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After two years as a stay-home mother, Ramona wanted to return to work, ideally landing a job in the tech industry. So when she discovered Skills Ignition SG (SISG), a joint training program run by Google and the Singapore government, Ramona was hopeful that this would give her a leg up. She was accepted into the program, and over the course of nine months, she took a 3-month online training in digital marketing, then joined the Google Pay team as part of a 6-month on-the-job training. The SISG program gave her the opportunity to work with Googlers on real-life projects and helped her regain her confidence. After graduating, she applied and achieved her ultimate career goal as a program manager at Google.

Upskilling individuals like Ramona can help unlock new career opportunities and keep growing Singapore’s tech talent. Since launching SISG in 2020, we’ve seen over 5,500 people learn new digital skills, gain on-the-job experience and earn certificates. What’s more, our recent survey showed that three out of four trainees from the previous cohort were able to find new jobs within six months of graduation.

While we first launched SISG to meet the needs of the pandemic, with a goal of providing skilling opportunities for people who were out of work, we’re conscious that the needs of the Singaporean community are constantly evolving. Today, we held our first-ever SISG Career Fair, graced by Minister for Communications and Information, Mrs Josephine Teo. Hundreds of past SISG graduates attended, and we also announced three new initiatives for the program.

Enhanced traineeship program

To create a richer trainee experience and boost employability, SISG will introduce an enhanced traineeship program to host 60 trainees at Google. Selected trainees will undergo a 12-month full-time training program in Digital Marketing or Professional Cloud Architecture, extended beyond the previous duration of nine months. With continued partnership with IMDA under the Techskills Accelerator (TeSA) initiative, selected trainees will also receive mentorship from Google employees, a more comprehensive development plan, and higher stipends to match the rising market rates. Our applications for the traineeship program are now open to both fresh graduates and mid-career professionals, and we highly encourage interested individuals to apply.

New certificate under Google Career Certificates

Earlier this year, we introduced Google Career Certificates and 5,000 Grow with Google funded scholarships for SISG learners to gain the skills needed for entry-level jobs in high-demand technical fields: IT Support, Project Management, Data Analytics and UX Design. The online courses allow learners to study at their own pace, helping them balance their studies with other responsibilities.

We’ve seen strong interest from learners in Singapore, and starting today, we are adding a brand new Google Career Certificate in Digital Marketing & E-commerce. In Singapore today, while there are digital marketing and e-commerce roles in-demand, we lack the skilled workers to fill them. And just like Ramona, there is untapped potential for people with the right skills to launch their career, or to make a career change. Especially as marketing job roles increasingly require candidates to have digital marketing and data-related skills, this certificate will equip them with that relevant knowledge and boost their expertise.

Expanded Employer Consortium

In keeping with the spirit of SISG, we are working with a much broader set of partners to help more Singaporeans make the transition to jobs within the digital economy. 37 companies from a variety of industries have now joined our employer consortium, which is now more than double versus where we started earlier this year. These companies are ready to hire SISG graduates, and it’s encouraging to see their commitment to diversifying their candidate pool and looking beyond traditional educational backgrounds.

Our mission is to empower Singaporeans today, for tomorrow. In line with that, SISG must also remain relevant and helpful to more Singaporeans as the job market and local economy evolves. With the continuous partnership with IMDA and industry partners, together, we believe we can build a sustainable long-term program that continues to invest in the digital upskilling and employability for Singaporeans.

It was heartening to see the meaningful interactions between SISG trainees and employer consortium members at our first SISG career fair today, and we can’t wait to welcome the new group of trainees to the program!

Kiwis have more ways to access news and information than ever before. Today, we are announcing major new investments that will continue our support of New Zealand’s vibrant and diverse news industry to help people find quality journalism and contribute to the sustainability of news organizations. These investments will also help newsrooms engage their readers in new ways, today and into the future.

Launching Google News Showcase in Aotearoa New Zealand

To support news organizations and readers in New Zealand, we’re launching Google News Showcase, our curated online experience and licensing program. News Showcase panels display an enhanced view of an article or articles, giving participating publishers more ways to bring important news to readers and explain it in their own voice, along with more direct control of presentation and branding.

