With a federal election coming up, I believe it may be timely that we consider and ask ourselves more deeply what the outcomes of an exceptional school are these days.
   I would argue that it goes far beyond academic results. But is this just the tip of the iceberg in order to produce our next generation of citizens, workers, community leaders, relational partners, mothers, fathers etc?
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Gen Z: How to Teach the Tech Whizz Kids
By now, you’ve probably heard of Gen Z, the generation of people born after 1995 who have never known a world without technology or a 24/7 new cycle. They are global citizens, have a high BS radar, and care about social causes and authenticity.

   As things stand, the education landscape has been slow to adapt to the needs of this generation, particularly this is because this generation is far more technologically savvy than many of those that teach them. This poses an unusual imbalance in the classroom, where students are often left teaching the adults how to use technology.

   Here are four things educators need to know about this generation and their relationship with the technology they consume, curate and create.

   Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Cisco predicted that 82% of all created content would be video. Since the pandemic began in 2020, video consumption, in particular video streaming and short-form video content, has risen significantly.

   Social media platforms TikTok and YouTube dominate the short-form video content space and video has become a widely used tool in educational settings, both remote and in-person. These changing consumption patterns together with the steadily increasing use of video for educational purposes have been the focus of a growing body of research focused on measuring video’s effectiveness as a learning aid.

   Instagram’s highly publicised shift to video is part of a wider growth around the consumption of video content, and no generation has absorbed this trend more readily than Gen Z. Not only is it widely used in educational settings, more and more students are expecting it as part of their learning experience.

   Beyond the consumption of media, it’s increasingly important that students create video too. Read more

For some time, there have been warnings from schools and school systems of a growing teacher shortage, particularly in secondary schools. The NSW Teachers Federation has been warning for years of a growing crisis, with the Department of Education recently acknowledging the gravity of the situation. The problem is not confined to NSW, with the number of graduates in Victoria applying to become teachers dropping sharply. Read more

Dr Megan Sebben has had a varied career – from groundwater hydrology research to consulting. She currently manages CSIRO’s Kick-Start program which provides start-ups and small businesses with funding support and facilitates access to CSIRO’s research expertise and facilities.
   “I never envisioned myself as a scientist,” said Megan, who had a lightbulb moment when her high school career advisor suggested a science degree. Read more

A peer group has a huge effect on how young people behave and young offenders are being discouraged from continuing to commit crimes by harnessing their friend group’s influence.
   Traditional approaches like punishment, policing, detention are often derailed by entrenched behaviours and offenders’ unwillingness to walk away from their co-offending peers. But now a new model looks to help deter further offending. Read more