View this email in your browser
 
2019 (28) 19 August


ET News Digest
Your Weekly Education Newsletter
image

PEACE Pack pushes back against bullies
SA’s PEACE Pack program continues to keep a lid on bullying by teaching coping or resilience skills to build wellbeing of primary and secondary students.
   The South Australian Bullying Prevention Strategy was developed by a number of school-based pilot projects, a series of public engagement activities including a conference, YourSAy survey, workshops and roundtables involving more than 900 experts, educators, professionals, parents, children and young people. Read more

image

Australian teens’ brains make them vulnerable online shopping scams
Being a digital native doesn't seem to stop you from becoming a digital scam victim; figures show increasing numbers of Australian teenagers are being ripped off, as their developing brains make it difficult for them to spot a scam.
   Last year children under 18 lost more than $170,000 to scams, according to the latest figures from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s latest annual scam report. The prefrontal cortex is still developing in teenagers, making them unable to make decisions or solve problems as quickly as adults do. Read more

image
image

Australia’s biggest online spelling competition kicks off
LiteracyPlanet’s Word Mania free online spelling competition for schools is happening again, Word Mania challenges students to build as many words as they can in three minutes from 15 randomly generated letter tiles.
   Aussie students have spelled over 40 million words correctly this year with over 2 million Word Mania games already played and a 36% average improvement in scores expected. Read more

image

Integrated support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at boarding schools
Support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at Queensland boarding schools is needed from families and communities, schools and peers to ensure that students transition well to secondary schooling.
   That’s according to researchers who are in the final year of a five-year Resilience Study project, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
   Over 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are currently at boarding school in Queensland. Read more

image

Wiggle it a little bit for better school performance
Turns out sitting still doesn’t work as well as wiggling marching and tapping, a beat aids young children to develop their self-regulation skills and improve school readiness.
   Associate Professor Kate Williams from QUT designed a preschool program, called RAMSR, focussing exclusively on rhythm and movement activities linked to pathways in the brain to support attentional and emotional development. Read more

image

National Skills Week to highlight vocational education
By 2023, Australia will need approximately one million more workers (5.36 million) with certificate two, three or four qualifications than it will those with bachelor degrees or higher (4.42 million) so National Skills Week will have a vocational education and training emphasis.
   The number of people completing a training course has fallen by 43.5% compared to five years ago while the National Centre for Vocational Education Research showed the number of people starting traineeships and apprenticeships fell by 3.7% in 2018.
Read more

image
image
image

Seven crafty primary schools in a sticky $21,000 situation
Seven crafty primary schools have won their share in $21,000 worth of cash and prizes after entering the Bostik Smart Schools program.
   In collaboration with Winc and OfficeMax, the Bostik Smart Schools program encouraged primary school students across Australia to get creative and enter a unique craft project for a chance to win one of three first prizes of $5,000 for their school.
   This year’s environmental theme was selected to support education around sustainability and recycling while aligning with key school curriculums. Read more