STEM Subjects

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 3:01 pm on 18 May 2022.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 3:01, 18 May 2022

That's a really good question and a really good point that the Member makes in his question. The £1.5 million in grant funding that I referred to earlier, some of that is—. For example, we've recently invested in Techniquest to explore delivering programmes of work to enhance science and maths in primary and secondary schools, developing that love of science, if you like, at an early age, which I was mentioning to Natasha Asghar a little bit earlier. We fund Engineering Education Scheme Wales, which runs programmes right across Wales to inspire and motivate young people to choose careers in STEM, with a particular focus, as you'd expect with that name, on engineering. We fund computer coding workshops for pupils, we support the further maths support programme with Swansea University, which aims to widen access to further maths, which is obviously critical for some of the STEM disciplines, and we also support the Institute of Physics Stimulating Physics Network programme, amongst other investment. So, I agree wholeheartedly with him that it's really important to encourage our young people who have an aptitude and enthusiasm for STEM subjects to see those as realistic options for them.