STEM Education

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright) (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. How is the rollout of the government science and technology labs across 139 public schools around South Australia progressing?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (15:07): It's progressing extremely well. To remind the members of this incredible project, we have committed $250 million over the next four years (we are in the second year now) to have 139 public schools have science, technology, engineering and mathematics facilities. For those schools that have primary school students only, it is $1 million, $2.5 million for high schools and then $3.5 million for—

Mr Gardner: $650,000 without the admin and project management.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: Well, nothing comes for free. The projects are now starting to be active on the ground, and I have already attended the first of the openings with Brompton Primary School, which is a fantastic space created for young students to be able to experience what science and technology mean and how maths is actually practical and important and useful, rather than simply being about memorising our times tables.

I have also now had the honour of attending Keller Road Primary School in Salisbury East, along with the member for Wright, to see their new STEM opening. It was a magnificent opening, in part because the facility itself is important, but it's what occurs inside the facility that matters so much—having an organisation come and do scientific experiments with the young students there and the excitement that those young students were showing in the idea of science, in the idea of technology, and the fact that they can not only understand the questions that are being asked but can ask them themselves and explore and discover.

Recently, as I have gone around visiting schools, as is my wont, I keep coming across building sites that are these STEM facilities in the making. I was at Waikerie High School not long ago, and they are going to do a magnificent new area for science, technology, engineering and maths. Just yesterday, I was at both Plympton Primary and Forbes Primary looking at the sites that they are now upgrading in order to have these technologies.

One of the things that is very important about these spaces, particularly for the primary school students, is the access to the outdoors. It is so essential that students experience science not just as being something that occurs inside but also the external environment where students are able to experience nature and understand the natural sciences. In fact, when the Premier and I visited Woodville High School recently, we saw that they have put their STEM facility (which is currently being built) on the first floor of a building, but they have the outdoor area outside on the verandah, which will also enable nature and the natural sciences to be part of this STEM experience.

In that particular facility, what they are doing is ensuring that there is a space that is allocated for teachers to teach and other spaces where students are really creating their own learning, being guided by teachers but not instructed by teachers. Of course, they have brought in a huge element of digital technology, which is so important for the future economy. In all these spaces, what we have seen is a combination of fantastic architects going out and designing these spaces and the involvement of the school community—the governing council, the principal, the teachers and the students—in what they want to see.

When you bring all those together, which does require complex project management, you can have a space that is useful now and into the future and really does demonstrate the kind of investment that we ought to be making in our schools so that our students are prepared for the jobs of tomorrow.