Australia can end discrimination and violence towards women in the workplace and society through implementing social and emotional learning in early childhood, according to the highly influential global Think Equal initiative.
Think Equal is a global initiative calling for a 'system change' in education to end the discriminatory mindset and the cycle of violence across the world to ensure positive life outcomes for children.
The call is backed by leading academics, politicians and business people, including world leaders in education and social and emotional learning, Professor Emeritus Sir Ken Robinson, the Founding Patron of Think Equal; Prof Marc Brackett, the founder and Director of Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence; and neuroscientist Prof Richard Davidson, founder and chair of the Center for Healthy Minds in the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
"The recent demonstrations throughout Australia highlight the need for this change. It must begin at pre-school age, not just in teen years and adults," said Think Equal Australian Director Emma Welsh.
"Governments and school networks need to adopt and mandate a new subject on social and emotional learning for children between 3 and 6 years because this is the optimal window to modify attitudes, values and behaviours based on evidence from neuroscientists.
"We ask of those who have a duty of care to our children: 'How can it be deemed compulsory for a child to learn mathematics, but it is optional for that child to learn how to value another human being or to develop healthy relationships?'."
Ms Welsh said the results of governments ignoring social and emotional learning as an essential and core purpose of teaching and nurturing children has held back the development of gender and racial equality.
"The world's increasingly complex problems - violence, discrimination, climate change, inequality – need a new generation of thinkers that have the skills, competencies and creativity to solve them," she added.
In Australia, Think Equal has recently finished evaluating a randomised control trial of a 2019 pilot for young children.
Conducted by Dr Craig Bailey, of Yale University, and Dr Sue Emmett and Dr Lynne Reeder, both of Federation University Australia, their findings will be released in the near future and published in scientific journals.
Dr. Emmett said the pilot had demonstrated a positive impact of the program on young children, with a significant improvement in a number of social and emotional metrics.
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