Government urged to help embed STEM in primary education
The Institution of Engineering and Technology has led a call for government to close Britain’s STEM skills gap, which is estimated to cost £1.5bn annually to the economy.
In an open letter to PM Boris Johnson - signed by STEM pioneers and representatives from Rolls Royce, Vodafone and the MoD - the group has appealed to the government to work with educators and industry to develop practical support for primary school teachers and embed engineering in existing STEM learning.
Reports from the IET this summer estimate a shortfall of over 173,000 workers in the UK STEM sector, which works out at an average of 10 unfilled roles per business. IET’s latest Skills Survey identifies that half (49 per cent) of engineering businesses are experiencing difficulties in the skills available to them when recruiting. IET added that it has followed the problem for the past 15 years, which it says is ‘longer than the time it takes for a primary aged-child to complete their education’.
According to IET, the situation can be resolved by embedding engineering into primary school learning to help bridge the growing skills gap within UK workforces and support #EngineeringKidsFutures.
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