Members' Blogs

Weekly news round up: 03/3/26

By Tim Bradbury posted yesterday
The Week in Education: What mattered for STEM teachers 25 Feb 2026 – 3 Mar 2026 • UK education, STEM-first (but not STEM-only) This is a practical, teacher-facing digest: what happened, why it matters in classrooms (especially science, maths, computing and DT), and a few prompts you can take into department time. Duplicate coverage has been consolidated. 1) SEND reforms: the “experts at hand” idea meets capacity, workload and reality This week felt like the SEND reforms moved from “policy announcement” into “implementation questions”. A key theme across outlets: the ambition is huge — but so is the workforce challenge. Staffing the new ‘experts ...

Have your voice heard - Science Teaching Survey 2026

By Tim Bradbury posted 2 days ago
Last year's survey received around 2000 responses from science teachers and technicians across the UK and Ireland. The findings cast a light on the rewards and challenges that face science educators, including funding, understaffing and preparing the next generation for the future workforce. You can view more details of what the 2025 survey revealed – and the actions the RSC is taking – on our website. [ The Science Teaching Survey 2025 ] In the 2026 survey, we include benchmarking questions that help to identify trends as well as focusing on areas such as nation specific curriculum changes, teaching of sustainability and climate change, and helping ...

Focus of the Month: Build Physics Expertise with SKPT

By Marc Gillham posted 6 days ago
Each month in the STEM Community we shine a spotlight on a theme to help you quickly find professional learning, resources, and ideas that make a genuine difference in schools. This month’s Focus of the Month is Leadership & Development , and we’re taking a broad view of what that means in practice: building confidence, strengthening subject expertise , and creating the conditions for great teaching to thrive across a department. One programme that fits that brief brilliantly is Subject Knowledge for Physics Teaching (SKPT). It is free , blended professional development, delivered by The Ogden Trust in partnership with ...

Weekly news round up: 24/2/26 -BUMPER HALF TERM EDITION!

By Tim Bradbury posted 8 days ago
Bumper half-term catch-up: What mattered for STEM teachers 10–24 February 2026 • UK education, with a STEM-first lens This is a “join-the-dots” round-up for busy teachers: the headlines, what they might mean in classrooms (especially science, maths, computing, DT), and a few prompts to take into department time. Duplicate coverage has been consolidated so you’re not reading the same announcement five times. The big picture: SEND + the Schools White Paper took centre stage If you only read one “system” story this half-term, make it this: the Schools White Paper landed with major proposals on trusts, admissions, disadvantage and accountability — alongside ...

Focus of the Month: Help shape a Level 3 Laboratory Technician Apprenticeship

By Tim Bradbury posted 12 days ago
This month our Community Focus is on Leadership and development and STEM Learning is exploring the potential to develop a Level 3 Laboratory Technician Apprenticeship for schools, in partnership with Best Practice Network, an established apprenticeship training provider. The programme would be funded through the apprenticeship levy and designed specifically for school laboratory technicians. It would combine on the job learning in school with practical, lab-based training delivered in specialist laboratory facilities. Before taking this forward, we’re keen to understand whether there is demand from schools and trusts for this type of programme. Your responses ...

Less than one month to Mars Day 2026!

By Temitayo Olawale posted 13 days ago
The countdown to Tuesday 3 March 2026 has officially begun. Join us for this exciting free virtual event adventure for everyone, presented by the UK’s European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO-UK) at STEM Learning and in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the UK Space Agency. Once again, Mars Day has an out-of-this-world programme of live link-ups, activities and resources, talks and live Q&A with space stars, as well as career discussions with the hidden heroes of the UK space industry. Beam in for a sky full of guest speakers and stars across the day. Land on your favourite Martian topics, book a session or two, take part ...

Focus of the Month: Learning Through Technician Networks

By Sarah Atkinson posted 16 days ago
When we talk about Leadership and Development, it’s easy to picture formal CPD: a course, a certificate, a training day with a workbook and a follow-up quiz. Useful? Absolutely. But it’s not the whole story. Some of the most impactful professional learning I’ve experienced (and witnessed) happens in a different way: through networks, people coming together to share what’s working, ask for help, compare notes, and swap practical solutions. It’s CPD that’s grounded in real classrooms and real labs, shaped by the day-to-day realities of the role. A brilliant reminder from the York Technicians Network This week I had the pleasure of attending a York Technicians ...

