EDUCATION
Full STEM AHEAD
We talk to five local schools about the innovative ways they’re inspiring the next generation of STEM professionals
WORDS BY CHARLOTTE PHILLIPS
S cience, technology, engineering and mathematics – STEM to those in the know, which is an awful lot of people around Cambridgeshire – are subjects we’re rather good at. They are popular, too. In 2022, maths was the top A-level choice for sixth- formers, closely followed by psychology, biology and chemistry. It’s translated to an enormous jump in applications to related degrees at university over the past decade, including four times as many students hoping to study artificial intelligence. While the
That’s where schools in our area come in. Talk to their STEM or STEAM experts (the A stands for the arts, and importance of creativity in every STEM area) and their passion for this vital area of education comes across loud and clear. STEM matters: these subjects connect many areas of life as well as education. Being at the cutting edge of STEM matters even more in the future – and that means producing ‘the right number of engineers, scientists and biomedical students’, says Paul Baker, head of computing and digital strategy at The Perse School.
country has what you might politely describe as a few issues to contend with currently, boosting the importance of STEM should still be a major priority. This was something recently acknowledged by the government, with the creation of a separate science department and its own minister at the helm. It isn’t just about supporting the current generation of amazing STEM specialists, but ensuring that we also get even better at inspiring children to become the brilliant STEM-focused brain-boxes of the future.
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK MARCH 2023 79
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