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STEM and Digital Literacy Skills

Final Report

Department ofEducation and Training

May 2019

CONTENTS

About the Project ............................................................................................................ 3

Summary of Research Findings ......................................................................................... 3

‘STEM skills’ is not a helpful term ....................................................................................... 3

General capabilities are the ones in greatest demand by employers...................................... 4

Digital literacy is akin to other forms of literacy .................................................................... 5

It’s the way that learning takes place that is of ultimate importance ...................................... 5

Guidance is needed on the skills needed to pursue particular career pathways ..................... 6

Key messages for future work .......................................................................................... 6

Focus more on the ‘how’ and less on the ‘what’ .................................................................. 7

Ensure digital literacy is more than just proficiency in using digital technology....................... 7

Link skill requirements to career opportunities .................................................................... 7

Use existing frameworks to think about the skills and capabilities that are important.............. 7

ATTACHMENTS ............................................................................................................. 10

A. Briefing paper ........................................................................................................... 11

B. Literature Review ...................................................................................................... 15

C. Interim Report ........................................................................................................... 34

D. Skills Profiles ........................................................................................................... 43

Skills Profile – financial services work ............................................................................... 44

Skills Profile – machine operators, process workers, fitters and machinists ......................... 48

Skills Profile - nursing ..................................................................................................... 51

Skills Profile - Carpentry .................................................................................................. 53

Skills Profile – medical laboratory scientists and technicians .............................................. 55

Skills Profile – retail customer service ............................................................................... 58

E. Examples of Approaches ............................................................................................ 61

F. Consultation List ........................................................................................................ 73

Ithaca Group STEM and Digital Literacy Skills – Final Report | 3

ABOUT THE PROJECTIthaca Group was commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Education andTraining (the Department) to examine the STEM and digital literacy skills needed to prepare youngpeople for work and consider the role of the Australian Curriculum in supporting the development ofthose skills.

The project took place in three stages:

u Stage 1 – involved a review of literature on the topic and the development of workingdefinitions of STEM and digital literacy. This resulted in a Briefing Paper (see AttachmentA) and a Literature Review report (see Attachment B).

u Stage 2 – involved a series of consultations with employers, industry representatives andtertiary education representatives, which explored skills most sought after in youngpeople entering work and the extent to which STEM and digital skills feature in the mix.This resulted in the development of an Interim Report (see Attachment C) and six SkillsProfiles (see Attachment D).

u Stage 3 – involved consultations with expert informants who were able to speak from theperspective of educational research, state education, national curriculum and industrySTEM efforts. These conversations were used to validate and further develop thinking onthe issues. Further desk research was also undertaken to identify approaches to thedevelopment of STEM and digital skills, the findings of which are presented in theExamples of Approaches report (see Attachment E).

A complete list of those consulted as part of the project can be found in Attachment F.

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH FINDINGSThe issues around STEM and digital skills are complex and messy: there is little agreement in theliterature or amongst those consulted as to what these skills are, or to what extent young peopleleaving school need them. However, we have drawn some insights and ideas from across thedisparate views that may provide a useful platform for future thinking and efforts in this area.

‘STEM skills’ is not a helpful term

In both the literature and across all of the interviews conducted during the project there is widevariation in opinion as to what the term ‘STEM skills’ encompasses. Some talk about generic skillssuch as problem-solving, critical thinking and analytical thinking, while others talk about discipline-specific skills such as using mathematical formulas, programming, data analysis and laboratorytechniques.

The experts interviewed during the project stressed that the discipline-specific skills should not bemixed up with the generic ones for the sake of trying to define STEM skills. This sentiment isreflected in the assertion by researchers Siekmann and Korbel that:

STEM skills belong to the group of technical skills. They are a combination

of the ability to produce scientific knowledge, supported by mathematical

skills, in order to design and build (engineer) technological and scientificproducts or services. Although STEM skills overlap with basic and higher-


order cognitive skills, they merit separate treatment in a policy-oriented

context in order to target specific requirements in the education and

labour market.1

Issues raised in the literature and interviews in relation to maths highlight the prevailing confusionabout STEM skills. There were two key issues raised in the literature and consultations:

u a lack of basic mathematical skills, such as the ability to perform simple calculations orto apply concepts such as measurement in practical contexts, which is creating a barrierto work and further study for many young people

u the fact that many young people aren’t studying maths, particularly advanced maths,into senior level at secondary school.

There are two separate issues here. One is about a lack of basic numeracy skills (which belong tothe category of General Capabilities) and the other is lack of engagement with maths as a specificdiscipline.

And underpinning both of these issues is a further set of issues that include a lack of subject matterexpertise in the teaching of maths, a pervasive cultural norm that it’s okay to be ‘bad at maths’ or‘not a numbers person’, and an overwhelming focus on ATAR/tertiary entrance scores in seniorsecondary school that sees young people opting for ‘easier’ subjects that will gain them a betterscore.

It is therefore perhaps less helpful to talk about STEM skills and more important to talk about STEMdisciplines and STEM related jobs and to emphasise the value of studying and pursuing work inthese discipline areas and jobs. This includes emphasising the need for discipline-specific expertiseamongst teachers and the need for students to study particular subjects if they wish to pursuecareers in STEM related fields or broaden the range of career options available to them.

General capabilities are the ones in greatest demand by employers

Whilst the discipline-specific knowledge, skills and capabilities developed through the study of STEMsubjects are seen to be vital to the economic prosperity and innovative capacity of Australia,conversations with employers and educators across selected industry sectors highlighted that it isgeneral capabilities that they most seek in young people.

Those that were mentioned most often included the ability to:

u identify and solve problems

u comprehend and follow instructions and procedures

u think critically

u think creatively

u work as part of a team and to collaborate with others

u apply learning in practical contexts

u communicate appropriately in written and spoken formats.

Literacy and numeracy skills were also often mentioned as underpinnings to more complex skills.

1 Siekmann, G and Korbel, P (2016) Defining STEM skills: a literature review and synthesis, NCVER, Adelaide


Work readiness related capabilities were also frequently mentioned as being highly sought after (andoften lacking). These included:

u work ethic (i.e. the ability to turn up to work every day on time)

u accountability for own behaviour and ability to self-regulate behaviour

u a desire to learn

u resilience.

Digital literacy is akin to other forms of literacy

The conversations with employers suggest that when it comes to digital skills, the ones that are ingreatest demand are those related to digital literacy, which enable young people to:

u select and use different types of digital platforms and programs

u find, search and navigate digital information and data

u critically analyse digital information and data

u present digital information and data

u connect via digital platforms (including safe and ethical use of digital platforms andinformation/data).

These types of digital skills were considered to be of the same nature as other literacies andtherefore belong to the category of General Capabilities.

There is another set of digital skills that could be considered technical skills, which include skillssuch as coding that are used for the creation of digital technologies. These skills belong to thecategory of discipline-specific skills, which are used at varying levels of complexity according to thecareer path an individual may wish to pursue.

Expert informants emphasised that it is impossible for education systems to keep up with the pace ofchange of digital technology, therefore the focus of schools should be on the skills needed forlearning and applying new technology, rather than on the use of specific digital applications.

While it is widely acknowledged that young people have most of these digital literacy skills as a resultof their everyday interactions with digital technology, aspects of these, such as the ability to criticallyanalyse digital information and to use digital technology in a safe and ethical way, may be lacking.Attachment E outlines a number of useful frameworks for developing these broader aspects of digitalliteracy.

It’s the way that learning takes place that is of ultimate importance

Interestingly, a point was made in the literature and in some of the interviews that young people whohave studied STEM subjects or completed qualifications in STEM related disciplines tend to havemore of the generic skills and attributes (such as problem solving, critical thinking, analytical skillsand curiosity) that employers are looking for. However, other research indicates that graduates ofSTEM fields are often lacking in desired communication and interpersonal skills by comparison totheir non-STEM counterparts.

This leads us to think that what matters most is not the content, but the way in which learning isstructured, that makes the biggest difference to whether young people end up with the skills that aregoing to best equip them for work and further learning.


Across so many of the interviews, employers and educators spoke about the need for practical,experiential, collaborative learning in which students have the opportunity to apply skills andknowledge in real-life contexts and by doing so, to develop the general capabilities that are highlysought after. Cross-curricular approaches that enable students to combine science, technology,engineering and maths knowledge and skills to address a challenge or complete a task were alsoseen as valuable as they more closely mirror the way that work is conducted in the ‘real world’.However, it was also acknowledged that such approaches can be challenging to implement withincurrent school structures.

Attachment E outlines some principles underpinning these types of learning approaches andexamples from across education systems in Australia and internationally, as well as highlights someof the challenges faced in trying to implement such approaches.

Guidance is needed on the skills needed to pursue particular career pathways

The confusion in terminology also means that students and parents are confused about where jobopportunities are and what skills are needed to pursue them.

There was considerable agreement across those consulted that conceptualisation of the skillsneeded by young people should be done at the level of occupations or groups of occupations, ratherthan under the generic term of STEM.

Whilst there are sources of information about the likely demand for certain occupations (e.g. theannual Australian Jobs reports produced by the Australian Department of Jobs and Small Business2)and about the skills required for certain occupations (e.g. the Australian Government Job Outlookwebsite3), these do not present information in a way that young people are likely to engage with.

We analysed the Job Outlook listing for each of the selected occupations/occupation groupings ofthe skill profiles developed as part of the project and found that while they can be interpreted asbroadly aligning with what employers told us they were looking for in new entrants, the skills are notdescribed in a way that is likely to make sense to young people. They also do not give any guidanceon what subjects might need to be studied at school if young people are to develop the requiredskills and knowledge.

Expert informants also stressed that while it is important to promote STEM career pathways, careeradvice should be supported by accurate information on student abilities.

KEY MESSAGES FOR FUTURE WORKThe findings of this research have led us to a number of conclusions about where efforts might bemost usefully focused to ensure that young people develop the capabilities needed for work bothnow and into the future.

An important point to note here is that we have not explored teacher capability as part of thisresearch, but when it comes to young people developing the necessary general capabilities(especially digital literacy) and STEM discipline-specific skills and knowledge, this is obviously ahighly significant contributing factor.

2 https://www.jobs.gov.au/australian-jobs-publication

3 https://joboutlook.gov.au/


Focus more on the ‘how’ and less on the ‘what’

Young people’s ability to cope with the rapidly changing world, particularly in relation totechnological change, is dependent upon the skills and attributes they possess for continuedlearning and adaptation of existing knowledge and skills.

Both employers and experts consulted during the project emphasised that it is impossible forschools to keep up to date with changing technology. In addition, most of the employers we spoke toasserted that the technical skills needed for specific applications of technology can be taught on thejob.

Whilst there is knowledge that forms a foundation for ongoing learning, what employers reported thatthey are most looking for in young people are the skills and attributes that support flexibility,adaptability and continued learning.

These are generic in nature and, as highlighted throughout this research, include skills andattributes such as problem solving, critical and analytical thinking, interpersonal skills, motivationand resilience.

Given that skills are developed through a combination of experience and reflection and/or feedback,it is actually the way in which learning takes place in schools that is likely to contribute more toyoung people’s STEM and digital capabilities than the content that is covered.

Within an already crowded curriculum, it makes sense to focus less on adding new content andinstead pay more attention to types of experiential learning that support young people in beingcurious, motivated, adaptable and flexible learners.

Ensure digital literacy is more than just proficiency in using digital technology

Whilst young people are considered to have the technical skills to confidently operate various formsof digital technology, there are other aspects to digital literacy that also need to be considered.

In particular, attention also needs to be given to the ability to critically evaluate digital informationand to communicate effectively using digital technologies, as well as to the ethical dimensions ofdigital technology and online environments.

Link skill requirements to career opportunities

The research has shown that there are generic skills that are in demand across virtually all fields ofwork – although what that looks like in practice will across different industries and occupations. Atthe same time, there are more specific technical skills and knowledge needed for particularindustries and occupations, including STEM related skills and knowledge.

Consultations indicated that it is not helpful to try to make generalisations about technical skills andknowledge, with experts recommending that requirements be specified at the level of occupations oroccupation groupings – and that these requirements be set out in a way that is clear and engagingfor young people.

There is a definite role to be played by employers and industry in providing this level of clarity.

Use existing frameworks to think about the skills and capabilities that areimportant

Aside from digital literacy, none of the skills that employers said they were most looking for in youngpeople are new. There may be different emphasis placed on certain types of skills and new


combinations of skills needed as technology changes, but the skills themselves are already capturedacross a range of existing skills frameworks. These include the General Capabilities curriculum andthe Core Skills for Work Developmental Framework.

Expert informants stressed that any conversations and work in the areas of STEM and digital literacybe placed within existing frameworks.

The other consideration that rose from across the consultations was the issue of ‘work readiness’and its importance for young people. This also brings in considerations about career education andadvice.

When thinking about the skills young people need to be prepared for work it is most useful to thinkin terms of a combination of General Capabilities and other discipline-specific skills needed topursue particular career pathways, supported by effective career education and advice.

The diagram below, developed by Ithaca Group as part of a previous piece of work for the AustralianGovernment, illustrates how general capabilities, technical skills and knowledge and careercompetencies work together to prepare young people for work and further study and how STEMdisciplines and careers might relate to this.


Source: Ithaca Group (2016) Everybody’s Core Business - Research into the non-technical capabilities needed for successful participation in work or further study: Final Report. Department of Education and

Training, Canberra

Occupation-specific skills andknowledge development throughstudy of STEM and non-STEM

subjects

Career education and advice onSTEM and non-STEM pathways

General Capabilities (including digitalliteracy) developed through the study

of STEM and non-STEM subjects

ATTACHMENTS


A. BRIEFING PAPER

Introduction

Ithaca Group has been commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Education andTraining (the Department) to examine the STEM and digital literacy skills needed to prepare youngpeople for work and consider the role of the Australian Curriculum in supporting the development ofthose skills.

In order to undertake this work, we first need to gain agreement about the definitions of STEM anddigital literacy skills and the relationship between them, which will then underpin the research.

This briefing paper outlines our initial thinking about definitional clarity.

What are STEM skills?

Whilst STEM as an acronym refers to the four disciplines of science, technology, engineering andmathematics, in discussions of policy and practice the term is also being used to describe skills,educational approaches, occupations and inputs to increased economic success. These differingconcepts are often mixed together, creating considerable confusion.

In this research we are focusing specifically on the concept of skills and from the literature we haveidentified to two different ways of thinking about STEM skills.

The first, which is the approach taken by the Education Council, sees STEM skills as ‘discipline-related skills’ that are “developed directly through the study of the disciplines of science, technology,engineering and mathematics. They include skills such as applying the scientific method, specificdiscipline knowledge, theoretical understanding, and data analysis utilising formulas and models.”4

Others acknowledge that this type of “STEM education” also includes “a cross disciplinary approachto teaching that increases student interest in STEM-related fields and improves students’ problemsolving and critical analysis skills”.5

The other approach is to see STEM skills as ‘generic skills’ that are required to work in STEM fields.Those taking this second approach recognise that many of these underpinning skills are also seen asimportant in non-STEM fields and occupations and that they can be developed through studying bothSTEM and non-STEM disciplines. “For example, data manipulation and interpretation skills can begained through economics or econometrics degrees (not typically included as STEM fields). Similarly,analysis and problem-solving skills are obtainable through a psychology degree, as are technicaldrawing skills through architecture.”6

In a survey of employers across STEM and non-STEM industries, the following STEM-related skillsemerged as being the most important overall:

u active learning (i.e. learning on the job)

u critical thinking

4 Education Services Australia (2018) Optimising STEM Industry-School Partnerships: Inspiring Australia’s NextGeneration Final Report, p19

5 Australian Industry Group (2017) Strengthening School – Industry STEM Skills Partnerships, p12 (referencingEducation Council, National STEM School Education Strategy, Dec 2015)

6 Deloitte Access Economics (2014) Australia’s STEM workforce: a survey of employers, Office of the Chief Scientist,p15


u complex problem solving

u creative problem solving.7

None of these skills are exclusive to STEM disciplines.

However, the ranking of skills did vary when looked at in relation to specific occupations and industry.For example, for some employers, occupation-specific STEM skills were considered to be veryimportant in their workplaces.

Interestingly, this same survey found that employees with STEM qualifications had higher levels of thefour skills listed above, than those with non-STEM qualifications. This raises questions about whichsettings are the most appropriate for the development of these kinds of skills, even if they areconsidered to be generic rather than discipline-related.

