FAKE NEWS IS FACT! - IS EDUCATION YOUR PRIORITY? ENDING MUSIC LESSONS FOR YOUR DISINTERESTED CHILD? NEITA AWARDS INVESTMENT UPDATE - ASG
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NEW ZEALAND – MARCH 2019
IS EDUCATION YOUR PRIORITY?
ENDING MUSIC LESSONS FOR
YOUR DISINTERESTED CHILD?
NEITA AWARDS
INVESTMENT UPDATE
FAKE NEWS
IS FACT!
HELP YOUR CHILD BECOME
MEDIA LITERATE
CONTENTS CEO’S MESSAGE
Before updating you on some important things to
come as another school year begins, I am pleased to
formally introduce myself as the new CEO of Australian
Scholarships Group.
I join ASG after 18 years of building Generation Life into Australia’s leading
investment bond provider, where I created the LifeBuilder and ChildBuilder Bonds.
I am excited to impart my knowledge and experiences that I have gained from a
career in investment and finance spanning over 35 years.
10 ENDING MUSIC LESSONS FOR
YOUR DISINTERESTED CHILD?
ASG continues to identify and acknowledge the educators that help our children
learn with the 2018 National Excellence in Teaching Awards announced on
February 22.
Six teachers were officially recognised in New Zealand including Subash Chandar
03 FROM THE CEO’S DESK K, a curriculum leader of mathematics, from Ormiston Senior College in Auckland.
Subash will join recipients of ASG’s annual Space Camp scholarship that sees
04 IS EDUCATION A PRIORITY? two students visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Alabama.
The opportunity to take the reins as CEO at ASG is a great privilege, and I am
06 ASG INVESTMENT UPDATE very much looking forward to setting some new goals and bringing this business
forward in 2019.
I believe ASG is in a strong position to evolve and with my experience with
08 NEiTA AWARDS UPDATE
life-event investment products it will be a bright future for this organisation and
its members.
REMINDER TO STUDENTS
Eligible students can claim their tertiary scholarship
12
payment by logging in to My ASG and completing an
online scholarship claim form. FAKE NEWS IS FACT!
HELP YOUR CHILD BECOME Ross Higgins
MEDIA LITERATE
2 ASG’S SCHOLASTIC NEW ZEALAND MARCH 2019 3
Eleanor, who is at university studying neuroscience flute while Alexander is involved in drama. He also
and human anatomy. Eleanor uses the payments plays the bass clarinet in his school wind orchestra
to pay for various university fees, books and to ensemble.
meet other expenses. She says that the money has “We have been supported by wonderfully dedicated
allowed her to drop some hours in her part-time people over our 19-year journey with ASG,” Linda
work so she can concentrate on studies. said. She is pleased with ASG’s attempts to
provide families with up-to-date research on child
development and study through the newsletters
Choosing to join ASG as well as the opportunity to enter into the Space
has been a wonderful Camp competition.
experience for our family “Choosing to join ASG has been a wonderful
and we highly recommend experience for our family and we highly recommend
it to any family looking to provide for their children’s
it to any family looking to future education.”
provide for their children’s
IS EDUCATION YOUR future education.
PRIORITY? Eleanor and Alexander are gifted young adults.
Eleanor was recently offered an opportunity to
ASG CAN SUPPORT YOU undertake a postgraduate degree of Juris Doctor of
Law (JD) without sitting for an entrance test. She
Education has always been a high priority for Peter and myself, says Linda White. is also an environmentalist and dreams of clean
Knowing that by the time our two children reached university age the expense of oceans and reduced plastic waste. She hopes to one
higher education would be prohibitive so we wanted a strategy that would give our day build sustainable houses and help reduce our
kids the financial freedom to pursue whatever educational pathway they desired – carbon footprint.
this is why we chose an ASG education fund. She is also the president of the Physiology, Human
Anatomy and Biology Club (PHAC). The club runs
The family found it convenient to save for education with ASG. “On a single wage with two young children, educational, career and social events for students
money was tight, as it is for most families, but the small amounts paid monthly were manageable. We studying human sciences to enrich their time spent
decided that this form of investment was a great option, as we all know, life usually gets in the way of studying.
every good savings plan!” said Linda. In school, both Eleanor and Alexander received
Linda and Peter said that they would highly recommend ASG to family and friends, as well as the Gifted and Talented Scholarship from the John
grandparents. Linda said that the benefit payments have given financial independence to their daughter Curtin College of Arts. Eleanor plays the piano and
4 ASG’S SCHOLASTIC NEW ZEALAND MARCH 2019 5
ASG INVESTMENT UPDATE
Australian Equities 11.7%
Global Fixed Global Equities 23.2%
Interest 27.5%
Emerging Markets
Equities 4.1%
Unlisted Property 3%
Australian Fixed Listed Infrastructure 3%
Interest 12.5%
Cash 15%
At ASG our primary investment A key approach to achieving our long-term investment investment markets, especially global equity events, the China US trade tensions and Brexit.
purpose is to assist members in goals is to focus on strategic asset allocation and markets, which fell sharply.
