£200m PBSA Partnership Launched by QIP and Solibuild
23rd Mar 2023
Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, has announced her support for the Young Life campaign, which has gone live as of today. The three-year campaign aims to increase the number of students that take STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths) at A level by 50%. Morgan believes that "these subjects are key to keeping young people's options open, because the skills gained from studying them will come in useful in almost any job you care to mention." She argues that science is one of the largest forces behind social mobility and maintains that it is imperative these subjects are encouraged to pupils. Morgan also noted that pupils who continue maths into A level earn 10% more over their career. Employers such as BAE Systems, Ford and Shell wrote to the Telegraph claiming that there is a worryingly large skills gap in today's workforce; Economical growth, they say, is dependable upon highly-skilled individuals that are suitable for recruitment in companies that require engineering, mathematical or scientific knowledge. And so, the campaign aims to make fully "aware of the opportunities that [STEM] subjects [can] bring."
The campaign also aims to increase awareness particularly to girls. Reports have indicated that in 2011 only 19% of girls who received an A* at GCSE in physics went on to study it at A level. And for maths, less than two-thirds of girls who received an A* continued it at A level. It has been revealed that as many as 200 organisations have voiced their support for this campaign and understand the importance of enthusing more young people to take STEM subjects to A level and further.
image courtesy to Flickr, Creative Commons
