Background Daily physical activity is critical during the early years of life for facilitating ch... more Background Daily physical activity is critical during the early years of life for facilitating children’s health and development. A large proportion of preschool children do not achieve the recommended 3 h of daily physical activity. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are a key setting to intervene to increase physical activity. There is a significant need for ECEC specific physical activity policy, including clearer guidelines on the amount of physical activity children should do during care, and strategies for implementation of these guidelines. Methods This study is a pragmatic cluster randomised trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the Play Active physical activity policy intervention to improve early childhood education and care educator’s physical activity-related practices. The central component of Play Active is an evidence-informed physical activity policy template which includes 25 practices to support nine age-specific recommendations on the amount of ph...
The Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 2020
This longitudinal study aimed to survey over a 12-month period, the mental health and wellbeing o... more This longitudinal study aimed to survey over a 12-month period, the mental health and wellbeing of new incoming students transitioning to a boys’ only boarding school. An online self-report questionnaire was used to investigate the perceptions and pre-transition experience of new incoming Year 7 students (e.g., while still in Year 6) prior to their impending transition to Secondary School (Time 1), at the end of Term 1 first year of secondary school (Time 2), and at the end of Term 3 (Time 3) first year of secondary school. All day students enrolled to begin secondary school were also invited to participate. Findings suggest that transition support efforts by the school (e.g. The Connect Programme) were successful in minimising the differences in factors associated with academic, emotional and mental wellbeing between boarding and non-boarding students at three months and six months post-transition. Mental health and wellbeing in terms of the internal, home, school and community pro...
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2019
Background: Physical activity professional development programs for Early Childhood Education and... more Background: Physical activity professional development programs for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) educators are a viable strategy for improving preschool children’s physical activity behavior. This pilot intervention evaluated the effectiveness of ‘nature play’ and ‘fundamental movement skills’ (FMS) professional development programs on ECEC educators’ practices on physical activity. Methods: 148 ECEC educators from 20 ECEC centers took part in either the Nature play or FMS professional development programs in Perth, Western Australia. Educators self-reported their physical activity related practices at baseline and three months post-professional development training, using established items. Wilcoxon’s test and adjusted models using Mann–Whitney U tests were run at the individual educator level to examine the change between baseline and post-professional development educator physical activity behavior. Results: Educators’ self-efficacy to engage children to be active si...
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 2017
This study examined indicators of mental health, as well as strengths and difficulties, as report... more This study examined indicators of mental health, as well as strengths and difficulties, as reported by same-age boarding and non-boarding students spanning four time points over a 2-year period as they transitioned from primary to boarding school in Western Australia (i.e., at the end of Grade 7, beginning of Grade 8, end of Grade 8, and end of Grade 9). It presents data taken from a larger longitudinal quantitative study, which included 76 male and 74 female boarding students while they were in Grades 7 to 9. Findings indicate that boarding students and non-boarding students reported significant increases in depression, anxiety, as well as emotional symptoms and hyperactivity over time, and reported significant decreases in prosocial behaviour. However, examining the boarder × time interaction, boarding students reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and stress at the end of Grade 8 compared to non-boarding students. No significant difference over time was found in depress...
School climate has often been described as the "quality and character of school life", ... more School climate has often been described as the "quality and character of school life", including both social and physical aspects of the school, that can positively promote behaviour, school achievement, and the social and emotional development of students. The current study examined the relationship between students' mental and emotional wellbeing and factors pertaining to school climate, focussing on the domains of safety, social relationships and school connectedness, during the last year of their primary schooling (age 11-12 years) and their first 2 years of secondary school. Data was collected using a self-completion questionnaire, four times over 3 years from 1800 students' aged 11-14 years. Multilevel modelling was used to determine the strongest school climate predictor of students' mental and emotional wellbeing at each time point. In the last year of primary school, peer support was the strongest protective predictor of wellbeing, while feeling less c...
The Drug Education in Victorian Schools program provided integrated education about licit and ill... more The Drug Education in Victorian Schools program provided integrated education about licit and illicit drugs, employed a harm minimization approach that incorporated participatory, critical thinking and skill-based teaching methods, and engaged parental influence through home activities. A cluster-randomized, controlled trial of the program was conducted with a student cohort during Year 8 (13 years) and Year 9 (14 years). Twenty-one secondary schools in Victoria, Australia, were randomly allocated to the Drug Education in Victorian Schools program (14 schools, n = 1,163) or their usual drug education program (7 schools, n = 589). This study reports program effects for alcohol. There was a greater increase in the intervention students' knowledge about drugs, including alcohol; there was a greater increase in communication with parents about alcohol; they recalled receiving more alcohol education; their alcohol consumption increased less; and they experienced a lesser increase in ...
Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 2013
During the transition from primary to secondary school, students typically experience a new socia... more During the transition from primary to secondary school, students typically experience a new social environment, moving from primary school with small intact classes throughout the day with one main teacher, to a larger secondary school with teachers, classrooms and often classmates changing throughout the day. During this time, students report a reduced sense of connectedness, which has been associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. This study investigated the temporal association between feeling connected to school and mental health prior to and over the transition period. Data were obtained from 3,459 students in a longitudinal study of adolescents’ knowledge, attitudes and experiences of bullying victimisation and perpetration during the transition from primary school to secondary school. Students completed a questionnaire at four time points from Grade 7 to the end of Grade 9. Path analysis was used to model relationships between school connectedness, depression and an...
