Education and Engineering Leaders Discuss Future of STEM Education

Published 19th October 2023

Our CEO, Tony Ryan, attended a roundtable discussion at No. 10 today hosted by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) to address the pressing need to equip young people with essential skills for pursuing careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The session focused on pivotal strategies to ensure the UK's education system remains aligned with the ever-evolving STEM and Digital sectors.

The meeting had representation from some of the UK's largest and most influential engineering companies. The Design and Technology Association were one of the few educationally focused voices in the room, and we should thank the IET for fully including us in their lobbying and outreach work.

One key focus is the necessity of investing in teacher training. Recognising educators' pivotal role in shaping young minds, the roundtable highlighted the urgency of empowering teachers with the time, knowledge and tools necessary to foster a passion for STEM subjects.

Another key proposal was fostering closer collaboration with industry professionals. In some of the most robust case studies, educators aim to bridge the gap between classroom knowledge and real-world applications by forging strong bonds between the academic world and industry. This symbiotic relationship promises to give students a deeper understanding of the subject. There is no shortage of outreach programmes, and they have an essential role to play, but the meeting agreed that to have a real and lasting impact, we need to embed engineering within the school curriculum.

These are obstacles faced also in Design and Technology education. We proposed similar recommendations to the Government in our Vision Paper, 'Reimagining D&T'. This was drawn up in response to a series of face-to-face and online teacher consultations across the UK in July this year. Teacher feedback helped to outline key proposals, recommendations and calls to action that will be presented to the Department for Education. Some great outcomes have come from these findings, including a rise in Initial Teacher Training Bursaries for Design and Technology and as a first step to addressing the need to change the way key stage three is taught. The Design and Technology Association has recently released a suite of free resources for Design and Technology educators titled 'Inspired by Industry' to help bridge the gap between education and industry. You can read more about this initiative here.

The IET presented its efforts to address this challenge within the Engineering sector. These efforts include a series of recommendations to embed engineering within the curriculum outlined in the Engineering Kids Futures publication released last year.

Tony Ryan stated, "It was a privilege and a great honour to be invited to attend this meeting. The IET and D&T Association are very closely aligned on our objectives around the future of education and the place for engineering within mainstream education. I am aware every time I enter one of these meetings that, I am representing so many D&T teachers nationally and the students that they serve. This was a constructive meeting with some eloquent input from business leaders. We are teaching in a system that is no longer fit for purpose; with the voice of business and industry behind us, we can change this for the better good."

By implementing these strategies and recommendations, stakeholders in education and engineering aspire to create a future-ready workforce capable of shaping the rapidly evolving STEM landscape.

For more details on this discussion and the presented recommendations, readers can explore the full report on "Engineering Kids' Futures" on the IET's official website.