Why is this needed?

There are a variety of factors that influence a young person's career choice. A recent report Embedding STEM Careers awareness  found that young people at key stage 3 look to family (78%), careers teachers (50%), subject teachers (48%), friends, year or form teachers (23%) and Connexions advisers (20%) for information about jobs and careers.  

Despite the fact that there have been laws regarding equality for over 30 years (the Sex Discrimination Act, Race Discrimination Act, to name just two). STEM careers are still taken up predominantly by white males. In career areas such as accountancy and medicine there has been a shift in recruiment patterns so they better reflect society in Britain today, but this has not happened in STEM areas.

For some young people their socio-economic background, ethnicity, gender or disability can mean they face particular barriers which may prevent them from considering a career in STEM. These barriers include stereotyping, a lack of positive role models, a fear of failure, and a lack of information on the range of learning options. If these barriers are not addressed a young person's aspirations can be limited, affecting their life chances including their future earning potential.

In addition to the barriers faced due to a young person's background or identity, STEM careers can also be perceived as hard to enter because of health and safety, long hours and the'difficulty' of the subjects themselves (e.g. Physics and Mathematics).

Business case 

There is a strong business case for attracting individuals from diverse backgrounds to STEM subjects and careers, according to the Campaign for Science & Engineering UK (CaSE):

'It has been estimated that the UK will need 2.4 million STEM workers by 2014 and that the current figure of 45,000 STEM graduates per year must be doubled to reach this target. Under-representation of certain groups suggests that some individuals who are perfectly capable of taking up STEM careers are not doing so, either by choice or because of factors beyong their control. Understanding and addressing the reasons behind this could lead to many of these people taking up or continuing with STEM careers, and would go towards making up the skills shortage'.

Meeting your statutory duties

The advice found in this toolkit will assist schools in meeting their statutory responsibilities. One of the key principles in the new DfE statutory guidance for delivering impartial careers is 'actively promotes equality of opportunity and challenges stereotypes'. The Ofsted inspection framework requires inspectors to look at the extent to which schools are promoting equality and challenging stereotypical views about learning and work opportunities. Equality and diversity is now one of the three limiting judgements reflecting Ofsted's view that equality and diversity are essential in ensuring the quality of education and the well-being of children and young people. Schools also need to meet their legal responsibilities under the equality duties which should include action on tackiling equality issues in careers education and IAG delivery.

Where can you get more help? 

This site will direct you to other organisations and websites if you want more detailed information about a particular area. We have hilighted particular links where we think it will help and there is a separate section containing resources if you want to skip straight to Resources and Tools.