Globalisation and smart technology is changing the way we live and shaping our future. Jobs are evolving and people are a key commodity.
As the Hunter’s principal economic development organisation, RDA Hunter is focused on positioning the region for the future – developing jobs and a workforce that will sustain it.
We identified that with the shift towards a knowledge based global economy and advanced processing, having a STEM qualified and innovative workforce that is smarter than other regions in Australia puts the Hunter in the box seat for growth and prosperity.
According to the OECD, innovation is a driver of growth and human capital is the essence of innovation. It suggests that people need to be empowered to innovate through relevant education and that curricula needs to be adapted to equip students with the capacity to learn and apply new skills.
Educating young people – our future workforce – is critical to the Hunter’s performance in a global economy.
Historically, the Hunter has underperformed in STEM with the uptake of science and maths based subjects in the region’s high schools below the state average.
RDA Hunter’s ME Program was developed to address and help reverse this reality.
The ME Program is an industry led, STEM focused, skills and workforce development program. It links industry with schools to make STEM curriculum interesting and workplace-relevant while providing industry with qualified, motivated and career aware candidates.
Since the Program was implemented in 2010, the region has seen subject participation increase, results improve and STEM subjects become a first choice for students. In 2016, the Hunter is now above the NSW average in physics and engineering.
Partnering the majority of the Hunter’s high schools with the region’s large industries and SMEs, more than 10,000 Hunter school students have participated in the Program since 2010.
The results speak for themselves,
• 17% of ME Program students now select HSC Physics compared with the NSW Average of 14%
• In NSW 12% of HSC Physics students will drop the subject before Year 12, in ME schools this rate is just 6%
• ME Program schools are now three times more likely to complete HSC Engineering Studies compared to the NSW average
• 14% of ME Program students will select Metals and Engineering Certificate II for their HSC compared with the state average of 3%
• ME Program partner school, St Philips Christian College has seen a 66% increase in the uptake of STEM subjects in senior school from 2015 to 2016
High endorsement, too, is the ‘sampling’ of some of the Program’s content by schools across the state.
The ME Program has made the Hunter smarter.
iSTEM is a component of the ME Program. It is a state-of-the-art senior school subject that embeds mechatronics, aerodynamics, engineering, 3D CAD/CAM and motion modules to contextualise learning for students and teachers. It presents maths and sciences to students in a hands-on and interesting way and is key to the Program’s outstanding results.
iSTEM was created in the Hunter Region in direct response to industry’s urgent demand for young people qualified in STEM and has been so successful that it will be rolled out to senior school students in more than 60 NSW schools in 2016
The Living Toolkit is another element of the ME Program. It helps upskill teachers in 21st century technology and provides resources and teaching aids to assist in making STEM relevant. It continues to grow as more schools become involved in the Program and teachers see the benefit of learning from one another as well as the difference contextualised content makes to students’ learning outcomes.
Just as RDA Hunter responded to industry’s need for STEM qualified senior school students, we are now addressing the international trend to engage students in STEM much earlier through the Mini ME Program.
Mini ME is an adaptation of the ME Program. It is targeted specifically at primary school students and aims to get kids interested in STEM from as young as eight. Even though the problems being solved by students are less complex, they are still real-life problems from real-life industry that teach kids that science, technology, engineering and maths solve real problems.
Statistics released recently by PwC (A Smart Move) show that a shift of just 1% of Australia’s workforce into STEM roles increases GDP by as much as $57.4 billion (net present value over 20 years).
When applied to the outcomes of the ME Program to date, this forecasting model suggests that the increase in the uptake of STEM of between 2.5% and 5% delivered by the Program will lead to an equivalent increase in STEM jobs in the region. Based on the Hunter’s contribution to GDP, our economy will be boosted by between $10 billion and $15 billion (over 20 years).
The Hunter is now ahead of the game, upskilling and preparing a STEM qualified labour force for the future.