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Andrea Conte

United approach to fire

up STEMs

ccording to a report by the Foundation more partners to be involved in the initiative.
Afor Young Australians (2018), 75% of all An objective of the programme in year
future jobs will require science, technology one was to reach 3-6,000 students, con-
engineering and mathematics (STEM) skill- duct 200 classroom sessions across 25
sets. schools with 50% female participation. By
In a rapidly evolving world, some of the year three, the ante will be amplified with haven’t even created the jobs for them be-
jobs of the future are not yet even known key deliverables to be achieved including cause the industry is moving at such a rate.
but STEM unitED is intent on preparing kids outreach to 20,000 students, 800 sessions, The Fourth Industrial Revolution tells us we
for them regardless. 50-plus schools, ongoing 50% female par- are changing the blueprint and throwing
With financial and in-kind support from ticipation and involvement of four corporate away the manual of how jobs are going to
foundation partners RUC, WA Mining partners. be run and we have to knock out enough
Club and Platform Communications, lead- Such growth in STEM unitED will help students that are capable to fulfill jobs of the
ing STEM education provider Fire Tech secure government endorsements and future,” Conte said.
Australia launched the STEM unitED pro- participation and see the programme With STEM disciplines taken on more
gramme in schools in March 2019 with im- spread regionally and nationally. widely among students, industries such as
mediate impact. The mining industry could do with an in- mining will inevitably benefit from the great-
“The incredible work done by Barry Up- jection of people with the necessary STEM er pool of available talent.
ton and his leadership with RUC meant qualifications, and Conte was keen to However, with instant access to informa-
in the first three terms [2019] alone 4,200 bridge the gap for students between STEM
students and 32 schools joined the pro- and real-world applications through con-
gramme,” Fire Tech managing director An- nected learning.
drea Conte told Paydirt. “When we talk about connected learning,
“We already have 65 sessions booked it is in all aspects of life besides the role of
for 2020…that gives you the measure of engineering, technology and mathematics.
the programme and how well it has been We talk about connected learning in oil and
received.” gas, connected learning in heavy industry,
The purpose of the programme is to in- agriculture; all of these industries have ex-
troduce students to the wonders of robotics amples of applications of technologies and
and drone technologies, adhering to core mining is the leader in that conversation,”
principles of collaboration, problem solving, Conte said.
innovative thinking, outcome driven and “Mining isn’t all hard hats and hi-vis; there
leadership skills. are a plethora of roles and by fostering that
Through the STEM unitED programme, interest as science, technology, engineer- Core principles of collaboration, problem
students have the opportunity to build and ing and mathematics subjects you are ac- solving, innovative thinking, outcome driven
programme a robot and code a drone to tually preparing yourself to be the viable, and leadership skills are encouraged through
conduct a number of activities in one-hour adaptable-to-change, critical, innovative the STEM unitED programme
sessions. thinker that future work roles will require.”
Conte said that year nine students were tion and misinformation and younger gen-
the focus of STEM because it was at that erations increasingly attentive to responsi-
14-15 years old age bracket where “we may ble practices, the mining sector needs to
not know what we want to do, but we start continue to project positive messages.
forming ideas about what we don’t want to “The perception of being the best employ-
do”. ment place for social, economic, environ-
Statistics have indicated that only 30% mental reasons; I think that is where the pos-
of students are interested in studies in min- itive reinforcement needs to be,” Conte said.
ing or METS, a trend that can be reversed “In the field, the application of thinking
through encouraging a greater awareness and application of state of the art, leading
of what careers STEM qualifications can edge technology needs to be delivered so
lead to. a picture for people is painted that this is
Promoting tertiary subjects through a sector that you want to be in. You really
STEM unitED is targeted at year nine STEM unitED is one outcome, however, need to foster that. BHP Ltd and Rio Tinto
students in metropolitan Perth demonstrating the effectiveness of appren- Ltd are creating environments that are lead-
ticeships or graduate programmes is criti- ing edge. The ability to create more and
Year nine students in schools from low cally important. more opportunities for students and give
to medium socioeconomic areas in metro- “These skills are like your little Swiss them these opportunities early is what they
politan Perth are the target audience for the army knife of knowledge. You can mix and should set in their sights.”
STEM unitED programme. keep adapting because the roles of the – Mark Andrews
In addition to Fire Tech and the three future won’t all be what they are now. The
foundation partners, there is capacity for workforce that is coming through now, we

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