As we have had a year of reflection and discussion around a changing curriculum, I have found myself surrounded by various groups of people including policy makers, education experts, trust leads, subject leaders and teachers who are from different areas of STEM education, but who all seem to agree on certain things. The passion and mission we all share extends much beyond specific items some people would like to see added to or taken away from the curriculum and I think that is so encouraging as a message.
The things I frequently hear and that are our shared values -
1. We want inspiration
That everyone wants pupils not to just survive and get through exams, but to flourish and truly find their own passion and voice. Sometimes the view you may be that adult that opens a door of possibility might seem naïve, but I often hear from teachers and pupils that someone lit that spark. We are not all experts or interested in every area of STEM, but we can make use of a variety of resources and ideas, even if they don’t appeal to us.
2. We want curiosity
That curiosity and genuine engagement with STEM is what we are all working towards. We want pupils to be able to think through new problems and care about investigating the world around us. Interestingly, this is one of the things we hear from employers- they want young people to start in the workplace not as the finished article but wanting to know more!
3. We value practical work
Practical work is crucial to developing many skills. Not because the practical work is always exactly the same in industry, but that we are trying to build up skills and ways of working that are careful, measured and requiring thinking and background understanding. This also heavily ties in with my last point around curiosity; practical solutions to problems are often needed from engineering to healthcare. Let’s start students on that path in the best way we can, but also help build translatable skills in teamwork, dealing with evidence and analysis.
Whilst it is encouraging that we all have the same purpose and ideals, it is always a challenge to implement change from a workload and even mental load perspective. Who has time to find and select from an often-bewildering array of opportunities and people who would like to work with educators? We try to work in different ways to connect groups of experts, employers and educators together through our STEM Community and our wide-
ranging offers of events, resources and CPD to make it easier for you to see what is out there and make the most of the great education ecosystem we are all part of.
Invitation to the National Secondary Science Conference
If you would like a really impactful and interesting day to reflect and collect ideas, the theme of our National Secondary Science Conference this year is ‘Helping everyone to flourish’ . Come and engage with topics such as teaching ideas, enrichment, curriculum resources adapted to different contexts (all designed to motivate and interest everyone!) and inclusion- from specialist speakers, experts and teachers alike. It is also a chance to meet with like-minded professionals and possibly even stay in historic York for an extra day or two!
Join us on 3rd July 2026- National secondary science conference | STEM