The Montello Primary School educator has just been announced as the recipient of this year’s Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools for creating unique opportunities for students of all abilities and backgrounds to overcome challenges, engage with STEM subjects and consider a career in science.
For the first time the prize money this year is $250,000 – and Edwards can do whatever he likes with it.
“The Government decided to increase the prize money for the teaching award this year to the same level as the highest science award,” Edwards tells EducationHQ from Parliament House in Canberra, where he received his prize.
“To be honest, it doesn’t feel real at all yet. It’s an unbelievable feeling. But, I guess it opens so many other opportunities and possibilities.”
Edwards’ first priority is thanking his family for their support and their patience and understanding – because, he says, without them, what he gives to his community simply wouldn’t be possible.
“My family has sacrificed a lot, over the last three or four years especially, my wife and my two daughters, they’ve had to have a lot of nights and weekends, and even recently, for five weeks I was on my UK study tour, with me away.
“So the first thing I’m going to do is make sure that I’m able to use some of that to reward them and thank them, and make sure this is recognition for them, for enabling me and supporting me to make the impact that I have been."
GreenSTEM Education’s flagship program is Greenpower. The program inspires young people in STEM by challenging them to work in teams to design, build and race a single-seater electric vehicle.
And it’s been some impact. Edwards' efforts have been transformational, not just at Montello Primary school, but beyond into the Burnie community and the North West Coast of Tasmania.
Edwards’ role sees him work three days each week as a STEM specialist teacher at Montello, and two days teaching STEM and digital technologies at nearby Parkland High School.
Along with developing a STEM and Digital Technologies Program that has resulted in unprecedented engagement and achievement for his students of all abilities and backgrounds, the young educator has made a habit of winning prestigious competitions and awards, including the ACEL TAS Teacher Leadership Award this year and Tasmania’s Primary STEM Teacher of the Year in 2021.
Back in 2022, EducationHQ profiled Edwards after he picked up one of that year’s (then titled) Commonwealth Bank Teaching Fellowships.
With his Fellowship funding for a school project and professional learning, the Taswegian established GreenSTEM Education, Tasmania’s first STEM education-focused charity, aimed at giving equitable access to STEM education for young people and the wider community, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds.
“I wanted to take my work to the next level and be able to provide all young people in the area with the best opportunities in STEM education, regardless of the school they attend,” he says.
“It’s all about removing barriers to accessing opportunities in STEM education.”
Having established that digital technologies were an area in which his students were excelling, the next stage was to bring in more of a design and engineering focus, which led to the educator discovering Green PowerEducation Trust, a UK-based STEM charity focused on inspiring young people in engineering, but STEM more broadly, through the challenge of designing, building and racing a single-seater electric vehicle.
“They’re in their 25th year at the moment, and they have around 10,000 young people all across the UK participate annually, and a growing number of international partners and international teams," Edwards says.
“Mr Edwards has built a culture at Montello where students are inspired and empowered with the understanding that STEM opens limitless pathways and opportunities,” Dion McCall, principal of Montello Primary School, says.
It’s something Edwards says he can lead in his region and grow nationally to support other teachers and schools – and for that to happen, he needed to establish a not-for-profit organisation.
A really important part of GreenSTEM Education is STEM Unlimited, a free after-school club hosted at the Burnie Community House and open to all students across the region.
“It’s available to all young people from Grade 4 through to Grade 12, where they are able to take ownership and guide their own learning and go deeper into areas of STEM that they’re interested in.
“We have a number of homeschoolers participating as well, so a really diverse range of students and we are really excited to be able to provide them with those opportunities.”
Back in 2005, Edwards’ father, a local police officer at the time whose role included early intervention with at-risk youths, established what was called ‘Community Kids and Shorewell Park’ aimed at helping shift attitudes and changing the culture in that community and beyond.
“I feel like in a lot of ways, what I’m doing now continues to build on what he started there,” Edwards says.
“A lot of things have really kind of come full circle, and it’s something I’m really proud of and excited about.
“We’re really looking forward to being able to support other community groups, other organisations, to be able to start similar opportunities, and we can support them with the mentoring and coaching and guidance to be able to do that effectively.”
And while the young educator has already achieved so much in his ten-year teaching career, he says there’s so much more to do.
“Yeah, a lot more,” he says.
"One of the most encouraging pieces of feedback I’ve ever received was a note from a student who said I help make things come true that they didn’t even realise were possible.
“There’s a lot of unfinished work, so much more to do – and not just with my work at the Tasmanian Department for Education, Children, and Young People, but also with GreenSTEM Education.
“We’ve got a really strong vision of what we want to see in our region, but beyond that, also nationally. We want to see all young people in Australia have access to the very best opportunities in STEM.”