What are digital literacy skills?

The term ‘digital literacy skills’ is similarly challenging to define as it encompasses as mix of concepts.

On one hand is a concept of ‘digital literacy’ that could be equated with language, literacy andnumeracy skills that are needed to function as a citizen of the modern world. The Education Councildescribes this in terms of “digital proficiency” and asserts that these are “capabilities that nearly everychild and adult needs in order to maximise their participation in our increasingly technological world”.8

Research shows that when education does not keep pace with technological advances, workplaceproductivity suffers, and that those who do not have access to “exceptional education” to develop theskills needed to utilise changing technology will suffer from economic disadvantage. 9

These types of skills and capabilities are described in many different ways across the literature;however, they tend to encompass the following:

u select and use different types of digital platforms and programs

u find, search and navigate digital information and data

u critically analyse digital information and data

u present digital information and data

u connect via digital platforms (including safe and ethical use of digital platforms andinformation/data).

On the other hand, is the concept of ‘digital skills’ that are needed to complete certain genericactivities such as finding information, communicating, solving problems and completing tasks, as wellas more complex technical tasks such as creating digital solutions and designing and configuringdigital technology.

Work done by the Foundation for Young Australians, built upon a framework developed by the UKForum on Computing Education, examines how these kinds of digital skills may be needed in theAustralian workforce. Figure 1 below illustrates four levels of application of digital skills and projectedproportions of Australia’s workforce that will need to apply digital skills at that level. These figuressuggest that more than 50% of the workforce will need to use digital skills at a level beyond that ofeveryday communication, information and transactions.

7 Deloitte Access Economics (2014) Australia’s STEM workforce: a survey of employers, Office of the Chief Scientist,p17

8 Education Services Australia (2018) Optimising STEM Industry-School Partnerships: Inspiring Australia’s NextGeneration Final Report, p9

9 Fadel, C., Bialik, M. and Trilling, B (2015) Four-Dimensional Education, Centre for Curriculum Redesign, Boston, p19


Figure 1. Projected proportions of the Australian workforce requiring differentapplications of digital skills

Source: Derived from Foundation for Young Australians (2017), The New Work Order, p30

The current Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies encompasses categories 2, 3 and 4 from theabove framework, as it includes both generic/everyday skills (e.g. collecting, managing and analysingdata using digital technology) and the application of skills to create digital solutions (e.g.coding/programming, website development and networking of digital systems).

For the purposes of gaining clarity about what can most usefully be done in schools to prepare youngpeople for work, it could be helpful to separate out the skills required to function in the everyday world(i.e. ‘digital literacy’) and those required to fulfil technical roles involving digital technology (whichmight more usefully be referred to as ‘digital technology skills’).

The approach being taken in this project

The discussion above highlights several different ways of thinking about STEM and digital skills,including as foundational literacies (of a similar nature to Literacy and Numeracy skills), as genericskills that underpin a range of other skills and capabilities and as discipline-specific skills required towork in specific fields and occupations.

We will use these different ways of thinking in the remainder of the project as the basis for identifyingwhat kinds of skills are needed to prepare young people for work – in either STEM or non-STEMrelated occupations.

We will also use them as the basis for examining the types of approaches that are likely to be mosteffective for developing these skills in a school context, although this will be very much affected by theunderlying policy intent and demand for STEM and digital skills.

For example, if the focus is on preparing more young people to work in STEM related occupations(including occupations requiring higher level digital technology skills), then a discipline-specific skillsdevelopment approach might be called for. In this scenario, STEM and digital technology skills may bebest developed through studying STEM subjects or through cross disciplinary STEM education, whiledigital literacy would be developed across the curriculum in the same way that other literacy andnumeracy skills are.

However, if the focus is more on preparing students for a range of options post-school and giving thema foundation for learning and adapting in a rapidly changing world, then a generic skills approach may

8.20%

37.70%45.60%

8.40%

1. Digital muggle: no digital skills required

2. Digital citizen: use technology to communicate, find information and transact

3. Digital worker: configure and use digital systems

4. Digital maker: build digital technology


be more useful. In this scenario, the development of digital literacy and STEM skills could beembedded across the curriculum through studying both STEM and non-STEM subjects. Thosewanting to enter specific science, digital technology, engineering and maths occupations could thendevelop additional discipline-specific skills and knowledge through studying those subjects.


B. LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), STEM skills and digital literacy havebecome hot topics in media, business and political spheres, both in Australia and internationally. Theyare heralded as key to future economic growth and prosperity.

Tangled up in the STEM and digital literacy agenda are several issues:

u insufficient numbers of secondary students studying maths and science at school, andconcerns about what can be done to engage students, especially female students in thesedisciplines

u a need to develop interdisciplinary STEM skills in students and workers, to solve complexproblems that cross boundaries of traditional disciplines

u concerns about whether the numbers of graduates in STEM disciplines will be sufficient tomeet future demand

u a desire to equip everyone with the digital literacy skills required to function in a digitally-enabled world

u a growing need for workers with high-level technical proficiency to create digital solutionsand innovations.

These issues have important implications for what and how students are taught in schools, and howwell they transition from school to further education, training or work.

The purpose of this review of literature is to shed some light from available research on issues relatingto STEM and digital literacy skills. It’s been commissioned as the first stage in a broader consultationproject for the Australian Government Department of Education and Training, and draws findings fromthe literature on:

u why STEM and digital literacy skills are regarded as important

u why some are cautioning against an overemphasis on STEM skills

u what is meant by STEM and digital literacy

u the views of employers on STEM, digital literacy and other critical skills

u how STEM and digital literacy fit with other generic skill frameworks

u what’s being done to develop these skills

u what some of the challenges are.

Why focus on STEM and digital literacy?

There are many policies, strategies and initiatives currently in place in Australia to address issuesaround STEM and digital literacy. The National Innovation and Science Agenda (2015), the NationalSTEM School Education Strategy (2015), the addition of ‘Digital Technologies’ to the AustralianCurriculum, and the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (whichincludes a goal to give students the skills to become ‘creative and productive users of technology’) arebut a few of these.

According to the National Innovation and Science Agenda, ‘innovation and science are critical forAustralia to deliver new sources of growth, maintain high-wage jobs and seize the next wave ofeconomic prosperity’ (Commonwealth of Australia, 2015). And an important part of that agenda is toincrease the STEM and digital literacy skills of the workforce.


Various international organisations are also focusing on STEM issues, including the OECD, the WorldBank, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the EuropeanUnion (EU), and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)(Marginson et al. 2013).

Why these skills are needed

The national and international STEM and digital literacy initiatives are fuelled by both optimism andfear. Optimistically, we look to workers with STEM and ICT skills to solve complex problems, toinnovate and create technologies of the future.

‘Science, technology and innovation are instrumental in meeting Australia’s risingdemand for public services, and tackling Australia’s biggest social and environmentalchallenges, including improving health outcomes, increasing public safety, anddecarbonising the economy.’(Innovation and Science Australia, 2018)

It’s also clear that technological progress has driven, and will continue to drive, productivity growthand increased living standards in Australia (Australian Information Industry Association, 2018).

According to Deloitte Access Economics’ 2017 Australia’s Digital Pulse Report,

‘Australians are each better off by A$4,663 a year because of digital technology.Amongst other things, digital technology has increased the productivity of workers andbusinesses, improved the quality of products and services, and reduced prices.”

International research also indicates that 75 per cent of the fastest growing occupations require STEMskills and knowledge (Becker and Park, 2011), and employment in STEM occupations is projected togrow at almost twice the pace of other occupations (Craig, et al, 2011).

We need more STEM skills

But the fear is that Australia doesn’t have sufficient workers with these skills and that we’re in dangerof being left behind by continued change and growth globally (Office of the Chief Scientist 2012).

‘Australia is in a $1.6 trillion global innovation race, where the prize at stake is a biggershare of global wealth, better jobs, and the best access to the products of innovation foraddressing societal challenges. Yet we are falling behind our global peers, particularly instudent performance in science and mathematics, and in business investment inresearch and development. This is more than a canary chirp in our economic mineshaft:it is a clarion call for national action.’

(Bill Ferris AC Chair, innovation and Science Australia, November 2017)

Certainly, there’s evidence that Australian secondary students aren’t faring well in mathematics andscience compared with students in other countries (Marginson et al. 2013). As highlighted in the ChiefScientist’s report Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics: Australia’s Future (2014), theperformance of Australian students against international benchmarks has stalled or declined as hasparticipation in senior secondary science and advanced maths. Figure 1 below illustrates the decliningperformance of Australian students in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessmentover the last decade.


Figure 1. PISA scores in science, maths and reading, Australia 2004/05 to 2015/16

(From Innovation and Science Australia, 2018, p4)

Several factors are attributed to declining engagement in STEM at school. One is a pervading culturalnorm that it’s acceptable to be ‘bad at maths’ or ‘not a numbers person’. Another is parents andstudents who question the relevance and value of STEM, and finally, the approach to the teaching andlearning of STEM from the early years on does not always engage young people.

At the same time, employers are reporting difficulties in recruiting technicians and trades workers withSTEM skills, and workforce surveys in Australia show that business and industry are concerned aboutthe current and future supply of STEM skills (Siekmann & Kogel, 2016).

In its study of how STEM skills are used by employers, Deloitte Access Economics found thatAustralian businesses are having some difficulties in recruiting people with STEM qualifications with40.5% of survey respondents reporting difficulty recruiting STEM-qualified technicians and tradesworkers and 31.5% reporting difficulty recruiting other STEM graduates ((Deloitte Access Economics,2014, p28).

Over one-fifth (21%) of employers looking to hire inexperienced STEM staff (i.e. those with less thanfive years’ experience) felt that there was a shortage of STEM graduates. Along similar lines, over one-fifth of employers looking to hire more experienced STEM staff (i.e. those with more than five years’experience) noted that they had a lack of applications received for advertised positions.

The report notes that although people commonly refer to a STEM skills shortage, there is someevidence to suggest that skills mismatches, and mismatches in applicant and employer expectationsare also contributing to recruitment difficulties within particular industries.

While the truth and extent of shortage is not universally agreed and can be difficult to quantify, it’snevertheless agreed that thriving economies need highly skilled workers, capable in research,commercialisable innovation and effective responses to technological challenge (Marginson et al,2013).


Digital literacy is critical to functioning in a digitally connected world

When it comes to digital literacy, there’s a growing realization that without basic digital competencies,people will not have the skills to negotiate a digitally connected world. The Australian InformationIndustry Association describes well the fate of the digitally illiterate:

‘They will not have the skills, information or communication networks to negotiateopportunities and as a result they will have fewer job prospects and be more exposed tosocial and economic exclusion. Their disadvantage will be compounded by acorresponding reduction in access to government services. Everyone in the workforcewill need the ability to use digital technology to do their job, to confidently communicate,find information and purchase goods/services. This is not a job displacement issue butthe inevitable reality of operating in a modern, global and digital economy. It is asessential as numeracy and literacy is to everyone participating in a post-industrialrevolution economy.’(Australian Information Industry Association, 2018)

Deeper digital technology skills are also needed

At the other end of the spectrum, there’s a recognised need for people with high-level technicalcompetence, to design and create new technologies. Durrant–White et al. (2015) state that, inaddition to teaching basic skills sets, there needs to be a focus on the deeper technical skilldevelopment of designing and analysing. It’s these areas that will generate jobs in the future forAustralia, given that the major role of ICT in Australia will be to transform existing companies andexisting ways of doing business.

But, as with STEM, there are concerning signs that the digital literacy and competence of Australiansis declining, despite people having access to technology from a young age. The National AssessmentProgram measures ICT literacy of students in Years 6 and 10, assessing ‘their ability to appropriatelyaccess, manage, integrate and evaluate information, develop new understandings and communicatewith others in order to participate effectively in society.’ Results from 2014 show that in both yearlevels, the proportion of students attaining a proficient standard has decreased since 2011. Nationally,just over 50 per cent of students could be considered 'IT proficient', despite 98 per cent reportingaccess to a home computer (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2015)

Why some are cautioning an overemphasis on STEM skills

When it comes to digital literacy, most would agree there’s a need to raise basic literacy levels acrossthe board and to continue ensuring an adequate supply of people with high-level ICT proficiency. Butwhen it comes to STEM and STEM skill initiatives, not everyone agrees.

Is there really a STEM skill shortage?

While employers are indicating they’re having trouble finding workers with STEM qualifications andskills, data on graduate numbers in STEM fields appear to indicate an oversupply rather than ashortage of people looking for work in these disciplines (Norton, 2016). News about past and futurejob losses in previous ‘stronghold’ industries in Australia, such as automotive and mining, whichtraditionally employ large numbers of STEM-educated and trained people, also seems to contradictthe call for more STEM graduates.

In an exploration of the cycles of public anxiety about the STEM skills gap in the US, Teitelbaum(2014) argues that the gap tends to either be exaggerated or a complex set of factors is oversimplified,or that there is no gap at all. He highlights five episodes of alarm over the past seventy years, about‘falling behind’. Each time, the political system responded by increasing the supply of scientists and


engineers, but only a few years later political enthusiasm or economic demand waned. Booms turnedto busts, leaving many of those who had been encouraged to pursue science and engineering careersout of work. Their experiences deterred younger and equally talented students from following in theirfootsteps—thereby sowing the seeds of the next cycle of alarm, boom, and bust.

Humanities, arts and social sciences are equally important

The political focus on STEM often prompts reaction from proponents of ‘non-STEM’ disciplines,commonly called HASS — humanities, arts and social sciences. STEM disciplines are regarded as theprimary source of innovation, with the contribution of the HASS disciplines considered secondary(Spoehr et al. 2010). And yet, they have an important role to play. Spoehr et al. (2010) argue thattechnological innovations such as genetic modification and nuclear energy facilities wouldn’t bepossible without the perspectives and skills contributed by the humanities, arts and social sciencedisciplines.

Featherstone (2018) has concerns that the focus on STEM hurts other vital fields, like the arts, andoverlooks softer skills that are critical in the workplace. He illustrates from his own experience:

‘I once worked at a prestigious global management consultancy. The firm was full ofMBA graduates from Harvard and Stanford, engineering hotshots and others with STEMskills. The firm's star young consultant had a master's degree in ancient history.’

According to the HR lead at Accenture ANZ, ‘Scientists and engineers tend to reduce challenges toones and zeros. What we see is graduates from the arts and humanities follow the worlddifferently…In the digital and robotics age we still require STEM graduates. But what we also want ingraduates is curiosity, resilience, judgment and adaptivity,’ he says. (Bolton, 2018).

The experience of Google described in Figure 2 further illustrates this point.

Figure 2. The experience of Google

Google was founded by computer scientists on the conviction that only technologists can

understand technology. They originally set its hiring algorithms to sort for computer science

students with top grades from elite science universities. In 2013, Google tested its hiring

hypothesis by crunching every bit and byte of hiring, firing, and promotion data accumulated

since the company’s incorporation. Project Oxygen shocked everyone by concluding that,

among the eight most important qualities of Google’s top employees, STEM expertise comes in

dead last. The seven top characteristics of success at Google are all soft skills: being a good

coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including others

different values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s

colleagues; being a good critical thinker and problem solver; and being able to make

connections across complex ideas.

The company has since enlarged its previous hiring practices to include humanities majors and

artists. Google’s later project, Project Aristotle, analysed data on inventive and productive

teams. Typically, its A-teams are made up of top scientists, with specialized knowledge, able to

come up with one cutting-edge idea after another. Its data analysis revealed, however, that the

company’s most important and productive new ideas come from B-teams comprised of

employees who aren’t always the smartest people in the room. What the best teams do have is

a range of soft skills: equality, generosity, curiosity toward the ideas of your teammates,

empathy, and emotional intelligence. And topping the list: emotional safety. To succeed, every

team member must feel confident speaking up and making mistakes. They must know they are

being heard. (Strauss, 2017)


Some assert that other problems are undermining STEM initiatives, including the lack of clarity aroundwhat STEM skills are, and a lack of evidence to support the effectiveness of STEM initiatives(Siekmann & Kogel, 2016).

What exactly is meant by STEM?

As simply an acronym, STEM refers to four disciplines—science, technology, engineering andmathematics. But STEM has come to represent much more than these disciplines, and can havedifferent meanings, depending on context—who’s talking about it, their background and perspective,and what they aim to achieve.

