By now, we are well versed in the behaviours of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) affected people. Impulsivity, inattention, forgetfulness and the inability to sit still are all well-known effects, qualities that are arguably not compatible with group learning settings! The obvious challenge is when you have an entire classroom of children to teach, one disruptive or inattentive child will affect the learning outcomes for everybody. There might not be enough time to dedicate to multiple learning paths and achieve the results imposed upon you as an educator. Perhaps learning instit ..read more

As we enter our 6th year of publishing, we can celebrate everything we have achieved on our mission to provide empowering early educational books for children. This includes: Transitioning from our 20-year business of educational book retailing into publishing local resources. Creating unique books with local content not available anywhere else, including cutting-edge material based on the latest research in positive psychology, neurobiology and wellbeing. Pioneering a new style of laminated big book that is more durable and wipeable, allowing for more educator interaction. Collaborati ..read more

Have you have heard of the psychological phenomenon called the Pygmalion Effect? With such great influence on the children you interact with, for educators, this effect could be of particular interest in supporting positive learning behaviours. In 1964 Harvard psychologist Robert Rosenthal worked with an elementary school principal, devising a test that awas administered to students to help predict academic blooming. Teachers in each classroom were told that a small group of students were set to experience a bloom of intelligence over the coming year. At the end of the year, those students ide ..read more

I’m Melissa from Enlighten Press. I’m an author, artist and a student of positive psychology. I’m also a big believer in education, but I don’t believe that means telling kids what we think they need to know... Real learning is about developing an empowered mindset. You don’t need to have all the answers; you only need to believe you have the capacity to discover them. I believe education is letting children know they already possess the intelligence, the creativity and the choice to make their own way in the world. Technology now means that we cannot even imagine how the future might look. W ..read more

Content. You couldn't avoid it even if you wanted to. All over the internet are "news" pieces, social media feeds, blog posts, video clips- CONTENT is EVERYWHERE. I love to read but I can't absorb content. I mostly read a title and I feel like I've got it all already. You've probably got all you need just from reading the title of this! I might read a bit more of a piece if it really grabs me, but I'm noticing more often that I'll thumb scroll until I whip the page into a blur. Picking out the odd word here and there at most. It's exhausting. If you've even read this far then you've probably s ..read more

Did you ever wonder why we learnt algebra at school and not how to pick ourselves up after an emotional challenge? Education is more than memorising facts and testing. From Early Childhood Education to University we are on journey of self-discovery. We learn about the world and the possibilities of our place within it. We learn about ourselves through our relationships with others. Algebra has it's place, of course, and having tools to allow emotional balance and mental clarity allows us to utilise our education fully. More so, developing the tools of mindfulness at a young age helps us to cr ..read more

We can't draw from an empty well and self-care for educators is essential. Doing a job that requires you to be constantly aware of the needs of others can lead to occupational burnout. It's common for people to speak about being selfish as an insult. But there's a reason why you're instructed to give oxygen to yourself before giving it to others on the plane. You need to be a fully functioning person to be of any use to others. Let's change this idea of being selfish and choose to be self-full. Take the time to nourish yourself and develop a good regenerative practice. I believe it's crazy im ..read more

How many of us are transported back to those magic moments of childhood just thinking about our old favourite books? Recently, on a visit to mum's, I found myself digging around in the space under the stairs late one night, on a quest to find my childhood picture books. Although it seemed to me the perfect place for spiders, even the threat of Redbacks popping out of the forgotten space couldn't stop me from finding those books! Then came the satisfaction of unearthing all my old friends, my books, flipping through well-worn pages to inhale the pleasantly familiar musty scent of old paper. It ..read more

Values are the determiner of how we think, feel and act. They are the beliefs and attitudes we have come to over our lifetime and are influenced by our parents, our cultures and our experiences. We all have values and we often assume our values are shared. But other than the obvious ones, such as kindness, love, respect and more, our values have many layers of complexity and subtlety that we rarely stop to think about. The concept of values is often synonymous with the unwritten rules of participating in society or the tenets of religion. But our values are much more personal than this. They ..read more

Why does my heart race? Why do my muscles tense? Why do I think differently under stress? Our bodies have evolved perfectly to help us navigate our experience on Earth. The physiological responses we experience in response to stimulus were developed to help us move away from what we don't want and move toward what we do want. Before modern civilisation, this would have meant keeping us safe from falling off a cliff edge or becoming food for a bigger creature! It meant developing connections with other humans and discovering food sources. We used the guidance we received from our emotions to b ..read more