build investment portfolios which have a long-term Despite comments from Central Banks that lead
meeting the costs of education During these times, which are not unexpected,
focus and offer solid diversity, whilst considering us to believe interest rates will remain ‘lower
it is important to focus on the long game
by providing stable and reliable overall risk. and capture the benefits of portfolio
for longer’ we remain focussed upon the
investment returns without taking long-term risk adjusted performance,
diversification to cushion
Market fluctuations may occur from quarter to quarter because saving for children’s education
excessive risks. the volatility.
or year to year, which is why our funds are managed is a long-term investment.
to achieve a conservative balanced risk profile with a Since then markets have rebounded
long term investment horizon. to trade higher over January and February This chart above shows the long-term
2019 but risks remain. For example, the asset allocation of the New Zealand
The December 2018 quarter was challenging for possible slowing of global growth, geopolitical Pathway Education Fund
6 ASG’S SCHOLASTIC NEW ZEALAND MARCH 2019 7
Among this year’s winners is Subash Chandar K from
Ormiston Senior College in Auckland.
Subash is the curriculum leader of mathematics
and statistics and believes that teachers need to be
innovative and test their limits – believing robots can
change the way science is learnt in the classroom.
He is a strong advocate for flipped and blended
learning and has started a YouTube channel for Year
13 Calculus students, InfinityPlusOne, which has over
4,000 subscribers.
Among the other nominees from Australia and Subash Chandar K from Ormiston Senior College in
New Zealand is a young teacher who is working to Auckland.
raise the literacy levels of children from indigenous who will be funded on the next trip to Space Camp at
communities and speakers of English as a second the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Alabama.
language.
ASG is proud to continue its support of quality
Another is an early childhood teacher introducing the
teachers and educators, with the NEiTA program
idea of mindfulness and wellbeing among toddlers,
having received more than 35,000 nominations since
fast-tracking the skills necessary to pause and
it was formed in 1994.
2018 ASG NATIONAL EXCELLENCE reflect in an ever-changing world.
Twelve educators and teachers from Australia will
“We believe it’s important to recognise educators
who positively shape students learning by supporting
IN TEACHING AWARDS be honoured in March at the State Library Victoria,
rounding out the NEiTA winners for this year.
those who instil in students the desire for continuous
lifelong learning and encourage them to become
Judges will also select an Australian NEiTA winner to future leaders in their chosen fields,” ASG chief
The 2018 National Excellence in Teaching Six educators and teachers from New Zealand,
from 2000 nominations in Australia and New join Subash as the two annual special award winners executive Ross Higgins says.
Awards were presented on the 22nd
Zealand, were officially recognised with a
February at the Grand Hall Parliament certificate and a $5,000 professional development
House in Wellington. grant at the awards presentation.
The six recipients were selected from 15 shortlisted NEITA BY
NUMBERS
nominees who submitted a 1,200-word essay 35,000 1,050 $1,000,000
and detailed responses to five questions around nominations teachers have awarded in professional development
received awards grants, prizes and endowments
education and teaching in a self-produced video.
8 ASG’S SCHOLASTIC NEW ZEALAND MARCH 2019 9
LEARNING MUSIC IMPROVES SCHOOL SCORES
Experts are now convinced that having music lessons leads to improved BENEFITS
OF A MUSIC
academic performance. This means cutting out music lessons to make time for EDUCATION
studies may not be beneficial.
An analysis by researchers in the Netherlands found that children who learnt to
play an instrument, sing and listen to music in class showed:
• improved language-based reasoning skills
• improved ability to plan and complete tasks, and
• better academic results. Studying music before 7 can
help children develop bigger
Music teacher and 2017 ASG NEiTA recipient Elana Shatari has seen this vocabularies, a better sense of
grammar, and a higher verbal IQ.
firsthand. She says learning music comes with allied benefits such as improved
memory skills, the ability to pay more attention to detail, increased analytical
and listening skills, and improved vocabulary and mathematical skills. Also,
children’s confidence levels rise, they are able to take constructive criticism
and work as a team.
Children following structured
She says nothing should stop parents from getting a good music education for music lessons perform better
their child. “Every child in Australia is entitled to a music education. It shouldn’t on tasks measuring verbal IQ,
planning and inhibition
be a luxury.”
Music also trains the brain in a way that brain training games and apps cannot,
and also promotes overall brain health. Experts say music stimulates the brain
in a very powerful way because of our emotional connection to it.
ENDING MUSIC MUSIC FOR MUSIC SAKE
Regardless of these benefits, music educators are emphatic that music must
In adolescence, music contributes
to the development of self-
identity; seen as a support when
LESSONS FOR YOUR be learnt for music sake.
As music educator Richard Gill says, in his popular TEDxSydney talk on
young people are feeling troubled
or lonely
DISINTERESTED CHILD? the value of music education, “The neurological evidence of music is in a
spectacular way. That’s a bonus. Music is worth teaching for its own sake.”
