<p>Welfare of Pupils in Education</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 1:57 pm on 4 October 2017.

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Photo of Kirsty Williams Kirsty Williams Liberal Democrat 1:57, 4 October 2017

Thank you very much, Eluned. You raise some really important points. What we do see if we look at the patterns is a drop-off, at each stage, of young women deciding to choose to study science. So, it drops between GCSE and A-level, it then drops again when people go on to university, and drops again at postgraduate study at university. We recognise that and we are working with my colleague Julie James to look at what more we can do to promote STEM opportunities to young women and making that crucial link for them between studying STEM at school and the prospects of a really well paid and successful future for them. That’s crucial, to make those links. I’m always very pleased to utilise, where we can, role models going into schools.

One of the other issues as well is to ensure that our teaching of science and STEM subjects is as engaging as it possibly can be. You’ll be aware that we have recently set up with new resources our new network of excellence for the teaching of science and engineering, so that people have a really positive experience, crucially, early on in their academic career. That means a positive experience of science at primary school.