Igniting STEM career aspirations in South Wales
Techniquest worked with Cardiff University and Enthuse partnership to engage with pupils from some of the most deprived areas in south Wales, providing workshops, career sessions and a visit to Techniquest for each school.
Inclusive Outcome Areas: Relevance, Possible selves
Techniquest co-developed a programme of Space days called Technispace with Cardiff University’s School of Astrophysics and Space Forge to deliver space themed workshops to seven North Merthyr primary schools. The schools chosen were all located in an area with high levels of multiple deprivation, with each having at least 25% free school meals. The team also worked closely with their community partner, Matthew Howells, a teacher at one of the schools, and the Enthuse Partnership lead for the school cluster. Enthuse Partnership is a STEM Learning initiative that provides funding for schools to improve the quality of STEM teaching and learning as well as CPD for teachers.
“It gives them the opportunity to think now, while in primary school, a possible future career path, you know, within STEM and space exploration.”- Enthuse Partnership
The Space Day at each school involved at least 4 activities, co-developed by the teachers and Techniquest’s other partner Cardiff University, with the aim of increasing understanding of relevance to their everyday world, research and careers in the space sector. The same school groups were then invited to visit Techniquest and take part in a space quiz and watch a planetarium show. At the outset Techniquest wanted to establish the career aspirations of each of the classes with the aim of finding out what they know about career opportunities, as well as asking what the pupils’ own career aspirations are. These were often low with most not having left Merthyr before. The team mentioned the importance of the multi-interventions, each child had a session with Techniquest, a Cardiff University workshop and then a visit to Techniquest, building the learning and the relevance for them. The community partner also highlighted the importance of providing an opportunity for them to meet real people who work in space or STEM and how this can encourage ideas for their own future possible selves.
Please see below the Explore Your Universe: Valuing Inclusion report by Jen DeWitt and Sophie Bartlett. This report delves into the findings from the grant programme and how effective the 6 inclusive outcome areas were.