Nuclear Power: Vocational Education

(asked on 15th July 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to encourage schools and UK universities to promote nuclear science as a career path for apprentices and graduates.


Answered by
Gillian Keegan Portrait
Gillian Keegan
Secretary of State for Education
This question was answered on 20th July 2021

My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, has made it clear that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects are of great importance.

We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to pursue a STEM career, regardless of their background. To support this, we have made substantial spending commitments on programmes to enhance STEM teaching and participation in schools, through programmes such as Isaac Physics and Science Learning Partnerships. Isaac Physics is an online learning platform designed to increase the number of students studying physics, with a particular focus on those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and Science Learning Partnerships is a national network supporting teacher continuing professional development.

The department recognises that careers education has a crucial role to play in inspiring pupils towards STEM careers, including those in the nuclear industry. Secondary schools are expected to provide pupils with at least one interaction with employers per year, with a particular emphasis on STEM employers. These interactions demonstrate the range of different career possibilities in STEM and challenge stereotypes. Furthermore, the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) is making sure that every young person has access to inspiring encounters with the world of work, including work placements, work experience and other employer-based activities. The CEC encourage use of labour market information to identify which sectors are growing and promote sector-based campaigns through their networks.

This government has also been working to champion the diversity of roles and people that make up the STEM sector in order to remove pupils’ misconceptions around working in STEM. Through continuing to fund the STEM ambassador programme, we are ensuring that extracurricular activities related to STEM are delivered by volunteers representative of the local population so that young people can be inspired by people they relate to. We have also recently funded and published Behavioural Insights Trials, with a cohort of 11,000 students, to better understand the low participation of girls in STEM.

We have also been improving our offer of apprenticeships so that anybody, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to pursue STEM careers whether they come via a technical or academic route. There are now 625 high-quality apprenticeship standards to choose from that have been designed by employers to meet their skills needs. Employers in the nuclear science sector can take advantage of standards in a number of occupational routes. Available standards include level 2 Nuclear Operative, level 5 Nuclear Technician and level 6 Nuclear Reactor Desk Engineer.

The institutional autonomy of universities is protected by law, meaning that what they include in their course content and careers programmes is at their discretion. Through the National Careers Service, anyone can access independent, professional advice on careers, skills and the labour market. Employers and professional bodies in the nuclear science sector can sign up to the ‘Inspiring the Future’ programme, which allows volunteers to visit state schools to talk to pupils about their job. This will raise the profile of various careers within nuclear science.

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