Starting today, News Showcase is rolling out in New Zealand with seven news publishers representing more than 20 publications, including national, regional and local news outlets like the New Zealand Herald, RNZ, Crux, Newsroom and Pacific Media Network. This launch builds on News Showcase deals signed with more than 1,700 news publications in more than 17 countries, including Australia, United Kingdom, Japan, India, Germany, Brazil, Italy and Argentina.

News Showcase panels from our New Zealand news partners will begin appearing on Google News on Android, iOS and the web, and in Discover on iOS and Android. The panels direct readers to the full articles on news publications’ websites, enabling them to deepen their relationships with readers.

“By helping us build deeper relationships with readers, Google News Showcase will support the development of the BusinessDesk brand, which in turn boosts our editorial operation,” says Matt Martel, General Manager of BusinessDesk, a leading business and economy digital publication. “Our relationship with Google is a key factor in growing our newsroom from five to more than 20 journalists.”

News Showcase highlights news publishers that are investing in comprehensive public interest journalism, giving them a new way to curate their high-quality content on Google’s News and Discover surfaces and bringing essential news coverage to Kiwis looking for it.

“Being able to further highlight the talent of NZME’s 300 editorial staff across our newsrooms is a really positive development,” says Michael Boggs, NZME CEO. “NZME is strongly focused on transforming our business digitally, and the Google News Showcase partnership supports that focus.”

“At RNZ we’re huge fans of making sure the brilliant stories from our award-winning journalists reach as many people as possible,” says Megan Whelan, Interim Chief Content Officer of RNZ, New Zealand’s independent public service multimedia organization. “This new agreement is another way to make sure trusted public media content is available to more people via Google News, and that’s definitely a good news story.”

As part of our licensing agreements with publishers for News Showcase, we’re also paying participating news organizations to give readers access to some of their paywalled content. This feature means readers will have the opportunity to read more of a publisher’s articles than they would otherwise be able to, encouraging them to learn more about the publication — and potentially subscribe.

“Pacific people from all over the world follow the news and journalism of our New Zealand-based newsroom,” says Don Mann, CEO of Pacific Media Network, a public interest broadcaster that works to empower Pacific cultural identity. “We aim to be the preeminent Pacific media entity for the Pacific diaspora and our relationship with Google will help us achieve this.”

“Crux has already developed a large, loyal local readership, but Google News Showcase will provide our readers with options like the ability to follow their own personal mix of trusted news sources,” says Peter Newport, Managing Editor of Crux local news for Queenstown, Wānaka and Cromwell. “We’re excited about the opportunity, and we think it’s a great initiative in support of strong New Zealand journalism.”

Google News Initiative programs in New Zealand

Google News Showcase is just our latest effort to support publishers of all sizes and the news industry in New Zealand. Through the Google News Initiative (GNI) we have been partnering with news publishers around the world to build a sustainable, diverse and innovative news ecosystem. The team offers training, products and funding to journalists and newsrooms to help strengthen their work in the digital age, and has reached more than 800 journalists and journalism students in New Zealand. These high-demand GNI programs provide an introduction to many of the core skills required to run a digital news business, based on the best practices and lessons of other news publishers around the world.

• Digital news business fundamentalsfor news organizations: The GNI Digital Growth Program offers a six-part free business training, consulting and support workshop to help New Zealand news organizations succeed online.
• Journalist Training Camp: At Ngā Kete Wānanga Marae marae, 25 journalism cadets representing multiple ethnicities, languages, and the rainbow and disability communities participated in the Te Rito Training Camp, a digital journalism training course with the Google News Teaching Fellow and heard from some of New Zealand’s leading journalists.
• Digital skills training for journalists: In partnership with Telum Media, open sessions around the country are free for journalists to learn the latest tools and processes to support digital reporting. This includes training on tools like Google’s research tool, Pinpoint, which journalists can use to support their reporting and creative data visualization techniques.
• Election policy and misinformation tracking: Building on years of support from the GNI for Policy New Zealand, the team’s latest iteration will provide a digital tool for journalists to understand and report on ahead of local elections. This creates a database for candidates’ key election policies, supporting journalists’ ability to track misinformation.
• Media literacy for primary school students: In partnership with Squiz Kids, media literacy module, “Newshounds,“ is a plug-and-play resource for teachers, children and their parents, aimed to empower young people to think critically about the media they consume and give teachers the confidence to teach media literacy in the classroom.