‘Since the inception of the STEM concept in the late 1990s, educators, policymakers,researchers and journalists have grappled with the use and interpretation of it. Theacronym STEM is used by a wide variety of interest groups with different agendas, suchas governments, industry bodies, education providers and the media.’ (Siekmann, 2016,p2)

The concept now links education, employment and productivity (US National Science Foundation,2010). From an education perspective, the main focus is on boosting participation and engagement inmaths and science subjects and disciplines and developing in students the cross-disciplinary skillsand knowledge, that come from integrating science, mathematics, engineering and technology.

The National STEM Education Strategy 2016-2026 defines STEM as:

“…the teaching of the disciplines within its umbrella – science, technology, engineeringand mathematics – and also to a cross- disciplinary approach to teaching that increasesstudent interest in STEM-related fields and improves students’ problem solving andcritical analysis skills.”

It defines STEM skills as the skills and capabilities developed directly through the study of thedisciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. They include skills such as applyingthe scientific method, specific discipline knowledge, theoretical understanding, and data analysisusing formulas and models (Education Council, p19).

As stated by the Australian Information Industry Association (2018), studying STEM subjects teachesstudents how to analyse, correct and solve problems. It brings real world application and hands onexperimentation to the learning process and instils creativity by encouraging students to see problemsand solutions in new and different ways. They suggest that the ability to understand concepts acrossmultiple disciplines will be essential to solving many of today’s global problems, which are too complexto be solved by one specialised discipline.

West (2012) describes the focus of STEM education as preparing students with the knowledge andskills to function in scientific and technical roles, typically in ‘stem core’ settings such as academicresearch organisations and technology-intensive firms in engineering and computing. Figure 3 belowhighlights the STEM capabilities identified by graduates of STEM disciplines when asked what theyperceived as providing most value from their science background (Harris 2012 cited in West 2012).

Figure 3. STEM graduates’ perceptions of valuable knowledge, skills and ways of thinking


Source: Harris (2012)

To improve the understanding and application of the STEM concept, Siekmann (2016) unpacked andidentified the major components within it, using the concept of the ‘house of STEM’ to show the skillcategories included in the concept of STEM. Outside of specific STEM subjects (captured under the‘STEM Shed” in Figure 3 below), none of the skills in ‘The House of STEM’ are exclusive to STEM butcollectively they contribute to the concept of STEM.

Figure 4. Skills and issues comprising STEM

Source: Siekmann (2016)

The employer/workplace perspective

From the perspective of employers, discussions about STEM encompass both the quantity of STEMgraduates and the quality of the skills they bring to the workforce. When considered in a workplacecontext, the concept of STEM skills is often broadened to include other generic skills, which are notlimited to just the STEM disciplines.

To gain a better understanding of how STEM skills are used by employers, the Office of the ChiefScientist commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to research the demand for STEM skills withinAustralian workplaces. Results from a literature scan, consultations and an employer survey confirmedthere’s no consensus on what STEM skills are. Different industries consider different skills to be ofgreater importance, reflecting the different type of work involved. There are also differences,depending on the size of the business and whether they employ those qualified in STEM disciplines(Deloitte Access Economics, 2014, p19).

The employer survey was based on a list of STEM skills developed by Carnevale, Smith and Melton(2011):

u active learning (i.e. learning on the job)

u complex problem-solving

u creative problem-solving

u critical thinking

u design thinking

u interpersonal skills


u knowledge of legislation, regulation and codes

u lifelong learning

u occupation-specific stem skills

u programming

u system analysis and evaluation

u time management.

Many of the skills are not considered to be exclusive to STEM, but they were identified in consultationsessions as important skills for people working in STEM fields to have (although it was also noted thatnot every STEM person would possess each of these skills, especially those more relevant to specificoccupations, such as programming).

When presented with this list, most employers ranked the first four skills as most important in theworkplace, that is, active learning, complex problem-solving, creative problem-solving and criticalthinking.

Employers rated the average skill level of people with STEM qualifications as higher across a range ofskills and attributes, with the biggest differences seen between STEM and non-STEM qualifiedemployees for the four most important skills to employers as listed above.

When it comes to recruiting staff, employers said the most important attribute they’re looking for isinterpersonal skills, and they reported that STEM qualified employees displayed slightly lower levels onaverage than their non-STEM counterparts (p4).

Employers also emphasized the importance of employability skills, particularly the ability tocommunicate, collaborate and operate effectively within an industry environment. They particularlyvalue the ability to combine those skills with technical STEM skills, but also find that combination inshortest supply. This finding aligns with those published in a 2012 EU Skills Panorama report:

‘As STEM-driven technology and services become more embedded in everyday life, bothin business and in society, STEM professionals need to be able to understand andrespond to customer challenges, consumer choices and the opportunities they present.Employer surveys have shown that some STEM graduates are considered under-skilledin the requisite personal and behavioural competencies expected of them, such as team-working, communication and time management/organisational skills, as well as the morecommercially-related skills including product development, customer service andbusiness acumen. ‘

(EU Skills Panorama, 2012)

A report, titled New Basics by Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) identifies the top four skills inhighest demand in Australia. The report scanned through 4.2 million job advertisements from 2012 till2015 to find the skills most in demand for junior or entry positions.

The top four skills are:

u digital literacy (demand up by 212% between 2012 and 2015)

u critical thinking (demand up by 158%)

u creativity (demand up by 65%)

u problem solving (demand up by 26%).


Terminology

The literature makes it clear that while STEM as an acronym is easily understood, the concept ofSTEM skills is inconsistently defined and less clear.

Siekmann (2016) suggests that the ‘focus on STEM education, skills and occupations could beconsidered unbalanced in terms of its contribution to innovation, productivity and ultimately acountry’s prosperity’ and that current definitions are inconsistent and not specific enough to informeducation and skill policies and initiatives, which leads to unsubstantiated and uncoordinated action.

She suggests it would be more helpful to focus on technical or science outputs or products and theskills required to achieve them. For example, landing on the moon involves more than rocketscientists. Many other skills outside the science and technology domain helped make it happen. Ortake a growing field of technological innovation like genetic modification, which relies on thehumanities, arts and social science disciplines for discussion, evaluation and implementation.

Siekmann argues that by focusing on a particular industry sector in demand, or a defined product,there can be a sharper focus on the particular skills and the number of people required to grow thatindustry or produce that innovation (Siekmann, 2016, p10).

Siekmann and Kogel (2016) further argue that the consideration of scientific and technical skills,knowledge and occupations should be incorporated into a bigger skills picture, such as the skills andknowledge needed in the twenty-first century. They argue that the current focus on STEM obscuresthe need for a well-rounded education for students, one that is essentially foundational and enablesstudents to succeed in further education and in the workplace of their choice.

They suggest that more appropriate frameworks address foundations for work, employability and thefuture of work. Examples are the Core Skills frameworks and 21st century skills frameworks.

u Core Skills Frameworks—the Australian Core Skills Framework and Core Skills for WorkDevelopmental Framework (see Table 1) cover five core foundational literacy andnumeracy skills, along with employability skills, the core non-technical skills identified byAustralian employers as important for successful participation in work.

u ‘Twenty-first century skills’—these refer to a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits,and character traits that are needed to succeed in today’s and tomorrow's world,particularly in secondary schools, tertiary education and workplaces. Twenty-first centuryskills can be applied in all academic subject areas and in all educational, career, and civicsettings throughout a student’s life. Resonating with foundation skills but casting the visionof working and living much broader, the skills can be grouped into four categories, asshown in table 5.

Table 1. Core Skills

Australian CoreSkills Framework

Core Skills for Work Developmental Framework

Learning 1. Navigate theWorld of Work

a. Manage career and work life

b. Work with roles, rights and protocols

Reading 2. Interact withOthers

a. Communicate for work

b. Connect and work with others

c. Recognise and utilise diverseperspectives

Writing


Australian CoreSkills Framework

Core Skills for Work Developmental Framework

Oral Communication 3. Get the WorkDone

a. Plan and organise

b. Make decisions

c. Identify and solve problems

d. Create and innovate

e. Work in a digital world

Numeracy

Table 2. Twenty-first century skills

Ways of thinking Ways of working Literacy tools forworking

Living in the world

Creativity andinnovation

Communication Information literacy(includes research onsources, evidence,biases, etc.)

Citizenship – local andglobal

Critical thinking,problem-solving,decision-making

Collaboration(teamwork)

ICT literacy Life and career

Learning to learn,metacognition

Personal and socialresponsibility –including culturalawareness andcompetence

Source: Binkley et al. (2012)

Siekmann and Kogel suggest developing a coordinated national strategy around these kinds of skills,rather than focusing solely on STEM skills, and integrating STEM education as a part of a holistic skillsstrategy with modern and future workplaces and requirements in mind.

In summary, they make the following recommendations:

u Acknowledge that STEM is an umbrella term and continue to identify distinct skills andknowledge at a level which is detailed enough to inform policy development, educationand career advice.

u Incorporate STEM skills in a holistic skills framework, one that addresses societal changesand future workplaces, such as the twenty-first century skills framework, and addressesdefinitions and inherent weaknesses.

u Determine the skills required by STEM products or other forms of outputs that are or willbe in demand and focus on a stocktake and promotion of the skills that are needed toachieve this. These will include a variety of scientific and technical skills, as well as skillsfrom other disciplines (such as in management, human resources, marketing, law, salesand arts).

These ideas are echoed by the Australian Information Industry Association (2018), whichacknowledges that while skills in STEM are critical, the longer-term focus should be on developing amix of skills that combine workplace, applied knowledge, people and personal skills – with an


emphasis on creativity, flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity, social intelligence and personal resilienceand agility.

‘We know that even across our own membership of technology leaders, where STEMskills are a premium, businesses want more than hard technical skills. Enterprise skillssuch as complex and creative problem solving, innovative thinking, communicationskills, teamwork and collaboration and an understanding of the business and industrycontext are what many of our own members are looking for from their hires (AustralianInformation Industry Association, 2018, p41)

The Australia 2030: Prosperity through Innovation report by Innovation and Science Australia, alsorecognizes the need to support both STEM skills as well as the humanities, arts and social sciences.

‘The skills needed to perform jobs are also changing. Digital skills and skills relating toscience, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are increasing in importance,and occupations currently requiring STEM skills are outstripping overall employmentgrowth. At the same time, jobs across the board will require employees to spend moretime using 21st century skills, including interpersonal, creative, problem-solving andentrepreneurial skills. These trends mean our education system needs to develop andsupport both STEM skills and humanities, arts and social sciences (HASS) skills thatnurture interpersonal skills such as empathy and creativity’.(Innovation and Science Australia, 2018, p2)

What is digital literacy?

At a policy level, STEM skills and digital literacy are often grouped together as key skills individualsrequire to succeed in life and work, and the skills an economy needs to innovate and grow. But theliterature on each is discrete and the concept of digital literacy poses its own definitional dilemmas.

Terminology

The term, ‘digital literacy’ was first popularized in a book by the same name, by Paul Gilster,published in 1997. He conceived of digital literacy as, simply, ‘literacy for a digital age’(Bawden, 2008, p18). Since then, and in the face of rapid technological growth, the concepthas been developed further. But it’s been defined in different ways and from varying angles,which means there’s now some confusion and little consensus about the meaning of digitalliteracy (Bawden, 2008).

Hagel (2015) outlines where some of this confusion stems from.

Firstly, various other ‘literacies’ have preceded digital literacy and resulted in some ‘legacy’perspectives:

u ‘Information literacy’—typically the domain of the library community, it focuses oninformation skills and the ability to evaluate information and understand its source.

u ‘Media literacy’—developed from the communications field, it focuses on the creation,production, reading, communication and critical assessment of media and texts. It alsoencompasses both the technical and cultural forms of media and the way media ─ textsand visuals ─ communicate meaning (Littlejohn, Beetham and McGill, 2012).

u ‘ICT literacy’—developed from the practice of information technology (IT) and computerspecialists, focuses on the use of digital technology to access and create information.

Secondly, the ‘parent’ field defining digital literacy, whether that be information sciences, mediaand communication studies or IT, will have its own foci and priorities and therefore bringdifferent emphases to the concept.


Thirdly, the idea of digital literacy has been influenced by the various policy bodies andeducation institutions that promote and champion it. While some are mainly concerned withfoundational literacy skills in a digital environment, others are more concerned with higherorder and/or transformational learning (Hagel, 2015, p5).

Reviewing various definitions also shows a distinction between those that focus on what digitallyliterate people can do, or on outcomes, and on definitions that focus also on the skills andattitudes individuals need in a digital environment.

Outcome-oriented definitions

An example of an outcomes-oriented definition was developed by the UK Forum on ComputingEducation, which classified four bands of digital skill level and what individuals in each bandcan do.

u Digital muggle: no digital skills required.

u Digital citizen: use technology to communicate, to find information and transact.

u Digital worker: configure and use digital systems.

u Digital maker: build digital technology.

(Mairs, 2014)

The Foundation for Young Australians (2017) used this classification to analyse the digital skillrequirements of 405 occupations in Australia. It found that more than 90% of Australia’scurrent workforce will need to be at least a digital citizen to perform their roles in a digitally-enabled economy. And approximately 60% of the workforce will ideally be operating at a digitalworker level or above.

The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), in its paper Skills for Today. Jobs forTomorrow, stresses that universal digital literacy must be the new norm (AIIA, 2018). At aminimum, this means that everyone needs to be able to:

u access and use information and digital content

u communicate and collaborate through digital technologies

u manage their digital identity

u develop digital content, and use and protect their digital devices, personal data andprivacy.

It refers to the components of basic digital literacy skills as developed by the Economic Impactof Basic Digital Skills and Inclusion in the UK in 2015. Again, this definition is framed in termsof what tasks an individual with basic digital skills can achieve:

u Manage information: having the skills to use a search engine to find information, searchfor deals on comparison websites, able to bookmark useful websites and services andstore data on a device or in the cloud.

u Communicate: the individual is able to keep in touch with family and friends using emails,instant messaging, video calls and social media. This includes the ability for an individualto post comments on forums, connect with online communities and leave feedback e.g.on shopping websites and for service providers about purchases or experiences they’vehad.

u Transact: the ability to undertake financial transactions, such as completing a UniversalCredit application, ordering shopping, booking travel, managing bank accounts, using


digital government services and understanding how to buy and sell on the virtualmarketplace.

u Problem-solve: The individual should be confident to solve problems using digital skillssuch as teaching themselves simple tasks using video lessons, using feedback from otherinternet users to solve a common problem and accessing support services e.g. ‘live chat’.

u Create: having the skills to create basic digital content. For example, creating a socialmedia post, drafting a text document, creating and sharing photo albums and providingfeedback to online communities.

(The economic impact of Basic Digital Skills and inclusion in the UK A report for Tinder Foundation and GO ON UK,

November 2015)

The AIIA recognizes that these basic digital skills lie at one end of the spectrum, and at theother is a skilled workforce that can ‘create’ not just ‘use’ technology. Hartley (2012) alsoemphasizes the need to skill people to create and produce, not just consume digital content.

“Not enough 'critical' attention has been paid to what ordinary people need to learn inorder to attain a level of digital literacy appropriate for producing as well as consumingdigital content, thence to participate in the mediated public sphere, to pursue their ownprivate 'imaginative desires, to contribute to the growth of knowledge, or to developenterprises and create value (cultural and economic) in commercial and communitycontexts, not least by scaling up the creative capacity of consumer-users, for instance bylinking learning services, local content and national innovation systems.“ (Hartley, 2012,p12)

Definitions based on knowledge and skills

Other definitions are framed more in terms of the knowledge and skills needed. Bawden (2008)developed the concept of digital literacy, according to four dimensions:

u Underpinnings—the basic foundational and ICT literacy that people need just to functionin the first place.

u Background knowledge—an understanding of how knowledge ‘comes to be’. That is,about how information, in both digital and non-digital forms, is created/authored,legitimised and communicated.

u Central competencies—competencies of finding, assembling, reading, evaluating,creating and communicating information

u Attitudes and perspectives—attitudes and perspectives which capture what is ‘sensibleand correct behaviour in the digital environment’: those of independent learning and‘moral/social literacy’.

The International ICT Literacy Panel10 defines ICT literacy as ‘using digital technology,communications tools, and/or networks to access, manage, integrate, evaluate and createinformation in order to function in a knowledge society.’ (Educational Testing Services, p16).

It further defines the skills as a blend of technical proficiency and broader cognitive skills. Itsproposed framework is based on the view that ICT literacy is more than mastering technology.

