STEM Skills

The Hon. T.T. NGO (14:44): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Science and Information Economy a question about how we are providing our school students with the skills they will need to participate in workforces of the future.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.T. NGO: The Australian Bureau of Statistics has reported that STEM skills jobs grew at about 1.5 times the rate of other jobs in recent years: by roughly 14 per cent compared to 9 per cent between 2006 and 2011. My question to the minister is: can the minister tell the chamber about the program Concept2Creation and how it is providing our school students with invaluable STEM knowledge and skills?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:45): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. I often come into this chamber and talk about the challenges that are facing this state, and the need for us to transition our economy. Knowing this, it is incredibly important that we provide our workforce of the future—our students—with the right skills and knowledge, and we know that STEM will be fundamental to this.

The Concept2Creation C2C program provides STEM-based education programs which are developed and delivered in conjunction with industry to support school students with problem-based learning in STEM. These education programs were developed by the Northern Advanced Manufacturing Industry Group (NAMIG). NAMIG was established in 2007 by a group of northern Adelaide manufacturing-based employers. They recognised that there was a need to create a program aimed at high school students which would build relationships between schools and industry and which would result in more young people choosing to enter advanced manufacturing and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The C2C suite of programs allows students to apply science, maths and technology theory through a problem-based learning approach. Industry and students work collaboratively to solve problems that require the creation of a product or a service. The industry partners work with the students to take the product from concept to research and development, production and then to final creation and marketing.

During my visit to the expo, I saw a raft of different projects, including different teams who had developed a remote control vehicle that was required to navigate a mining-inspired obstacle course. They had to be able to drill into and collect rock samples. There were also teams who developed a remote control device that would float on water and collect specific volumes of water and then analyse. There were probes attached to the craft and the probes would analyse these samples.

It was really incredibly impressive to observe, and it was truly wonderful to be able to talk with the students about their projects and about their aspirations. The annual C2C Expo then provides an opportunity for participating schools and students to display their projects to parents, industry, sponsors and government officials. Prizes for participating and winning schools are also presented at the Expo.

C2C is a great example of government and industry working together to co-sponsor a program that provides invaluable hands-on experience to students from year 9 to year 12 across the state. The Department of State Development and DECS are co-sponsors of the program, providing $700,000 over three years, and this year approximately 30 schools participated.

Industry sponsors include BAE systems, SA Power Networks, GM Holden, Defence Force Recruiting and the RAAF. These industry sponsors not only contribute financially but also provide valuable in-kind support in the form of staff time and donation of materials and resources. I would just like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of the students who participated in this year's C2C programs and to thank their teachers for all their support and assistance and also industry sponsors for their time and support.