3. What discussions has the Minister had with the Minister for Economy regarding how the education system could address the skills gap? OQ58041

We discuss this issue regularly. We have most recently discussed a range of areas linked to the issue of addressing skills gaps, including careers and work-related experiences, the young person's guarantee, and the renew and reform project.

Thank you very much, Minister. Firstly, I want to thank you for the entertainment you provided yesterday with you breaking out a beat with the First Minister about your musical programme. I will be asking you a question on that very soon in future. But, for now, Minister, you'll be aware of the concerns that have been expressed by academics about plans to replace physics, chemistry and biology as separate subjects and to replace them with one integrated science award. One academic warned, and I quote, that a 'dumbing down' of science at GCSE level could see Wales

'miss out on some brilliant scientists in the future', and widen existing skills gap in STEM subjects. Minister, I've spoken to a number of students on various levels and they don't want to have this programme put in front of them. They want to have the option of being able to have one science to study, such as biology, chemistry or physics, whatever their passion is. The Institution of Engineering and Technology has called on the UK Government to address the skills gap in England by embedding engineering and technology skills into primary school education. So, Minister, my question is: what assurance can you provide that changes to the teaching of science do not amount to dumbing down, what do you say to those students who want to specialise in just one science, and will you consider the proposal to embed engineering and technology skills into primary school education? Thank you.

Well, I can assure you that—I know that you've quoted an academic who feels strongly in support of the perspective that you describe—there are plenty of others who take exactly the opposite view. And she will have known that, yesterday, we had the Institute of Physics and the other comparable bodies for chemistry and biology here in the Senedd, and if you took the time to speak with some of those, you would have heard a lot of support for what is being proposed in relation to the new qualifications. Combining the qualifications provides additional space in order to allow learners to take additional exams, including in some of the STEM subjects that she is advocating that they should be encouraged to take up, and some of those in applied contexts, like engineering, as she mentioned in her question. And combining the sciences also enables connections to be made across the sciences, which is four-square with the ethos of the new curriculum—not simply to be learning, but to be understanding and to be understanding the connections between different parts of what you are learning—and I think that will provide the opportunity of doing that.

In relation to the work that she was mentioning in primary school, I think it's really important that we start the learner's journey very early on, understanding what the range of options might be for learners to study, for engineering or other STEM subjects in later life. There are a number of things that we fund which are specifically targeted at young people of primary school age, including in schools themselves, but also opportunities to go outside the world of the school to experience coding, space technology, and a range of other experiences that begin them on that journey, if you like, of understanding the range of options, broadening their horizons and, hopefully, encouraging many of them to take STEM subjects later on.