‘It is only in the integration of technology skills and cognitive skills, such as traditional

10 Educational Testing Service (ETS) convened an international panel to study the growing importance of existing andemerging Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and their relationship to literacy. The panel was made upof experts from education, government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), labour, and the private sector.Representatives from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, and the United States were included in the group.


literacy, numeracy, and problem solving, that one can adequately define ICT literacy.’(Educational Testing Services, p18)

They describe these components as:

u Cognitive Proficiency — the desired foundational skills of everyday life at school, athome, and at work. Literacy, numeracy, problem solving, and spatial/visual literacydemonstrate these proficiencies.

u Technical Proficiency — the basic components of digital literacy. It includes afoundational knowledge of hardware, software applications, networks, and elements ofdigital technology.

u ICT Proficiency — the integration and application of cognitive and technical skills. ICTproficiencies are seen as enablers; that is, they allow individuals to maximize thecapabilities of technology. At the highest level, ICT proficiencies result in innovation,individual transformation, and societal change.

Another definition that takes account of the cognitive and the social-emotional aspects of digitalliteracy is that developed by Ng (2012). The relationships between these dimensions are shownin the diagram below.

Figure 5. Digital Literacy Model

Source: Ng (2012)

In this model, the technical dimension of being digitally literate broadly means having thetechnical and operational skills to use ICT for learning and in everyday activities, for example,finding, downloading and installing applications, using Bluetooth devices, setting up and usingsocial networking tools.

The cognitive dimension is associated with the ability to think critically in the search, evaluateand create cycle of handling digital information. It also means being able to evaluate and selectappropriate software programs to learn with or to do a specific task. It includes understandingethical, moral and legal issues associated with online trading and content reproduction, and an


understanding of multiliteracies i.e. skills that are linguistic, visual, audio, spatial, gestural (ascaptured in videos) and multimodal (as in multimedia resources).

The social-emotional dimension of digital literacy and the intersecting areas between the social-emotional and cognitive dimensions involve being able to use the Internet responsibly forcommunicating, socializing and learning by

u observing ‘netiquette’ through the application of similar rules as in face-to-facecommunication such as respect and using appropriate language and words to avoidmisinterpretation and misunderstanding,

u protecting individual safety and privacy by keeping personal information as private aspossible and not disclosing any more personal information than is necessary, and

u recognising when (s)he is being threatened and knowing how to deal with it, for examplewhether to ignore, report or respond to the threat.

Central to all three dimensions of the digital literacy framework is critical literacy, which is theunderstanding that people behind the scene writing the information have their own motivationsand being able to critically evaluate whose voice is being heard and whose is not is importantfor learning as neutrally as possible.

How are these skills being developed?

STEM policies are translated into a variety of on-the-ground projects and initiatives. This sectionoutlines some of the issues and challenges in putting policy in to practice, and what’s still required toeffectively advance the STEM agenda.

An integrated versus a single-subject approach

Traditionally STEM subjects are taught as single subjects, but new STEM initiatives areattempting to teach STEM in a more integrated way, although this can be challenging forschools, given the constraints of school timetables and other rigid structures (Ai Group, p13)

Successfully offering integrated STEM relies on support from the principal and school leaders,and on the capacity and desire of teachers in various STEM disciplines to collaborate. In itsproject looking at school-industry STEM skills partnerships, Ai Group found that, at this stage,initiatives are usually delivered by individual teachers within single disciplines.

Similarly, it is recommenced that digital literacy skills are taught through experiences thatintegrate cognitive and technical learning across a range of contexts. This helps studentsunderstand the connections between information technologies and the other skills they attain inschool, skills they use in work and in everyday life.

‘ICT literacy can best be achieved through experiences that integrate cognitive andtechnical learning. Single focused, stand-alone curricula, whether academic or technical,will limit the learners’ attainment of ICT literacy. ICT literacy skills need to be integratedappropriately into curricula addressing cognitive skills as well as those addressing IT andtechnical skills in order to ensure improved ICT literacy.’ (Educational Testing Service,2002, p12)

Incorporating STEM into a crowded curriculum

Trying to incorporate STEM teaching into an already full curriculum can be difficult forteachers. While there are some STEM resources being developed, teachers often don’t have thetime to access and evaluate them, and then to incorporate them into their teaching. Anyresources need to align easily with existing curriculum (Ai Group, p15)


The value of work placements and work experience

Employers agree that giving students long-term work placements and work experience is aneffective way to help them acquire the skills they need in the workplace. Despite theimportance and value of these learning experiences, most respondents (62%) in an employersurvey, indicated that they did not currently offer structured work placements. (Deloitte AccessEconomics, 2017, p5)

Partnerships between schools and businesses

‘Education providers need to engage with business to gain a better understanding oftrends in STEM skill needs.’(Australian Council of Learned Academies, 2014, p20)

Recognising that schools and businesses need to work together on STEM initiatives, the Officeof the Chief Scientist commissioned AiGroup to look at school-industry STEM skill partnershipsand ways to strengthen links between industry and school systems, to advance participation bysecondary school students in STEM-related disciplines, to improve students’ and teachers’understanding of STEM skills and their demand in the workplace, and to encourage students toconsider further study and /or a career in STEM.

Their recommendations include the provision of specific professional development activities forteachers to assist them in integrating school subjects into a STEM-based curriculum, as well asthe development of resources for schools and for industry to support the establishment ofpartnerships,

High quality teaching in STEM and digital literacy

The Education Council has called for minimum national requirements for teacher professionallearning, that include relevant, discipline specific professional learning from an accreditedprovider, to ensure ongoing high quality teaching in STEM disciplines (Education Council,2015).

The FYA report also emphasizes that developing curriculum is only a first step and that toimprove students’ digital literacy will require both high quality initial teacher training andprofessional development within the existing workforce to see the intended impact in theclassroom (p32)

The Education Council (2015) also recommends that education authorities support principalsand lead teachers to engage with industry and other partners to develop and implement highquality, contemporary professional learning materials and teaching practices in mathematics,science and technology. These should include particular support for:

a. principals and other school leaders,

b. teachers working outside their main discipline, and

c. teachers in rural and remote communities with limited travel and broadband access.

Centring STEM around real world problems

The Education Council suggests that governments and industry should work together to focusthe narrative for primary and secondary students on how STEM skills and knowledge can solvereal world problems. Having been motivated by real world problems, students should beintroduced to the applicable subjects, skills and jobs that will give them career flexibility as theycontribute to meeting the needs of our future society.


Conclusion

In the face of complex global challenges and the rapid advance of technology, there’s no doubt thatscience, technology and maths and the skills associated with those disciplines are critically importantand Australia needs to ensure we have an adequate supply of graduates in those fields.

As evidenced in the literature, the nature and extent of a STEM shortage is not entirely clear. What isalso not clear is what’s meant when people talk about ‘STEM skills’ as part of the STEM agenda. It hasslightly different meanings from an education versus an employer/workplace perspective.

For this reason, some are advocating that STEM skills be framed in terms of broader, generic skillframeworks such as the Core Skills for Work and 21st Century skills frameworks.

What IS clear from the literature is Australia’s declining performance in maths and science oninternational assessments and declining engagement of students in these disciplines. These areconcerning trends that need to be addressed.

This review of literature raises some questions which have implications for schooling of students inAustralia, such as:

u Is enough being done to develop basic digital literacy of young people, in a way thatencompasses technical as well as the cognitive and social and emotional aspects of usingdigital technology?

u How well do we understand and manage the pipeline of maths, science and technologygraduates?

u What can be done to increase engagement and performance in maths and science atschool?

u Is there a clear strategy for developing students’ generic employability and 21st centuryskills?


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Foundation for Young Australians (2017) The New Basics: Big data reveals the skills young peopleneed for the new work order

Hagel, P (2015) Towards an understanding of ‘Digital Literacy(ies)’, discourse: Deakin UniversityLibrary research & practice, no. 1, Geelong, Deakin University Library

Hartley, J (2012) The Uses of Digital Literacy, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane

Innovation and Science Australia (2018) ‘Australia 2030: Prosperity through Innovation’, SummaryReport, Australian Government

Littlejohn, A & Beetham, H et al. (2012) ‘Learning in the digital frontier: a review of digital literacies intheory and practice’, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 28(6), 547-556

Mairs, C (2014) ‘UK Forum for Computing Education’, UKForCE Submission to Maggie Philbin’sDigital Task Force. Available from <http //ukforce.org.uk/ukforce/ukforce-submission-to-maggie-philbins-digital-task-force/>

Marginson, S, Tytler, R, Freeman, B & Roberts, K (2013) STEM: Country comparisons: final report,Australian Council of Learned Academies, Melbourne

National Science Foundation (US) (2010) Preparing the next generation of STEM innovators:identifying and developing our nation’s human capital, National Science Foundation, Arlington

Ng,W (2012) Empowering scientific literacy through digital literacy and multiliteracies. New York: NovaScience Publishers

Ng, W (2012) ‘Can we teach digital natives digital literacy?’, Computers and Education 59 (2012), pp1065-1078

Norton, A (2016) ‘The number of science graduates are growing but the jobs are not’, The GrattanInstitute, accessed at https://grattan.edu.au/the-number-of-science-graduates-are-growing-but-the-jobs-are-not/

Sander, L (2017) ‘Lack of workers with ‘soft skills’ demands a shift in teaching’, The Conversation, 28February 2017

Siekmann, G (2016) What is STEM? The need for unpacking its definitions and applications, NCVER,Adelaide

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Spoehr, J, Barnett, K, Molloy, S, Dev, S & Hordacre, AL (2010) ‘Connecting ideas: collaborativeinnovation for a complex world’, Australian Institute for Social Research, University of Adelaide,Adelaide

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C. INTERIM REPORT

About this report

Ithaca Group has been commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Education andTraining (the Department) to examine the STEM and digital literacy skills needed to prepare youngpeople for work and consider the role of the Australian Curriculum in supporting the development ofthose skills.

In previous stages of the project, we developed working concepts of both STEM and digital skillsbased on analysis of recent literature on these topics. These concepts have been used as the basis forconsultations with industry.

This interim report presents the findings of these consultations and outlines our latest thinking aboutSTEM and digital skills in light of these findings.

Industry consultations

About the consultations

Over recent weeks we have conducted consultations with employers, industry representativesand tertiary education representatives in order to explore what skills they are most looking for inyoung people entering work and the extent to which STEM and digital skills feature in the mix.

Our consultations have focused on six different occupations or occupation groupings outlined inTable 1 below.

Table 1. Areas of focus for industry consultations

Industry Occupation/Occupationgrouping

Rationale for focus

1. Retail Customer ServiceWorkers

An industry that employs large numbersof young people11 and one which hasbeen significantly affected by changesin digital technology

2. Management andcommerce

Graduate-levelBanking/FinanceWorkers

The sector in which the largestproportions of people aged 25-44 holdpost-school qualifications12

3. Building andconstruction

Carpenters andJoiners

Another of the three industriesemploying the largest proportions ofyoung people

4. Manufacturing MachineOperators/Machinists

An industry undergoing major businessand workforce changes due to ‘digitaldisruption’

5. Health Nurses and PersonalCare Workers

An area of expected growth13 and onethat utilises STEM skills

11 one of the three industries employing more than half of young workers according to Australian Jobs 2018

12 according to the latest HILDA survey data

13 according to Australian Jobs 2018


Industry Occupation/Occupationgrouping

Rationale for focus

6. Science Medical LaboratoryScientists/Technicians

A STEM discipline area with moderate

projected future jobs growth14

The conversations have explored:

u What are the essential skills, knowledge and attributes needed by a young personstarting out in this work? To what extent are they occupation specific versus generic?

u Are young people coming through with these skills, knowledge and attributes?

u What kinds of digital skills are needed for this work?

u What kinds of STEM skills are needed for this work?

u To what extent has the need for digital and STEM related skills in this work changedover recent years and how might this continue to change into the near future?

Findings of the consultations

We consulted with 20 people across the six occupations/occupation groupings (Appendix F)and from these developed six ‘Skills Profiles’ which can be found in Appendix B.

The findings across the different areas are remarkably similar, with some common messagesarising from them.

What are the essential skills for new entrants?

The skills, knowledge and attributes needed by young people entering the occupations of focusare predominantly generic, although in areas such as finance that require a post-schoolqualification for entry, many roles demand specific STEM based degrees in combination withgeneric skills.

The types of skills, knowledge and attributes mentioned as being essential for young peoplestarting out on day one mostly fell into the category of ‘general capabilities’ and included itemssuch as:

u to have a positive attitude towards work

u to be able to turn up for work on time

u English language literacy (e.g. need to be able to read and understand instructions)

u basic numeracy (e.g. addition and subtraction)

u ability to use a computer (e.g. to fill in timesheets, access information or enterinformation)

u communication skills (e.g. to speak to supervisors, write emails, communicate withpatients and customers)

u ability to work as part of a team; to collaborate with others

14 according to the Australian Government Job Outlook website


u ability to follow directions/procedures and take instruction

u to identify and solve or refer problems

u to use initiative and ‘think for themselves’

u knowing when to follow ‘the rules’ and when to use judgement and innovation

u ability to apply learning in practical contexts

u adaptability and agility in changing environments

u resilience to cope with things going wrong or making mistakes.

A common sentiment amongst the employers taking on young people into vocational roles was“we can teach them the technical skills, we just need them to have the soft skills”.

However, there were some more occupation-specific essentials mentioned across the differentoccupations, such as:

u manual dexterity/hand-eye coordination (e.g. to use tools or lab equipment)

u being physically fit (e.g. to work on a building site)

u understanding of safety procedures (e.g. on a building site or in a lab)

u typing skills (e.g. to enter data into information management systems)

u customer service skills (e.g. deal with difficult customers)

u an attitude of patient care and concern (e.g. when dealing with patients face to face,or when dealing with a specimen in a lab)

u maths skills (e.g. to measure, calculate formulas, create graphs, and foraccounting/finance roles)

u scientific knowledge (e.g. anatomy and physiology, chemistry).

What’s missing for young people entering these roles?

Skills gaps

The gaps for young people entering work that were raised most often across the conversationswere related to generic skills and attributes and could perhaps best be described as ‘life’ or‘work readiness’ skills and capabilities. Those interviewed spoke about young people lacking orneeding significant further development in:

u work ethic (i.e. the ability to turn up every day on time)

u accountability for own behaviour and ability to self-regulate behaviour

u desire to learn

u communication skills

u problem solving skills

u resilience.

There were some points raised about gaps in STEM and digital skills, which are discussed inthe relevant sections below, however they were in the minority.

Ability to apply skills in ‘real life’ contexts

Many interviewees spoke about the challenge for young people in being able to apply theirknowledge and skills in ‘real life’ work situations.


For example, in carpentry, young people struggle with applying STEM skills such as readingplans, measuring and estimating to building materials and sites. One training provider reportedthat their students often have “limped through” maths at school as it has been taught in atheoretical and abstract way and they have to spend considerable time in training students tobe able to understand and use these skills in a practical situation.

A similar issue with the practical application of maths exists in the manufacturing industry.

In medical/pathology laboratories, young people usually start in ‘reception’ roles where they areentering specimens into Laboratory Information Management Systems. “Two finger typing” isn’tenough for the speed required to enter the large volumes of samples with 100% accuracy. Theskill of fast and accurate typing is having to be covered in the training system because it’s notdone at school.

What digital skills are in demand?

Digital literacy

Employers assume that young people are coming to them with the digital literacy to be able toundertake activities such as:

u entering and accessing information into/from information management and recordkeeping systems, hr systems, online manuals and procedures, internet research

u using basic software like word, excel, email programs and collaborative working tools

u using computers and tablets

u extracting or inputting data from/into a machine.

The employers and educators we spoke to felt that most young people don’t have a problemwith these technical aspects of digital literacy as they are all familiar with using computers andaren’t afraid of technology. “They are all digital beasts just because of the sheer way theyinteract with the world.” Even those who don’t have higher level skills because they haven’tdone computer studies at school “still have the bare bones”.

Where the gaps are is in the skills and knowledge associated with using technology, such ascommunicating effectively and appropriately via digital technology and the ability to criticallyevaluate data and information accessed online.

Higher level IT skills

While higher level digital skills were not the focus of any of the occupations we examined, oneof the finance sector employers mentioned that they struggle to recruit graduates with high levelIT and technology skills to fill specialist roles.

What STEM skills are in demand?

