Last week was National Skills Week, and students in Cecil Andrews College’s Design, Engineer, Construct program welcomed the founder of the Australia-first learning program to their Seville Grove campus on Monday.
The Design, Engineer, Construct program (DEC) was created by UK-based Class Of Your Own (COYO), an organisation focused on showcasing career pathways for young people related to the built environment.
Founder and CEO of COYO Alison Watson said the program assists teachers to introduce an array of skill sets needed in construction and infrastructure projects, including engineering, surveying, architecture and design.
“Standard high school curriculums do not include learning opportunities about modern, digital construction and infrastructure,” Ms Watson said.
“Class Of Your Own was established to give young people meaningful insights into what a future in the built environment might look like, to light a spark about the wonderful career prospects that could open up to them in this industry.
“The big thing for me is that when we’re talking about STEM, the built environment is not in that conversation, yet with climate change, the construction industry contributes 40 per cent of the world’s carbon.
“Teachers like Aaron are blazing the trail for the built environment.”
Workplace Learning Teacher Aaron Young said Cecil Andrews College is the first school in Australia to take on the program.
“There are four levels,” Mr Young said.
“We have the introductory program, where we have a group of Year 8 students designing a home for people with different needs, so an elderly couple, a person in a wheelchair, or a large family taking care of an elderly grandparent.
“We also have a group of Year 10 students running the level one course, which is a lot more in depth.
“Those students are working with industry to design an eco-classroom.
“While Alison is over here, we have been having a lot of conversations with various industry bodies to look at different pathways to industry.”
Taking a project-based approach to learning, the DEC program aims to enlist industry partners, or adopters, to support teaching with real-world expertise and resources, typically across four to five workshops or engagements throughout the school year.
Balcatta-based Position Partners will be supporting Cecil Andrews as an adopter of the school, providing learning opportunities for data capture, as-built verification and digital modelling through the use of surveying equipment, mass data capture systems including survey drones and 3D laser scanners, CAD and modelling software.
