Technologies and Engineering Never More Important
With a greater emphasis on STEM subjects, it is imperative that students are provided with a design and technologies program relevant for today. Congratulations to STEM Consultant – Mrs Cynthia Nolan and Digital Technologies Teacher - Dr Daniel Tuazon for hosting the highly successful Fearless Future for Technology and Engineering conference last Thursday at Somerville House.
The World Economic Forum report released in January, 2020 asks how we can prepare students for the Fourth Industrial Revolution which will result in an explosion of careers in new fields including artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, biotechnology, renewable energy and quantum computing. The report stated that the top industry sector in 2020 would be technology and computational thinking, with the most in-demand job being data analyst. Further, the report outlined that jobs in the caregiving sector would also be in high demand in 2020, particularly for medical technicians, physical therapists and workplace ergonomics specialists. It is quite evident then that schools like Somerville House must teach students new sets of skills in different ways in order to equip them with the global citizenship, innovation, creativity, technology and interpersonal skills demanded by tomorrow's employers.
By 2030, Pricewaterhouse Coopers has predicted that 5.1 million Australian jobs will be replaced through digital technologies. This accounts for more than 40 per cent of the nation’s workforce, replaced through a combination of robotics, automation and user-based software. This fact reminds me of a story I read about the introduction of the first photocopier at the State Electricity provider in Adelaide. It left a typing pool of a dozen women unemployed, replaced by a single machine. Think of the technological innovations we have had since that time and you can begin to understand the importance that STEM subjects hold in our students’ future, knowing that they will be entering the workforce in 2030 and beyond.
Research indicates that 75 per cent of the fastest growing occupations are in STEM-related fields, yet Australia has a STEM tertiary graduation rate stagnating at around 20 per cent. Singapore, by comparison, has a rate over 50 per cent.
Interestingly, I studied technology at university for my first degree in 1980 and learned to program in languages like Basic and Cobol and Fortran. Although these languages are no longer used in society, it is the computational problem solving and critical thinking that I regularly use in my day to day work life. Some 30 years later in my Masters studies, I learned to create augmented reality.
As the World Economic Forum notes, most of today’s students currently in school will work in new jobs that do not yet exist but most of which will centre on digital and social-emotional skills, rather than the repetitive, process-oriented manufacturing jobs created by the First and Second Industrial Revolutions. Not only will future workers be required to collaborate with peers living in different cities and countries, but they will also need to understand cultural nuances and, in many cases, use technology and digital tools to communicate and interact with fellow workers and customers.
Schools of the future will play a fundamental role in helping children to develop an awareness and understanding of the wider world, the interconnectedness of global issues, and what it means to be an active global citizen. This can range from incorporating sustainability into the science curriculum to service learning and volunteering opportunities which foster global awareness.
Students will require new sets of skills taught in different ways. Virtual classrooms, video conferencing, online interactive maps, social media, and virtual and augmented reality will all play a key role, with the World Economic Forum stating that such interactions can have a powerful effect on children’s understanding of the world beyond their immediate surroundings and can help build the empathy necessary to support a more inclusive world.
However, it is not just about the design and programming skills that workplaces will require, but also digital responsibility and the human-centric skills which robots and machines cannot emulate, including leadership, social influence and emotional intelligence. Developing non-cognitive skills in areas including empathy, inclusiveness and communication will enable students to collaborate and interact with people of differing backgrounds and perspectives. The development of interpersonal skills will also build young people’s awareness of their duties as responsible developers and consumers of technology, and lead to improvements in managing digital risk and security.
A big part of attracting women into engineering needs to happen at school – to get girls thinking about, and exposing them to, engineering. Encouraging women to pursue engineering is not just about easing skills shortages. Increased diversity has other, equally valid, benefits. In a knowledge-driven economy, the best innovation comes from diverse teams who bring together different perspectives. It makes sense to bring diversity of gender to our technical workforce. We cannot win at the innovation game if half of our potential engineers are not taking part in the race.
Girls’ schools like Somerville House, with their lack of gender stereotyping and focus on pastoral care and service learning, are at the forefront of preparing students for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Research shows that girls attending single-sex schools are more likely to take STEM subjects in their senior years and to study STEM fields at university — ranging from computing, engineering and physics to the caregiving medical and health sciences. In addition, the emphasis on service learning, volunteering and interpersonal skills in girls’ schools provides students with an outstanding launch pad for careers in our increasingly connected yet diverse global community. As the World Economic Forum concludes, it is the development of both technological and social-emotional characteristics that will equip students with the skills to create a more inclusive, cohesive and productive world.
Staffing News
I write with mixed emotions to advise that Mrs Kathryn Emtage will be leaving Somerville House at the end of 2022. Kathryn and her family will be moving to New Zealand, and we congratulate Mr Damon Emtage on his appointment to the position of Principal at Saint Kentigern College.
Kathryn joined Somerville House in 2019 and has been outstanding as an English Teacher, and in her leadership roles as Head of Year, Deputy Head of Boarding and Associate Dean of Student Wellbeing. She is a great educator who shall be missed by her Somerville House colleagues and students. I know we will be sad to see Kathryn leave our school community at the end of year. We extend our very best wishes to the family for Mr Emtage’s well-deserved appointment and Principalship.
Mrs Kim Kiepe
Principal
Acknowledgement: The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Schools of the Future, February 12, 2020