MOUNT Gambier High School is changing the face of schooling in the South East by encouraging innovation among students as they strive to find the region’s next generation entrepreneurs.
As one of five special entrepreneurial schools in the state to share $6.3m over the next four years, the education facility has begun to put the pieces in place to offer the best opportunities to aspiring business leaders in the region.
Partnering with the Flinders University, Mount Gambier High School principal Chris Edmonds said being an entrepreneurial school has given them a licence to educate differently.
“It is really exciting for the Mount Gambier High School because we now have an opportunity to embark on things like specialist entrepreneurial programs,” he said.
“Murray Bridge is the only other country school in South Australia that has this opportunity, so everyone will be looking at us to see what we are doing differently and how they can capitalise on that.”
Mr Edmonds said large industries in the Limestone Coast had already started to take an interest in what the school was doing.
“I’m getting contacts through forestry, primary industries, tourism and food manufacturing and they are asking how they can get access to our children to help their workplace,” he said.
Assistant principal Josh Praolini said one of the aims was to equip students with the skills to combat a working world, which has become vulnerable to technology.
“There was a study completed, which predicted 20 million lost jobs to robots by 2030 and it ranked regions by the impact it will have,” he said.
“South Australia is top for vulnerability, so we are trying to get our students thinking how they will be future-ready in a world where robots are displacing them.”
Flinders University New Venture Institute’s Callena Rawlings has come on board as an entrepreneurial learning advisor for the school and says she is excited to help students realise their potential.
“By equipping students with an entrepreneurial mindset, we can have them looking at bigger problems, such as climate change and using their skills to fix those problems,” Ms Rawlings said.
“These skills are not just valued by the business sector.”
Mr Edmonds said the connections made with Flinders University will provide a significant resource to students at the school.
“They will bring the world of further learning and the business connections to our door,” he said.
“Instead of our children going out and having to knock on businesses’ door, we have actually got a really important resource smack bang in the middle of our school.”
He said he is hopeful the new framework can be a positive for students who have struggled to engage with the typical school curriculum.
“There are those children who we have failed to connect with as a nation, not just as a school,” he said.
Ms Rawlings said education was moving away from a structure that treats all students the same.
“What we are trying to do is to enable success no matter your education level, your ability to learn or willingness to learn,” she said.
“We want this model to be tailored to the strengths the students bring and it is different for every person.”
