In Australia, an increasing number of primary school-aged children are experiencing mental health challenges, with significant implications for their long-term well-being and academic success. Schools are increasingly expected to provide targeted mental health support, yet many teachers report uncertainty about their role, limited access to specialist services, inconsistent leadership approaches, and competing demands that hinder their capacity to support students effectively. These challenges are compounded by concerns about their own mental health and well-being.

Recent research has turned to transdiagnostic factors—common elements across multiple mental health conditions—as promising targets for intervention. Emotion regulation has emerged as a key factor linked to both anxiety and depression, two prevalent conditions among children. Addressing emotion regulation in school settings may offer a proactive and scalable approach to mental health support.

This study employs a mixed-methods approach to investigate how school-based interventions can more effectively support emotion regulation among primary school students within a preventative, early intervention approach. It aims to understand the perspectives of both early-career and experienced teachers on how they currently support emotion regulation at school, as well as the difficulties they face in doing so. Additionally, the study aims to explore the perspectives of teachers, school well-being leaders, and school psychologists on the feasibility of implementing preventive emotion regulation interventions in primary schools.

The study addresses the following research questions:
1. What emotion regulation difficulties do teachers observe in their students?
2. Do teachers feel adequately trained and equipped to support emotion regulation in the classroom?
3. What barriers hinder teachers’ ability to support students’ emotional development?
4. How do early-career and experienced teachers differ in their perceived needs and challenges?

By integrating findings from both quantitative and qualitative phases, the research aims to identify current practices, challenges, and opportunities for enhancing emotion regulation support in schools. It also considers the potential need for tailored training to support both students and teachers in emotion regulation.

It is intended that findings from the study will inform co-designed future school-based interventions, ensuring they are grounded in the lived experiences and practical needs of educators and school mental health professionals.

This session will provide attendees with valuable insights into teachers’ views on barriers, enablers, and professional development needs related to emotion regulation in schools. This can guide attendees in planning supports within their setting.

Learning about teachers’ perspectives from different settings and experience levels can support attendees when they evaluate the potential benefits and challenges of future interventions aimed at facilitating the emotion regulation of primary school-aged children in school settings.

Aims:
This presentation has two aims:
1. To share new empirical findings on the links between intellectual humility (IH)—the disposition to recognize one’s own fallibility—and key motivational constructs in students, including intrinsic motivation, academic self-efficacy, and amotivation.
2. To explore how such findings might offer useful insights for psychologists and educators navigating a changing educational landscape, particularly in light of AI and large language models (LLMs) reshaping how students access and engage with knowledge.

Content:
As AI continues to make information more readily available, educational focus may gradually shift from content memorisation to supporting the dispositions that sustain learning—such as curiosity, reflection, and motivation. In this evolving context, questions of “how” and “why” students learn may become as central as “what” they learn.

Drawing on recent data, the presentation introduces evidence that IH is positively associated with two forms of intrinsic motivation (learning “to know” and “to accomplish”), higher academic self-efficacy, and lower amotivation. IH showed no significant link with grade-driven extrinsic motivation, suggesting a selective connection to autonomous engagement.

These findings invite consideration of how IH—and potentially related virtues such as curiosity and a growth mindset—might be cultivated to support motivated, reflective learners in AI-rich settings. For educators and psychologists, this study may contribute to broader conversations about importance to integrate virtue cultivation in classroom in coming of rapid change and technology advancements.

At the conclusion of this session, attendees will be able to:
1. Explain the observed relationships between intellectual humility, intrinsic motivation, amotivation, and academic self-efficacy in student populations.
2. Consider how cultivating IH and allied virtues may help sustain motivation in increasingly AI-integrated educational environments.
3. Reflect on possible ways these findings might inform future practice, research, or conversations around student development and wellbeing.

The current study examines how kindergarten domain-general and domain-specific factors, mathematical skills at primary 1 (P1), and socioeconomic status (SES) predict high versus low (top and bottom 13th percentile) mathematical ability at primary 6 (P6). Four-hundred-and-seven P6 students had previously completed the measures. Logistic path analyses showed that SES, P1 mathematics, and fluid intelligence showed direct significant effects on P6 high achievement group membership. Visuospatial working memory, SES, reading, and P1 mathematics showed direct effects on P6 low group membership. Number sense, fine motor skills, and reading demonstrated indirect effects on both group memberships through P1 mathematics. No significant effect was found for executive functioning or verbal working memory.
The indirect effects on both group memberships inform educators that fine motor skills, basic reading skills, and number sense are likely to be important fundamental skills for early mathematical development, which may have a carry-effect on both mathematical success and failure in late primary school. When designing learning activities, educators could bear in mind that these skills are essential for developing basic mathematical skills.
Visuospatial working memory and basic reading skills identified mathematical low achievers only, suggesting that these factors are likely to be particularly important to prevent students from falling behind. To accommodate students struggling with mathematical learning that becomes more complex in later school years, educators may consider designing instruction that does not require high visual-spatial cognitive demand.
Fluid intelligence predicted mathematical high achievers only, suggesting that these skills are particularly important for mathematically talented students. For children who have already demonstrated competencies in those areas and perform well in mathematics, instruction may focus on advancing logical reasoning and complex mathematical problem solving.
Researchers and clinicians tended to consider no individual qualitative differences in mathematical abilities across the continuum, and subsequently assume that findings identified in a selected ability group (e.g., low achievers) could be generalised across all students or different parts of the spectrum. However, this study showed several cognitive factors predicted the two ends of the mathematical spectrum distinctly. This suggests there is likely a qualitative discontinuity at the two ends of the performance distribution. Therefore, there is a need to adopt a differentiated identification approach and instructional practice that are specific to individuals’ cognitive strengths and weaknesses, to prevent them from falling behind and to promote mathematical excellence.

At the conclusion of this event, attendees will be able to:
- Understand common factors that predict future maths achievement
- Understand what factors predict maths achievement across developmental age and the two achievement spectrums
- Understand the importance of adopting a differentiated identification approach and instructional practice that are specific to their cognitive strengths and weaknesses, to prevent students from falling behind and to promote mathematical excellence