Social media poses a range of psychological risks, especially issues of body image. But there are practical steps K–12 educators can take to offset those risks.

Royce Li knows of students who hadn’t cracked an egg before entering his Grade 11 class. “It’s shocking,” he says from Rick Hansen Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario where he teaches in the hospitality department. Students are used to meals from fast-food restaurants where products are often filled with unnecessary fats, sugars, and salt.

For the first time in almost 20 years, Ontario’s health curriculum has received a major overhaul. Although some parent and religious groups have mounted protests, Ontario’s new curriculum is a rounded program that looks at all aspects of health including sex, physical wellness, and mental health. Except for a couple of provinces and territories that are lagging behind, we are all on the same page.

The first step to include mindfulness in schools is to provide training to teachers. Here are just some of the many mindfulness educator workshops offered in Canada.

I am a teacher in southern West Virginia, a region defined by stereotypes and hit hard by America’s opioid epidemic.

Revamped curriculum features lessons on online safety, building healthy mindsets, managing screen time, AI literacy, and more.