The Connecting Teachers with Industry Project
The Connecting Teachers with Industry Project is an excellent opportunity for teachers and students from schools in the Bridgend and Rhondda Cynon Taf local authorities, to find out about the exciting careers available in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) sectors in Wales.
The Connecting Teachers with Industry team have organised informative factory visits and talks for teachers which have been hosted by employers including Screen Alliance Wales at Dragon Studios, Pencoed, Eriez Magnetics and GE Aviation in Caerphilly and Aston Martin Lagonda Production & Technology Centre in St Athan.
One of our first company visits was arranged by Screen Alliance Wales (SAW) to the Dragon Studio near Bridgend. SAW is the gateway between the film industry and its workforce. It grows and promotes the talent, crew and services of the film and TV industry in Wales. SAW is unique and will become the industry standard in promoting the complete supply chain from one single place.
Dragon TV and film studio has operated alongside companies including NBC Universal, Netflix, Disney and LucasFilm, making Dragon Studios their home for flagship shows. We produced a video of the event as well as interviews with some of the SAW staff about their career paths which can be shared with students, available on our Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL95YPVTGHekIKgS0DorhaOrkLYNKrjmBm.
We hosted a webinar with GE Aviation Wales on 16th May 2022, where teachers had the opportunity to hear from graduates and apprentices at GE about their pathways into a career in the Aviation Industry and about the application process.
On 22nd June 2022, we took teachers on a factory visit to Eriez Magnetics in Caerphilly, an Industry leading organization which designs and manufactures magnetic separation and metal detection equipment. Talks were given from staff at various stages in their careers, with an emphasis placed on the importance of language skills (including Welsh) and how teachers should encourage their students to develop language skills alongside their technical skills. Teachers were also taken on an educational tour around the manufacturing facility.
Another successful event took place at Aston Martin on 12th July 2022. Teachers had the opportunity to tour their cutting-edge manufacturing facilities, hear more about their apprenticeship programmes, speak to apprentices about their journeys into their careers and form new connections with the organisation so that they could organise visits for their students in the future.
The team have also had the pleasure of presenting STEAM based assemblies to primary and secondary schools across RCT and Bridgend. These presentations provide students with a chance to hear from real-world engineers about their career pathways and learn about the broad diversity of jobs in the STEAM sector in Wales. We also talk to students about what pathways they can take depending on what stage they are at on their educational journey. This includes talking about their subject choices, work experience, internships, apprenticeships, and University. So far, we have reached over 900 students, 70 teachers and engaged with 19 schools, including giving a presentation to the graduating Engineering students at Bridgend College.
We are now extending the project into the Autumn term 2022, to reach as many teachers and students as possible with this excellent opportunity.
If you would like to attend an upcoming teacher event, or would like a talk at your school, please email us at info@stemcymru.org.uk.
This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund.