Background Daily physical activity is critical during the early years of life for facilitating ch... more Background Daily physical activity is critical during the early years of life for facilitating children’s health and development. A large proportion of preschool children do not achieve the recommended 3 h of daily physical activity. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are a key setting to intervene to increase physical activity. There is a significant need for ECEC specific physical activity policy, including clearer guidelines on the amount of physical activity children should do during care, and strategies for implementation of these guidelines. Methods This study is a pragmatic cluster randomised trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the Play Active physical activity policy intervention to improve early childhood education and care educator’s physical activity-related practices. The central component of Play Active is an evidence-informed physical activity policy template which includes 25 practices to support nine age-specific recommendations on the amount of ph...
The Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 2020
This longitudinal study aimed to survey over a 12-month period, the mental health and wellbeing o... more This longitudinal study aimed to survey over a 12-month period, the mental health and wellbeing of new incoming students transitioning to a boys’ only boarding school. An online self-report questionnaire was used to investigate the perceptions and pre-transition experience of new incoming Year 7 students (e.g., while still in Year 6) prior to their impending transition to Secondary School (Time 1), at the end of Term 1 first year of secondary school (Time 2), and at the end of Term 3 (Time 3) first year of secondary school. All day students enrolled to begin secondary school were also invited to participate. Findings suggest that transition support efforts by the school (e.g. The Connect Programme) were successful in minimising the differences in factors associated with academic, emotional and mental wellbeing between boarding and non-boarding students at three months and six months post-transition. Mental health and wellbeing in terms of the internal, home, school and community pro...
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2019
Background: Physical activity professional development programs for Early Childhood Education and... more Background: Physical activity professional development programs for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) educators are a viable strategy for improving preschool children’s physical activity behavior. This pilot intervention evaluated the effectiveness of ‘nature play’ and ‘fundamental movement skills’ (FMS) professional development programs on ECEC educators’ practices on physical activity. Methods: 148 ECEC educators from 20 ECEC centers took part in either the Nature play or FMS professional development programs in Perth, Western Australia. Educators self-reported their physical activity related practices at baseline and three months post-professional development training, using established items. Wilcoxon’s test and adjusted models using Mann–Whitney U tests were run at the individual educator level to examine the change between baseline and post-professional development educator physical activity behavior. Results: Educators’ self-efficacy to engage children to be active si...
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 2017
This study examined indicators of mental health, as well as strengths and difficulties, as report... more This study examined indicators of mental health, as well as strengths and difficulties, as reported by same-age boarding and non-boarding students spanning four time points over a 2-year period as they transitioned from primary to boarding school in Western Australia (i.e., at the end of Grade 7, beginning of Grade 8, end of Grade 8, and end of Grade 9). It presents data taken from a larger longitudinal quantitative study, which included 76 male and 74 female boarding students while they were in Grades 7 to 9. Findings indicate that boarding students and non-boarding students reported significant increases in depression, anxiety, as well as emotional symptoms and hyperactivity over time, and reported significant decreases in prosocial behaviour. However, examining the boarder × time interaction, boarding students reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and stress at the end of Grade 8 compared to non-boarding students. No significant difference over time was found in depress...
School climate has often been described as the "quality and character of school life", ... more School climate has often been described as the "quality and character of school life", including both social and physical aspects of the school, that can positively promote behaviour, school achievement, and the social and emotional development of students. The current study examined the relationship between students' mental and emotional wellbeing and factors pertaining to school climate, focussing on the domains of safety, social relationships and school connectedness, during the last year of their primary schooling (age 11-12 years) and their first 2 years of secondary school. Data was collected using a self-completion questionnaire, four times over 3 years from 1800 students' aged 11-14 years. Multilevel modelling was used to determine the strongest school climate predictor of students' mental and emotional wellbeing at each time point. In the last year of primary school, peer support was the strongest protective predictor of wellbeing, while feeling less c...
The Drug Education in Victorian Schools program provided integrated education about licit and ill... more The Drug Education in Victorian Schools program provided integrated education about licit and illicit drugs, employed a harm minimization approach that incorporated participatory, critical thinking and skill-based teaching methods, and engaged parental influence through home activities. A cluster-randomized, controlled trial of the program was conducted with a student cohort during Year 8 (13 years) and Year 9 (14 years). Twenty-one secondary schools in Victoria, Australia, were randomly allocated to the Drug Education in Victorian Schools program (14 schools, n = 1,163) or their usual drug education program (7 schools, n = 589). This study reports program effects for alcohol. There was a greater increase in the intervention students' knowledge about drugs, including alcohol; there was a greater increase in communication with parents about alcohol; they recalled receiving more alcohol education; their alcohol consumption increased less; and they experienced a lesser increase in ...
Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 2013
During the transition from primary to secondary school, students typically experience a new socia... more During the transition from primary to secondary school, students typically experience a new social environment, moving from primary school with small intact classes throughout the day with one main teacher, to a larger secondary school with teachers, classrooms and often classmates changing throughout the day. During this time, students report a reduced sense of connectedness, which has been associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. This study investigated the temporal association between feeling connected to school and mental health prior to and over the transition period. Data were obtained from 3,459 students in a longitudinal study of adolescents’ knowledge, attitudes and experiences of bullying victimisation and perpetration during the transition from primary school to secondary school. Students completed a questionnaire at four time points from Grade 7 to the end of Grade 9. Path analysis was used to model relationships between school connectedness, depression and an...
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Papers by Leanne Lester