Our vision is a world-leading STEM education for every young person in the UK
Welcome to your 2023 impact report. It’s been a fantastic year for STEM Learning and our partners, despite the many challenges being thrown at young people. We’re thrilled to share our news and plans with you.
We have a lot to celebrate. 16.7% more students are taking computing subjects at A level thanks to our leadership of the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE). We also delivered over 8,000 days of world-leading continuing professional development (CPD) at the National STEM Learning Centre, and the results are in on our STEM Camps: they increase GCSE Science results by a whole grade. We have you to thank for all that!
There are still challenges. We must address skills shortages by investing in sustainable talent pipelines. We must support STEM teachers to stay in the profession with training and inspiring opportunities. We must ensure equal opportunity for every single young person in STEM, no matter who they are.
A brilliant STEM education is one of the most powerful tools we have for fixing social mobility. The data is clear: STEM careers are higher paying and extremely fulfilling, helping to tackle big challenges such as climate change. However, access is still limited for some brilliant young people. If we can help those young people gain the skills and aspiration to succeed in a STEM career, there is no doubt they will succeed. We look forward to helping make that happen in the next year, together with you.
Séverine Trouillet, Chief Executive, STEM Learning
Read the full report
Invested 100% of our income in improving STEM education
We are the largest provider of STEM education and careers support in the UK.
Reaching more than 2 million people in the last year
Working with every school in the UK
Over 400,000 teachers
Collaborated with over 7,000 business government bodies and charities.
£440 million in social value generated for communities
In collaboration with our amazing partners
Our CPD helps teachers to thrive
You have trusted STEM Learning to deliver a better STEM education for all young people - and I am proud to say that we are achieving this.
Our CPD helps teachers to thrive: gaining confidence and knowledge so their motivation stays high and helping these hard-working educators remain in the profession. Their teaching expertise leads to a memorable classroom experience for young people, who are truly passionate about STEM as they progress through their education and enter the world of work. You help us support more teachers, which means a great start for even more talented young people from a wide range of backgrounds.
Equality of opportunity is so important to me, as I know it is to you. Diverse perspectives help us solve the big problems facing our world and our economy – diversity is a good business decision and the right thing to do. I want to say a very loud thank you to every partner who champions that mission.
I also want to issue a challenge to us all: that next year in this report we should be able to show that we have helped improve things even further. I’m excited to work with you all as we strive for more opportunities for every young person in the UK to contribute to our national ‘Science Superpower’ ambition.
Baroness Brown of Cambridge, Chair, STEM Learning
STEM Learning gave me a ‘why’
Hazel, Computer Science Teacher, West Midlands
“I want to say thanks to every company that works with STEM Learning. If STEM Learning didn’t exist and the training wasn’t sponsored, I’d still have to teach this stuff – I just wouldn’t understand it!”
Daisy, Junior Aerospace Engineer B2Space
“STEM Learning gave me a ‘why’ to what I was learning … my career prospects changed completely. Now I launch rockets from high-altitude balloons.”
Jacob, aged 10
“I’ve really enjoyed it! All the arts and crafts we’ve done and all the bug life we found out about … it’s been really exciting!”
We've transformed STEM education in schools near you
As the largest STEM education and outreach support organisation in the UK, STEM Learning has helped provide a better STEM education in every school in the country
30,000 educators have completed STEM Learning CPD
356,000 volunteer hours with STEM Ambassadors
14,000 free resources available for teachers
8,000 days of CPD delivered at the National STEM Learning centre
1,000 placement students at over 100 employers
Woking across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
National programmes for science, computing, volunteering, student enrichment and more
Sheree Waring, Education outreach Practitioner, BAE Systems
“Since we partnered with STEM Learning, it’s easier to coordinate and record our activities, we have access to more resources and we can reach out to more schools.”
Carl Hickson, VP Future Talent, bp
“bp has a history of investing in education and skills in the UK. Our investment in STEM Learning is a vital step, giving young people the best start so we can support future talent for the country, our supply chain and the communities we serve.”
Stacey Wheeler, Senior Secondary Science Technician, West Cornwall
“I love going to York for training, it’s the highlight of being a technician for me. I started knowing nothing, but it’s given me more knowledge and confidence. It’s made me more helpful and allowed me to grow in my career.”
Tackling the big problems, head on
As one of the few organisations with access to the National Pupil Database, we know over 4,500 additional young people have taken STEM career paths because of our support.
Teacher retention is a huge national challenge. But teachers who engage with STEM Learning CPD are 155% more likely to remain in the profession.
Self-belief is a major barrier for young people everywhere. Students who have been on our STEM Camps are twice as likely to believe they can achieve a STEM career.
Rising to the challenge in every community
Whether it’s high youth unemployment, unequal opportunities, digital poverty or a major talent gap, every community in the UK is different. That’s why we work with local partners who really understand the needs of young people, teachers, and businesses in their area. With your support, we’ve brought 400 UK communities together, tackling local education needs in a sustainable way and connecting young people with opportunities right on their doorstep. We’ve also launched Computing Clusters, which help communities of schools prepare young people for the digital world, and STEM Camps which support disadvantaged young people.
Delivering impact to communities in need
Number of students exceeding expectations in STEM by 27%
20% more girls see a STEM career as achievable
Over £500,000 in social value from a £25,000 community investment
Making a difference together
Together we reached over 2 million young people last year through teacher training, volunteering days, classroom resources, placements, and site visits - the list goes on!
STEM Camp graduates achieve one whole grade higher at GCSE combined science.
98% of Research Placement graduates say their placement helped them progress in their career or study.
94% of educators said STEM Ambassadors helped increase student career aspirations in STEM.
Benefit your business and deliver more impact
£100,000 helps over 20,000 young people from areas of disadvantage receive better teaching and succeed in STEM careers.
£50,000 can support students to get direct access to careers advice, mentoring and experience of the STEM sector through Destination STEM.
£25,000 can bring better STEM teaching to a whole community, tailored to local needs.
£12,500 is the cost of a STEM Camp, providing intensive support for young people who need it most and improving their exam results.
