{"id":6997,"date":"2021-03-25T17:31:52","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T17:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/?p=6997"},"modified":"2021-03-26T09:47:19","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T09:47:19","slug":"securing-access-to-stem-subjects-for-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/securing-access-to-stem-subjects-for-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Securing access to STEM subjects for students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dr Anne Nortcliffe explains regional issues A level students have with accessing STEM subjects. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

A UCAS report (2020\u00a0 entry UCAS undergraduate report \u2013 where next?)<\/a> issued today highlights how the information and advice students receive in school has an important impact of their subject choice, qualifications, and future careers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not new news to me. As an engineering education researcher, for the last three years I have been researching, reporting and publishing at EERN UK&IE and Advance HE conferences <\/a>on the impact of accessibility of level 3 STEM education and the consequential impact this has upon the pipeline to engineering and medicine.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Low social economic students not only receive poor career advice, but also experience regional educational challenges in accessing STEM Level 3 education.\u00a0Schools will only run science A levels if they have cohort of more than five students, and if they also have the staff and capacity to provide STEM A levels.\u00a0Consequently, this has led to regional disparity of access to science A levels.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here in Kent, the hotspot for accessing Physics A level education is Maidstone, and Chemistry is Canterbury.\u00a0In South Yorkshire, in the affluent city of Sheffield students can access all STEM A levels, whereas in East South Yorkshire (Rotherham and Doncaster) students have to travel a distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another barrier is that because of a lack of previous provision, the numbers of school and college students who consider Engineering to be a viable option for study at university is traditionally low. This means that there is a real need for purposeful and targeted outreach and marketing of the subject to attract new students.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our offer of studying a BEng with Foundation Year provides creative and talented students, who may not have the usual entry requirements, with a route to an engineering degree. Helping students to build engineering skills and knowledge while preparing them for their particular engineering degree.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is more than student choice of Level 3 education impacting the pipeline engineering and medicine, the whole education provision setup in low social economic areas that needs addressing.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Anne Nortcliffe is the Founding Head of School of Engineering, Technology and Design<\/a>. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Anne Nortcliffe explains regional issues A level students have with accessing STEM subjects. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":242,"featured_media":7010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2169,2021,3890],"tags":[3714,3977],"class_list":["post-6997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engineering","category-science","category-technology","tag-a-levels","tag-stem"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t