Teachers equip students with 21st century skills thanks to Scitech program

Mandurah and Pinjarra primary school teachers are learning new ways to incorporate digital technologies into the classroom through a year long professional learning program.

Delivered by Scitech, the Alcoa Champions of Digital Technologies program supports teachers to develop their skills and confidence to introduce essential digital technologies learning across all subject areas, leading to enhanced student understanding and engagement.

“It is so important we equip students with the skills to face an increasingly digital world, both in the future workforce and in everyday life,” Scitech Professional Learning Consultant and Program Coordinator Lucas Black said.

“This program is not about making teachers ‘the experts’ in digital technologies in a traditional classroom structure where the teacher transmits the information that the students are expected to absorb. Rather, the program upskills each participant’s teaching skills so they can support their students to take the lead in their own learning through problem solving. This approach is key in developing students critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration.”

The 2024 program recently launched at Mandurah Catholic College with a workshop that allowed participants to connect with their colleagues and run through a practice lesson with themselves as the students.

Throughout the year, workshops, coaching rounds, and resources provided by the program support 16 teachers across four schools to deliver curriculum based learning specific to their school and classroom contexts.

This is the second year Scitech has delivered the Alcoa Champions of Digital Technologies program, which achieved great results in 2023 with all participants reporting increased confidence in teaching the content and an increase in their students’ engagement and capacity in digital technologies.

“We saw students coming up with ideas the teachers hadn’t thought of and that’s when we know as educators we’ve done our job,” Lucas said. “It was incredible to see the growth of both teachers and students across the year and I’m excited to see that with our 2024 cohort.”

Alcoa Champions of Digital Technologies is part of Scitech’s commitment to support teachers to develop their skills and confidence to transform teaching practices and future-proof students with the essential skills that will prepare them for jobs of tomorrow.