DISCOVERING SPACE
O
THE 5*S PROGRAMME OFFERS SURVEYORS AND SURVEYING STUDENTS THE CHANCE TO BE GEOMENTORS TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF SURVEYORS.
pportunity in adversity The current restrictions present a challenge for all of us. The landscape for how we engage with friends, family, colleagues, customers, and potential customers has
changed utterly. Education, training and schools programmes are traditionally delivered face to face and there are significant challenges in transferring these interactions to an online medium, particularly when it comes to the more human level of networking and engaging with other people. However, with adversity comes opportunity and, as schools remain open, it is an ideal time to demonstrate that surveying is a robust profession that can continue to operate even in the most difficult circumstances. It is particularly vital that we as a profession maintain contact and engagement with students in schools to help ensure that we harness the potential of the next generation of surveyors. How we engage with schools reflects on our profession and influences some of the choices that students will make about their careers. Both surveyors and the SCSI have shown during the current crisis that we are dynamic, resilient and agile professionals who embrace change. There is no doubt that we are living in a time of seismic social change. For example, the way we work in the future may be changed forever as there is a greater desire for working from home. Students are increasingly interested in how change will impact on their futures. They are particularly interested in matters relating to climate change.
What is the 5*S programme? The SCSI, in partnership with Maynooth University, TU Dublin, Esri Ireland and Ordnance Survey Ireland, has developed a schools programme to showcase spatial and GIS data to students. The programme has been developed following an SFI Discover award funded by Science Foundation Ireland and ESERO Ireland. 5*S builds on two existing national school-based programmes. A collaboration between Esri Ireland’s award-winning ArcGIS for Schools programme and the SCSI Day in the Life recruitment programme offers the opportunity to combine a national network of volunteers with an existing data/training infrastructure in Irish schools.
FEATURE James Lonergan Director of Education and CPD, SCSI
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SURVEYORS JOURNAL Volume 10, Issue 4, Winter 2020
