With the national focus on encouraging take-up of STEM subjects, Ellie Howarth reports on a framework of questions that has been compiled to help governors drive forward this important agenda.

The importance of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects in giving pupils the best future career options is widely acknowledged. Once armed with good qualifications in these subjects, doors can open to a wide range of high-flying and highly paid careers.

Statistics show that, on average, students who take A level maths earn up to 10 per cent more than similarly skilled workers who do not have the qualification. It is therefore unsurprising that increasing the number of young people who take, and do well at, science and maths has been a priority for both the education sector and government. 

A number of initiatives have been implemented to tackle this problem – for example, for the past few years the government has invested in bursaries to attract the best science and maths graduates to train as teachers. It has also funded bursaries for Subject Knowledge Enhancement courses, which give non-specialist graduates the knowledge they need to teach STEM subjects. 

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