Maths skills were in demand across all the occupations we examined. These ranged from basicnumeracy skills of addition and subtraction, through to the ability to calculate formulas. Asmentioned earlier, the ability to apply maths skills in practical settings was often lacking inyoung people. However, in some occupations even basic numeracy skills are lacking. A surveyof employers in the building industry carried out by a training provider found that basic additionand subtraction skills were the highest priority in terms of what employers were looking for innew employees – even more important than safety skills and knowledge. A lack of these basicnumeracy skill is a constant complaint for employers in this sector.

Problem solving was another highly valued skill that is in demand across all occupations but isoften lacking. One dimension of this issue is that young people are often lacking the ability to


notice problems or to identify the cause of a problem, as well as the initiative to think forthemselves and do something about it – either to solve it or to seek help.

The increasing level of automation in manufacturing and laboratory settings is increasing theneed for skills in data interpretation and analysis and these skills are not adequately beingcovered in school or VET systems. These skills are particularly important for young peopleentering higher level, more technical roles.

There are specific scientific skills and knowledge needed to work in a laboratory setting, forwhich learning basic concepts of anatomy, physiology and chemistry at school would help tosupport. In manufacturing trades, understanding of scientific principles underpinning skillssuch as welding would also be useful in supporting the development of these skills.

Large banking and finance organisations are starting to deliberately recruit graduates of STEMdisciplines as they find that these graduates have deep analytical and problem-solving skillsthat are valued. Some of the employers we spoke to in this field felt that the study of sciencewas just as important as maths – especially starting in primary school where it can spark thecuriosity and sense of discovery that sets the foundation for a future career based on STEM.

Some were also looking for a combination of STEM and humanities qualifications as they feltthis resulted in well-rounded graduates with good left and right brain skills.

Ability to apply knowledge and skills

For the most part, changing technology is resulting in new products and equipment, but notnecessarily new skills. It more often requires the ability to apply existing skills in new ways, innew contexts or in combination with other skills, as well as to rapidly acquire new knowledgeand understanding.

For example, in advanced manufacturing it’s new combinations of skills that are drivinginnovation and increased productivity. There are many examples of combinations of traditionaltrade skills with design thinking or with skills in the use of robotics (i.e. mechatronics) orintegrated digital systems (i.e. the Internet of Things). In both manufacturing and building it isalso about applying traditional trade skills to new materials.

In banking and finance “everything is driven by technology” and everyone needs to work in a“completely agile environment.”

This points towards the importance of skills in learning and the ability to apply skills andknowledge in a variety of contexts – both familiar and unfamiliar. It also points towards therising importance of collaboration across curriculum/discipline areas to build a foundation foremerging job roles and the unknown job roles of the future.

It also aligns to an assertion by Siekmann and Korbel15 that STEM skills and knowledge are bydefinition interdisciplinary in nature and that STEM education should be outcome-focused,solve real world problems and enhance critical and creative-thinking skills.

Risks and challenges

There is a danger that focusing too much on digital technology will de-skill people

A recurring issue raised across the consultations was the danger of increasing automation andreliance upon technology resulting in a de-skilling of the workforce. This can be at the simplest

15 Siekmann, G and Korbel, P (2016) Defining STEM skills: a literature review and synthesis, NCVER, Adelaide


level of young people relying upon calculators or measuring equipment and when these aren’tavailable they are unable to perform calculations or to estimate weight, size or distance.

This can have a major impact on customer service in a retail setting.

At a more complex level, when machines break down (e.g. in a pathology lab), many youngerworkers don’t have the skills to manually perform a test and older workers who were traineddifferently have to be called in so that the work flow can continue.

The biggest challenge in several industries is attracting young people

Although not a skill-related issue, a recurring topic across conversations in some of theindustries of focus (notably manufacturing and laboratory work) was the challenge in attractingyoung people to these roles. Partly this is an issue of young people not being exposed to therange of available work opportunities either at school or in life more broadly. However, it is alsoan issue of a culture in which going to university is presented as the goal that every youngperson should aspire to.

This may be contributing to an issue identified in the literature review of employers struggling torecruit technicians and trades workers with STEM skills.

In finance and banking employers described the major challenge is in increasing the pipeline ofstudents with STEM skills, starting with encouraging more students into STEM subjects atschools. One employer indicated they are having great difficulty finding the numbers ofstudents qualified in high level technology (IT) that is required for technology drivenworkplaces.

In terms of growing the pipeline, there was a view that schools need greater support in theclassroom in how to implement the digital curriculum for the real world and that industry has arole to play in engaging with parents, careers counsellors and teachers in explaining the diverseroles available through STEM skills. However, there was consensus that it is very challenging forindustry and employers to identify how best to engage across such a broad landscape.


Concepts of STEM and Digital Skills

Our previous identification of three different ways of thinking about STEM and digital skills (i.e. asfoundational literacies needed to function in a modern world, as generic skills that underpin a range ofother skills and capabilities and as discipline-specific skills required to work in specific fields andoccupations) is relevant to these consultation findings.

Across all the occupations of focus there was a need for foundational digital literacy and numeracyand for generic skills (or general capabilities). However, only in certain occupations was there a needfor more complex digital skills or specific STEM skills or knowledge.

Some interviewees cautioned against focusing on STEM for the sake of it. They stressed that if STEMskills were going to be of use they need to be relevant to real jobs and to be learned and applied inrealistic, practical contexts.

There were many mentions of the value of experiential learning, project or scenario-based learningand problem-based learning in developing both STEM skills and other, more vital skills, such ascommunication, collaboration, planning, self-regulation and resilience. These were cited as thetechniques being used in work exposure programs and on-the-job learning in the finance industry andin programs that are being implemented in schools to expose young people to the manufacturingindustry.

An interesting finding of the conversations with representatives of the banking and finance sector wasthat they highly value skills and attributes such as critical thinking, analytical skills, problem solvingand collaboration and that they are increasingly recruiting graduates of STEM disciplines because theytend to have more of these skills – particularly if they have been exposed to problem-based learning.

This points to the possibility that it is the way that learning occurs in STEM disciplines that matterseven more than the content itself, as it helps to develop the general capabilities that are in highdemand by employers.

STEM and Digital skills and work readiness

Given that the essential skills, knowledge and capabilities identified for young people entering theoccupations of focus predominantly related to readiness for work and further learning or to generalcapabilities, it may be useful at this point in the project to refer to a previous piece of work on thistopic.

Figure 2 below was the result of research into the non-technical capabilities needed by young peopleleaving school in order to successfully participate in work or further learning.16 It built upon a previousframework for Work Readiness developed by Ithaca Group.

Digital literacy and numeracy skills fall under the category of ‘application of core skills and knowledge’,as do general capabilities/generic STEM skills such as critical thinking and problem solving. Theimportance of the application of these generic skills in ‘real life’ contexts is also emphasised here.

More specific STEM skills and higher-level digital skills fall under the categories of ‘relevant courseprerequisites’ and ‘occupation-specific skills and knowledge’. This also highlights the importance ofdeveloping STEM skills that are relevant to pursuing particular career pathways, which in turnhighlights the importance of career development skills and knowledge.

This framework may provide a useful basis for testing ideas of generic versus occupation/disciplinespecific STEM and digital skills in the final stage of the project.

16 Ithaca Group (2016) Everybody’s Core Business - Research into the non-technical capabilities needed for successfulparticipation in work or further study: Final Report. Department of Education and Training, Canberra


Figure 2. The ‘tools’ needed for successful transitions to work and study

Tools for Transitions

ücourse &institution-

specificrequirements

üworkplace-specificrequirements

ü the nature oftertiary study and thefield/industry of study

üthe nature ofthe industry

IndividualsSchools and their

communities

Do you understand...?

Are you able to...?

Have all of your students hadopportunities and support todevelop these elements?

üuse career development competencies to explore, make and managecareer choicesüuse social awareness and social management skills to interact with othersüuse self-management skills to monitor and regulate your behaviour and

performanceüuse self-awareness to reflect on your choices, behaviour and performanceütake responsibility for your learningüapply thinking strategies to learning, creating and solving problemsüapply literacy and numeracy skills (including digital literacy) in 'real life' or

further learning contexts

Do you have...?ürelevant

coursepre-requisites

üoccupation-specific skillsand knowledge

StudyReady

WorkReady

Do you understand...?


Next Steps

In the final stage of the project we are going to test our concepts of STEM and digital skills as being ona continuum and as being part of a broader ‘Tools for Transitions’ approach for school students with‘experts’. We will also be looking for examples of effective approaches to developing these skills in aschool context through our conversations, as well as through an update to the literature review.

We propose conducting these expert consultations with representatives of:

u The Education Council (in relation to the findings of their report ‘Optimising STEMIndustry-School Partnerships: Inspiring Australia’s Next Generation)

u STEM education researchers (possibly Dr Jane Hunter, STEM Education FuturesResearch Centre, UTS or Professor Mark Hackling, School of Education, Edith CowanUniversity, or Siekmann and Korbel who produced the report Defining STEM skills: aliterature review and synthesis for NCVER)

u ACARA

u 2 x state and territory education departments (most likely WA and SA)

u Catholic Education Queensland

u Australian Department of Education and Training representatives responsible for NationalCurriculum

u 2 x schools with different approaches to STEM and digital skills.


D. SKILLS PROFILES

Financial Services Work

Machine Operators, Process Workers, Fitters and Machinists

Nursing

Carpentry

Medical Laboratory Scientists and Technicians

Retail Customer Service


SKILLS PROFILE – FINANCIAL SERVICES WORK

About these roles

Interviewees provided their perspectives about the job role that most closely matches the occupationof ‘bank workers’ in the financial and insurance services sector (Australian Jobs). In practice however,in responding to questions about new entrants to the banking and finance industries, respondentstouched on a variety of other occupations including ‘accounting clerks’, ‘database and systemsadministrators and ICT security’, ‘ICT business and systems analysts’, ‘information officers’, ‘actuaries’and ‘general clerks’, highlighting the wide range of job roles available in the sector.

Size of industry/occupation, and growth17

The financial and insurance services sector employs 420,700 people at November 2017 and isthe 11th largest industry in terms of share of employment. Employment growth for the sector asa whole has been subdued over the past five years but is projected to rise by 5.6 per cent overthe five years to May 2022. However, the patterns of growth vary across the range ofoccupations. For bank workers who represent the largest occupation in the sector, growth isprojected to remain stable, demand for accounting clerks is expected to decline and for a rangeof ICT based higher skilled occupations, growth is expected to be moderately or very strong.

Uptake

Only a small share of the workforce is aged 15 to 24 years (7 per cent), reflecting the fact thatfor many occupations, post-school qualifications are required, often at minimum a BachelorDegree. 75 per cent of the workforce holds a post-school qualification at November 2017.

Pathways

Examples of pathways include:

u For bank workers, a Certificate II or III or at least one year of relevant experience.Around one in three workers have year 12 as their highest educational level. Thereare similar requirements for accounting clerks, general clerks, and informationofficers.

u For occupations such as actuaries and ICT related jobs, a minimum of a BachelorDegree is required and many workers have post-graduate qualifications.

Interviewees indicated that from their perspective of current recruitment practices, there arefew if any job roles that do not require post-school qualifications.

Essential skills, knowledge and attributes

Interviewees were unanimous that while they seek the technical skills for specific roles (indicated bycompletion of a particular degree or double degree), they do not expect these at a high level as theycan be developed further on the job. Many graduates do not enter jobs with much experience.

17 Data in this section was sourced from: Australian Government Department of Jobs and Small Business (2018)Australian Jobs 2018, viewed 1 October 2018 athttps://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/australianjobs2018.pdf and Australian Government Job Outlook:Your guide to Australian careers, viewed 1 October 2018 at https://joboutlook.gov.au/Career.aspx

https://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/australianjobs2018.pdf

https://joboutlook.gov.au/Career.aspx


What is more important is what several interviewees referred to as ‘indicators’ of or ‘traits’ for successin the workplace. These were variously described as emotional intelligence, communication, ability tonavigate the work environment, confidence to cope with change, ability to ask questions and learn,patience, capacity for reflection and self-awareness, problem solving and resilience.

One interviewee summed up four key skills as:

u critical thinking – critical analysis of situations

u team collaboration - teams working together to create solutions to difficult problems

u creative problem solving

u communication – listening, speaking, writing.

For most roles, post school/higher education qualifications are required. For some roles these arespecific e.g. ICT or data analytics qualifications. For others, recruiters seek STEM related degrees ofvarying sorts, including maths, engineering and science. Several look for combination degrees whichcombine STEM with arts (STEAM).

However, the consensus was that the critical skills described above that new entrants must have fromthe beginning are generic. If they have these foundation skills, then on the job learning can build ontheir technical skills.

Several indicated that in recruitment they look for community work, multiple jobs history, creativepursuits etc, as described by employers as ‘well rounded’.

The need for digital skills

The employers interviewed felt clear about what is meant by digital literacy although one indicated heis aware that people mean different things when they use the term. One indicated that it underpinsSTEM skills. They expressed the view that their job roles require the whole gamut of digital skills fromusing technology and feeling comfortable with different applications to high level technical skillsrequired in such areas as data analyst and cyber security.

All roles, regardless, require what one described as ‘digital fitness’ and it is just expected that recruitswill have it because they are digital natives. Even those who haven’t studied digital specific subjects atschool, have the ‘bare bones’ and can acquire new skills without difficulty.

The need for STEM skills

There was a consistent view that there is a need to get clarity and be able to articulate why STEM skillsare needed and in what job roles, to make STEM meaningful to schools, parents, students andindustry generally.

Employers believe science and maths help people with the skills to be agile and to work across roles,which is critical in today’s workplaces. STEM also is seen to foster the development of the genericskills seen as fundamental to success at work: problem solving, research, critical thinking, analyticalskills, curiosity.

They described a broad range of roles for which STEM graduates are well equipped.


Supply and demand for skills

Interviewees were unanimous that there are gaps in the important generic skills.

“Communication is where we find young people fall down and sometimestheir behaviour can be inappropriate e.g. it is a real problem that they look

at their phones continuously and don’t seem to realise this is not

appropriate in many situations.”

“Communication can be challenging with this generation/age group. They

don’t respond to emails and phone messages like we do.”

“Other gaps are in basic business or workplace behaviours e.g. how to writea well- structured email, how to answer the phone appropriately and speak

to people, apologising if not attending an event or meeting, being

accountable and responsible. Also, they are sitting on their phones all the

time.”

The dual sector training provider advised that gaps in maths skills are a very big issue with VETstudents, with half the students struggling with basic maths. Many have dropped out of maths at year10.

“An accounting teacher said yesterday students could not understand what

a 10% increase meant and were not able to multiply 100 by 8.”

The training provider also indicated that while young people are very comfortable with the digitalworld, especially with social media, they need more exposure at school to relevant digital business andwork tools and their application. For example, Excel is often a gap for those wanting to study financeas is use of tools such as Word or Adobe products which are required for higher education study.

Several interviewees were of the view that the pipeline of students coming through (i.e. doing STEMand IT based learning at schools and universities) is insufficient and needs concerted effort to buildthe quantity and quality of graduates to meet demand but they are unsure of how best industry canengage to assist in building the pipeline, given the number of schools and universities.

Re accounting, “the maths part of STEM is pretty good but finding sufficientgraduates in the engineering, technology, IT fields is very challenging and

these are increasingly what we need.”

“Universities and schools need to make it easier for employers to engage

with them to express what they need. We can’t go to every school and

university – it is complex to integrate learning and work. We get asked to

partner, sponsor etc. all the time but we have to look at what has the most

impact in terms of creating the pipeline we need.”

“Industry has a role to play here and can have an impact, but we struggle

with how to do it best because the space is crowded. Some of the case

studies in our Strategy are based on things we’ve tried and found that

worked. I get asked to partner and sponsor all the time but it’s hard to

decide who to do things with to maximise impact.”


One interviewee had specific suggestions about the Australian Curriculum and support needed byschools.

“We would argue that schools should be encouraging students to stick with

maths especially because it gets you on a pathway to almost anything and

will help with whatever students want to do in the future.

We believe the Australian Curriculum should make maths mandatory.

Science is also really important for both primary and high school students

because it can spark an interest and curiosity through discovery.

But teachers need help and support with teaching the digital curriculum in

real world applications in the classroom.

It’s important to work with parents, careers counsellors and teachers aboutwhy these skills are important and how they can be used in different jobs

and industries.”

The training provider suggested that the way in which subjects are taught in schools needs to shift.

