The COVID-19 pandemic presents a challenge that cuts to the heart of what we do at Asialink: forging networks and opening doors to greater engagement between Australia and Asia.

To acknowledge World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, The Victorian Multicultural Commission in partnership with Asia Education Foundation hosted an online conversation about promoting and celebrating intercultural dialogue and understanding through education and curriculum.

Cultural Diversity Day, 21 May, is a day to celebrate Australia's multicultural population. It’s a wonderful opportunity to promote inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone writes AEF, Executive Director, Hamish Curry.

We are living through extraordinary times that offer both challenges and opportunities. There are many challenges to education as we face the COVID-19 crisis: the possible inequities of online learning; the lack of face-to-face teaching; grieving the lack of human connection, are some. However, there are opportunities in this new classroom construct.

Educators and government have long talked about 21st Century learning, but COVID-19 presents an opportunity to re-evaluate our attitudes to modern education - right here, right now.

As educators it is important for us to provide a means for the students in our care to understand this reality and its impact on peoples of all cultures. Explore a breadth of texts, curated from educators across the world, that provide conduits to navigate potentially heightened racial and cultural tensions in our society.

In 2010, the United Nations (UN) initiated language days to celebrate and advance the equal use of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish – the six official languages of the UN – with the aim to deepen respect for multilingualism and cultural diversity. Join us this 20 April as we celebrate #ChineseLanguageDay.

Science is forever evolving. International Day of Women and Girls in Science reminds us that our perception of science, and how it’s taught, should change too.

International Mother Language Day (21 February) has been celebrated across the world since 2000; however, many of us have never questioned the concept of the mother tongue, writes Dr Bo Hu from the Asia Education Foundation.

Since the 1950s, Australia has been consistent about the way education can build our nation’s soft power, but the time has come to update our approach.