Skills & Thrills

The aim

To encourage young Australians to take up careers which build a nation, fostering interest in the prerequisites or Maths, Science, Engineering and Technology.

Mission

The Skills & Thrills Initiative (STI) will provide Education, Industry and the broader community with an umbrella matrix of accredited Maths, Science, Technology and Engineering outreach intervention programs which are mapped against National Curriculum outcomes and which also meet employability outcomes as defined by industry. It also aims to provide performance objectives and a management focus for existing Maths, Science, Engineering and Technology career intervention programs.

Background

Most of the career intervention programs focused on attracting students to Maths, Science, Engineering and Technology which are currently in place in Australia have historically been developed with mixed agendas by individuals, teachers or industry organisations. Some are driven by a personal passion to develop activities which interest children, some a desire to achieve financial reward or in the case of corporations more recently, specifically designed to address the skills related issues. In each case the outcomes, whether intentional or not, have all had at least some impact on increasing awareness of engineering for those that participate in the activities.

The more recent activities, designed specifically to address the shortage of students taking up Maths, Science and Engineering include, for example, the Science and Engineering Challenge by Engineers Australia, the activities of Re-Engineering Australia Foundation, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering STELA project, Science by Doing and the Formulae SAE challenge by the Society of Automotive Engineers. These have had a much more direct focus on increasing the level of awareness of specific professions and prerequisites. Further activities with the similar goals are currently under development by The, The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering and a number of the State Governments.

Within the United Kingdom this historical passion driven development of intervention programs also gave rise to a plethora of programs each with its own set of goals and Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) but with little common focus. At least within the UK there has been an attempt, in hindsight, to bring together and recognise the programs that exist under a single banner of the “Technology Learning Grid”. This UK recognition process has not taken the next step of aligning the goals and KPI’s of each of these programs to those of the nation in general. The STI aims to mirror achievements in the UK, and go much further, by undertaking the following key activities.

Key primary activities

1. Document and publicise all the intervention programs which are currently available to Australian Schools, in a similar format to the UK’s Technology Learning Grid,
2. Provide programs with a common set of task oriented outcomes aimed at unifying the outcomes and guiding principles used to develop and manage intervention programs. These would include, as an example, a definition of current industry employability skills as developed by organisations such as Australian Industry Group (AIG).
3. Provide each of the intervention programs with current research applicable to the development of career intervention programs, particularly in terms of influencing children’s motivational drivers and systems based approaches to intervention development. This is aimed at aiding understand of the issues in play and assisting with the construction and implementation of programs based on founding research.
4. Assist programs with the knowledge and skills needed to increase collaboration with Industry and help facilitate interaction between Industry and the education system.
5. Host a showcase and conference of the best from each of the current intervention programs where the best of the best is put on display, giving students, teachers and industry the opportunity to gain recognition for their work and contributions. The showcase conference will call together people from all ends of the education and industry spectrum to share ideas and a vision for the future and discuss how Australian Society can build a better future for our children.

Key performance indicators for programs

1. Inspiration & Excitement
2. Fostering Industry links and alignment to industry skill priorities
3. Increasing student understanding of the value and importance of Maths, Science, Engineering and Technology
4. Incorporation of “World Best” technologies and processes, building an education revolution
5. Sustainability and Curriculum Integration

Benefits