NSW secondary students will be taught the skills of the future with an Australian-first cyber security course developed collaboratively by the NSW Department of Education, industry and Cyber Security NSW.

Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government Victor Dominello said the nation-leading program, rolling out to schools across the State, will provide students with a highly immersive experience to strengthen their cyber skills under the 2021 NSW Cyber Security Strategy.

“From learning the fundamentals of cyber security and its important impact on day-to-day life to building hardware and gaining hands-on experience with coding, we are preparing our students for future careers in cyber,” Mr Dominello said.

“Cyber Security NSW has played an important role in developing the learning programs and resources which will be used in the delivery of the cyber security topic in NSW classrooms.

“Whether it is learning how data is sent from one device to another, how cyber technology is used in cities and regions, or understanding the importance cyber security has across different parts of people’s lives – as technology grows and evolves, it is important we give students the skills they need for a digital world.”

Cyber Security NSW has also invested in the development of Cyber City, a complete, open-source platform to help teachers deliver the new cyber security curriculum, including the new iSTEM Cyber Security specialised topic.

Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell said iSTEM was a student-centred elective that integrates science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“Cyber City gives teachers the tools to create relevant and engaging lessons for students. This is teaching skills beyond just awareness, empowering the future cyber security workforce of Australia,” Ms Mitchell said.

“Through hands-on learning and simulations, students will build, maintain and automate essential infrastructures such as hydro dams, power grids or satellite telecommunications on a smart city network in the classroom.

“We want to show our students that cyber security is more than inputting code in a computer, in fact 60 per cent of the industry are not coders.”

The Cyber City program is being piloted and will be ready for release in 2023.

Educators are invited to register their interest to participate or integrate the cyber security learning experiences in their classrooms from 2023.

For more information about Cyber City, visit: https://cybercity.education/about-us/.