrick, Deborah Cobb-Clark and Guyonne Kalb, discuss opportunities arising from COVID-19 to address long-standing inequalities in Australia in areas such as health, the tax and transfer system, labour markets and gender. There will be other pandemics and other global shocks. What we learn, and do, today will have significant bearing on future preparations and responses. This discussion explores some of the ways we might leverage the COVID-19 crisis to build back a better and fairer society for all. More information: Life Course Centre: https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/ Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste: Opportunities to Reduce Social Disadvantage from COVID-19 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-8462.12428 Anti-Poverty Week https://antipovertyweek.org.au/ Professor Janeen Baxter is the Director of the Life Course Centre, a position she had held since the Centre’s establishment in 2014. Based at the Institute for Social Science Research at The University of Queensland, she has research interests in disadvantage, gender inequality and family dynamics. https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/910 Professor Stephen Zubrick is a former Life Course Centre Chief Investigator and Deputy Director 2014-2020 and now an Honorary Emeritus Research Fellow. An expert in child health, he is an Emeritus Professor at The University of Western Australia and an Emeritus Fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute. https://www.telethonkids.org.au/contact-us/our-people/z/stephen-zubrick/ Professor Deborah Cobb-Clark is the Deputy Director of the Life Course Centre and has been a Chief Investigator since the Centre’s establishment in 2014. Based at the School of Economics at the University of Sydney, her research focus covers disadvantage, welfare and economic/social policy. https://www.sydney.edu.au/arts/about/our-people/academic-staff/deborah-cobb-clark.html Professor Guyonne Kalb is a Life Course Centre Chief Investigator at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests are in applied micro-economics and include labour supply issues, particularly female labour supply. https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/6582-guyonne-kalb

Toni Wren is the Executive Director of Anti-Poverty Week, which is held every October to raise awareness and understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty in Australia, and to encourage action to end it. While Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, it still has 2.65 million people (over 1 in 10) living on income support payments below the poverty line, including 940,000 children (1 in 5). To treat all of Australia’s children fairly, we need to ensure every family has enough money to cover the basics and a secure roof over their heads. Anti-Poverty Week is calling on governments to unlock poverty by addressing these underlying inequalities via: the Raise the Rate campaign to permanently raise income support above the poverty line; and the Everybody’s Home campaign to urgently invest in social housing. In this conversation Toni Wren, and Families Under Pressure host, Life Course Centre Chief Investigator, Professor Matt Sanders, discuss what poverty means in Australia, who experiences it, lessons from COVID-19, and solutions to empower children and families to exit poverty and break the intergenerational cycle of disadvantage. More information: Anti-Poverty Week https://antipovertyweek.org.au/ Life Course Centre: https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/ Raise the Rate campaign https://raisetherate.org.au/ Everybody's Home campaign https://everybodyshome.com.au/

Professor Daryl Higgins is the Director of the Institute of Child Protection Studies at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne. In this conversation Daryl, and Families Under Pressure host, Life Course Centre Chief Investigator, Professor Matt Sanders, discuss a topic that is so important to all of us – the safety and protection of our children. They examine the role, and potential, of public health, whole-of-population approaches to ensuring every child, in every community, is safe and protected and has the best possible start in life. Professor Daryl Higgins: www.safeguardingchildren.acu.edu.au/researcher-profiles/professor-daryl-higgins Life Course Centre: www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/

In this episode, Professor Matt Sanders speaks to Professor Janeen Baxter and Professor Deborah Cobb-Clark - both joining the podcast for the second time. They discuss future directions for the Life Course Centre's research, the new ways it will be investigating disadvantage, and the new research disciplines, data, and methods it will employ to better support children and families. Find out more at www.lifecoursecentre.org.au

In this episode of Families Under Pressure, Professor Matt Sanders speaks to Professor Guyonne Kalb. Professor Guyonne Kalb is a Professorial Fellow, Senior Research Manager and co-Coordinator of the Labour Markets and Employment Program in the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne. She has a PhD in Econometrics from Monash University. Her research interests are mainly in the field of applied micro-economics and include labour supply issues, in particular female labour supply; the interaction of labour supply, social security and taxation; labour supply and childcare; and the impact of childcare/parental activities on child development and health. Find out more at www.lifecoursecentre.org.au

In this episode of Families Under Pressure, Professor Matt Sanders speaks to Dr Kylie Burke. Dr Burke's work focuses on supporting parents and children experiencing adversity, including parenting adolescents, supporting parents of children with life-threatening childhood illnesses and the intergenerational effects of social disadvantage. She is currently the Director of a population-based trial of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program, a multi-level system of evidence-based parenting support. Find out more at https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au

In this episode of Families Under Pressure, Professor Matt Sanders speaks to Dr Jenna McWilliam - the Head of Organisational Development at Triple P International. Dr McWilliam is an organisational psychologist with extensive international experience, with a strong focus on enhancing social impact for children, families and communities, through the implementation and scale-up of evidenced-based programs. For more information, visit the Life Course Centre website: https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/

In this episode of Families Under Pressure, Professor Matt Sanders speaks to Professor Deborah Cobb-Clark. Prof. Cobb-Clark is Professor of Economics at the University of Sydney. She leads the Human Capabilities Program in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course and is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. For more information, visit www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/