From vision to impact: Celebrating Women and Girls in Science

By Tim Bradbury posted 21 days ago
Today is International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a global moment to celebrate achievements, spotlight role models, and keep pushing for full and equal participation in STEM. UNESCO’s 2026 theme is “From vision to impact: redefining STEM by closing the gender gap”, a great reminder that inspiration is powerful, but it’s the systems around young people (access, opportunity, belonging, funding, mentoring) that turn inspiration into STEM futures. A space story that starts on Earth At our Family Space Day (Dec 2025), we heard from ESA reserve astronaut Meganne Christian, who shared her journey, what it was that shaped her ambition, and ...

Weekly news round up: 10/2/26

By Tim Bradbury posted 21 days ago
The Week in Education (3–10 Feb 2026): what STEM teachers might want to notice A conversational long-read pulling together education headlines (and a few wider stories) from Schools Week, FE Week, Tes, Sky News and the EEF. 1) Reading, curriculum access, and the “what do we put in front of pupils?” question A noticeable thread this week is “access” — not just whether pupils can decode text, but whether the stuff we ask them to read feels worth reading. Sky reported on a campaign to get children “back into books”, with an emphasis on ensuring reading materials reflect contemporary Britain and pupils’ lived experience. That’s not a STEM headline on the ...

Leadership, development and real-world routes: Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week

By Tim Bradbury posted 21 days ago
Leadership, development and real-world routes: Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week February’s Focus of the Month is Leadership and Development, and few pathways develop confidence, capability and career readiness quite like a high-quality STEM apprenticeship. National Apprenticeship Week is a brilliant moment to spotlight the practical, employer-led routes that help young people step into meaningful STEM careers while learning on the job. Apprenticeships don’t just build technical knowledge; they grow communication skills, resilience, teamwork and professional identity, some of the attributes we talk about so often in leadership development. ...

International Day of Women and Girls in Science: Standing on the shoulders of pioneers

By Tim Bradbury posted 22 days ago
Each year on 11 February, we celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a moment to recognise the achievements of women in Science and to reflect on the work still needed to make science and engineering truly inclusive for everyone. Across the STEM Community and here at STEM Learning, we recently asked colleagues and members which women in science have inspired them most. The responses weren’t just lists of famous names, they were stories of persistence, quiet brilliance, and, in many cases, of contributions that weren’t fully recognised at the time. What quickly became clear is something many of us already know from our own classrooms: talent ...

IOP Teacher of Physics and Technician Awards are open for nomination!

By Tim Bradbury posted 27 days ago
We are delighted to announce that the 2026 IOP Awards for Teachers of Physics and School and Further Education Technicians are now open for nominations. Visit iop.org/awards to find out more and make a nomination. Complete your nomination by Sunday 15 March 2026. The Teachers of Physics Awards celebrate the success of secondary-level physics teachers who have raised the profile of physics and science in schools and colleges. The School and Further Education Technician Award enables the community to recognise and celebrate the skills and experience of individuals employed as technicians or technical ...

You’re Qualified - Not Finished

By Tim Bradbury posted 28 days ago
You’ve qualified and you feel you should know everything, but secretly you don’t – now what? Liz Gibbs I was lucky in my early career. My first teaching job was in a tiny village school where everybody knew everybody. I took over from the local butcher’s wife who had taught Year 2 in the same classroom for 30 years. Talk about big, experienced shoes to fill. One day a pupil wanted to move his learning on by solving a column subtraction. Looking back, my degree course had not prepared me well for this moment and I found myself in a position of showing the boy a method I had learnt at junior school. I defaulted to the old “borrow one, ...

AI Sprints: Finding the Stories Worth Telling

By Alex More posted 29-01-2026
AI Sprints are about people, stories and truth. So often in education, we hear from people who claim to predict the future by describing the present, and they do it with such conviction. Somewhere in the noise lie the reliable voices. Those who have genuine stories to tell, ones of transformation and hope. This is why I started the AI Sprints – to surface the stories worth telling, and to give people a space to share them. If you are curious what an AI Sprint is, I will do my best to define it. In essence, it’s a fast-paced exploration into the issues and ethics that surround artificial intelligence (AI). It’s not a podcast as it’s a live event. It’s also ...

