School Improvement Episode 42: STEM pathways – inspiring female students

If you work in a co-educational school, think about current student enrolments for STEM subjects and participation in STEM-related clubs and extracurricular activities. How do the post-school journeys of male and female students differ? Would you say there is a lower number of female students engaged in STEM in your school? We know that, overall, female participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects is lower than that of males, and that schools can play an important part in encouraging girls to pursue education and careers in this area. In this episode, we're joined by Jessica Huynh, Ashanie Perera and Philip Callil. Jessica is the Managing Director of Go Girl, Go for IT, a free one-day technology conference for girls across Australia in Years 5 to 12. The conference aims to expose young girls to the world of IT and the many career options in the field. Ashanie and Phil are teachers at Yarra Valley Grammar, a co-educational school in Melbourne. As Head of Mathematics and Director of IT and Digital Learning, respectively, the conference certainly piqued their interest. This year, they were able to send over 150 girls to the conference, and will share in this episode the impact this has had on their students. Host: Dominique Russell Guests: Jessica Huynh, Ashanie Perera and Philip Callil