The education question

SIMON CARABETTA

by Simon Carabetta, Project Coordinator at ES2

We in the cybersecurity industry often hear about the skills and experience gap in Australia. I wrote about this recently, in the last issue of Women in Security. We are all well aware there is a mountain of work to be done to close this gap and futureproof our sector.

Some good solutions have been proposed and a number of programs to address the skills gap have already been launched. However, there is one skills gap many of us simply do not mention and do not understand how to address. That is the skills gap in our primary and secondary education sectors.

Between 2006 and 2019 I was a high school teacher in WA’s public education sector and took a break to spend several years in the Middle East teaching at an international school. Current, former and aspiring educators reading this would know teaching to be a rewarding career, but an extremely taxing one. There is not sufficient time to teach, develop lesson plans, mark papers, communicate with parents, attend mandated weekly meetings, attend department meetings, moderate papers, attend professional development sessions and mark more papers. So perhaps we can forgive the majority of teachers for giving no consideration to the security implications of the technology they and their students use, or to embedding awareness of that security into the curriculum. It would be amazing to see schools place the same emphasis on cyber security as they do on cyber safety. As a former teacher I can certainly understand that emphasis and how it links to the overarching values of digital citizenship and student wellbeing.

However, we find ourselves in 2022 in an increasingly volatile, uncertain and, dare I say, interesting world. Young people deserve to understand why the security of their personal data matters, and they also deserve to learn the skills to make that security effective.

Fortunately, there is a simple and effective way in which cybersecurity can be embedded in schools, and it comes down to following this roadmap:

1. Provide teacher and school administration education and development in cybersecurity.

BUT make it simple, clear and fun.

2. Develop partnerships between state education sectors, TAFEs and universities to provide teachers with scholarships to gain cybersecurity qualifications. BUT pay them on the job and get the Cert IV into schools.

3. Introduce cybersecurity into the primary and secondary school curriculums across Australia.

BUT embed the knowledge and skills in all

learning areas, do not constrain it to a standalone subject introduced in year 11 or year 12.

4. State and territory governments should invest in cybersecurity education liaison officers to speak with schools and students about careers in cybersecurity. Alternatively, the Australian

Cyber Security Centre could be proactive and take the lead on this across Australia through its joint centres.

5. Create partnerships between government, the private sector and TAFEs/universities to create meaningful traineeship programs for students studying cybersecurity that will increase their skillsets, give them real-world experience and make them job ready.

Implementing the five points in this roadmap will be a long term project and will take several years. It would involve a massive number of stakeholders from multiple sectors and extensive consultation. However, it is entirely doable and, more importantly, is vital for the future of the cybersecurity sector in Australia.

Having had the privilege of working alongside many talented and passionate teachers during my education career, I can honestly say the majority of our nation’s educators would certainly embrace developing their knowledge and skills in cybersecurity.

We already have quite a number here in WA who demonstrate a consistent passion for innovation and ICT in the classroom and a desire to focus on cybersecurity. I am proud to say I know them and have worked with them in various ways over the past few years. I would certainly like to see more quality educators in WA and elsewhere in Australia embrace cybersecurity and accept it as part of the learning and growing their students experience each day in their classrooms.

www.linkedin.com/in/simoncarabetta