This chapter reflects on the class system and economic background of Debussy’s youth and the implications they had for his education. Given that he received little formal education until he entered the Paris Conservatoire, there is ample opportunity here to assess how typical this background was, or if it was shaped by the parents’ unusual circumstances. Arising out of this, there is a discussion of contemporary conceptions of the family, both at the time of Debussy’s childhood and in the twentieth century, when he became head of a small family and had to cope with the consequences (he apparently coped badly much of the time and resented the demands of family life). Despite his ardent desire to make up for everything he did not have as a child, Debussy struggled to reconcile the demands of his family with his professional aspirations at a time when men were increasingly expected to participate in and enjoy family life. Whether his struggles emanated from his artistic aspirations or his self-centred character, Debussy’s personal and professional choices were undoubtedly shaped by the circumstances of his upbringing and the increasing importance accorded to the family in French society during his lifetime.

This chapter provides details of the different kinds of vaccines available (live, attenuated, killed, inactivated, recombinant, subunit, mRNA, DNA and vector) for virus infections (e.g. SARS-CoV-2, HAV, HBV, influenzaviruses, JEE, measlesvirus, mumpsvirus, rubellavirus, HPV, rabies, polio, rotavirus, smallpox, mpox, yellow fever virus) in humans. It details the routes of administration and usage (e.g. pre-exposure or post-exposure, childhood, occupational health, travel and for at-risk groups).

The aim of this chapter is to establish that children are owed a sense of their own interiority. The chapter argues that although the literature on philosophy of childhood constitutes an advance on the deficit model of childhood insofar as it supports children’s rights and childhood goods, it risks reifying adult-child relations by continuing to essentialize childhood. While Gareth B. Matthews’ theory of development as socially and linguistically mediated begins to shift the focus toward the child’s own inner life, it falls short insofar as it fails to challenge the fact/value dichotomy. Drawing upon Iris Murdoch’s philosophy, the chapter concludes that a rejection of this dichotomy is in fact necessary for developing the notion of a morally inflected consciousness that is as available to children as it is adults.

Parental care in humans is remarkably extensive, with many individuals living only a fraction of their lives outside of the sphere of parental influence, and parental care is exceptionally plastic, with the extent and form of care varying across contexts and individuals. Behavioral ecological studies of parenting fall into three main foci. First, parental care is studied in terms of life history tradeoffs, including between mating and parenting effort, and between fertility and investment per offspring. Second, parental care is studied as a conflict trait, including sibling conflict, parent-offspring conflict, and sexual conflict between mothers and fathers. Finally, parental investment theory addresses how individual characteristics, such as birth order, sex and putative relatedness, influence parental strategies. For each focus, predictions are context-specific with socioecology dictating the local costs and payoffs to parental care. Over 50 years of behavioral ecological studies of parenting have transformed understandings of the human family, exposing the fragile mix of cooperation and competition underlying family relationships. Questions remain, however, particularly with regard to parental strategies in nonnuclear family structures, the role of physiological, psychological and cultural mechanisms in regulating adaptive strategies, and the coevolution of parental care with culturally variable beliefs about kinship, gender and reproduction.

Child-focused education programs have been developed in efforts to prevent child sexual abuse and to provide children who may already be experiencing abuse with strategies for seeking help. The design and delivery of these programs must be based on empirical evidence rather than ideology. Program evaluations have demonstrated that prevention education can provide children with knowledge and skills for responding to, and reporting, potential sexual abuse. Preschool and school-based programs are typically delivered to children in class groups via a series of lessons that convey core concepts and messages, and are best taught using engaging pedagogical strategies such as multimedia technologies, animations, theatre or puppet shows, songs, picture books and games. This chapter outlines the key characteristics of effective child sexual abuse prevention education and identifies directions for future research and practice.

The purpose of this chapter is to connect human movement theory with practice. Thus, the chapter answers the questions: What does human movement theory look like in practice? How can it be optimised for all children? Why is it vital for the advancement of health and wellbeing in childhood? The physical dimension is significant within children’s learning because it offers powerful and meaningful connections across all learning and development areas (Lynch, 2019). The socio-cultural perspective suggests that the curriculum ought to be connected to the child’s world and everyday interests (Arthur et al., 2020). Since children have a natural play structure, learning through movement heightens their interest.