As New Zealand publishers continue to embrace technology to deepen their engagement with readers, we’re proud to be strengthening our commitment to working with and supporting publishers in Aotearoa. Through News Showcase, our other News products and GNI programs, we’re proud to promote quality journalism and a reliable and diverse news industry.

Whether you’re in Mexico preparing to start classes, or in Australia with your school year in full swing, going back to school can be exciting and overwhelming for students and teachers all over the world. We know that learning is not one size fits all – it is personal. To help amplify educators’ impact, we’ve created a new Back to School Guide to help educators meet each learner where they are – geographically, developmentally and academically.

Use new Classroom tools to support your students

Many educators are searching for new ways to help them create and deliver instruction efficiently, while supporting students effectively. With Google Workspace for Education and Google Classroom, you can set up classes to do everything from creating coursework to distributing assignments and grading. To get started, check out this Classroom training course.

We’ve added many new features to Classroom that we announced during our event, The Anywhere School 2022. For instance, integrated add-ons let you use your favorite education tools like Kahoot! and IXL right in Classroom. And, in partnership with Clever, admins can sync class rosters from most major student information systems (SISs) to Classroom. Schools with Education Plus can sign up for our beta pilot of Elevate Data Sync as we expand into 15 more countries.

Inspire creativity through video

Distance learning taught us the value of being creative while teaching and learning, from using Google Meet to stay connected to taking students on virtual field trips to explore arts and culture.

A great way to inspire creativity is through video. Our new Screencast app, built into ChromeOS, helps students and teachers share their ideas in class by creating their own screencasts, with built-in transcription. Educators can also record, trim, transcribe and share recordings for their students to review anytime.

Another way to connect is by using the livestream feature in YouTube to share school events with your whole community, in addition to livestreams with Meet.

Those same tools present new ways to reengage students as schools return to in-person environments. Keep exploring ways to use tools like Jamboard, Forms, Sites, Docs, Slides and Sheets to better communicate with students and understand their needs.

Make lessons more personal with adaptive learning technology

Adaptive learning provides students with customized resources and activities to address their unique learning needs. For example, if a student struggles with adding fractions, a teacher might offer additional practice problems. By applying artificial intelligence to adaptive learning, we can explore new possibilities to make the learning experience more personal for each student.

A new Classroom feature called practice sets, globally available in beta, offers students a more personal path to learning. Now, educators can easily transform their own teaching content into interactive assignments and use the autograding tool to cut down on manual grading time. When working on assignments, students receive instant feedback on their answers, and real-time support if they get stuck along the way. Take this new tool for a spin and explore the possibilities.

Help every student succeed with accessibility features

Many of the people behind Google for Education are former educators who bring their passion for inclusive learning to their work every day. So we know learners benefit greatly from tools that meet their unique needs.

Accessibility features built into Google Workspace for Education and Chromebooks help students learn in the ways that work for them. Students can utilize visual aids, spoken feedback and Acapela text-to-speech voices on Chromebooks, or use voice typing, captioning, Braille displays, screen readers and magnifiers in Google Workspace for Education. ​​

Not yet familiar with our accessibility features? Take the Tools for Diverse Learners Training to help everyone participate and develop a love of learning.

Keep families involved and in the loop

One of the greatest predictors of student success is family engagement. Easily communicate with families using guardian email summaries in Classroom, schedule meetings with Calendar appointment slots and set up virtual conferences with Meet.

It’s also important to work alongside families to help students use technology responsibly and be critical consumers of digital content. You can share the Be Internet Awesome site, our Guardian’s Guides and the Google for Education Family Tech FAQ for back to school night to teach parents more about this topic. Students have Chromebooks at home? Families can use Family Link to help manage their child’s school account on a Chromebook.

Join the conversation with professional learning communities

Who better to learn from than other teachers? Join one of our Google Educators Groups, professional learning communities of educators from around the globe. Share teaching resources, discuss ideas and keep up with new technology developments. Boost your skills with our Teacher Center training courses and certifications – and be sure to sign up for the latest Google for Education updates.

Have a great, safe and healthy school year, no matter where in the year (or world) you are. And for more tips, be sure to explore our Back to School Guide.