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The Future U program is currently piloting in two states, demonstrating future career pathways in the space industry for years 7-10 students.
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Boeing Australia, University of South Australia and Regional Development Australia recently partnered to design and deliver a new training package for years 7-10 students, demonstrating potential pathways in Australia’s growing space industry.
The package, titled the Future U program, has been rolled out in Queensland’s Aviation High School and NSW’s Catherine McAuley Catholic College where Boeing employees collaborated with teachers to instruct the lessons.
“We’ve learned from more than 17 years supporting the Aerospace Gateway Schools program that the best way to optimise children’s learning is to make it easily accessible for teachers to apply in their classroom,” Sandra James, senior manager of University Relations and STEM, said.
“By tailoring our content into the national curriculum, we’re hoping to expose students early to key skills and knowledge that capture the hearts and minds of future space leaders and innovators and grow our talent pipeline.”
Throughout the lessons, students were given the opportunity to create and trial spacecraft, examine how welding is employed in the space industry and work in a lunar gateway base.
“Providing the tools to engage students in real-life practical scenarios beyond what they see in movies or TV, has made the possibility of a career in the space industry very real for them,” said Luke Kelleher, leader of learning – Science and Mathematics at Catherine McAuley Catholic College.
Already, 180 students trialled the piloted scheme as part of Regional Development Australia’s ME program. Under the ME program, the 180 year 7 students from the Hunter Region in NSW were taught about pathways in Australia’s defence industry.
“The Future U lesson plans also expand on scientific knowledge to include communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity which are equally essential to working in groundbreaking teams,” said Rick Evans, manager of Skilled Workforce Programs for RDA Hunter.
“Future U is an ideal vehicle to attract talent to Australia’s Department of Defence, defence industries and to build our space sovereignty.”
According to Boeing Australia, the scheme is expected to undergo trials at select schools in South Australia from 2022.
[Related: Boeing celebrates rapid growth milestone]
