Bridging the STEM Gap: How Businesses Can Inspire the Next Generation

For those who do not know:

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Nowadays, you will also see the acronym STEAM which has Art as an extension on the others.

Anyway, we often talk about the incredible skills shortages we are facing, and how we can bridge those gaps.

A sure fire way of solving this headache is by engaging in STEM activities with schools and colleges.

So, Why is STEM engagement important?

Well, STEM careers are some of the most in demand and simply put, we are not keeping up with the demand. Engineering companies, particularly the mechanical side, are seeing a retiring workforce with a predicted 20% to retire or be close to retirement in 2026.

We need young engineers and we need them now.

The UK government is estimating that we need an additional 1.8 million workers with engineering skills in the next decade.

STEM related jobs are growing at 14% versus 3% in other occupations.

So there is demand across the whole STEM industry.

Providing STEM engagements will also help students grow their critical thinking skills, as well as peaking their curiosity into various industries they may not have previously considered.

Almost every time I speak to a young person about engineering they immediately think it is too difficult for them as a career, particularly girls.

However, once we have explored coding, programming, or looked into the basics of how things are made. They often come away realising these opportunities are actually within reach.

It’s about changing mindsets.

Another brilliant reason to get involved in STEM engagement, it’s much more enjoyable than answering emails, sitting in meetings or attending generic careers fairs.

I have seen examples of STEM activities where students who are generally disengaged from school, come alive at the opportunity to test a science experiment or design a bridge. Often these students have a practical mindset and are future apprentices.

Anyway, If you are a business looking to get involved with STEM. I can tell you it’s easy.

Reach out to your local school or college and they will most likely bite your arm off for you to come in and deliver some activities.

Bonus points if it’s something unique to your business and industry.

Keep it simple too, take something fun and simple that you relate to your business and engage the young people.

For example you can use a water bottle, paper and lollipop sticks to create a vehicle that can go down a ramp and protect an egg. Aside from being fun, the students might pick up all sorts of skills like critical thinking, team leading, project management whilst unexpectedly exploring basic Physics.

Some other great examples I have seen include, changing a tyre from an F1 team, building bridges, soldering a circuit board, driving mini robots with coding and so much more.

The best thing is when they learn without knowing it.

If you are trying to raise awareness of your business in schools in the hopes the young people will apply, STEM activities might break down barriers into what you do. Feeding off natural curiosity from the students, you can simplify what you do and make it fun, leading to the classic moment:

"Oh, I actually would like to do that"

If you needed convincing to get involved, Microsoft did a study and found 91% of girls would be interested in a STEM career if they felt confident they could succeed.

Furthermore the department for business, energy and industrial strategy estimates that if we were able to achieve gender parity in STEM this would add up to £2 billion in GDP.

At FATP we see it as one of our missions to teach those STEM skills and inspire the next generation, as well as teaching them that STEM careers are possible for everyone!

If you are stuck for ideas and/or don't know how to reach out to schools and colleges to get involved, reach out to STEM Learning online, this is an organisation set up to help schools, young people and businesses access STEM engagements.

If you sign up as an STEM Ambassador you will gain access to a dashboard of schools and colleges who have requested support from businesses through STEM activities. Making your job super simple.

For advice on creating and delivering a STEM activity reach out as there is a whole host of people and resources I can point you to.

Good Luck