“Making young people work-ready means shifting the way we are teaching

at schools – the way of teaching does not reflect what happens in work

places. The days are structured by subjects e.g. 2 hours of physics,followed by 2 hours of English. We need to move to a project-based

environment that applies the skills together in problem solving. This makes

the subjects connected and holistic and the project-based approach lends

itself to embedding and developing the employability skills employers rate

as most important because to achieve the project outcomes you need to

work in a team, communicate well, have empathy, be creative etc.’”

There was consensus that demand for STEM and high level digital skills will continue to grow e.g. inareas such as blockchain, drones and cybersecurity. One employer indicated that until a few yearsago they hired very few STEM graduates, but it is now almost 50 per cent of their hires.

Another employer indicated that their whole way of working has shifted to become a project based,agile environment, transforming the way workers interact which is why soft skills are so important andSTEM graduates tend to have the basis for these skills. However, technology will continue to drivechange.

“We have 45,000 people and we are basically a technology company.

Everything we do is driven by technology. There are so many

opportunities.”

The training provider indicated that employers’ understanding of the changes that are ahead ispatchy. Those who have experienced disruption already have an understanding. But many employersare aware they need to shift but not what they need to shift to which makes it very important tocontextualise STEM and digital skills to job roles and industry areas to make it meaningful and assistemployers to prepare.


SKILLS PROFILE – MACHINE OPERATORS,PROCESS WORKERS, FITTERS AND MACHINISTS

About these roles18

The Australian manufacturing industry as a whole is in decline, with almost 59,000 jobs lost from theindustry over the 5 years to 2017. However, it remains the 7th largest industry of employment forAustralia. Young people aged 15-24 account for 11% of employees in the sector, which equates toaround 97,400 young workers.

Although the industry may be in decline, it is also in a process of transformation through the use oftechnology and a continual focus on improvement and innovation. This is changing the nature of skillsrequired in the industry.

The interviewees for this skills profile were employers and training providers in the sectors of plasticsand rubber manufacturing and metal fabrication. Roles typically undertaken by young people enteringthese sectors are machine operators, process workers and metal fitters and machinists. Lower skilledroles such as process workers however are diminishing as automation changes the way work is doneand more highly skilled technician roles are increasing.

A Certificate III is the most common entry level qualification for these sectors. In the metal fabricationtrade area this is usually completed via an apprenticeship.


According to interviewees, young people entering apprenticeships and entry level roles across thesesectors need the following essentials:

u ability to apply learning

u basic literacy and numeracy

u problem solving using maths

u practical application of maths

u digital literacy (as specified below).

Employers all spoke about the importance of work readiness in terms of “the desire to learn”, “theability to turn up to work on time” and “flexibility and adaptability”.

Some also spoke about the need for physical fitness and mechanical aptitude.


Interviewees reported that young people entering the industry are “pretty computer literate” and “haveno fear of digital technology”.

For the most part, digital skills are needed for tasks such as:

u extracting and inputting data

u emailing

18 Data in this section was sourced from: Australian Government Department of Jobs and Small Business (2018)Australian Jobs 2018, viewed 1 October 2018 athttps://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/australianjobs2018.pdf



u accessing work tools (such as operating procedures, work planners, timesheets) through acomputer or smartphone apps.

Whilst the skills needed to use digital technology are not lacking, the written communication skills are.Interviewees report that young people are lacking in the skills to write “professionally” and do notunderstand and accept the importance of doing so.


The level of STEM skills needed by new entrants depends very much of the particular type of businessthat they are entering.

For one employer, in an environment in which automation is not a feature of the work, screeningprocesses for new employees look for:

u the ability to perform simple mathematical calculations without a calculator (e.g. addition,subtraction and percentages). This is particularly important because “on a mine site youcan’t just pull your phone out” to perform a calculation)

u comprehension and application of information from written text

u basic problem solving

u mechanical aptitude.

Another interviewee, in a more technologically sophisticated working environment, spoke about theneed for skills in:

u applied learning

u complex problem solving

u practical application of maths

u data interpretation

u programming (in higher level technician roles).

Some interviewees reported that it is the combination of digital and STEM skills with traditional tradeskills that is increasingly in demand. For example, there is an increase in the use of robotic welding,which needs welding and boiler-making skills, as well as skills in data interpretation and use of SCADAsystems (i.e. interconnected systems of computers, networked data communications and graphicaluser interfaces for high-level process supervisory management).


Despite the declining industry, employers reported that they have challenges in recruiting youngpeople into the sector, suggesting that a lack of career information at school was a contributing factor.In this sense, the challenges for the industry are less about skills and more about career advice.

However, there are a few areas in which skills are reported to be lacking in young people.

One interviewee reported a noticeable reduction in the maths skills of young people entering theindustry over the last 10 years. They particularly struggle with practical applications of maths as theydo not have a strong grasp of the underpinning concepts. This employer has also noticed a similardecline in comprehension and communication skills.

A lack of resilience amongst young people was reported by all interviewees, as was the lack ofopportunities for young people to develop skills in the practical application of maths and scienceconcepts at school, along with corresponding problem solving skills.


Some cautioned that increased automation and reliance on technology is creating the risk of de-skilling people. For example, young people’s reliance of using their phones to “google” answers isresulting in a lack of analytical and problem solving skills, while the pre-programming of machinesmeans that young people don’t need the maths skill to operate them that they once did, but they thenstruggle with the lack of mathematical foundations for higher level tasks.

Cautions were also sounded about a narrow focus on areas such as 3D printing and coding as theskills needed for the future are far broader than this.

Some stressed the need for more efficient pathways for building a solid foundation of routineknowledge and skills for new entrants to the industry so that more time is available for developinghigher level technical skills.


SKILLS PROFILE - NURSING

About these roles

The healthcare and the social assistance industry is Australia’s largest and fastest growing industry.

A high proportion of this industry’s workforce is aged 55 years or older, suggesting that retirements willprovide significant opportunities over the next decade. Health Care and Social Assistance is projectedto have the strongest employment growth of any industry over the five years to May 2022, supportedby the implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Australia’s ageing population.19

The skills and qualifications needed for nursing vary across the different roles in this sector, withenrolled nurses needing a Diploma or Advanced Diploma, registered nurses needing a BachelorDegree and nurse practitioners needing a Masters Degree.


The essential skills, knowledge and attributes needed for nursing work as described by employers are:

u concern and care for people/patients

u clear communication as to why they are interested in such work

u previous work experience that shows commitment to apply themselves

u basic literacy to able to follow instructions and document workflow

u basic digital skills to be able to access information and where necessary recordinformation.

Based on conversations and desk research, it would appear that these skills are generic but theconcept of ‘STEMpathy’ may also be relevant here. Thomas Friedman, famed New York Timescolumnist and three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author, coined the term “STEMpathy”20 to identify“jobs that combine STEM skills with human empathy.”21

“…nurses and nursing do exactly that: employ the scientific method,

technology, and math to inform evidence-based practice and solve complex

problems in a holistic manner….” “Caring, which is both an art and ascience, is arguably the most valuable currency in the affective domain. To

promote health, senior nurses train the next generation of nurses to apply

the tactical knowledge of caring to constantly assess patients and adjust the

patient’s environment to maximize wellness and prevent illness.”

Young people becoming registered nurses must also meet the following standards for practice:

1. Thinks critically and analyses nursing practice.

2. Engages in therapeutic and professional relationships.

3. Maintains the capability for practice.

19 Australian Jobs 2018 https://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/australianjobs2018.pdf

20 New York Times, “From Hands to Heads to Hearts” By Thomas L. Friedman, Jan. 4, 2017

21 Reflections on Nursing Leadership, “Nursing should be a STEM discipline!”, Daniel B. Oerther, 12 February 2018



4. Comprehensively conducts assessments.

5. Develops a plan for nursing practice.

6. Provides safe, appropriate and responsive quality nursing practice.

7. Evaluates outcomes to inform nursing practice.


Based on employer input, digital skills needed in a particular nursing role vary depending on theextent of the digitalisation of the workplace. The level of digitalisation can vary across a number ofdomains including:

u recruitment and onboarding process – some roles are applied for in person and othersrequire an email address, access to an online process and online training,

u physical locations – not every aged care facility has the same level of digital access andrequirements and a hospital ward may have different requirements to ICU andEmergency,

u level of nursing care – e.g. some roles are more digitised than others ward RN versus ICURN role,

u role variations – seniority, project or general nursing, supervision of others etc,

u method of workflow and document control – ranges from full digital records to zero, and

u extent of electronic records required – specific to workplace and other regulations.

Baseline digital skills needed include:

u access and record workflow information, and

u organise personal information and complete required items e.g. personal time sheet andshift management, compliance/online training, required police checks.


Employers when asked to describe what STEM skills are needed referred to:

u research and data flow analysis,

u pattern recognition, and

u assessment of compliance and consistency or innovation.


Young people are entering nursing with the basic digital skills and any shortfalls arise largely due toattitude to learning or skills in self-regulation.

Based on feedback from employers across both a largely digitised large public hospital nursing roleand a less so aged care home based and residential care facility arrangement, nursing workplacesand roles are more likely to become increasingly digitised.


SKILLS PROFILE - CARPENTRY

About these roles

A qualified carpenter is able to construct, erect, install, renovate, finish and repair wooden structuresand fixtures on residential and commercial buildings. Carpentry is a large occupation within theBuilding and Construction industry. The occupation is stable with an unemployment rate below theaverage in 2017.

The number of carpenters grew moderately over the last five years and is expected to stay fairly stableover the next 5 years. There were about 117 600 carpenters and joiners in 2017 and there areexpected to be about 117 800 in 2022. However, there are likely to be around 53 000 job openingsduring this time from workers leaving the occupation and the creation of new jobs.

A Certificate III in Carpentry is usually needed to work as a carpenter. Training is commonly throughan apprenticeship that combines on-the-job training with the qualification.


Attitudinal skills and attributes were strongly emphasised during all the consultations. Overall,interviewees stressed that a young person entering the occupation needs to be committed tobecoming a carpenter and to be keen and interested in learning new skills. It is a manual job so newentrants also need to possess good hand-eye coordination and be reasonably physically fit.

Other attitudinal skills listed by interviewees included:

u to be able to follow directions

u to work as part of a team

u to be punctual.

Mathematics skills were reported to be critically important for young people entering the occupation.While several areas of mathematics are considered to be important, interviewees stressed basicmathematics (the ability to add and subtract) as a key entry skill. Other important mathematics skillsincluded measuring, estimation and geometry.

Interviewees also listed problem solving and critical thinking as key skills in carpentry. Intervieweessuggested problem solving and related skills were sometimes overlooked in the trade occupations butproblems relating to (i) variations in building sites, (ii) the use of new building materials and new tools,and (iii) new building methods require well-developed creative thinking and problem solving skills.

While many of the skills listed by interviewees might be considered generic skills, interviewees notedthat carpentry skills needed to be contextualized. Young people entering carpentry will work in apractical environment and need skills in solving ‘hands-on’ problems – learning in school needs to bereal and contextualised for young people hoping to become carpenters.


Interviewees reported that young people entering carpentry have grown up developing digital skills inall areas of their lives. They are well prepared in the type of digital skills they will need in carpentry.However, interviewees strongly agreed that while skills in accessing and using technology were welldeveloped, the skills associated with using it effectively are often lacking.


Such skills include:

u effective communication skills

u critical thinking skills

u the ability to critique information (this last skill is becoming more important as newproducts and tools become available and carpenters are required to critically evaluateclaims made by manufacturers and suppliers).


Of all the STEM skills, mathematics is seen as the most important and relevant to carpentry. Thisincludes basic arithmetic skills (adding, subtracting, measuring, and estimating) through to the abilityto solve mathematical problems in practical settings (work sites).

The construction industry is likely to continue to have to adapt to technology breakthroughs effectingbuilding products, tools and processes – carpenters will need to be able to adapt and updateknowledge. STEM skills of critical thinking, creative thinking and critical analysis will be relevant tocarpenters seeking to manage and adapt to change.

One interviewee suggested that the use of the term STEM was problematic when considering the skillsthat young people need in carpentry. They suggested that the use of the term in schools has led toteachers introducing concepts such as 3D printing and drones into manual arts lessons as a way toaddress the increasing emphasis on STEM skills; while these concepts may be relevant and useful,they are secondary to the need to develop and refine contextualized, ‘trade-specific’, critical thinkingand problem solving skills.


Many young school leavers are not gaining the skills needed by the occupation. At a very basic level,core numeracy skills were reported as being often lacking in school leavers entering carpentry.Interviewees suggested that the theoretical and abstract approaches to teaching STEM skills that isevident in many (but not all) schools do not cater for the needs of students who want to undertaketrade careers. Young people entering the trades need to learn and practice skills in practical settingsreplicating workplace settings. In this context they need to be able to at least:

u perform basic calculations

u measure accurately

u estimate accurately in order to confirm calculations and measurements

u calculate areas of shapes

u understand and apply geometric rules.

The other concern from carpentry employers focuses around the inability of young people to solvesimple problems and to think for themselves. STEM skills such as problem solving, big picturethinking, critical thinking are not the sole domain of higher level science, mathematics andengineering courses – these skills are needed in the trade subjects so young people are skilled inconfronting and solving a range of workplace problems.

While technology will continue to have an impact on carpentry tools and products over the next fiveyears, it is unlikely it will affect skill development. If school leavers have basic numeracy and literacyskills as well as the skills to be able to adapt to changing circumstances and solve problems, thenyoung people entering carpentry will be well equipped to face the challenges of the future.


SKILLS PROFILE – MEDICAL LABORATORYSCIENTISTS AND TECHNICIANS

About these roles

Laboratory scientists and technicians perform sampling and scientific testing activities and providetechnical support in a wide range of industries including health, agriculture, manufacturing,construction, mining, wine making and environmental management.

Laboratory scientist roles generally require a degree level qualification, while laboratory technician andsupervisor/manager roles can be gained with VET qualifications up to Advanced Diploma level.

Australian Government data projects employment in this area to grow over the next five years to 2022by about 4.8% for medical laboratory scientists and 3.4% for science technicians.


The skills, knowledge and attributes needed by young people starting out in these occupations are amix of scientific knowledge and skills and more generic skills.

For entry level roles, medical laboratory technicians need basic knowledge of anatomy and physiologyand some basic mathematical skills. However, medical laboratory scientists need wide rangingscientific knowledge that includes anatomy, physiology, microbiology, genetics, chemistry andbiochemistry. They also need knowledge of mathematics and statistics.

Both technicians and scientists also need laboratory skills, for which manual dexterity is an underlyingessential capability, as well as understanding of laboratory safety and quality management processes.

Interviewees who were training and employing VET qualified technicians stressed the importance ofgeneric employability-type skills, which included:

u literacy and numeracy

u communication skills - to write emails, communicate with supervisors and team members

u resilience - to cope with making mistakes

u ability to identify problems, find the source of the problem and fix it (or ask for help)

u ability to work as part of a team

u ability to follow procedures and instructions

u willingness to take instruction (and not think they are the boss) and to think forthemselves.

To assist students in developing these skills, one of the interviewees who trains students in theDiploma of Laboratory Operations sets up some of the courses in a project-based learning style inwhich students have a goal to achieve, but it can’t be achieved without encountering problems andfailures along the way. This means that they build their emotional resilience as well as problem-solving skills, and time management skills as part of their learning.

Whilst there is a strong focus on discipline-specific knowledge and skills for degree qualified scientists,the Australian Institute of Medical Scientists requires students in approved programs to spend aminimum of 12 weeks of their course working full time in an accredited laboratory to develop ‘workreadiness’ capabilities such as:

u understanding of ethics and confidentiality


u the ability to interact with colleagues and the wider medical community.

Although there is recognition that graduates of these approved programs still have to learn the systemsof the workplace in which they are then employed, it is expected that they will be “flying solo” within amatter of weeks due to the time spent in practical workplace experience as part of their course.

Motivation and a strong interest in the field is another essential and was noted by all intervieweesthrough assertions such as young people need to “be keen”, “know what they want to do”, “havegenuine caring and engagement with the work” and “see value in what they do”.


Across both technician and scientist roles there is an assumption that young people will have thenecessary skills to use digital technology. These are required for tasks such as:

u using information management systems

u using quality control software (used to process and monitor data)

u internet research

u using excel spreadsheets to analyse data

u emails

u accessing and submitting HR documents, like leave forms

u operating diagnostic technology (in higher level roles).


