What does effective employer engagement as part of the 14-19 Diplomas look like?  A new online, interactive toolkit aims to show you. 

It has been written in conjunction with the Institute of Education and Business Excellence, Local Authorities and consortia, and is likely to be of most use to the Consortium Lead, Employer Engagement Lead or Line of Learning Lead.

Using the interactive facility, you can see how your consortium is performing and how ready it is to deliver employer engagement as part of the Diploma.

It also has exemplar employer engagement strategies and case studies of good practice.

It is available now via the DCSF 14-19 website click here to view.  

Guest Blogger: Nick Parry, DCSF

All schools in the UK are invited to join the new nationwide STEM Clubs Network either by affiliating an established club or by starting a new one. The initiative, which is aimed at 11-14 year-olds, aims to tackle the UK’s STEM skills shortage by transforming the way young people engage with these subjects and linking what they learn to the real world. It will also give teachers access to the very latest in best practice as well as invaluable professional advice, resources, contacts and personal support.
Although the focus is on encouraging every secondary school in the UK to join the STEM Clubs Network, any school is welcome to join this free network.
 
The STEM Clubs Network is co-ordinated by STEMNET and builds on the highly-successful After School Science and Engineering Clubs pilot funded by the Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) which has been running since 2006 involving more than 10,000 students in 500 schools.
 
Teachers interested in setting up a STEM Club in their school should e-mail to register their interest, or go to www.stemclubs.net to find out more information.

Guest blogger: Cathy Brown, STEMNET

 

The new STEM Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance Pack went live today (1^st April 2009). This guide has a huge amount of information and resources to help careers professionals in the promotion of STEM subjects and careers. It has lots of useful information on current and future trends in STEM careers, learning routes and pathways and the enhanced earning power of following a STEM route. There are also ideas on how to communicate the key messages to young people, including activities you can take straight from the pack. 

The guide includes a case study on the UK space industry by Anu Ojha, Director of Education and Space Communications at the National Space Centre and Project Director of the Space Academy Programme. 

This pack is part of the DCSF STEM Careers Awareness Campaign which has four strands: communications campaign, Furturemorph website, careers awareness resources and careers awareness timeline. My blog dated 6 February 2009 gives an overview of this campaign.

Click here for the new STEM Careers IAG Pack.

You may be aware of some recent adverts in various media encouraging young people to consider science and maths and to ‘see where they can take you’.

These are part of the STEM Careers Awareness Campaign which is being delivered by the DCSF and its partners. This campaign comprises a range of initiatives to improve STEM careers awareness and uptake and is aimed at students, parents, teachers and IAG providers.

The campaign is in response to Action Programme 8 of the National STEM Programme: ‘All young people to be made aware of STEM career opportunities and well prepared to develop skills needed to pursue them.’

The careers campaign has four initiatives:

1. Integrated communication campaign, including the adverts and www.scienceandmaths.net 
   
2. Future Morph website www.futuremorph.org for 11 to 19 year olds.
   
3. Careers awareness resources, providing support to schools, teachers, careers education and IAG professionals in the form of online tools.
   
4. Careers awareness timeline, designed to establish a more coherent structure for young people to learn about careers relating to science and maths during KS3.

The STEM Careers Awareness Stakeholder Guide gives an update on the campaign.