Introduction
ESP is instrumental in promoting sector recruitment and attractiveness for our key sectors and STEM in partnership with our college members, agencies and industry.
Additionally, ESP convenes the STEM Leads’ Forum to share and develop a supporting action plan and share best practice in support of the regional strategies and action plans.
This has resulted in colleges having a lead role in facilitating the Regional STEM Partnerships and a numbers of targeted events, webinars and online resources
Overview
With the support of the members of the Regional STEM Partnerships, STEM activities are now available in all regions of Scotland.
In line with the Scottish Government’s STEM Education and Training Strategy, thirteen regional STEM partnerships were established across Scotland. The partnerships are led by colleges but all work is undertaken collaboratively by the partnership members which should include (but not exhaustively), SDS, DYW, local authorities, universities, education leads and industry partners. The remit of the partnerships is to develop local STEM strategies and action plans in line with the national guidance. These plans should link to regional industry’s skills needs. All engagement data should be recorded and activities formally evaluated.
Partnerships
We have developed a number of strategic partnerships with a range of organisations, including;
- The IET: ESP is an education partner for the IET, supporting and promoting initiatives such as the Faraday Challenge and FIRST® LEGO® League.
- Ministry of Defence: signing an MoU with the Ministry of Defence and Civil Service as a STEM partner, including the coordination of RAF gifted resources such as MTa STEM kits via Scotland’s colleges.
- Developing the Young Workforce: Partnering with DYW to run regional Step into STEM events and assisting local employers in developing their STEM strategies and also signposting industry partners to regional activities aligned with those strategies.
- Education Scotland: Close liaison with Education Scotland’s STEM Officers and Primary Science Development (RAiSE) Officers has resulted in improved promotion of STEM activities to schools.
- STEM Learning: Working alongside SSERC, ESP continues to signpost employers to their local STEM Learning contact to help them coordinate their STEM outreach.