Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics: education and training strategy

We will attract high-quality STEM graduates into teaching through the Teaching Makes People recruitment campaign and through the proposed new route into teaching.

Scottish Government

General Teaching Council for Scotland

Starting in August 2018, we will offer bursaries of £20,000 to eligible career changers to allow them to undertake an initial teacher education course and qualify as a teacher in one of the STEM shortage subjects.

Scottish Government

Education Scotland will develop a self-evaluation framework to allow each initial teacher education university to evaluate their Initial Teacher Education programmes including on how their programmes equip new teachers with the skills required to teach numeracy across the curriculum. The framework will be available in time for universities to start this work during academic year 2017-18.

Education Scotland

Education Scotland will work with partners and, in particular, practitioners, to develop a coherent national approach to STEM professional learning from early 2018. This will include the development of a new national online resource for STEM and an online professional learning offer for early learning practitioners, primary and secondary teachers, technicians and community learning and development practitioners. New opportunities will become available during academic year 2018-19.

Education Scotland

As part of this, Skills Development Scotland will lead work to provide professional learning to help practitioners contextualise STEM learning, from early 2018. This will ensure learners are able to relate their learning and skills to real-life situations, their future careers, and the economy.

Skills Development Scotland

Education Scotland

Employers

As part of a wider programme of career long professional learning designed to support the expansion of funded early learning and childcare, we will work with partners and key stakeholders including science centres and science festivals to deliver STEM training that will ensure that ELC practitioners have appropriate skills, knowledge and confidence to deliver STEM learning in ELC settings. This will also form part of the coherent national offer for STEM CLPL set out above.

Scottish Government

Education Scotland

Local Authorities

Private Nurseries

Science Centres

Third Sector and Voluntary Organisations

We will set out plans to enhance opportunities for outdoor learning in STEM in the ELC Quality Action Plan being published in autumn 2017.

Scottish Government

We will provide on-going funding and support for improvements to STEM learning in the classroom through the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre ( SSERC), the National Numeracy and Mathematics Hub, the Scottish Attainment Challenge, the Digital Schools programme and the RAISE programme.

Scottish Government

Education Scotland

SSERC

The Wood Foundation

We will increase opportunities for STEM related CLPL in colleges and universities by working with the Energy Skills Partnership, College Development Network and the Digital Skills Partnership to ensure college lecturers are provided with high quality skills development within STEM curriculum areas.

Scottish Funding Council

Energy Skills Partnership

College Development Network

Digital Skills Partnership

We will work with partners to support the work of the Improvement Collaboratives in their identified priorities for STEM learning, teaching and engagement.

Scottish Government

Local Authorities

Education Scotland

We will publish the finalised STEM self-evaluation and improvement framework by December 2017 to support ELC settings and schools in the delivery of STEM learning and teaching.

Education Scotland

Local Authorities

We will recruit a network of STEM specialist advisors to support learning and teaching in the 3-18 curriculum and raise STEM attainment, with the aim of having a fully operational network by December 2018.

Scottish Government

Education Scotland

Local Authorities

We will provide dedicated support to digital skills development in early learning settings and schools, including primary schools, through the Digital Schools Programme.

Scottish Government

Education Scotland

We will work with local authorities to ensure that excellent spaces for STEM learning are included in new builds and developed through school refurbishment projects. We will make this a key consideration of the Scottish Government’s support to any project(s) delivered through any future schools investment programme.

Scottish Government

Education Scotland

Local Authorities

Scottish Futures Trust

We will prioritise STEM in the expansion of Modern Apprenticeships and the development of Graduate Level Apprenticeships and Foundation Apprenticeships and further improve vocational pathways. This will start in 2018 and continue for the five year lifetime of this strategy.

Skills Development Scotland

Scotland’s new Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board will focus the work of all of the enterprise and skills agencies on action to support growth of key economic sectors and to produce the skills that businesses and our people need, especially STEM ones. The Board will seek to improve collaboration on all aspects of STEM education between colleges, universities, wider training programmes and employers to support productivity and growth.

Scottish Funding Council

Universities

Scottish Enterprise

Highlands and Islands Enterprise

Our Innovation Centres will continue to improve the effectiveness and impact of links between businesses and academia, and influence jobs of the future. In particular, Innovation Centres will increase their promotion of STEM and its practical applications to help inspire school pupils and students to develop their STEM skills for a range of careers.

Innovation Centres

We will work with early learning providers and schools from June 2018 to help them address unconscious bias and gender stereotyping and tackle inequity. This will include the development and delivery of new professional learning programmes on equity in STEM for practitioners. We will seek to embed good practice from the successful Institute of Physics Improving Gender Balance project across all schools by 2022. We will create a dedicated resource to lead, manage and support this work and will involve equalities experts in the third sector.

Education Scotland

Skills Development Scotland

Third Sector Equality Partners

Using information from the Scottish Attainment Challenge we will review the impact and effectiveness of numeracy and STEM related activity to reduce the poverty related attainment gap by March 2019. We will share what we know about effective practice through the National Improvement Hub and wider STEM schools programmes and networks, in order to help inform future decisions on the use of funding in schools.

