It started with the assembly of ABS building blocks, maturing over time to the design of models in CAD and the realisation of those models with FDM 3D printing, and now to the teaching of these skills at Wales’ largest further education college.
There is, arguably, little extraordinary about this pathway. Until you learn the person is a mixed-heritage woman with a long-term disability. The industry has not necessarily been designed for people like Alexis Dabee-Saltmarsh, but through her role at Coleg Gwent, she is working to piece together a more diverse and inclusive future engineering workforce.
“Creating a diverse and inclusive learning environment is a deeply personal commitment for me,” Dabee-Saltmarsh tells TCT. For these efforts, Dabee-Saltmarsh was recently awarded a Silver Award in the Pearson National Teaching Awards, while Coleg Gwent was commended in 2023 for its diversity and inclusion initiatives at the CIPD Awards. She is also an active member of the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) group, an advocate for the Women’s Affinity Network, and works with Create Education as a STEM Ambassador.
Providing opportunity and leading by example are points of passion for Dabee-Saltmarsh. She has helped to address internal policy gaps, such as those in the college’s family leave policy, and has helped to set up outreach programmes to ensure the college is engaging with local organisations and Welsh Government to support diversity and inclusion. And then there’s the primary focus of the Automotive and Aeronautical Engineering Lecturer.
“We promote inclusive teaching by ensuring that our curriculum reflects diverse perspectives, histories, and contributions from various cultures, genders and communities,” she says. “We also adopt teaching methods that accommodate different learning styles and abilities, and we provide resources that reflect the diversity of our student body.”
It is potentially good news for the additive manufacturing (AM) industry since Dabee-Saltmarsh is set to teach at Coleg Gwent’s new 9 million GBP High Value Engineering (HiVE) facility, which will equip learners with ‘cutting-edge technology and innovations’ that ‘align with industry standards.’ Students will have hands-on access to robotics, composite materials and industrial AM machinery, enhancing the motorsports and aerospace courses that Dabee-Saltmarsh helps to deliver, while enabling new programmes too.
Those motorsports and aerospace courses cover Level 3 to Level 5, and are ‘meticulously designed’ to ensure ‘students acquire the necessary skills to excel in these specialised fields.’ Students already have access to such technologies as 3D printing, but the HiVE facility will represent a significant upgrade.
“The module selection is highly focused, equipping students with expertise tailored to their future careers,” Dabee-Saltmarsh explains. “Students are actively encouraged to make full use of the available technologies and facilities as part of their learning. With the additional space and resources provided by the HiVE facility, they will find it even easier to engage with these cutting-edge tools, enabling them to deepen their understanding and practical skills to a greater extent than ever before.”
In tandem, Coleg Gwent continues with its outreach efforts to ensure the people utilising this equipment and workspace are as diverse a bunch as possible, with each student able to confidently embrace their interests and passions. Dabee-Saltmarsh is keen to encourage young people from under-represented backgrounds to never lose sight of their ambitions. A career in engineering may be demanding, she says, but with determination and passion, you can achieve great things and help pave the way for others too.
That does, however, require organisations to facilitate those ambitions. Per Dabee-Saltmarsh, educational institutions should strive to ensure their teaching staff reflect the diverse background of their learners, have leaders that are willing to actively model inclusive behaviour, and offer training in, for example, anti-racism, suicide prevention, and wellbeing.
It is proving worthwhile for Coleg Gwent – the Teaching team and collaborative HiVE team have been shortlisted as finalists for the STEM Team of the Year at the Wales STEM Awards 2024 – and will go a long way to creating an environment that is inclusive for everyone. But it doesn’t get students into that inclusive environment. For that, Dabee-Saltmarsh suggests more can be done to recruit people from under-represented background into the engineering space.
“It is essential to start early,” she finishes. “While there has been progress in promoting diversity, initiatives aimed at supporting girls and young women often begin too later in the educational journey. Research shows that students often decide on their career paths when selecting their GCSE subjects, meaning outreach efforts must start well before this point. Since many children develop an interest in subjects as early as eight years old, it is crucial to introduce them to engineering technologies during primary education.”
This article originally appeared inside TCT Europe Edition Vol. 32 Issue 5 and TCT North American Edition Vol. 10 Issue 5. Subscribe here to receive your FREE print copy of TCT Magazine, delivered to your door six times a year.
