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Julia Richardson examines how she used mandala-making with her first-grade class during the COVID-19 pandemic and her school went virtual. A mandala (Sanskrit for "circle") is an "artistic representation of higher thought and deeper meaning given as a geometric symbol used in spiritual, emotional, or psychological work to focus one's attention," according to the "World History Encyclopedia." Over the course of the school year, her class made mandalas integrating state standards in geometry, science, art, and history. She wove in mindfulness techniques to support my students' coping skills: focusing on our senses, breathing consciously, making mistakes and letting them go, noticing what emotions or thoughts present themselves. Studying geometric shapes and patterns, the class observed and discussed mandalas in architecture around Los Angeles and in photos from around the world. Learning about the different cultures that have used and use mandalas encouraged a celebration of commonality and unity with people across the globe.

The casualisation of academic labour is increasing worldwide. Whereas continuing academics have been subject to longstanding investigation, there are now growing concerns about the work experiences of casual academics. Drawing on a qualitative study comprising 30 in-depth interviews with casual academics, full-time continuing academics and Human Resources Directors tasked with recruiting, selecting, remunerating and developing casual academics, this article identifies the paradoxical nature of how casual academics are being managed in the contemporary Australian higher education sector. It also investigates casual academics' career aspirations. The requirement for more effective and equitable management of casual academics is discussed in light of the findings.

In a 2018 study conducted by Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), school mental health experts screened close to 3,000 LAUSD students and determined "almost half (48%) of the students were found to be at-risk for traumatic stress, which manifests in behaviors [such as emotional outbursts, arguments and defiance] that impede learning." Traditional methods of discipline and punishment in schools do nothing to help students develop tools for handling frustration or big emotions, managing conflicts, communicating without violence, or solving problems. Adopted by LAUSD in 2013 as an alternative disciplinary approach, Restorative Justice focuses on identifying and repairing the harm caused by violation of an agreement or a crime, rather than simply meting out punishment. To address the frequent conflicts arising between students, the author began following the LAUSD Restorative Justice Framework. This article discusses the author's year-long research inquiry into how to make Restorative Justice practices friendly for 1st-grade and young students.

Being on a career plateau is widely regarded as an undesirable career experience characterised by a lack of individual proactivity, ability, or opportunity for promotion. In this paper, we present an alternative view arguing that some employees may choose to plateau their careers and deliberately forego opportunities for hierarchical progression. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with 75 law enforcement officers in the US and Australia, we explore why they declined a promotion opportunity or elected not to apply for promotion. Drawing on social cognitive career theory, we develop a provisional taxonomy characterised by individual proactivity: self‐initiated and self‐resigned career plateaus. Specifically, we report how the decision to remain on either of these career plateaus is informed by either the low valence accorded to a promoted position or, paradoxically, the reduced self‐efficacy in navigating what is viewed as a flawed promotion system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been widespread changes to working arrangements and employment relationships, including significant decreases in continuing/full-time employment contracts. This trend is particularly notable in academia, with more universities relying on the expertise of sessional, teaching-focused academics. This qualitative study extends understanding of this important group of professionals, identifying sessional work as a 'double-edged sword' and suggesting a typology of sessional academic careers to be tested in future research. It reports on the diversity among sessional academics, some enjoying the autonomy and flexibility of this working arrangement, others seeking more job security and greater alignment with continuing employment. It also identifies synergies and contradictions between sessional academic careers and key themes in the contemporary careers literature.

Racial discrimination is an unfortunately common experience for Black Americans with detrimental physical and mental health consequences. Prior research has established an association between discrimination and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS); yet, trauma-related cognitions have not been studied. The majority of the existing empirical work in this area has not examined specific forms of discrimination experiences, despite potential key differences in these adversities. Relatedly, some forms of discrimination constitute "traumatic" events as defined by Criterion A for PTSD in the DSM-5 while others do not, and these distinctions have also been overlooked. Thus, the present study aimed to (a) examine discrimination, including specific types, in relation to PTSS and posttraumatic cognitions and (b) investigate whether Criterion A and non-Criterion A discrimination experiences were tied to PTSS and trauma-related thoughts. Participants were 172 undergraduate students who identified as Black or African American (M age = 25.11, SD = 8.25, range = 18–56; 84.9% female). Results indicated that while cumulative trauma was unrelated to PTSS, discrimination experiences were linked with higher PTSS and negative posttraumatic cognitions. Specifically, avoidance discrimination experiences were associated with both outcomes. Criterion A discrimination events were not tied to PTSS. These findings support previous research showing a link between racial discrimination and trauma-related outcomes. In addition, the results suggest that avoidance discrimination, while not classified as "traumatic," may have an important contribution to PTSS and posttraumatic cognitions among Black individuals. The study underscores the need to address racial discrimination experiences, including microaggressions, within a traumatic stress context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]