What can be done to address shortage and retention of STEM teachers?

This session will be focused on apprenticeships in the UK, as well as the shortage of specialist science teachers – especially physics teachers and what the Government could do to address it.

The committee will hear from:

10:15am

• Dame Judith Hackitt former Chair at Make UK
• Rob Nitsch CBE Chief Operating Officer at Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education
• Professor Paul Lewis Professor of Political Economy at King's College London
  
  

11.15am

• Jenni French Head of Teacher Supply Programmes at Gatsby Foundation
• James Zuccullo Director for School Workforce Research at Education Policy Institute
• Professor Carole Mundell, President at Science Council
  
  

The public evidence session will take place at 10.15am in Committee Room 3, Palace of Westminster on Tuesday 25 October 2022 and can be viewed live on Parliament TV.

In the first panel, the Committee will seek perspectives from academics, experts, and members of the Institute for Apprenticeships about UK apprenticeship policy.

The second panel will focus on the supply of STEM teachers, and what can be done to improve initial teacher recruitment, retention, and retraining to address this deficit.

Possible question areas

• The cause of declining enrolment into apprenticeships
• The value of alternative models of learning, such as degree apprenticeships
• The role that universities, the private sector, and public sector research establishments in helping to train apprentices
• What can be done to address the recruitment and retention issues for STEM teachers
• The educational inequalities introduced by the lack of ability to recruit specialist teachers
• The value of continuing professional development (CPD) in encouraging teachers to remain in post