When we think about the health and wellbeing of children, we need a model that is holistic in its conceptualisation and comprehensive in its design, to ensure we gain the best understanding of their health needs and can provide the most effective support. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) (WHO, 2001) was developed by the WHO to provide a comprehensive and holistic framework for conceptualising health. WHO first defined health in a holistic way in 1946, regarding it as ‘the state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (p. 100). WHO recognised a need to develop a framework that would enable professionals, services and governments to enact that definition. The ICF is based on a biopsychosocial framework and aims to integrate the medical and social models of health. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the components of the ICF and describe educational, clinical and research applications of the framework to early years learners.

Research within Australia and around the world underscores the short- and long-term negative effects of bullying on children’s socio-emotional health and wellbeing. While there has been a significant increase in the number of studies conducted with upper primary and secondary students, comparatively fewer studies have focused on the prior-to-school and early school contexts. The few studies that have examined the effects of bullying in the early years emphasise its negative effects, with victims and bullies exhibiting psychosocial maladjustment and psychosomatic problems similar to outcomes reported in older cohorts (see Neilsen-Hewett et al., 2017). Bullying poses a significant risk to children’s socio-emotional wellbeing and mental health. A growing awareness of how bullying manifests in early peer contexts is therefore critical in the development of effective, preventative anti-bullying programs. The goal of this chapter is to provide a synthesis of this research, including an overview of the causes and correlates of bullying and its effects on children’s socio-emotional wellbeing.

Through the process of talking to one another, children become creators of their own future as they collaborate and build relationships. Talking Circles are designed to encourage children to ask questions about their lives and how they can make a difference for themselves, each other and their community. This process helps to build the resilience and leadership skills of children. These qualities are important in helping children to consider their world view and day-to-day challenges, which enables them to contribute to their own health and wellbeing.

In this chapter, we focus on a loose-parts, school-based intervention to promote playfulness. The intervention is known as the Sydney Playground Project (SPP). The SPP was developed by a multidisciplinary team, including the authors of this chapter. Key principles in the creation of the SPP were to find ways to enable children to engage in more-frequent, better-quality play, and make the intervention accessible to all children, families and educators (Bundy et al., 2011). There is also now a particular focus on children with disabilities (Bundy et al., 2015; Stillianesis et al., 2022). Goals for children with disabilities include development in areas promoted through play, yet a range of barriers often prevents this group from full participation.

The chapter begins by looking at social inequality, particularly in relation to health and wellbeing. Despite huge improvements in the available resources (think for a moment about the early childhood experiences of your grandparents or parents, who may have grown up before antibiotics were available), internationally we are seeing significant declines in population health and wellbeing, and increasingly larger gaps between the rich and the poor in countries all around the world. The chapter explores how governments are attempting to address social inequality. While early childhood educators are rarely involved at the level of policy, and although it is very important that we advocate at this level, it is necessary to understand how the policy context influences our work. The chapter concludes with practical suggestions for how early childhood educators can contribute to addressing the problem of social inequality.

This chapter explores the ways in which young children develop their self-concept in relation to their body image and discusses some of the influencing factors that condition children to perceiving favourable body images over unfavourable body images. The chapter incorporates discussions relating to ‘thinness’, and goes beyond this aspect to consider the effects of perceived anomalies and injuries on a child’s body satisfaction and positive self-concept. In addition, we discuss ways to support children in developing a positive self-concept in relation to body image, and to promote their wellbeing using the revised Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (V2.0) (EYLF) (Australian Government Department of Education [AGDE], 2022).

This chapter focuses on how to explore opportunities to partner with families in articulating support systems for child health and wellbeing. In particular, it explores how student educators and educators can reach out to families and develop the necessary partnerships to successfully support parents in their parenting and caring roles, with the aim of positively influencing children’s family lives, health and wellbeing.

This chapter focuses on how early years educators can foster health, physical activity and wellbeing through learning in health and physical education (HPE). There are many children attending school in Australia who are educationally disadvantaged, meaning they often derive the least benefit from schooling. They may include children from high poverty contexts, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, rural and remote learners and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. This chapter is organised into sections that provide the background knowledge for promoting health, physical activity and wellbeing of all early years learners, paying particular attention to students with backgrounds who, for many reasons, can be described as educationally disadvantaged.

A safe environment for a child is one that provides freedom from harm and offers a strong sense of security and belonging from which to play, learn and develop. A healthy and safe environment also promotes children’s psychological wellbeing by allowing them to exercise their independence through making decisions and taking on new challenges. Educators are responsible for providing and maintaining safe environments for children in their care, including the development of strategies to prevent injury in indoor and outdoor environments. Injury prevention promotes safety, protects the child and minimises risk. Injury prevention also provides procedures to manage injuries as they occur. By protecting children from hazards, injury prevention offers children the sense of safety and security that allows them to develop to their fullest potential.