Dan Taylor, Director at AppsEDU, will speak at the International Schools EdTech Summit on Friday, 6 November 2026 at the German European School Singapore. Dan Taylor will co-present “How to Audit Your Google Security” with James Sayer. Join us in Singapore on 6 November. Get tickets.

Ewen Bailey, International Education Consultant at Ewen Bailey Consulting, will speak at the International Schools EdTech Summit on Friday, 6 November 2026 at the German European School Singapore. Ewen Bailey will present “From Plans to Progress: Are You Solving the Right Problem?” Join us in Singapore on 6 November. Get tickets.

Missouri and Google have announced a statewide partnership providing no-cost access to AI tools, training and professional certificates across public schools, higher education and workforce programmes. The Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. Photo: FSI Marketing/Unsplash. The programme covers nearly 100,000 educators and more than 1.1 million students. Participating institutions will have access to Gemini for Education, Google’s AI Educator Series and professional certificates in areas including AI, cybersecurity, data analytics and IT support. Google says adoption will remain voluntary, with individual districts, colleges and universities deciding whether and how to use the resources. Although the initiative is US-based, it is another example of governments partnering directly with major technology companies to build system-wide AI capability. Read Google’s announcement.

Claire Simms, Assistant Principal, Innovation and Technology (Elementary School) at St. Joseph's Institution International, will speak at the International Schools EdTech Summit on Friday, 6 November 2026 at the German European School Singapore. Claire Simms will present “From Experimentation to Strategy: Leading AI Adoption in Schools”. Join us in Singapore on 6 November. Get tickets.

Google is expanding its free AI Educator Series with new, short training modules due to be released on the first Wednesday of each month. The on-demand modules are designed for K–12 educators and generally take less than 15 minutes to complete. New topics include automating routine administrative work, using Gemini’s Guided Learning for student support, planning research with Deep Research and creating interactive AI Quests. Google is also running a free virtual Badge-a-thon on 19 September, with live training and ISTE-aligned digital badges. For international-school educators, the series offers a low-commitment way to explore practical uses of AI without requiring a whole-school training programme. See the modules and event details in Google’s announcement.

Thailand’s participation in the UNESCO–CODEMAO Youth Coding Initiative is expanding to include media and information literacy alongside coding and artificial intelligence training. Students in a school computer lab in Thailand. Photo: Ron Lach/Pexels. The first phase of the initiative reached 200 teachers across Africa and Asia, including 45 STEM teachers from 10 Thai provinces. In 2025, 200 students from two Thai schools completed AI and coding training, with hands-on activities and international exchanges forming part of the programme. In 2026, the programme has added training on misinformation, digital risks and critical engagement with AI. UNESCO says the initiative will extend to other Mekong countries from 2027, with a broader Asia–Africa youth collaboration platform planned by 2030. Read the UNESCO overview.

Samuel Lee Vierra, Coordinator, Institute for Design and Innovation at American Embassy School, New Delhi, will speak at the International Schools EdTech Summit on Friday, 6 November 2026 at the German European School Singapore. Samuel Lee Vierra will co-present “Designing Schools Where AI Amplifies Human Potential” with Warren Emanuel and Ryan McKinnie. Join us in Singapore on 6 November. Get tickets.

The New South Wales Government is moving to significantly reduce the amount of time students spend using individual digital devices in public school classrooms, including a proposed limit of just 15 minutes a day for students from Kindergarten to Year 2. A NSW public school student using a digital device. Image: © State of New South Wales (Department of Education), 2026. CC BY 4.0. Under the new guidelines: Preschool: no individual device use Kindergarten–Year 2: up to 15 minutes a day Years 3–4: up to 30 minutes a day Years 5–6: up to 45 minutes a day Years 7–10: devices for up to 25 per cent of subject time Years 11–12: devices for up to 50 per cent of subject time The changes are expected to be introduced as recommendations in 2027 before becoming mandatory across NSW public schools from 2028. Schools will also be encouraged to provide at least an hour of pen-and-paper learning each day, while device-based homework would generally not be required before Year 5. The move is notable well beyond NSW as schools continue to consider the appropriate role of laptops, tablets and other technology in learning. For international schools, many of which have long-established 1:1 device programmes, the NSW approach adds another significant example to the wider discussion about when technology improves learning — and when students may be better served without a device. The changes do not represent a blanket 15-minute limit on classroom ‘screen time’. The restrictions relate specifically to students’ individual use of devices, with different limits according to age and year level. Read the original reporting from The Guardian.

