Every week, HEADlines brings you the latest news, stories and commentaries in education and healthcare. This week, get insights on the latest developments in education. image Developing STEM education for the future Beyond just imparting core technical competencies, a STEM education can teach students essential soft skills and values. Teachers have discovered that a coding class can also instil virtues such as patience, perseverance, curiosity, and generosity, to name a few, making it a valuable subject for the contemporary classroom. While some may still prioritise STEM education for the best and brightest, especially when covering topics such as space science, STEM education is increasingly being recognised as a burgeoning sector for the 21st century with initiatives to make it a viable career path for more students. Here at The HEAD Foundation, we continue our March for STEM events to bring you two more webinars in our Making HEADway series, Teaching STEM in Southeast Asia. Sign up for the remaining two sessions today: 17 March | Developing and Supporting STEM Teachers 24 March | Creating a STEM Ecosystem *Note: A Certificate of Participation will only be given to those who complete all three sessions, via Zoom. Education in the Spotlight: The Conversation | 4 ways to help STEM majors stay the course When students from underrepresented groups leave STEM majors, it affects all of society, hampering the overall potential for critical thinking, creativity and innovation. South China Morning Post | From Hong Kong to Malaysia and India, how online learning failed special needs students during the COVID-19 pandemic Children with learning difficulties were disadvantaged before the pandemic, but with schools closed the gap is widening. The New York Times | A Reading Crisis Reading is fundamental, and about a third of young children in the United States are missing benchmarks. The Straits Times | An education system to build confidence and cohesion amid stiff global competition