Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that chemistry education includes (a) green, (b) digital and (c) transferrable skills alongside technical knowledge of the subject.

The government recognises that science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects, such as chemistry, are vital for the UK’s future economic needs and to drive up productivity. Chemistry skills, in particular, are necessary for a range of careers within the green economy, including in growing sectors like carbon capture and hydrogen.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The review will seek to deliver a curriculum that readies young people for life and work, building the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to thrive. The review group will publish an interim report in early spring and will publish its final report with recommendations this autumn. The department will take decisions on what changes to make to the curriculum in light of these recommendations.

Oak National Academy, an independent arm’s length body which provides free, high quality, optional and adaptable curriculum resources for schools, has recently published new curriculum sequences and associated lesson resources in science from key stages 1 to 4, including chemistry. Within Oak’s science curriculum, it provides a broad range of resources to support teachers to teach about green skills, climate change and sustainability. This year, Oak is also introducing a new curriculum thread entitled ‘How can we live sustainably to protect Earth for a better future?’. This will form part of its secondary science curriculum and will support the growing emphasis of green skills in chemistry. As well as this, Oak’s chemistry lessons include a variety of data analysis tools to strengthen pupils’ digital competency. Its chemistry lessons include real-life applications of chemistry, such as industrial chemistry, environmental chemistry and material science to strengthen technical knowledge.