The science and maths aspects of STEM play an important part in medical laboratory occupations. Tomanage the learning involved in the Diploma (technicians) or Degree (scientists), students need tohave:

u knowledge of biology (including anatomy, physiology, microbiology and genetics)

u knowledge of chemistry

u mathematical knowledge and skills (including performing calculations, calculatingformulas, creating graphs and for degree programs – statistical knowledge and skills)

u experience in a laboratory, handling equipment and performing experiments.

Universities are now offering pre-degree foundation courses for those students who haven’t developedthe necessary science skills and knowledge at school, as the subjects in latter parts of the degreecourse (such as biochemistry, haematology, immunology, molecular pathology) rely upon strongfoundations in these areas.

One of the interviewees stressed that the science taught at school needs to be applied to real lifeconcepts (e.g. food hygiene, growth of bacteria), so that students have a better chance of being ableto understand and apply the more complex scientific concepts covered in tertiary study.


The need for skills in data analysis and interpretation have been growing as the level of automationand digitisation increases and the laboratory roles are shifting from performing tests manually tointerpreting the results of tests undertaken by machines. At same time, the technical skills andknowledge to perform manual tests are still needed in case equipment breaks down as laboratoriescannot afford to stop work. In this way, increasing automation is creating a risk of deskilling workers


and it is those who have both the technical skills and the higher-level analysis and interpretation skillswho will be in greatest demand.

Whilst digital skills are assumed for young people entering these occupations, one gaps was noted andthis was a lack of sufficiently fast and accurate typing and data entry skills, which are needed to enterdata into laboratory information management systems.

“Two finger typing isn’t enough to keep up with the flow of entering of

specimens into the system.”

One other gap that was noted was that young people entering technician roles often lack a sense of“patient care”. They just see the specimens as “bits of glass with paper attached”. The employer hasto teach them to appreciate that these are people’s lives that are at stake and to handle the specimensappropriately and with the necessary level of priority.


SKILLS PROFILE – RETAIL CUSTOMER SERVICE

About these roles22

Interviewees provided their perspectives about entry level customer service roles in retail,encompassing job roles such as check out, fresh food, grocery, deli. This includes the following jobs inthe Australian Government’s Job Outlook: check out operators and office cashiers and salesassistants. The occupation of ‘general sales assistants’ is the top occupation by number in the retailtrade.

It includes a wide variety of retail environments including small specialist retailers, large variety storesand large and small supermarkets/grocers and requires ability to:

u operate cash registers, receive payments from customers and return change

u sell a wide variety of goods in a retail environment.

Size of industry/occupation, and growth

Retail trade is Australia’s second largest employing industry. Australian Jobs 2018 also shows thatover the past 5 years to November 2017, sales workers have recorded an 8 percent growth inemployment. ‘General sales assistants’ is the occupation that has recorded the largest number of newjobs over the five years to November 2017 (51,700 jobs). Of the 10 occupations projected to add thelargest numbers of new jobs over the 5 years to May 2022, general sales assistants are ranked fourth(projected to add 24,900 new jobs).

However, the growth is uneven across different sectors of the industry. Population growth is expectedto sustain employment rises in non-discretionary goods sectors such as supermarkets and grocerystores but to fall in the department stores sector which is dependent on growth in discretionaryconsumption and vulnerable to online competition.

Uptake and pathways

The retail trade is seen as offering good opportunities for young people to enter the labour market. Alarge share is aged 15 to 24 years (30 percent) and 54 percent of jobs require no post schoolqualification.


When a young person starting out in this occupation turns up on day 1 of work, it is expected that theywill have:

u basic maths and numeracy skills to work with weights and measures and understandquantities.

u communication skills/ability to hold a conversation

22 Data in this section was sourced from: Australian Government Department of Jobs and Small Business (2018)Australian Jobs 2018: Australian Employment Snapshot (at Nov 2017), viewed 1 October 2018 athttps://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/australianjobs2018snapshot_1.pdf and

Australian Government Job Outlook: Your guide to Australian careers, viewed 1 October 2018 athttps://joboutlook.gov.au/Career.aspx

https://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/australianjobs2018snapshot_1.pdf


u problem solving capacity, initiative, managing a difficult customer, ability to cope withcontingencies if the technology doesn’t work such as working out change or estimatingweights if weight machine breaks

u ability to follow instructions and learn.

The online aptitude test that applicants are required to submit focuses on sentence writing,communication, and testing customer service approach, how the applicants react to pressure etc. Thefact that they are able to do the online application and aptitude test indicates a level of digital literacy.

The necessary skills are predominantly generic. Business-specific training (store policies and businesspractices, safety, registers, weights etc.) can be done on the job as long as they have the basicsabove.

There is less concern about whether new entrants have digital literacy because the whole world is thatway and they grow up using computers and devices, so the assumption is that they are coming withthe level of digital literacy needed.


Young people entering the industry need digital skills in terms of the ability to use cash registers,weighing machines etc.

However, while the ability to use the technology is important, what is more important is the ability toproblem solve using manual or cognitive skills when the technology doesn’t work so the customerservice is still provided. For example, if the weight machine isn’t working, they need to be able toestimate what 150 grams looks like and there is doubt about how much of these practical skills areactually part of learning at school.

More retailers are now selling online so a percentage of the workforce has to have the digital skillsrequired for online marketing, sales and delivery – it could be up to 20 percent of the workforceneeding these higher level skills.


The only STEM skills needed are mathematical ones and even this is more about numeracy.

Basic maths skills applied in context are important to have when digital technology doesn’t work.Also, if young people have only ever done calculations on a machine, then they often don’t have theintuition to know when something is wrong.

School leavers also need a basic level of maths to do bar coding, manage ins and outs of stock,understand discounts and do point of sale activities.


The most noticeable gaps for young people entering the industry are basic work and life skills, such aswork ethic, communication, accountability, resilience, problem solving, getting to work on time.Responsibility for developing these rests with both home and school.

Examples of these skill gaps include:

u Resilience: young people are not coping with the demands of work and training.Supervisors and managers now have to do Mental Health First Aid courses and offer a lotof one on one attention and mentoring to provide support. Employers increasingly have toprovide pastoral care as well as training school leavers in the specifics of the business.


u Accountability: Parents come in with 18 year olds to meetings and speak for them or callthe employer to advise their son or daughter won’t be coming into work because ‘theycan’t get out of bed’. Schools have some responsibility to build more accountability thatwill translate into the world of work e.g. if a student doesn’t turn up to team practice, theschool needs to make them accountable and not just find a substitute to fill in.

The industry will continue to use technology to drive efficiencies “but this is just a vehicle to achievewhat we always have which is deliver what the customer wants.”

The focus in the future will be on lean management and use of technology in distribution centres etc.


E. EXAMPLES OF APPROACHES

Approaches to STEM education

Integrated approaches to STEM remove barriers between the disciplines and make links to real-worldlearning experiences. There are a number of ways this can be done, some of which may not involve alldiscipline areas. According to Lowrie et al (2017), the key elements of STEM education are that it:

u enables students to engage in authentic, active, meaningful learning challenges

u allows students to put into practice the skills and knowledge they are learning in anauthentic manner. students apply their learning outside the classroom

u includes planned learning experiences based on knowledge of learning theories,pedagogical approaches, and proven research in stem education. teaching is grounded inevidence-based practice

u takes a school-wide approach and involves all students and educators. success requiressupport from teachers, administrators and students

u uses partnerships with external organisations, industry, universities, and associations toprovide high quality stem experiences for students

u focuses on outcomes for students, that is, what students will gain from the learningexperience, rather than the content or assessment involved. once this is decided, thenteachers can make connections to assessment and curriculum. the focus is on theapproach to teaching rather than on stem content knowledge.

It is important to note that, references to STEM aside, these would be considered by educators to bethe key elements of education in all subjects.

Integrated STEM education can take a variety of forms, being delivered in day-to-day school lessons,through additional extra-curricular activities, or in enrichment and outreach programs. It usuallyincorporates problem-based learning, project-based learning, or inquiry-based learning methods,enabling students to explore and come to their own understandings and solve their own problems.

Learning approaches

Project-based learning

Project-based learning involves students investigating a particular problem, question, orchallenge for an extended period of time. These are often in the form of design challenges.Students engage with authentic problems, which allow them to make connections to real-worldcontexts and apply the concepts they are learning. This is seen as effective in developing bothSTEM skills and those of creativity, communication and collaboration.

Problem-based learning

In problem-based learning, students work to solve an open-ended problem, often identified byindustry. These are usually problems that students can relate to in real-life and aim to challengethem to think differently to find solutions.

Inquiry-based learning

Inquiry-based approaches invite students to pose problems, ideas, or questions to beinvestigated, rather than presenting them with an activity to complete. Students’ interests guide


the investigation and learning. Questioning and creativity are key to this approach, along withhand-on, practical activities.

Delivery methods

There are a number of ways that project and problem-based learning approaches can be delivered.Berry et al (2012) identify three delivery methods:

The Central Project Approach-a teacher-led approach where a teacher, or a team of teachers, integrates the STEM subjectsaround a central activity.Teaching and learning occur at two levels. Direct teaching and integrated problemsolving/group work - Indirect learning episodes. In the Direct teaching section, the students arestill ‘taught’ in separate discipline-based groups. This ensures that specific key concepts andideas are addressed by the students and provides the teacher with the confidence thatparticular areas of valued content are addressed. Then through this process the students areexposed to Indirect learning episodes where they are brought together in small teams to exploreand construct their own designs which build upon their concepts through real life designchallenges. The students are asked to collectively document their ideas and try to make links tothe knowledge they are developing in each of their direct teaching lessons. They areencouraged to share their learning and thoughts from their separate lessons and try to integratethese to synthesis their knowledge.

Student-led projects approach-students design and develop their own projects, offering an opportunity to explore concepts andideas associated with STEM concepts.This is a more open project model where the students have a range of creative design options.Typically, the students are guided through the fundamental processes they will need to follow.They then form teams to work on defining a project of interest to them. They undertake thedesign process to design and realize their product. Various levels of guidance may be offered tothe students to shape their thinking. For example, they may be asked to design and develop atime saving device for use around the house or to design and develop a product which mightbe used by a person with a disability. This still means that the students will be applying a rangeof concepts relating to the areas of STEM but the content that might be taught in class wouldnot necessarily relate to the designs that the students are creating. This can be done as anintegrated project where teams comprise of students from different subjects relating to STEM oras a series of stand-alone projects where the students from different STEM areas workseparately at different times, but perhaps come together to share their final design productsacross the STEM area – something like a science fair.

Using student-led projects as the curriculum-a student-centred approach preferencing independence of the student’s learning.This model takes elements from the first two models. Student/s propose their own designproject (individual or group task). This is mapped to the ‘learning outcomes’ that students areexpected to ‘demonstrate’ across one or more of the STEM areas. This proposal is formalisedand refined into a learning agreement which describes the student’s proposed project, theirexpected learning outcomes and how they will demonstrate their learning. This highlyindividualised learning approach is ideal for smaller cohorts. It requires intensive studentconsultation at times, but again it mirrors the expectations of real-life designers who often workin a collaborative and self-managed way.


Each of these methods has its own strengths and weaknesses:

Method Strengths Weaknesses

Central projectapproach

A more coordinated approachthat meets the curriculumneeds of teachers while stillactively engaging the studentsin their own learning

Helps to ensure that the needsof each STEM curriculumdomain are met.

The central project provides afocus to integrate learning andmake it more meaningful tostudents

The pre-selection of the designchallenge by the teacher/s mayengage students less than theself-selection of their own task

Focuses as much on theseparateness of domains as itdoes on the integration ofknowledge

Limited project developmenttime – may be seen as ‘an addon’ rather than an integratedaspect of practice

Student led projectsapproach

Provides an opportunity forstudents to self-select their ownproject of interest to themselves– maximizes engagement

Makes the students moreresponsible for their ownlearning

Presents an opportunity for ascience/technology fair to shareprojects at the completion of theunit

Presents a significantorganisational challenge asstudent groups or individualsmay be completing a widevariety of different projects

Limited project developmenttime – may be seen as ‘an addon’ rather than an integrated

aspect of practice

Using studentdesigned projectsas the curriculum

Makes the project central to thelearning of the students andplaces the emphasis onstudents to becomeindependent, self-directedlearners

Places the teacher in the role ofproject manager, or overseer ofthe student’s projects – perhaps

a mentor or coach

Maximum project developmenttime

Project management skillsdeveloped

Is the most organisationallychallenging - as student groupsor individuals may becompleting a wide variety ofdifferent projects relativelyindependently

A wide variety of learningoutcomes are possible – someareas or concepts in STEM may

not initially be addressed

Some students may struggledue to a lack of structure


Examples

STEM Connections Project (2014-2015)

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) conducted asmall action research project, in conjunction with the Australian Association ofMathematics Teachers (AAMT) to investigate the effectiveness of using an integratedapproach to the teaching and learning of STEM disciplines.

ACARA and AAMT worked with and supported 13 schools from around the country todevelop an integrated STEM project that had its basis in the real world andincorporated the Australian Curriculum learning areas of Mathematics, Science andTechnologies. Schools were also encouraged to identify aspects of the Work Studies

curriculum and involve one or more industry partners in their project.

The projects addressed a broad range of problems, needs or opportunities, including:

u sustainable biofuels (Henley High School, SA)

u solar photovoltaic power with robotic movement (Merici College, ACT)

u safe water quality in rainwater tanks (Redlynch State College, Qld)

u design of a school sustainability centre (Northcote High School, Vic.)

u design of an app for new students (St Michael’s Collegiate, Tas)

There were three main models for delivery: a single elective class, multiple classes withsubject overlap, and separate class(es) for each learning area, but each model focusedon the common project and its outcomes.

Technasium, The Netherlands

An interesting initiative in the Netherlands revolves around a new subject Research andDesign. This subject is developed and taught alongside the existing STEM subjectsfrom Years 7 to 12. Students work in small teams on projects that are negotiated withlocal industry or government, supervised by one of their teachers.

Initiated by a couple of parents 15 years ago in one school, the program has gained alot of traction. Currently, close to 100 schools have adopted it and proudly callthemselves ‘Technasium’.

This initiative is one of many in recent years, which altogether have contributed to ahuge increase in Dutch students in secondary schools choosing a ‘science profile’.Also, the number of students enrolling in engineering undergraduate programs at

universities has gone up, with around a 50% increase among female students.


‘How can we survive on Mars?’ (edutopia.org)

The organisation ‘Edutopia’ (an American based foundation dedicated to transformingK-12 education so that all students can acquire and effectively apply the knowledge,attitudes, and skills necessary to thrive in their studies, careers, and adult lives)showcases a fifth-grade project ‘How Can We Survive on Mars’ (Barnes, P (2014).

The teacher harnesses excitement about Mars to develop science, math, engineering,and literacy skills, through a two-week project-based learning unit. The project centresaround the question, how can humans survive on Mars? Students start by thinkingabout what makes Earth habitable, and then consider the unique challenges Martiancolonists would face, such as no oxygen, food, or readily available water; extreme coldand solar radiation; meteorites.

Students work in groups of four or five to research Mars using books, websites, andvideos, some of which are posted on the teacher portal and some of which they find.The focus is on the human perspective, and about the aspects of Mars that will affecttheir survival.

Students must think about supplies they would need for their voyage. For example, theycalculate how much storage space their launch vehicles would hold and what items aremission critical.

Teams pick a landing location on Mars using Google Earth Pro’s Mars option. There areno right answers, but they must justify their choices. If they plan to mine Martian ice forwater, a location near the polar ice caps might work. Protection from meteors and solarradiation might suggest building in a crater or in one of the Martian canyons.

Students produce a digital 3D model of the colony, after first submitting a workingblueprint of their colony on grid paper. They are set a square footage limit for thecolonies, which forces students to make choices about essential elements and

encourages them to apply math skills like multiplication, area, and perimeter.

Colonies are then designed on Minecraft.edu, an education version of the popular videogame. Students also use their literacy skills to write about their colonies. They have topersuade their audience that their colony is the safest and best designed of all thechoices out there. They can produce a travel log detailing daily life on Mars, or a travelbrochure advertising the colony to potential colonists. Students choose the writing form

they think best represents their colony.

At the end of the project, students present their work to classmates.

Extra-curricular STEM activities

STEM experiences may also be available to students through competitions, school clubs, or holidayprograms. STEM competitions usually involve a design-based challenge, where students compete tosolve a problem. School clubs often occur at lunchtime or after school and are in addition to theschool curriculum. Holiday programs involve students attending an intensive program that focuses onSTEM projects for several days outside school-based programs.


