BAE Systems Australia has announced a AU$100,000 partnership with children’s charity The Smith Family, to support schools to participate in the Young ICT Explorers program, Australia’s biggest student invention competition.
Young ICT Explorers is a STEM-focused competition for students in years 3 – 12. The competition, which has been run by software company SAP for more than a decade, aims to inspire students to consider a future career in the STEM fields.
BAE Systems Australia Chief Technology Officer Brad Yelland said: “I am delighted to partner with The Smith Family to support teachers across Australia develop new skills that they can use now and in the future.”
“Our business relies on STEM skilled employees and it’s important that we support programs like YICTE that will enable learning opportunities for young people and which could lead to future careers pioneering new technologies.”
“The increasing digital divide is increasing which means that a huge number of young people are at risk of being left out of the workforce of the future and teachers are the key to ensuring the next generation of problem solvers and inventors have both the skills and capability to develop pioneering new technologies,” said Mr Yelland.
BAE Systems will support an Accelerator Program which will provide schools with the financial support over the next three years, as well as hardware that they would need to participate in the competition. There will also be mentoring and coaching for the teachers to enable them to develop their digital skills.
BAE Systems’ ‘techsperts’, along with specialists from Junior Engineers, will run professional development workshops with The Smith Family for school teachers to train them in using Micro:bit technology which can be used for YICTE competition projects.