Education Scotland

Skills Development Scotland will continue to develop its approach to support key influencers (teachers, parents, career advisors and peers) to challenge assumptions of traditional career choices and encourage under-represented groups to take up STEM apprenticeship opportunities. This will include embedding equality considerations in the quality assurance of apprenticeships provision.

Skills Development Scotland

Skills Development Scotland will work with partners at a local level to increase female uptake of Pre-Apprenticeship and Foundation Apprenticeship STEM related programmes, starting in 2018 and continuing until 2022.

Skills Development Scotland

We will launch a new social media campaign in 2018 to increase gender balance in participation in STEM study and to address STEM occupational segregation. This campaign will be led and championed by Scottish Government, Scottish Funding Council and the college and university sectors.

Scottish Government

Scottish Funding Council

Colleges

Universities

Each college and university will develop a Gender Action Plan ( GAP) through the Outcome Agreement process, with the aim of advancing equity to reduce gender disparities for learners within STEM subject areas. The Scottish Funding Council will produce an inaugural annual progress report on institutional performance in this area in December 2017.

Scottish Funding Council

Colleges

Universities

Using the Scottish Funding Council’s new school engagement framework which will launch in 2018, and be fully implemented by 2020, we will identify new ways of opening up opportunities in STEM study by breaking down gender barriers and encouraging prospective students from deprived areas.

Scottish Government

Scottish Funding Council

Colleges

Universities

Local Authorities

Skills Development Scotland will increase diversity and equity across Scotland’s apprenticeship programmes through a targeted package of employer engagement, engagement with under-represented groups and mentoring for young people programmes, starting in early 2018.

Skills Development Scotland

We will conduct an in-depth analysis of deprivation and rurality to understand how best to reach under-served audiences. This will inform the use of our Public Science Engagement funding in 2018-19 and beyond.

Scottish Government

We will support the Science Centres to continue to target activities at particular groups currently under-served by science engagement activities, through use of our Community Subsidy. This will include close working with communities and other groups to make sure that activities meet their needs whether through events in Centres or delivered through outreach to community venues.

Scottish Government

Science Centres

We will require Science Festivals to promote at least one event specifically targeted towards women and girls from 2017-18 onwards as a condition for accepting our funding.

Scottish Government

Science Festivals

We will require Science Centres and larger Science Festivals to work the CLD sector to develop Community STEM Plans from 2018-19 onwards as a condition of Scottish Government funding for public engagement activities.

Scottish Government

Education Scotland

Science Centres

Science Festivals

Education Scotland will work with the Science Centres and Science Festivals in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee on a pilot basis to extend the reach of their programmes to parents and families in designated SIMD areas, starting in 2018 .

Education Scotland

Science Centres

Science Festivals

We will, from June 2018, support ELC settings to promote positive engagement with STEM and tackle gender stereotypes through their parental and family engagement activities.

Scottish Government

Education Scotland

Local Authorities

Private Nurseries

Third Sector and Voluntary Organisations

Parent organisations

We will, from August 2018, extend the resources available for parents through Parentzone and through collaboration with partners, including parent representative organisations and community learning and development partners, support parents and carers in informing and inspiring their children on the opportunities which STEM can offer.

Education Scotland

Skills Development Scotland

Parent Organisations

We will support STEM Ambassadors to engage with sectors which require more support, such as ELC, parents and families, and community learning and development with evidence of increases in this engagement by the end of 2018.

Scottish Government

Education Scotland

Scottish Schools Education Research Centre

Science Centres and Festivals

CLD Practitioners

We will use digital platforms and web-conferencing to extend the reach of STEM Ambassadors to ensure all schools and settings have access to the support and resources they can provide with evidence of a broader reach by the end of 2019.

Scottish Government

Education Scotland

Scottish Schools Education Research Centre

We will establish a new Young STEM Leaders programme to stimulate and strengthen the development of peer mentoring and inspiration in STEM for children and young people by children and young people. The programme will start in early 2018 and be fully operational by 2020.

Scottish Government

Education Scotland

We will develop a national engagement campaign, in collaboration with the wider science engagement sector, to inspire and engage people of all ages and backgrounds with STEM.

Scottish Government

Skills Development Scotland will build on the success of MyWoW Live! by extending provision to reach and inspire more young people into STEM careers including those in more remote and rural locations, starting in 2018.

Skills Development Scotland

We will work with colleges and universities to set out, in their outcome agreements, how higher levels of progression from school to further education, and onward to higher education STEM courses in a college or university setting can be promoted.

Scottish Government

Scottish Funding Council

Colleges

Universities

As part of wider awareness raising of all opportunities available in STEM study after school, we will promote the expansion of financial support for taught postgraduate study from 2017-18.

Scottish Government

Scottish Funding Council

Colleges

Universities

The Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board will provide leadership and support in developing a shared approach to promoting the benefits of a career in STEM to key audiences.

Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board

Skills Development Scotland

We will introduce new STEM Awards for ELC settings, schools and CLD settings to promote, recognise and build on activities in these sectors, based on the success of the Digital Schools Award with the first round of awards taking place during academic year 2018-19. We will also explore with partners how the Digital Schools Award may be extended out to early learning and community development settings.

Education Scotland

Scottish Government

We will hold an annual learning conference each year of the STEM strategy from 2018-2022 for CLD practitioners. These events will be organised in collaboration with partners and showcase inspirational lifelong learning STEM practice.

Education Scotland

We will support the establishment of effective school/employer partnerships for STEM through the DYW Regional Groups and encourage links between the Groups and STEM Ambassadors, so that by 2020 every school cluster is working with a STEM partner from the private, public or third sectors.

Scottish Government

DYW Regional Groups

Education Scotland will develop and quality assure an online directory of STEM inspiration activities, covering early learning, primary and secondary schools. Education Scotland will work with Skills Development Scotland and the DYW Regional Groups to embed the directory within Marketplace. The online directory will be operational in academic year 2018-19.

Education Scotland

Skills Development Scotland

DYW Regional Groups

Local Authorities

Through our funding of the Young Engineers and Science Clubs and Generation Science in 2017-18, we will continue to support national initiatives that are delivered to schools in every local authority in Scotland, support STEM learning and teaching, offer real-life relevance, and enthuse and inspire young people about STEM.

Scottish Government

We will create a STEM hub network to strengthen regional-level collaboration between partners, including universities, science centres and employers. The STEM hub network will start to facilitate more joint professional learning activities between secondary schools and colleges in 2018 and this will be broadened out to include primary and early learning settings during 2019.

Scottish Government

Education Scotland

Scottish Funding Council

Colleges

Universities

Local Authorities,

We will work with partners, including DYW Regional Groups, to ensure the Career Education Standard is fully implemented by 2020.

Scottish Government

Education Scotland

Skills Development Scotland

DYW Regional Groups

Starting in 2018, Skills Development Scotland will develop STEM specific labour market information for Skills Development Scotland staff, teachers and other practitioners which describes current demand for STEM skills. This will be accessed through My World of Work.

Skills Development Scotland

Each college region will build on existing good practice and partnerships to develop an evolving STEM strategy and action plan to take forward relevant actions from this national strategy, linking industry and the curriculum delivered in the region, to drive productivity and growth. This work will be undertaken in partnership with higher education institutions, key regional and local industries to drive productivity and growth. The Scottish Funding Council will provide guidelines on developing these strategies and action plans, so that, by the end of 2018, a suite of regional statements will be in place to enhance collaborative learning and skills development.

Scottish Funding Council Colleges

By the end of 2018 we will conduct an audit of current college and university student placement and graduate and post-qualification internship opportunities. Using this baseline, we will increase the number of college and university student placement opportunities with employers within STEM curriculum areas, and increase the number of graduate and post-qualification internships offered with STEM employers.

Scottish Funding Council

Colleges

Universities

Scottish Employer and Industry Representative Bodies

We will enhance the focus on STEM careers by college and university careers advice services. This will involve forging closer links between advisory services and STEM industries, in order to best present current and emerging employment opportunities across STEM disciplines. This will be supported by the 15-24 Learner Journey Review, which will provide evidence and views on the approach to careers advice and guidance within colleges and universities, and how this may be enhanced to meet the needs of learners and of STEM sectors of the economy.

Scottish Government

Colleges

Universities

Skills Development Scotland will take an evidence based approach to link provision of STEM apprenticeships to the needs of the economy, in sectors and regions, starting in 2018.

Skills Development Scotland

We will build on the STEM data study published alongside this strategy to continue to improve our data and understanding of what STEM skills are needed in the labour market, how these are being met by the education, training and lifelong learning system and how this might be improved, including the identification of barriers for particular groups.

Scottish Government

Skills Development Scotland

Education Scotland

Scottish Funding Council

employers

By the end of 2017, we will establish a short-life working group including, and chaired by, external experts to analyse and determine the factors that contribute to the loss of people from the STEM skills pipeline and how these can be addressed. As part of this we will, in particular, ask that the group consider how to ensure more STEM graduates consider careers in STEM industries. The group will provide an interim report in Spring 2018 and conclude their work within a year.

Scottish Government

Skills Development Scotland

Education Scotland

Scottish Funding Council

Colleges

Universities

Local Authorities

Employers

We will establish an Implementation Group to oversee the delivery of the strategy. The Group will be chaired by the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science. It will develop a delivery plan for the actions identified in this strategy and publish an annual report on progress. It will be supported by a broader external advisory group.

Scottish Government

We will work with partners to develop key performance indicators to measure progress against the aims of the strategy. These will be based on the outcomes and the changes we expect to see and the data sources listed in this strategy. These will be finalised by the end of 2017.

Scottish Government