Get Kids into Survey- Here’s what our team do!
Put very simply- we produce material for you!
Background:
We created our first poster so that surveyors could go home and teach their kids what they do at work, not in just any way, but in a fun interactive way! This took off and Elaine Ball (our co-founder) ended up with a hefty postage bill after sending hundreds around the world. This was the start of an amazing venture which founded the ‘Get Kids into Survey’ initiative.
Since then we have created 20 geospatial themed exploration posters, each with a complimentary Q&A section, lesson plan and worksheets. These are available for FREE on the website HERE.
According to RICS, ‘85% of UK surveyors have problems recruiting due to the lack of qualified applicants’. Just look on the TSA website to see how many Surveyor Vacancies there are. The same trend shows worldwide!
We have found this to be a worldwide trend, with a lowered geospatial university intake, and an ageing demographic. If there are not enough new geospatial experts coming up into the sector then who will take over?!
This led us to the world without surveyors scenario, which was played upon in our GeoSquad Comic Book that was launched last year…
“Join Maddison, Miles. Setsuko and Kwame on a time-splitting adventure to a future on the brink of total chaos – a future without geo surveyors!
Taking control of four hi-tech mechs, the team tackles landslides, runaway trains, Antarctic squid, an urban inferno, and an evil businessman who seems to want to get rid of geo surveyors for good! Will the squad save their crumbling city – and then the world? There’s only one way to find out!
Read the first chapter of the GeoSquad comic now and discover Middletown 2049, the surveyor-less city”
Available to purchase from our website *here*!
The process:
The first stage in the process at Get Kids into Survey is gaining funding from industry in order to create these fantastic educational resources. Since 2017 we have had over 100 companies and organisations support us financially, thus helping us promote the industry worldwide as we are able to supply this for free. Making it easily accessible for ALL!
Now our 20 posters have been finalised we are beginning to run out of some of our originals… this means we require some more support in order to re-print and therefore distribute some more posters out. There are NEW funding options which can be found on our ‘Get Involved’ page HERE.
We have a great support network which include a primary school teacher Matt who helps to write the resource content so it aligns with some of the UK curriculum. Plus our designer Marek who we couldn’t live without!! He creates our iconic cartoon creations!
Now you are wondering who distributes these materials to the next generation?
That is where our SUPER Brand Ambassadors come in. Our Brand Ambassadors have the aim of spreading the word of the ‘Get Kids into Survey’ Initiative in their local area by attending careers fairs, school classrooms & conferences. We love sharing what our Ambassadors get up to on social media so make sure you follow us especially on LinkedIn.
By going into schools we are working through the ‘bottom up’ technique. ‘A bottom-up approach is a way of making corporate decisions that starts from the bottom of the hierarchy, rather than at the top’.
This is opposed to the top down method which is an approach ‘where an executive decision maker or other top person makes the decisions of how something should be done. This approach is disseminated under their authority to lower levels in the hierarchy’.
By going from the bottom up we can get a feel for what the children are thinking and really get involved. This means we need lots of volunteers so we can spread far and wide! If this sounds like something you’d be interested in you can learn more about becoming a Brand Ambassador HERE, once you fill in the form you’ll gain instant access to our outreach presentation.
The actual distribution of these posters is done with a HUGE thanks to our 3 distributors from each continent. They package and post out orders that come in through the website for our posters. They also store the stacks of posters that get printed until they are ordered… without them we would struggle to keep the posters free.
HOW do we educate the next generation?
GKiS focuses more on the lower age groups because it was found that by the age of 7 children already have an idea of what they’d like to do; “There are only “minimal changes” in attitudes towards career options between the ages of seven and 17, says the report produced jointly by the OECD and Education and Employers” (Link to article). This is alarming because surveying is not a very well known profession amongst adults let alone children. So ensuring we spread awareness of the industry at a young age will give a higher chance of them asking questions and recognising what this career involves!
As previously mentioned for this we require the Brand Ambassadors to go into schools and talk openly about what they get up to in their job. But it is also a parents responsibility to enlighten their children on the possible career choices at hand, by not steering them into a typical doctor, teacher, vet stereotype.
We are working our way up- there are two more wonderful ladies helping to get the Geospatial industry recognised. Firstly Alison Watson MBE who heads Class Of Your Own who are the ‘award-winning creators of the Design Engineer Construct! Learning Programme’. Secondly Alex McKee who has set up Geospatial UK! The website aims to help students find out more about the sector, including what skills they could learn and what jobs they could get.
Both of these initiatives are worth taking a look at as they continue through the ages up to university level. They too have seen a drop in university applicants which in turn is leading to less skilled workers. Although with the implementation of the new apprentice programmes and T-levels (UK) there are more opportunities to begin an exciting career. TOGETHER we will teach the next generation how amazing the world of geospatial is… with endless opportunities!
What do we NOT do?
Here’s some common things that we get asked that we DO NOT do here at GKiS
*Cross* GKiS arranges school visits for professionals to attend.
*tick* Our Brand Ambassadors are available to do school visits, check out our map to see who is local to you. They are loaded with a presentation plus they might bring in some of their equipment to demonstrate to your kids!
*cross* GKiS print unlimited posters worldwide
*tick* We produce the amount of geospatial posters that we gain funding for, thank you to our amazing sponsors. However, once the initial print run has been completed we require more funding to get more stock, this means we are starting to run out of some designs! Each poster can be printed in either the UK (for EU distribution), USA (for distribution around the Americas), and Australia (for distribution around Oceania).
*cross* GKiS make a profit on the sponsorship money collected
*tick* GKiS reinvest all funds received because they go into designing, printing, and dispatching of the resources. Don’t forget the staffing costs too to be able to run this initiative.
*cross* Getting involved in the GKiS initiative will cost money
*tick* Getting involved in the GKiS initiative comes with a range of options! Firstly, if you aren’t able to financially support us but would love to get stuck in with outreach and spreading the world about the geospatial profession… becoming a Brand Ambassador might be for you (completely free, we work on a volunteer basis). GKiS requires funding so we are greatly appreciative of any sponsorship option that a company chooses to support. We have just updated our ‘Get Involved’ page to accommodate our recent package options, catering for all budgets. Thank you 🙂
We Need You!
Our campaign is currently focussing on the ‘Homework Projects’. Our Homework Projects are based around a certain geospatial theme (usually on one of our posters), that take a deeper dive into the subjects/skills required in the geospatial industry. These are much more in depth than our posters so great if the children wish to learn a few more surveying terms and knowledge!
School teachers can set this in class and are also great for parents to use as extra curricular study.
We are hoping to find sponsors for all 20 of our Homework Project titles, which will heavily feature your company character and equipment throughout. These can be tailored towards what your company do in the surveying industry. Can you help to provide free educational resources to the next generation? If that’s a big fat YES then you can check out more info here (plus other options including poster reprints) and email erin@getkidsintosurvey.com
It would be great to have you involved in the Get Kids into Survey initiative! You’d even get your very own company character!