Libby Hillman and Robyn McCutcheon.

Robyn McCutcheon, Chair of SSSI’s Women in Spatial (WIS) group hosted a forum at SSSC2013 in Canberra a fortnight ago.  Speakers included: Helen Owens, General Manager of the Office of Spatial Data Management, Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism; Leonie Newnham, Chair of FIG Commission 1; and Libby Hillman representing the Geography Teachers Association of Victoria and Destination Spatial in Victoria.

“The forum opened discussion about how women in the spatial industry influence people outside the world of spatial.” said Robyn McCutcheon.

Helen Owens spoke about her experiences in moving from HR to geospatial, and how she came into her current position with her understanding of the term ‘geospatial’ emerging from her hands-on experience in the Department of Defence.  “One of the skills that I bring is being able to translate geospatial concepts into ‘layman’s’ terms – which comes in handy when you are selling the concept to a non-spatial person”, said Helen.

Leonie Newman provided an international perspective from her work with FIG and updated the attendees on the FIG programs.  “It reminded me of the wealth of information that can be found at the FIG website.” said Robyn. “Being part of the FIG is a great experience and provides opportunities for travel and meeting people from the international spatial community.”

Libby Hillman engaged attendees with her stories about the successes of Destination Spatial in Victoria. Drawing on a recent experience with Canterbury Girls Secondary College, Libby retold the story of how the geography teacher at Canterbury Girls came from a geography enrolment of zero students to now filling the year 11 and year 12 classes. Libby was excited to advise the forum about the passion for geography that exists at the school, and how one student recently won both the state and national geography competitions, and will represent Australia in the International Geography Olympiad later this year.

There are exciting opportunities with the implementation of the Australian Curriculum; Geography. We need to support teachers so that students can sequentially learn spatial skills in Geography from primary through to the senior years.

David Brown, Advisor to Senator Kate Lundy (Minister for Sport, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation), was at the forum and commented that “It was refreshing and inspiring to hear what is going on at the grass-roots level in education in teaching spatial skills in geography. Destination Spatial and the GTAV are doing a great job in helping Spatial become a part of everyday language”