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For Education Leaders

School-based Vaping Prevention

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After three years of researching and co-designing the intervention with adolescents and school teachers, 5000 high schools students across NSW, QLD and WA are currently enrolled in the OurFutures Vaping Prevention Clinical Trial.
   OurFutures Institute’s CEO Ken Wallace says: “Our trial is the gold standard. This is one of the biggest clinical trials of a vaping prevention education program for high school students anywhere in the world.” Read more

My Brain Felt Sad and Then I Cried

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Seven-year-old Eabha (Ava) came by my office. She would occasionally drop in to tell me one of her stories or to sing me a song, but she seemed preoccupied and wasn’t her usual bubbly self. She played with a fidget she found in the toy box and after a short while, without looking in my direction said, ‘my dad has moved out and my mum has been crying a lot.’ She continued to play with the fidget.
Read more

Pace of Change Means Vocational Training Focus

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A rapidly changing, techy jobs market needs an old solution to ensure supply of workers.
   Vocational training (VET) can help bridge the divide between schooling and employment and improve learning outcomes by providing skills best acquired at work, the problem is many education systems see vocational training as second string. Less than half of upper secondary VET students are enrolled in programmes that include elements of work-based learning. Read more

Underfunding Forces Teachers to Spend their Own Money

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It's not like teachers are rolling it but a surprising number are being forced to spend their own money on resources so students don’t miss out. The sum often runs to hundreds of dollars each year.
   The choice teachers face is simple, either make up the funding shortfall themselves or risk being unable to deliver lessons. Some 85% of public school teachers are spending their own money with the average amount being just over $885 a year. Read more

It Doesn’t Have to be Lonely at the Top

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A principalship is usually the culmination of years of teaching and for many is something that happens in your late 40s or 50s, having worked as a senior educator.
  But teaching and principalships are two very different propositions, for one, a principal is responsible for the entire raft of challenges that a school generates above those of a department or a class. Often, they are left to find a way through on their own.
Read more

Crimson Global Academy Among World’s Best Schools

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A New Zealand school has been named a Top 3 finalist for the $250,000 World’s Best School Prizes 2023.
   Crimson Global Academy is a 100% virtual school founded in Auckland, New Zealand, with students joining live classes from 55 countries around the world.
   Crimson Global Academy has designed a comprehensive programme that  mitigates the shortcomings of virtual learning. Read more

Taking the Awks out of Sex Ed

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We need to have ‘the talk’ at some stage, but for everyone involved it can be a bit cringe.
   Discussing how the soft bits work can be especially awkies, but new, anatomically accurate, pull-apart model of the vulva is demystifying the topic.
   Created in collaboration with RMIT University, Cliterate is an educational tool for healthcare professionals and educators that pulls apart to show the relationship between the vulva, clitoris and pelvis. Read more