THEY may be critical to Scotland’s economic prospects, but the Stem subjects – science, technology, engineering and maths – are not being taught as well as they should be in schools. The Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) has shown standards in Scotland declining from above average to below average, with maths students now performing worse than in most other industrialised countries. Sadly, in an area that really matters to all of us, we can no longer boast about Scotland’s education system being world leading – far from it.
So what is the answer? Could it be paying bursaries to encourage new recruits into teaching Stem subjects? The idea has already been suggested by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and has been introduced south of the border, but now it would seem the Scottish Government has been convinced of its merits, or at least partly convinced.
Speaking at the SNP conference, the Deputy First Minister John Swinney announced that bursaries of £20,000 are to be created for those wishing to change career and become a teacher in maths and science. The Stem subjects are crucial to the future of our economy, said Mr Swinney, and more teachers need to be recruited in the area. “To do that,” he said, “we need to reach beyond recent graduates and attract people who have the appropriate subject degree but are working in business or industry.”
As a first step, the idea of bursaries for career changers is a good one. Anyone working in business or industry who is thinking about becoming a teacher will have to consider the cost, and whether they can afford to give up a salary for a year while they do their training, and the bursaries will help them take the plunge.
However, the idea does not go far enough. Yes, the hope is that it will attract significant numbers of career changers, but what about attracting new recruits – science graduates who could go straight from university into teaching but go into business instead? Why is the Government not offering bursaries to them as well?
The bursaries for career changers also fail to tackle some of the bigger issues which may undermine any progress that is likely to be made on recruitment. A recent survey by the Scottish Parliament’s education committee highlighted a long list of problems and concerns which teachers have been grappling with for years – including over-work, discipline and, crucially, a lack of support for new teachers arriving in schools to start their careers – and the bursaries will change none of that.
Mr Swinney has done the right thing in announcing support for those considering a move into teaching the Stem subjects, but will it matter if the new recruits arrive at school to find that they have been thrown in at the deep end because of staff shortages? The hope now is that many more people will be encouraged to teach maths, science and technology, but the much harder, longer term challenge is ensuring that they stick around.
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