MANY ARE STUMPED ON STEM
MOST young people have no idea what STEM means, despite the push from industry, educators and government to make STEM careers more appealing.
Standing for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, this group is considered a national priority, as the current lack of skills threatens to limit economic growth.
Research from Samsung reveals 87 per cent of survey respondents from regional Australia and 82 per cent from metropolitan Australia do not know what STEM stands for.
Samsung corporate social responsibility head Tess Ariotti says the figures illustrate the need to better reach out to the community.
“I often talk to universities, businesses and educators and we talk about STEM like it’s the most common word after ‘the’ but this highlights the community isn’t engaging in STEM in the way educators and businesses are hoping they will,” she says.
“We are reaching out to the wider community and talking to groups of people that might not be engaged with this before and helping them understand why STEM skills are relevant to them and learning and developing those skills.
“This is where we think we can make a difference to communities in Australia and how they find work in their lives.”
The research also reveals a perceived inequity between young people in regional areas and capital cities.
Nine in 10 respondents believe students in capital cities have greater opportunity to pursue careers in STEM compared to regional counterparts. More than threequarters also agree the quality of STEM education and access to technology is lower in regional Australia.
To address the gap, Samsung has partnered with CSIRO to provide Queensland students access to technology via the State Library system. Technology will also be provided for indigenousspecific programs to support marginalised young people in these communities.