Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to encourage more young women to consider entering careers in STEM.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government announced substantial spending commitments in the Autumn Budget 2017 on maths, digital and technical education. The Department is funding programmes to increase the take-up and better teaching of maths, science and computing in schools. These include a new £84 million programme to improve computing teaching and the advanced maths premium, to encourage more schools and colleges to teach pupils maths post 16.
The Department is committed to addressing low female participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and, in particular, improving girls’ take-up of maths, computing and physics. Not all STEM subjects have a gender imbalance, and entries by girls to science A levels have increased by 14,822 (27%) comparing 2010 to 2018. However, physics take-up is notably low and the Department has invested in the Stimulating Physics Network, which has a programme dedicated to increasing the number of girls studying physics A level.
The Department will be launching a Gender Balance in Computing Pilot Programme, to identify effective interventions that schools can implement to improve girls’ take-up of computer science GCSE and A level, as part of the £84 million investment to improve teaching of computing and drive up participation in computer science.
The Department has committed to improving STEM careers advice in schools. The Government’s careers strategy asks that STEM experiences, such as with employers and apprenticeships, are built into school career programmes. The Department is also funding at least 500 Careers Leader training bursaries for schools and colleges in 2018/19 and 2019/20 and doubling the number of Careers Hubs from 20 to 40 in 2019.
The Government is also supporting the STEM Ambassadors programme, a nationwide network of over 30,000 volunteers from a wide range of employers. STEM Ambassadors, 44% of whom are women, engage with young people to increase their interest and awareness of the range of careers that STEM qualifications offer.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the increase in essay mill services.
Answered by Anne Milton
The use of companies that sell bespoke essays to students who submit them as their own work undermines the reputation of the sector and devalues the hard work of those succeeding on their own merit. We are currently focussing on non-legislative options to address this problem, but remain open to the future need for legislation, and will continue to investigate all options available. We should only legislate where it is absolutely necessary. The government’s preferred approach is to tackle this issue through a sector-led initiative, which is why the department has worked with Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Universities UK and the National Union of Students to publish guidance last October for all UK Universities on how best to tackle contract cheating.
Time is needed to fully evaluate the effectiveness of the new guidance and this is underway. The QAA is running a series of seminars to evaluate how the sector is using the guidance.
Officials are also working closely with the QAA on proposals for a UK Centre for Academic Integrity that would help the UK government and the higher education sector to better understand the scale of the problem and identify new ways to tackle the issue.
Through the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, we have given the Office for Students the power to take action if higher education providers are found to be, in any way, complicit in cheating. This includes imposing fines or ultimately de-registration, the highest possible punishment. We expect Vice-Chancellors to play their part by adopting robust anti plagiarism and cheating policies which exclude students who use essay mills and by tackling the advertising of these services in their institutions.
We welcome the swift action YouTube took to remove videos containing adverts promoting the EduBirdie essay-writing service, in response to recent the BBC Trending investigation on academic cheating, in which it was made very clear that YouTube had a moral responsibility to take action.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the provision of essay mill services.
Answered by Anne Milton
The use of companies that sell bespoke essays to students who submit them as their own work undermines the reputation of the sector and devalues the hard work of those succeeding on their own merit. We are currently focussing on non-legislative options to address this problem, but remain open to the future need for legislation, and will continue to investigate all options available. We should only legislate where it is absolutely necessary. The government’s preferred approach is to tackle this issue through a sector-led initiative, which is why the department has worked with Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Universities UK and the National Union of Students to publish guidance last October for all UK Universities on how best to tackle contract cheating.
Time is needed to fully evaluate the effectiveness of the new guidance and this is underway. The QAA is running a series of seminars to evaluate how the sector is using the guidance.
Officials are also working closely with the QAA on proposals for a UK Centre for Academic Integrity that would help the UK government and the higher education sector to better understand the scale of the problem and identify new ways to tackle the issue.
Through the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, we have given the Office for Students the power to take action if higher education providers are found to be, in any way, complicit in cheating. This includes imposing fines or ultimately de-registration, the highest possible punishment. We expect Vice-Chancellors to play their part by adopting robust anti plagiarism and cheating policies which exclude students who use essay mills and by tackling the advertising of these services in their institutions.
