STEM education and training strategy - refresh: annual report

7 Next Steps

Actions by a range of stakeholders as set out earlier in this report have undoubtedly contributed to ensuring that the original aims of the Strategy continue to be both relevant and present a valuable focus for work programmes going forward. The annual reports published since 2017 record, in many instances, satisfactory or good progress having been made. However, the past two years have been challenging for the education sector in Scotland as a whole and, while there remains a high level of enthusiasm and commitment from stakeholders, some activities have not been possible or have been delayed or reduced.

We intend, in the coming months, to streamline the Strategy governance arrangements by replacing the multi-tier approach with a single Senior Stakeholder Group. The new group will be integrated into the wider curriculum governance structures currently being established and will take on the governance arrangements associated with the education aspects of the Logan Review of the Scottish Technology Ecosystem. Efforts will also be made to ensure that Strategy actions relating to equalities have an appropriate governance and reporting structure.

Going forward, we intend to continue the STEM Strategy in its present form for at least a further three years; making a commitment to annual reports in 2023 and 2024. While it is not possible with any degree of accuracy to predict future events, we believe that by 2025 the education reform agenda will have advanced enough to allow for a re-examination of STEM education priorities.