"Education Week is a statewide, annual event to celebrate NSW public education," says the NSW Department of Education.
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This year's week runs from August 5 to 9, and the theme for 2019 is:
- Every student, every voice.
"It is a celebration of student empowerment and how the NSW public education system gives students the skills they need in order to have and express a voice during their own educational journey and as engaged global citizens."
On August 5, the 2019 launch will take place simultaneously for both urban and regional students, with the event occurring at both the St Mary's North Public School and Dubbo College, Senior Campus.
The plan is for this to be broadcast live, and the schedule will switch back and forth between the two schools. To find it go to the NSW Department of Education's channel on Youtube where a live stream is ready and waiting to go.
As part of an announcement in June, Department of Education secretary Mark Scott said "Through the theme of 'Every student, every voice', we aim to highlight how the NSW public education system gives students the skills they need in order to have and express a voice and how as a system we are committed to listening to student voices."
Additionally, "Student empowerment is at the heart of this process and reflects how a student's voice actively shapes their educational journey," he said.
Later in the same announcement, the department said that the key messages for Education Week 2019 are:
- "Authentic participation" (valuing and actioning ideas)
- Schools and students are "partners in learning"
- "Respectful relationships" to work collaboratively
- "Connecting communities" who are diverse
- Preparing students to be "change makers" in the future
Game Changer
Challenge
Introduced in 2018, the department says "The challenge is designed to make strong learning and teaching connections to the NSW syllabus specifically in the area of developing general capabilities such as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, communication and problem-solving."
For 2019, 16-18 teams from across NSW will be coming together to address the question of:
- How might we humanise technology?
Within that topic, the aim is to explore questions like; Can artificial intelligence be built with social and emotional intelligence to have empathy? Can technology be used to save the planet, or does a darker human side prevent that? Could robots do all of our jobs? And will we begin to live in virtual worlds?