Thank you, convener. It is a pleasure to be before the committee this morning, and in particular to be before members who are new to the committee since the last time I was here. I offer a special welcome to Beatrice Wishart, who is newly elected to Parliament; this is the first time that our paths have crossed, so it is a particular pleasure to be here.
I will take a few minutes to set the scene regarding the important issue that the committee has chosen to investigate. I very much welcome the opportunity to appear before the committee to discuss the Government’s approach to STEM learning in the early years of education, particularly during this maths week Scotland.
Looking at the big picture, science and innovation are embedded in Scotland’s heritage and culture. They play an ever-increasing role in Scotland’s future in the very complex world that we live in. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics open up new ways of manufacturing, create new knowledge and innovation and open doors to understanding the world around us. That creates huge opportunities for economic growth in Scotland and for the social benefit of our people. To achieve that benefit, we need to grow Scotland’s STEM expertise. That needs to happen for everyone, so that there is equality of access and opportunity in STEM.
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Since I became the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, including STEM, I have been impressed and inspired to see at first hand across the country the multitude of STEM opportunities and initiatives that are under way. We all need to promote and celebrate Scotland’s significant success, achievement and talent in STEM and the committee is focusing, rightly, on the early years of education, which are the foundation of that success.
There is much to be celebrated, but, as the committee is finding out, there are also many challenges. Those challenges include ensuring that we have the right number of teachers and early learning professionals with the expertise to deliver great STEM learning; tackling the gender imbalance and other inequities that exist in STEM, which, of course, are unfair and undermine our ability to deliver inclusive economic growth; sustaining and growing the inspiration and enthusiasm for STEM; and ensuring that education and training are equipping people with the skills that employers seek.
The STEM strategy that we have put in place aims to tackle all those challenges in a systematic and co-ordinated way. In the course of its inquiry, the committee will have heard about some of the action that we have taken to ensure that all our children have a really good STEM experience in the crucial early years. Members will have heard about the raising aspirations in science education programme, which has worked across 532 school clusters since August 2017. An evaluation showed that 87 per cent of the pupils involved had enjoyed more challenge in STEM learning and 77 per cent had increased their STEM aspirations.
The committee will also have heard about the Scottish Science Education Research Centre—we will call it SSERC for the rest of the meeting—which we have funded for more than 10 years. To date, SSERC’s primary science cluster programmes have engaged with 99 school clusters across all 32 local authorities.
We are doing a lot more. We have 2,700 active STEM ambassadors in Scotland. Recently, Education Scotland awarded nearly £1.4 million of STEM professional learning grants for teachers, technicians and early and community learning practitioners. A total of 140 new bids will be supported, which will benefit an estimated 722 establishments across the country and nearly 14,000 practitioners this year alone.
I do not want to say much more. I could continue to talk about some of the other actions, but I am sure that they will be mentioned during questions and answers. For many of the strategy’s actions, particularly those that are targeted at the early years, it will take time and patience to see the long-term impacts. I feel confident that we have the right building blocks in place, but we will of course continue our efforts to raise aspiration in STEM and ensure that our young learners are encouraged and aspire to develop an interest in and awareness of STEM, not just for their future careers but to ensure that our society is equipped to fully understand and adapt to our ever-changing world.