Gatsby Benchmarks
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Inspiring
students around
STEM careers
How can teachers and employers work together to inspire
and develop young people in STEM?
FRAN DAINTY
HEAD OF CONTENT AND STEM EXPERTISE, STEM LEARNING
ine in 10 STEM businesses
(89%) have struggled to
recruit staff with the
required skills in science,
technol ogy, engi neer i ng a nd
mathematics in the past 12 months,
leading to a shortfall of more than 173,000
workers. These are the findings of
recent research conducted by STEM
Learning – the largest provider of
STEM education and careers support
in the UK.
The survey of 400 HR directors and
decision makers in businesses that rely
on staff with STEM skills, found that 56%
expect the shortage to worsen over the
next 10 years, with expansion in the sector
set to nearly double the number of new
STEM roles required.
Building a reliable and skilled future
STEM workforce is key to success. For
those businesses facing recruitment
challenges, low awareness of the jobs
available (31%) and a lack of meaningful
work-experience opportunities (35%)
were identified as key barriers to young
people considering STEM careers. So
how can we ensure that every young
person has the chance to explore
opportunities in STEM careers?
“It’s about the government, schools
and employers working together,
N
46 // STEM
BRINGING INDUSTRY AND SCHOOLS TOGETHER
84 % 90 % 82 % 92 %
of teachers agree
that ENTHUSE
Partnerships
positively impact
young people’s
attainment in
STEM subjects
of teachers report
that young people’s
engagement and
interest in STEM
subjects has
increased
instead of in isolation,” asserts Fran
Dainty, head of content and STEM
expertise at STEM Learning. “Bridging
the communication and activity
between young people, teachers and
employers is key.”
Funding for STEM awareness
In 2014, STEM Learning launched
ENTHUSE Partnerships. These
partnerships of four to eight schools
and colleges improve young people’s
engagement with, aspiration around,
and achievement in STEM, along with
of Partnership
leaders report that
involvement in the
programme helps
inspire them to
remain in teaching
of Partnership
leaders increase
collaboration with
other schools