PRESS RELEASE: Australia’s children at home drives demand for online STEM education

Leading STEM educator and Queensland Emerging and Energised Telstra Business Award winner 2019, STEM Punks, is pushing for continued focus on digital literacy and has pivoted their business model to deliver online classes to children at home in the current environment.
STEM Punks Managing Director, Michael Holmstrom, said that STEM skills are highly valued and even more strongly sought after by parents with children at home right now.
Holmstrom said that Australian parents embraced STEM skills because they didn’t want their children to be at risk of missing out on well-paying jobs in the future.
“We know that 75 percent of the fastest growing occupations in Australia require STEM skills, and that in the next five years 90 percent of the existing workforce will need a basic level of digital literacy,” Mr Holmstrom said.
“We can’t expect to solve real-word challenges and address complex world problems if we don’t have people with the skills to innovate, design, and creatively problem solve issues such as energy sustainability and medical advancements. We need STEM skills. And now, more than ever, we need STEM Education online.
“There isn’t a lack of ideas in the world, but there is a lack of a mindset based on innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship to transform these ideas into value for other people.
“A snapshot of Australia’s workforce shows that 50 percent will need to know how to use, build, and configure digital systems by 2022; 70 percent of today’s students are training for a job that is set to be replaced by automation in the next eight to 13 years; and, 18 percent of today’s workforce have a serious chance of losing their job because of technology. We need to start a serious campaign to increase our STEM skills and the importance and value we place on learning these skills,” he said.
STEM jobs are expected to bring $50 billion to the Australian economy. To help build the skills needed to secure these jobs, STEM Punks is dedicated to building the digital capability of Australian students through online courses.
STEM Punks mission is to inspire tomorrow’s innovators. The company teaches online programs, developed by qualified teachers, to children equipping them with skills to enable 21st century learning.
For further information, images, or interviews, please contact managing director Michael Holmstrom on phone 0400 600 729 or email [email protected]