REFERENCE
As the school year progresses, children tend to have fewer extracurricular activities than • Jaschke AC, Honing H and Scherder EJA (2018) Longitudinal Analysis of Music Education on Executive
Musical training promotes
they started with owing to demands on their time. That’s a good thing if the child was in Functions in PrimarySchool Children. Front. Neurosci. 12:103. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00103
overall brain health in
• Want to ‘train your brain’? Forget aps, learn a musical instrument; The Guardian
risk of being ‘overscheduled’. But, you might want to reconsider stopping the child from children and adults
• The Value of Music Education – Richard Gill; TEDxSydney talk
attending music lessons owing to the many benefits that music education provides. • The Music Miracle: The Scientific Secret to Unlocking Your Child’s Full Potential; Liisa Henriksson-Macaulay
10 ASG’S SCHOLASTIC NEW ZEALAND MARCH 2019 11
takes shape, here are some tips for parents to help • Watch out for recirculation of old viral rumours
FAKE NEWS IS A FACT! support media literacy in teens. when people or issues appear back in
Tips to help children develop media literacy skills: the news.
HELP YOUR CHILD BECOME • Help them understand that there are different REFERENCES
• Wineburg, Sam and McGrew, Sarah and Breakstone, Joel and
types of media. Some aim to inform but others
MEDIA LITERATE try to sell something or convince users to look at
Ortega, Teresa. (2016). Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of
Civic Online Reasoning. Stanford Digital Repository.
a certain issue from their point of view. • Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2018
• News and Australian Children: How young people access, perceive
Schools and parents are now more aware of issues such as cyber bullying and • Encourage children to ask questions. Is the
•
and are affected by the news
Get Smart About News, The News Literacy Project
child grooming, thanks in large part to the media. Now, it’s time to wake up to piece of information they have come across • Media use by tweens and teens, Common Sense
news, opinion, entertainment, propaganda or
another issue that teenagers face—fake news! Media
something else? • The News Literacy Project --
https://newslit.org/
Technology enables everybody to produce high-quality Another research says that most young people • Inform them about conspiracy theories. They • Tips to spot false news;
looking content and tailor-make it for each person. can’t – or don’t know if they can – identify fake may be alluring but just because something Facebook
This makes it easy for anybody, news. Still, around 35% of teenagers can’t be disproved doesn’t mean that it’s true.
particularly young people, to be fooled turned to social media—identified as
• Warn them against ‘engagement bait’ media
by fake news. DID YOU KNOW? a hotbed for fake and exaggerated accounts that use doctored images to try to gain
Media literacy is a vital skill for TEENAGERS SPEND news and sponsored content—to
large followings.
children growing up in the digital age,
1200 HOURS A YEAR ON access information.
SOCIAL MEDIA
as news helps shape their opinions 78.8% OF TEENS ARE “…mainstream news does not • Help them understand that initial reports on
and world views. HIGHLY INVOLVED WITH THEIR
deal or focus on issues that affect scientific findings might need more context and
MOBILE PHONE
young people or it’s portrayed in a that it is important to follow developments over
Children are tech-savvy, but easily 60% OF PARENTS NEVER
way that is not easily understood or time to confirm early findings.
fooled by fake news MONITOR THEIR CHILD’S
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT
“Many people assume that because OR USE
accessible to kids my age,” said a • Watch out for manipulated text on signs
young people are fluent in social 16 year old from NSW. and messages. Online tools can easily
media they are equally perceptive The growing phenomenon of fake manipulate text.
about what they find there. The opposite is true,” news has prompted a Senate Committee Inquiry • Warn them that more often than not ‘amazing’
says Professor Sam Wineburg, the head author of a into the Future of Public Interest Journalism to call history and nature photos are often fakes or
Stanford University report on the issue. for improving media literacy in schools. Until that presented out of context.
BE SKEPTICAL IS THE URL OR SITE IS THE POST OF QUESTON – CHECK THE DATES IS THE STORY A JOKE? DOES THE NEWS PROVOKE AN INTENSE ASK YOURSELF –
TIPS FOR
OF HEADLINES: NAME UNUSUAL? LOW QUALITY? if the post uses OF THE ARTICLE. Watch out for satirical news EMOTIONAL RESPONSE FROM YOU – how is the story structured
TEENS TO
SPOT FAKE Fake news stories often have Only trust stories written by Does it contain bold claims with sensationalist Old rumours often resurface articles, such as those on either shock or anger or exhilaration? and what kind of proof
NEWS catchy headlines in all caps with a source that you trust for no sources and lots of spelling imagery when a particular issue is in The Onion or The Shovel This could be a clue that the report isn’t does it offer?
exclamation points. credibility and accuracy. and grammatical errors? the spotlight. balanced or accurate.
12 ASG’S SCHOLASTIC NEW ZEALAND MARCH 2019 13
PUBLISHED BY ASG
EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Member stories can be submitted to Ramya Manoharan: RManoharan@asg.com.au
While all reasonable care will be taken, the publishers cannot accept responsibility for any loss,
damage or non-return of materials supplied.
The opinions expressed by individual contributors published in ASG’s Scholastic are not necessarily those of ASG.
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