GEMX uses Women in Engineering Day for a Unique Teacher Event
Female teachers visit North West engineering and manufacturing companies
GEMX organised a female-only Teacher CPD (Continuous Professional Development) day on Women in Engineering Day (23rd June) to visit specialist North West engineering and manufacturing companies AE Global, Nelipak and DuPont.
Subsequent events will include male and female teachers but as GEMX Project Director Joanne Sweeney explained, 23rd June provided a unique opportunity to showcase a new initiative. Joanne said: “It is extremely important for teachers who are delivering technology subjects and providing careers advice to experience first-hand the real world of manufacturing and engineering.
Given the level of positive feedback from this event, GEMX intends to make events like this a regular occurrence in their activity calendar. Women in Engineering Day provided us with a unique opportunity to focus on female teachers. ”
GEMX, supported by Invest NI, is a collaborative network of engineering and manufacturing companies from the North West. GEMX companies engage with students and teachers to raise the profile of the sector while also developing a pipeline of talent.
Maeve Mc Menamin from Lumen Christi College said: “As a careers teacher, I am delighted to get the chance to visit local companies and engage first-hand with people who can inspire and advise our young people. I also see this as a great way of developing networks which will enable schools to arrange guest speakers and site visits to enhance curriculum delivery”.
Chair of GEMX, Paul Kirkpatrick from DuPont said: “We welcome the support and involvement from manufacturing and engineering organisations in the region. It is our vision that the North West will become a centre of excellence for the engineering and manufacturing sectors and events like today will hopefully bring that vision a step further.”
Each of the three companies visited provided an overview of what they do, including details of training opportunities and career pathways. Tours were also provided to enable teachers to gain an understanding of the work that it is carried out at the various plants and well as facilitating the development of professional networks.