We welcome the swift action YouTube took to remove videos containing adverts promoting the EduBirdie essay-writing service, in response to recent the BBC Trending investigation on academic cheating, in which it was made very clear that YouTube had a moral responsibility to take action.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department plans to take to aid the development of the Integrated Communities Strategy.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Education has a crucial role to play in promoting integration, and widening opportunities for all communities. Schools, in particular, are at the heart of our communities, bringing families from all walks of life together. We know that many schools already successfully create inclusive environments but we want to ensure this is the case for all schools and other types of education settings.
As part of the Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper, we announced a strengthened package of support for schools, and measures to deliver quality education across all settings, for all groups. We will support schools to increase the diversity of their pupil intakes, by developing model admission arrangements; and will strengthen expectations for all new free schools to show how they improve integration further. Our measures aimed at boosting local capacity to identify and tackle concerns in out-of-school settings; and our consultation on strengthened guidance and wider call for evidence on issues connected with elective home education, will support better quality education provision outside of schools.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve careers advice for pupils with special educational needs.
Answered by Anne Milton
The government’s careers strategy, published in December 2017, sets out a long-term plan to build a careers system that will help young people and adults choose the career that is right for them.
The careers strategy contains a number of proposals to improve careers advice for pupils with special educational needs, including:
Later this year we will be funding grants to establish good practice in innovative ways of working with young people with special educational needs and their parents to inspire them to look at a broader range of careers and further education options.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that prospective undergraduates understand the potential effect of their choice of course on their prospects post-graduation.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The department is working to make destinations and outcomes data more accessible to prospective students, to help them compare opportunities and make informed choices about where and what to study.
On the 12 March 2018, I announced an Open Data Competition. It will use government data on higher education providers so that tech companies and coders can create websites to help prospective students decide where to apply. This competition will build on the government’s Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO) dataset, which gives information on employment and salaries after graduation.
Alongside this, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has requested that the Office for Students include LEO data on the Unistats website as soon as possible.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to tackle no platform practices at universities.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The government does not support blanket no-platforming of individuals or organisations who are legally exercising their right to freedom of speech.
Universities have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to ensure freedom of speech, including for visiting speakers under the Education Act (No 2) 1986. We extended this duty through the Higher Education and Research Act to cover all providers registered with the Office for Students.
The Office for Students will also play a role in championing free speech, which is built into its regulatory framework.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to encourage young people to pursue STEM subjects at school, college and university.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is committed to tackling our shortage of STEM skills so we can grow the workforce that a dynamic and growing economy continues to require. The Department is doing this by investing £406 million to increase pupil participation in maths, digital and technical education. This includes a new post-16 maths premium and a new £84 million programme to improve the teaching of computing – both of which should encourage increased take-up of these subjects.
The Department has committed to improving STEM careers advice in schools in the recently published Careers Strategy. The Department is also widening the pool of young people that consider engineering as a career through the Year of Engineering campaign, which will showcase the variety and creativity of modern engineering.
To improve the development of technical STEM skills, the Department is introducing T levels, which will be developed with employers, and provide progression opportunities into skilled work or higher level study, including degrees.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate the Government has made of the number of students studying STEM courses at undergraduate level.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics on students studying at UK Higher Education Institutions. The latest statistics refer to the academic year 2016/17 and can be found at the following link: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/11-01-2018/sfr247-higher-education-student-statistics.
In 2016/17, there were 826,260 enrolments on undergraduate courses in STEM subjects. Of these, 742,485 students were studying for a first degree, and a further 83,775 were studying for another undergraduate qualification. The number of undergraduates in STEM subjects increased by 1.4% between 2015/16 and 2016/17.
Notes
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to assess how emerging education technology can be used to prepare pupils for future digital workplaces.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Ensuring that pupils have the digital and computing skills needed is a key priority of this Government. We are working with teachers, researchers and industry to where technology can support effective education and broader development of digital skills. This includes how technology can support the delivery of the computing curriculum which was introduced in 2014 to replace the old, and widely regarded as outdated, ICT curriculum.
We are investing £84 million new funding over the next five years to deliver a comprehensive programme to improve the teaching of computing and drive up participation in computer science.