Volunteers working at Leonardo in Bristol have found that the students they have mentored at local Special Educational Needs schools have imparted as much knowledge as they have received.
Jason, William and Leah from the Leonardo Cyber and Security business in Bristol were given the opportunity to mentor students at Two Bridges School, Hedgeway School and Culverhill Schools recently. The activity formed part of a wider Unlock Cyber initiative in collaboration with the University of the West of England. The programme seeks to raise awareness of cyber careers and break down barriers to higher education for prospective students, particularly those from underrepresented communities.
The activity began with a fictional work desk with a laptop and phone, with potential cyber hazards that needed to be identified by the students.
Jason said: “We asked them why a password might present a vulnerability and we went through each cyber security risk one by one and they identified all of them successfully.”
The students then learned how to create their own ciphers, so they could write secret messages. They were then shown examples of phishing emails and the tricks used by social engineers to draw a response from a user.
William said: “When they see something like these phishing emails in the future at work, or in their personal life, they will be prepared for that threat and they’ll be able to protect themselves against it. That is an amazing thing for them to take away from these sessions.”
The Leonardo team soon found they learned just as much as they taught.
Leah said: “Working with the students encouraged me to be much more innovative in my approach, so I could try and teach them in different ways. If somebody doesn’t understand something, it is up to me to think of a way to restructure that information to make it more relatable so it ties in with their personal experience, because then they get invested in it.”
Jason added: “When some of them saw the keyboard, they thought of the video games they already played and how it related to that. I remember there was one girl who had already made the real-world connection, as she asked about who we work with and whether we collaborate with people abroad and in different industries.”
The Leonardo team will be taking forward this adaptive approach and reapplying it to their daily business roles in Cyber, where it is sometimes necessary to find engaging ways to describe a tech product or security adaption so the customer understands. Elaine Brown of Unlock Cyber isn’t surprised that the Leonardo team have found their mentoring experience so instructive.
Elaine said: “If we can learn from young people from a rich range of backgrounds and perspectives, then we are unlocking cyber to a whole new cohort who could enrich the cyber industry.”
William said: “The students have abilities that aren’t necessarily identified in standard educational pathways. I think it’s really important to understand those skills and show the pupils, their teachers, and the wider business world that those skills have a place and are just as critical to the work we do in cyber.”