Office of the Chief Scientist STEM Programme Index (SPI)

The Office of the Chief Scientist produces a booklet that lists over 250 active programs,catering to hundreds of schools and many thousands of students across the country.Some are provided by businesses, some by universities, science and educationagencies, and some by government.

The list is based on publicly available information as at January 2016 but doesn’t claimto be exhaustive. Programs are divided into ten colour-coded chapters by subject –Science; Digital Technology and ICT; Engineering and Technology; and Mathematics.The programs are aligned to the Australian Curriculum: Science, Digital Technologiesand Design and Technologies, and Mathematics.

Also included are chapters on:

Integrated and Multidisciplinary STEM: programs building students’ capacity tothink and solve problems across subject borders

Entrepreneurial Skills: programs building business skills, accessible and relevantbut not necessarily targeted to STEM students

Chapters are then divided by grade level, reach and programme type.

A few examples from the SPI include:

F1 in Schools Programme –students design, test and make miniature F1 cars capable of 80km/hr

SMART (Science, Maths And Real Technology) –an outreach program offered by the University of Newcastle presents live,interactive, demonstration-based science shows to schools. SMART aims toinspire, inform and involve young people with science.

The Australian STEM Video Game Challenge –coordinated by the ACER Foundation, primary and secondary students areinvited to design a video game and develop skills and engagement withscience, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) areas whiledemonstrating creativity, problem solving and ingenuity through the designand development of a video game. Games are played by industryprofessionals as part of the judging and the winners are recognised at anational level, and by international bodies within the global gaming industry.

The competition aims to allow upper primary and secondary students toengage in learning about STEM in a fun and challenging way and to attractgirls and students from disadvantaged backgrounds, as both groups areunderrepresented in STEM studies and employment.

STEM partnerships

Another approach to boosting STEM engagement and enhancing the STEM capacity of professionalsand students is through partnerships between STEM professionals and schools. The ‘STEMProfessionals in Schools’ program, is a national volunteer program that facilitates partnershipsbetween schools and industry to bring real STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) intothe classroom. It partners teachers with STEM professionals to enhance STEM teaching practices anddeliver engaging STEM education in Australian schools. The initiative is delivered by the CSIRO.


The STEM strategy implemented by Westpac (https://www.westpac.com.au/about-westpac/sustainability/initiatives-for-you/stem-commitment/) is another good example.

Partnership between Sirius College, Victoria and Dr Rama Rao

Dr Rama Rao has partnered with Sirius College to share her expertise as achemist. This involves, among other things, her running classroom and labactivities for students. For example, she runs a ‘Stuck like glue’ researchactivity that investigates the concept of adhesion of materials and types ofadhesives or glues. Students make glue and then investigate how effectivelydifferent materials can join with it. They are introduced to scientific practicesincluding safety procedures, measuring, variable control, observation, andrecording.

Before the experiment, Dr Rao talks to students about exploring theirknowledge of both science in general and of glues in particular, asking them toset their own questions and introducing them to some new scienceterminology. After the experiment, Dr Rao again addresses the students,exploring what they learned through a Q&A session, and then describing herown work as a research polymer chemist in glue and paint development.

Another important element of Dr Rao’s partnership with the school is hercollaboration with teachers outside the classroom. She meets with staff to findout about their science program and ways she can best be involved in it.

STEM schools

STEM schools have a particular focus on STEM education and STEM discipline areas. In the UnitedStates, inclusive STEM schools focus on targeting underrepresented student in STEM. These schoolsaim to change the profile of STEM professionals and encourage students to develop positive attitudestowards STEM education.

They do this by providing a high-level STEM curriculum taught by teachers who are experts in STEMdiscipline areas and making links with industry through internships. Lowrie et al (2017) describe thekey features of STEM high schools. They refer to research which found that STEM schools tend tofocus on:

u the nature of the learning experiences and pedagogy;

u incorporating links to real-life skills;

u the community;

u careers; and

u considerations around staffing and school factors.

They motivate students to work together, allow students to be in charge of their learning, provideopportunities to develop reasoning, questioning, and argumentation, and an inquiry-based approach.Although these elements are important in all of education, what distinguishes it from much of generaleducation as it is practised is a particular focus on developing skills and capabilities rather thancontent knowledge.

https://www.westpac.com.au/about-westpac/sustainability/initiatives-for-you/stem-commitment/

https://www.westpac.com.au/about-westpac/sustainability/initiatives-for-you/stem-commitment/


Lowrie et al also point out the differing evidence about the impact of STEM schools. While somesuggest that students attending STEM schools performed better than those who did not, others arguethat outcomes between students attending STEM schools and non-STEM schools are no different,especially after accounting for different student characteristics that may influence performance.

Despite these discrepancies, attending STEM schools is seen to have an impact on students’ interestin STEM and STEM careers. Students were more likely to complete STEM subjects in high school,participate in STEM activities outside of school, express interest in STEM careers and participate in aSTEM related post- school course or career.

Australia’s first STEM-focused school

Australia’s first STEM-focused school will be located within Sydney Science Park atLuddenham in Western Sydney, opening in 2019. The school will be a unique learningcommunity in which students learn, among other things, how to code robots, liaise withNASA space stations and discover the latest in IT programming.

The school will be ‘pre to post’ (preschool to beyond Year 12) and draw on thecollaboration and resources of businesses, research organisations, educationalinstitutions and community groups within Sydney Science Park. It will be open wellbeyond usual school hours. Students and teachers will also be able to contribute backto the community through real-world learning projects.

With a strong focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, studentsand teachers will be able to connect physically and virtually with other schools, learnersand educators around the world through collaborative learning opportunities and state-of-the-art, online learning platforms.

The school will provide an innovative curriculum using discovery and enquiry-basedlearning strategies to give students the skills to be problem-solvers and innovators.Learning will be personalised and organised by stage not age, recognising that studentslearn at different rates and in different ways.

Advantages and challenges of integrated STEM education

Lowrie et al (2017) identify the following advantages and challenges of integrated STEM education, asevidenced by research.

Advantagesu increased student interest in stem and stem-related careers

u improved learning outcomes and achievement in stem subjects

u students are able to see and understand links between discipline areas, rather thanseeing each discipline area individually and separated from each other they canunderstand the relevance of stem

u students are able to see how stem applies in the world, which adds meaning to whatis taught in the classroom. they have a greater understanding of real-world problemsand how to solve them

u students can understand how knowledge across each discipline combines indifferent careers.


Challenges

Integrating STEM education leads to the following challenges:

u time required for teachers to learn a different pedagogical approach, and tocollaborate effectively

u applying stem across all school levels

u issues with separating content knowledge and assessments within the context ofstandardised assessments

u problems with finding a balance between all discipline areas

u taking an integrated approach with the confines of structural limitations in schoolscould potentially disadvantage students with learning challenges.

Approaches to developing digital literacy

Effective approaches to developing digital literacy include the following elements.

Clear standards and outcomes that encompass all aspects of digital literacy

As with all education, it’s important to have standards that define the intended outcomes ofapproaches to digital literacy. These should cover all aspects of digital literacy, from proficiencyin using technology, to the ability to critically evaluate digital information and to communicateeffectively using technology.

For example, Deakin University’s Learning Futures, has developed the following comprehensivepotential digital literacy performance criteria and assessment characteristics.

DIGITAL LITERACY POTENTIAL PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

Digital proficiency: Appropriate, efficient and effective use of technology. Selection anduse of contemporary technologies to access, organise, share and communicate

information.

Determining extent of information needed: Effectively defining the scope of a researchinquiry and identifying key concepts and selecting relevant sources. Students analyse anddeconstruct a research topic identifying key concepts and ideas and planning their searchand discovery approach.

Accessing required information: Effectively accessing appropriate and relevant sourcesusing well-designed search strategies. Students access quality sources and demonstrateevidence of the use of these resources in their assessment tasks.

Sources and evidence: Using quality, credible and relevant sources to support anddevelop ideas. Assessment tasks require students to demonstrate evidence of their abilityto select the most appropriate and relevant sources of information important to theirdiscipline or area of research.

Evaluating information critically: Discriminating between opinion and informationsubstantiated by evidence; identifying and rectifying logical fallacies and errors. Studentsapply critical judgement when evaluating wide-ranging information, for currency,reliability, authority, perspective.


Using information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose: Effectively communicate,manage and synthesise information from a broad range of sources, establishing effectiveinformation management processes and skills to organise and communicate information.

Accessing and using information ethically and legally: Know, respect and comply withethical and legal aspects of using published and unpublished information use accordingto access terms of use in open and restricted licenses. Students correctly acknowledgethe work of other authors, respect privacy and confidentiality and freedom of information.

Digital communication: Appropriate, efficient and effective use of technologies tocommunicate information clearly and coherently. Assessment may include participation inonline discussions, contributing via social media, industry Tweet ups, professional,

industry and open forums.

Students develop their ‘digital footprint’ appropriately managing personal and professionalonline identities.

Online collaboration and teamwork are key aspects of communication.

Adherence to sound educational principles

Hagel (2012) has developed a checklist of educational principles that should underpin digitalliteracy practices. These include:

u Does the practice focus sufficiently on what students are asked to do with atechnology, rather than solely on what the technology can do?

u Is the practice consistent with effective evaluation procedures for the assurance ofgraduate outcomes?

u Is the practice deeply integrated with discipline learning?

u Does the practice involve authentic assessment in support of graduate employabilityin the discipline? Students need to be provided with opportunities to use their digitalcompetences in authentic or real world contexts for the discipline or profession.

u Does the practice cater for a diverse student body? Good practice involves testingassumptions made about the knowledge, experience and preferences of learners,such as ‘digital natives’, and ensuring that disadvantaged groups are not furtherimpeded by choices about the uses to which digital technologies are put.

Helen Beetham, a UK expert on information and digital technologies for education andresearch stresses that when developing digital literacies, students should be given authenticcontexts for practice, including digitally-mediated contexts, they should be given appropriatescaffolding and support, and learners should be helped to recognize and integrate their priorconceptions and practices. This is important, given that most learners are already usingtechnology in other areas of life.

Helen Beetham also believes that developing digital literacy should have an ethical dimension.Learners should reflect on what it means to behave well as digital professionals, researchersand citizens. They need to consider how to act ethically in environments where public andprivate are blurred.


Empowering students to decode media

Weingrau (2015) proposes a taxonomy to guide approaches to digital literacy, to equip studentsto become thoughtful and critical consumers and publishers of media.

Consume

At the lowest level, is consumption. Framed by the question, "What are you watching? (orlistening to, playing, etc.)," This is engagement in its simplest form. We allow encodedmessages to wash over us without question or interpretation.

Curate

This is followed by curation, or "Why are you watching this?” At this level we begin to thinkabout the constructs of the media and how it serves our needs. We identify genre, character,and themes, and we begin to think about why the media is "for" us.

Create

As new technologies have lowered the barriers to creation, it has become a more formativestep in the process of building critical thought. The framing question is "What are youmaking?" It asks us to think about the elements identified in the curate stage and how theywork within our own creations.

Critique

Next, we ask, "Why are you making this?" In doing so, we look at our own creations from amore critical perspective with greater understanding of production, our relationship to media,and the encoding/decoding process. The question "Who is this for?" is often the most difficultfor students to tackle, and rarely can they define this before they have engaged in the iterativeprocess of creating products and discussing them critically.

Publish

We strive to reach the level of publishing to understand how others may receive our work.This includes the additional layer of understanding the platforms of distribution through whichmedia is disseminated. Unlike sharing, which we do regularly and often indiscriminately,publishing seeks an authentic audience beyond one's classmates, friends, or acquaintances.


This taxonomy can be used formally as a process when planning a project that aims to buildthese critical thinking skills. It would also be a useful context for teachers in any subject whomay ask their students to do a "video project" (or other media creation project like music,websites, games, etc.). It can be difficult for teachers with little training in media theory andproduction to focus on more than the content of the finished product when assigning andassessing these types of projects. This framework can help interested teachers include a layerof critical thinking about media onto their projects for science, math, history, literature, etc.

Students are accustomed to consuming media in the classroom for the purpose of conveyingcontent, but are rarely asked to think about the media product itself. Ask students guidingquestions about the audio and visual elements, narrative pacing and editing, interactivity, or thecreators, audience, and distribution. What do those elements tell you about the media, and howdo they affect the way that you decode the content?

When students are ready to move on to creating their own media, the process shouldn’t endwhen they turn in their project. Even if there will be no formal second draft, it is vital to createthe space for students to critique their production and to learn from their critical thinking, thatof their peers, and teacher feedback. If possible, give students the opportunity to continuedeveloping their productions and consider the different perspectives of potential authenticaudiences and how to reach them.

References

Lowrie, T., Downes, N., & Leonard, S. (2017). STEM education for all young Australians: A BrightSpots Learning Hub Foundation Paper, for SVA, in partnership with Samsung. University of CanberraSTEM Education Research Centre.

Berry, M., Chalmers, C., Chandra, V (2012) ‘STEM Futures and Practice, Can We Teach STEM in aMore Meaningful and Integrated Way?’, 2nd International STEM in Education Conference paper

Hagel, P (2012), ‘Establishing what is good practice in digital literacy development, assessment andevaluation for graduate employability’, Unpublished report, Deakin University Library, Victoria.

Weingrau (2015) ‘Empowering student relationships with media’


F. CONSULTATION LIST

Industry interviews

Industry Interviewees

1. Retail Colin Shearing, CEO, SA Independent Retailers Association

Jennifer Miller, Learning and Development Manager, DrakesSupermarkets

Jenna Kellaway, People and Culture, Drakes Supermarkets

Graham Oades, CEO, Service Skills SA

2. Banking andfinance

Sue Doherty, Senior Manager, STEM Advocacy, Technology,Westpac

Stefanie Bradley, National Leader, People and Change, KPMG

David Yates, National Campus Leader in People, Partnership andCulture, PwC

3. Building andconstruction

Grant Mills, VETIS Manger, Blue Dog Training

Nick Campbell, Owner Manager, Campbell Constructions

Adam Cox, Owner Manager, Fernbrooke Homes

4. Manufacturing Mike Grogan, Victorian Director, Advanced Manufacturing GrowthCentre (and former CEO of Sutton Tools)

Grahame Aston, Managing Director, PPC Moulding Services Pty Ltdand PPC Moulding Services Malaysia

Elliot Duff, Principal Research Consultant, CSIRO Data61

Vicki Wust, National Training Manager, Fenner Dunlop

5. Nursing Marissa Ehmer - Nursing Director, Division of Clinical Support,Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service

Wayne Merrotsy - General Manager Human Resources, HumanResources, Corporate Services, Aveo Group

Cathy Robins – Learning and Engagement Manager, Aveo Group

6. Science Wendy Martin, Business Manager, Histopath Diagnostic Specialists

Lean Simmons, SkillsPoint Industry Relationship Lead - InnovativeManufacturing, Robotics and Science at TAFE NSW

Mike Nolan, CEO, Australian Institute of Medical Scientists


Expert informant interviews

Name Role Organisation

Gitta Siekmann

Patrick Korbel

NCVER

Bernardo A. Leon de La Barra Lecturer andResearcher

School of Engineering, College

of Sciences and Engineering

University of Tasmania

and

The Peter Underwood Centre

for Educational Attainment,

University of Tasmania

Professor Mark Hackling Emeritus Professor School of EducationEdith Cowan University

Brenton Roy Pathways ProgramManager

Further Education and PathwaysDirectorate, Department forEducation, South Australia

Allan Blagaich

Juanita Healy

Vanessa Peters

Ivan Banks

Executive DirectorMembers ofexecutive team

WA School Curriculum andStandards Authority

Dr Therese Nolan

Valda Millar

Jodi Gulley

Education Officer VETand VocationalLearning

Senior EducationOfficer Curriculum

Education Officer,Science and STEM

Brisbane Catholic EducationOffice

Dr Joanna Sikora Senior Lecturer School of Sociology, ANU Collegeof the Arts and Social Sciences

Julie King CurriculumSpecialist,Technologies

ACARA

Cindy Trewin Assistant Director,STEM, CurriculumBranch

DET

Sue Doherty Senior Manager,STEM Advocacy,Technology

Westpac

PROJECT TEAM

Sue Goodwin

Margo Couldrey

Peter Skippington

Rod McDonald

Jacqui Fyffe

Sue Tape

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