In March last year, Lord Drayson, the Science Minister, spoke about the need for UK industry to engage with the next generation of young people through the UK wide Science and Engineering Ambassadors programme to avert a national STEM skills crises.
Speaking at the start of National Science and Engineering Week, Lord Drayson said: “As we enter tough economic times and look to boost British expertise in areas such as high tech manufacturing, the foundation for which is Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths skills, it is more crucial than ever that employers join the drive to inspire young people about the possibilities of studying and pursuing a career in these areas.
“The Science and Engineering Ambassadors programme is a UK-wide network created to help industry to do this. It connects our most inspiring young scientists, engineers and technology experts with hundreds of thousands of young people across the UK. I would like to see all Science enterprise businesses from SMEs to multinationals signing up to this scheme. We want every school in the country to have access to their own science hero by 2011.”
The Science and Engineering Ambassadors programme was established in 2002 by STEMNET (the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths network) with funding from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). STEMNET’s research has shown that young people are much more likely to study science at A level and pursue science, technology, engineering and maths at university if they have had exposure to positive role models. The Ambassadors are available to help support students and teachers across all school ages, from 5 to 19.
Matt Bross, Chief Technology Officer at the BT Group, which provides ambassadors for the scheme, commented: “One of the most important things we can do to stimulate the next generation of technology innovators is to help excite and inspire young people by harnessing their natural enthusiasm and affinity for technology and unleashing their natural flair as innovators.”
George Quayle, Managing Director of Technical Fibre Products, a small high-tech materials company based in Cumbria which provides three Ambassadors, added: “Industry needs to get behind the STEMNET programme. STEM students are the future wealth creators of this country. They need to be enticed to join industry to ensure the UK prospers in a very competitive world. TFP has benefitted from involvement as the programme has motivated our young STEM graduate employees and enhanced their leadership, project management and mentoring skills, as well as generating interest in future employment from a pool of local talent.”
Setting fun tasks
Teachers TV is currently running a series on this very successful scheme. In it, STEM role model Graham Gannon uses a challenge based on designing and selling MP3 players to demonstrate how important maths skills are in the real world. Graham, an entrepreneur and businessman, struggled with maths at school because he didn’t see its relevance to every day life. He now visits schools and colleges to help students understand how important maths can be.
Graham set Year 9 maths students at Reepham High School in Norfolk a task to design, cost and market a new MP3 player. Using a business simulator, he predicted how each group’s MP3 player would perform in the marketplace. Through the game, he supports and encourages the students to look at how crucial maths is to the decisions they make.
Graham engages and inspires the students because he brings maths into the real world; by attaching it to high status technology, he completely changes their perception of the subject. Bridging the gap between classroom achievement and the workplace, those that applied themselves will have seen the ‘real-world’ results of their efforts in Graham’s predictor of the marketplace. Just as the features and benefits of a product need to be seen to be believed, so too do those of STEM if both results and take-up are to be improved.
Using innovative products
Across and beyond the curriculum, whether students are collecting information on a geography field trip, visiting a local museum, carrying out a healthy eating survey in school or identifying and recording creatures in the school pond, teachers can create maps, forms, keys and interactive images as resources to support data-gathering activities.
WildKnowledge creates applications for handheld devices such as Netbooks or iPhones. The application suite (WildForm, WildMap, WildImage and WildKey) provides a toolkit for students of all ages to capture data at ‘points of inspiration’ in class or on field trips. The applications exploit the full functionality of today’s devices (GPS, text, camera, audio, video and internet) opening up exciting learning opportunities. Data collected is stored securely within an internet account and the database can be mapped and exported – allowing students to view their data in Google Maps or analyse their findings. The WildKnowledge Community also gives teachers the opportunity to share and collaborate with other schools.
The Galileo from Mind Your IT is a compact, mobile unit designed to deliver a total teaching platform for Science anywhere in a school. No dedicated laboratory is required to bring interactive, hands on, experimental learning and full scientific demonstration to students. It makes optimum use of space for effective storage of equipment and charges up to 8 Netbooks. Integrated into the Galileo is a projector and laptop (optional) for multimedia presentations, allowing students and teachers to access a vast range of scientific information or material through power point presentation, software and/or internet access. Great for Primary Schools which often have no separate laboratory, or where rooms and facilities are limited in Secondary education, this mobile unit enables the practice of science anywhere in the building, timetabled or not.
Government bridging the gap?
Little over a year ago Gordon Brown said the government was working towards all pupils having access to single subject science teaching - with a ‘guarantee’ that 90% of all state schools will offer this within the next five years. Supporting the move, Ofsted said: “Evidence from the DCSF and qualitative evidence from Ofsted suggest that those who study three separate sciences are more likely to choose to study science at A-level and degree level.”
Industry title New Electronics promoted STEMNET’s Ambassadors programme in a recent article on the need to avert a skills crisis: “One of the solutions involves working with school children at a much earlier age than is currently the case. In fact, some believe that if you haven’t convinced them to become an engineer by the time they reach 14, you have lost them.” This is quite a challenge when you consider that many want to leave their career options open at this age - opting for triple science is a difficult decision to make when it means dropping another subject that might be enjoyed in order to accommodate it.
Linking future economic strength and recovery with STEM professions, not only is the PM keen to get more qualified teachers into the profession, he has announced plans to use the downturn to make this happen. How? By offering routes into teaching for STEM professionals that the recession has made redundant: “Because - for them, for our young people, and for the future of Britain - we must seize this opportunity to bring new people with science and maths qualifications into the teaching profession.”
From September 2011 the new Diploma in science will be available in schools and colleges - “offering a fantastic opportunity to get young people involved in doing science whilst working towards a high quality qualification that is valued by both employers and higher education providers.” This qualification will offer students an alternative route of study, blending classroom-based learning with work-related practical experience, which allows students to keep their options open.
There is a real duty says Brown, on the scientific community to engage with the public to explain the issues and enhance the role and prestige of science in society. He has said that over half of those who responded to the 2008 public attitudes to science survey, said science “was too specialist for ordinary people to understand,” adding that we have to explain it better so that it is no longer seen as elitist.
Add this to last months announcement that classroom staff, many of whom frequently fulfill the role of a teacher, will now be eligible for Qualified Teacher Status by providing evidence of their chalk face skills as part of the new route into the profession being prepared by the Teacher Development Agency for Schools (TDA) and the intention to close the gap between education and the workplace is clear.
Among the groups most likely to benefit are so-called “instructors” said The Times Education Supplement as the news broke; those employed for their specialist knowledge in areas such as PE, design and technology, or music, but who have not been through formal training. Others likely to apply will be independent school staff, who are more likely not to be formally qualified, and further education lecturers. The move will open up the possibility of lecturers running the government’s 14-19 diplomas and though it is unclear how much experience will be required to qualify, the TDA said it would be open to graduates working in schools.
There seems to be a theme running throughout each of these initiatives, one in which Education and Industry work in closer partnership. Improving the image of STEM professionals through the Ambassadors programme; bridging the gap between classroom achievement and the workplace by offering a Diploma; bringing in teachers that have worked in the field to provide specialist knowledge; and educating the next generation of teachers and professionals to build on the skills of those before them; the aim is to widen access to STEM careers for all young people, increasing their life chances and strengthening Industry in the process.
