Gregory Donoghue presents: Belonging - the Universal Human Need.

While food, water and air may be our most important physical needs, a strong sense of belonging is arguably our most universal psychological need. It affects not only students, but teachers too, along with the broader school community – a strong sense of belonging can create many lifelong benefits for everyone.

Sadly, in our fragmented and often alienating Western culture, this sense of belonging is under threat, leading to all kinds of negative consequences including crime, alienation and self-harm. Teachers and schools however can be powerful agents for arresting this decline and can start the process of fostering strong belonging in the whole school community.

In this webinar, participants will receive an overview of school belonging, its benefits and challenges, and most importantly, evidence-based strategies for fostering it within our students.

About Gregory Donoghue

Dr Gregory Donoghue is a member of the Cognition Education Group Education Advisory Panel.

As a psychology graduate, Gregory has spent over three decades working with children at risk, initially as a Victoria Police detective in the Child Exploitation Squad, then as a statutory child protection investigator. He completed his Masters in student wellbeing at the University of Melbourne, and then was invited to complete a PhD by Professor John Hattie where he investigated the neuroscientific and psychological evidence around specific learning techniques. Gregory is currently a student wellbeing researcher with Monash University and an honorary research fellow with University of Melbourne, and consults privately to students with cognitive and learning difficulties.