AI Sprints: Finding the Stories Worth Telling

By Alex More posted 28-01-2026
AI Sprints: Finding the Stories Worth Telling AI Sprints are about people, stories and truth. So often in education, we hear from people who claim to predict the future by describing the present, and they do it with such conviction. Somewhere in the noise lie the reliable voices. Those who have genuine stories to tell, ones of transformation and hope. This is why I started the AI Sprints – to surface the stories worth telling, and to give people a space to share them. If you are curious what an AI Sprint is, I will do my best to define it. In essence, it’s a fast-paced exploration into the issues and ethics that surround artificial intelligence (AI). ...

Weekly news round up: 28/01/26

By Tim Bradbury posted 28-01-2026
The Week in Education: What mattered for STEM 21–28 January 2026 Policy pulse: phones off, AI on Phone-free school day affirmed. The education secretary wrote to heads stating schools should be “phone-free environments” all day, including breaks and not using phones as calculators. Expect inspectors to check policies and consistency in practice. Sky coverage: phone-free letter AI tutoring & edtech pilots expand. DfE set out a trial of “safe AI-powered tutoring tools” targeted at disadvantaged pupils, alongside a £23m expansion of AI/edtech pilots to >1,000 schools and colleges from September. STEM heads should weigh device access, safeguarding, ...

Weekly news round up: 20/01/26

By Tim Bradbury posted 20-01-2026
This Week in Education (UK) – 14–20 January 2026 Welcome back to your weekly round-up tailored for UK STEM teachers. Below you’ll find the key developments from the past seven days, with a STEM-first lens but a full view of the wider education landscape. Where stories overlap (e.g. multiple outlets covering the same announcement), I’ve consolidated to avoid duplication and highlighted the most actionable angles for classroom and leadership teams. Each item includes a link to the original coverage. Policy, Online Safety & Mobile Phones Government to consult on an under-16s social media ban; phone-free schools pushed via new guidance. Ministers ...

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow: Breaking barriers in STEM

By Tim Bradbury posted 16-01-2026
Last week on STEM Community Live, I was joined by Jessie Soohyun Park, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Samsung, and Becky Patel, Head of Education and Learning at Tech She Can, to explore a topic that feels more urgent than ever: how we break down barriers into STEM and technology, and how schools can help young people develop the skills they’ll need for a rapidly changing future. At the heart of the conversation was Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, a free, tech-for-good education programme and competition for 11–18 year olds across the UK and Ireland, and the partnership behind it. https://solvefortomorrowuk.com/ Why diversity in ...

The 2025 Chemist-tree Champions

By Tim Bradbury posted 16-01-2026
The Winners of the 2025 Chemist-Tree Competition are... 🥇 1st Place @Katherine Groves Katherine takes the top spot with a show-stopping Chemist-tree creation that wowed the community. 🥈 2nd Place @Laura Winter Laura’s beautiful and cleverly crafted decoration earned her second place. 🥉 3rd Place @Louise Mair Louise’s entry impressed with its balance of design and STEM inspiration Highly Commended Entries We couldn’t let these outstanding creations go uncelebrated! 🏅 @Olivia Wansbury – Virus Snowflakes brought a microbiological twist to the holidays and showed how beautiful biology can be. 🏅 @Emma Nicholson – ...

Apprenticeships with Altitude: Discover Engineering Careers with Virgin Atlantic

By Tim Bradbury posted 16-01-2026
This National Apprenticeship Week , we’re delighted to be hosting Virgin Atlantic – Apprenticeships with Altitude , an inspiring online event designed to open young people’s eyes to the exciting world of aviation engineering and the many career pathways that apprenticeships can unlock. From keeping aircraft safely in the sky to designing and maintaining complex engineering systems, aviation is powered by a highly skilled STEM workforce. This exclusive webinar offers students a rare chance to hear directly from those working at the heart of one of the UK’s most iconic airlines. What is Apprenticeships with Altitude ? Apprenticeships with Altitude ...