EdEvents has announced Tim Evans, Learning Technologies and Data Coordinator at the American International School of Guangzhou, as a keynote speaker for the International Schools EdTech Summit, taking place on Friday, 6 November 2026 at the German European School Singapore. Tim Evans will deliver the keynote ‘Hesitation is Information: Leading Through Complexity’ at the International Schools EdTech Summit in Singapore on 6 November 2026. Image: EdEvents. Evans will present “Hesitation is Information: Leading Through Complexity”, a keynote examining how school leaders can respond when technology changes faster than policies, structures and established ways of working. He will explore how hesitation can be treated as useful information—helping leaders make thoughtful decisions without complete certainty and ensuring technology supports the school’s direction rather than quietly defining it. Later in the day, Evans will lead the practical workshop “From Hesitation to Momentum: Leading Technology Forward”. The session will focus on recognising different levels of readiness across a school, building confidence and capacity, and helping technology initiatives move beyond ideas and pilots into meaningful practice. Evans holds a Master’s degree in Educational Technology and has led digital change in the United Kingdom, Spain, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and China. His work centres on the purposeful use of technology and data to strengthen teaching, learning and informed decision-making, and he is an active contributor to professional learning communities across Asia. The Summit takes place immediately after EDUtech Asia, being held in Singapore on 4–5 November. EdEvents members can receive 20% off paid EDUtech Asia conference passes using the promotional code EDEVENTS20. Explore the programme, meet the presenters and learn more at www.edtechsummit.asia, or get tickets through Humanitix.

Adobe has made Student Spaces in Acrobat available to students worldwide at no cost, extending an AI-powered study hub first launched in beta earlier this year. Students can use Student Spaces to work with their own course materials. Photo: Thành Đỗ/Pexels. The tool can turn uploaded course materials and notes into flashcards, quizzes, mind maps, podcasts, video summaries and study sheets. It can also convert handwritten notes into searchable text, while answers are linked back to the source material. Adobe says citation generation in formats including APA, MLA and Chicago will be added later in September. The release matters for schools because students can access the tool directly, whether or not it forms part of a school’s official technology platform. Read Adobe’s announcement.

Taylor’s Schools has acquired four St Andrews International School campuses in Thailand from Cognita, marking the group’s first expansion into the country. Taylor’s Schools has acquired four St Andrews International School campuses in Thailand from Cognita, marking the group’s first move into the Thai international-school market. The acquisition covers St Andrews International School Sathorn, Dusit and Sukhumvit 107 in Bangkok, as well as St Andrews International School Green Valley on Thailand’s eastern seaboard. Tes reports that the schools will retain their existing names, identities and staff. The deal takes Taylor’s Schools to 10 schools serving around 10,000 students across Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The group already operates schools including Garden International School, Nexus International School and Australian International School Malaysia. Taylor’s Schools CEO Angelina Tee told Tes that the group would focus first on supporting and embedding the four schools before considering further expansion in Thailand. Potential future investment discussed by Tee included boarding at Green Valley and an outdoor education centre, although these have not been announced as confirmed projects. Read the full report in Tes.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Photo: Yu Chu Chin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; cropped. Australia is proposing new online safety laws that would allow social media users to switch off algorithm-driven feeds and instead see content only from people and groups they have chosen to follow. The proposed Digital Duty of Care would also introduce new requirements for online services used by children, including social media, games, apps and AI chatbots, with platforms expected to take greater responsibility for harmful content and design features. For schools, the proposal is another sign that digital wellbeing policy is shifting beyond screen time and student behaviour towards the design of the platforms themselves. Read the full report in The Guardian.