Alexandra Hills High School is leading the way in excellence with its recently opened state of the art Centre for Excellence in Automation and Robotics.
Opened on March 10, the centre is a partnership between QMEA and Alexandra Hills SHS with support from Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The Queensland Government gave $280,000 in funding plus in kind support from Alexandra Hills State High School to assist with establishing the new centre.
The centre promises to boost future job prospects in what has been earmarked as an increasingly automated work force.
This ground-breaking Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy/Alexandra Hills State High School Centre of Excellence is designed to inspire students to pursue careers in coding, computer science and robotics. It is expected almost two-thirds of current jobs will become automated.
School Science Head of Department Robyn Flexman said the curriculum for Years 7 to 10 students had been changed this year to accommodate the robotics unit within the science program.
“The students are loving it. These skills have ben identified as being needed in the future and this unit is improving the skill set of the students, making them more employable in the future,” Ms Flexman said.
Ms Flexman said the 10 staff involved in the science faculty were also being upskilled to manage this new work. Professional development was being given by Dr Damien Kee.
“Some staff were given a full day’s training in January, but we want the whole staff to have the skills. We intend to open a robotics club after school,” she said.
The Centre of Excellence will also benefit the resources sector by providing a pipeline of highly skilled talent with knowledge and expertise in big data, systems, processing and analysis.
Queensland Resources Council Chief Executive and QMEA Chair Michael Roche said the Queensland resources sector was actively driving an escalating adoption of automation and robotics in its operations and schools were the perfect place to accelerate skills and knowledge.
“The resources sector is at the forefront of changes in the future world of work and future employees will need to be schooled and trained to embrace the major paradigm shift we are undergoing,” Mr Roche said.
“It’s pleasing to see state government policy alignment with skill needs and the push through Advance Queensland and Advancing Education policy platforms. New competencies in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills are paramount to the successful transition to an increasingly automated workforce with the demand for these skills shared by industries other than resources including agriculture, healthcare, transport and warehousing.”
Principal of Alexandra Hills SHS Gail Armstrong said the Centre of Excellence in Automation and Robotics was an innovative partnership that offered an embedded curriculum approach to coding and robotics studies with the centre catering for multiple subject areas and students from Years 7 to 12.
