Sometimes, changing a young person’s future starts simply by showing them a future they didn’t know existed. That is particularly true in STEM, which is vast in scope and complexity. With so much to discover and explore, it is rich in inspirational stories and exciting careers. Whether it’s designing new technology, building a bridge, solving environmental challenges or understanding the world around us, STEM offers young people an extraordinary range of ways to shape the future.
The statistics on young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) are well known. Almost one million 16-to-24-year-olds in the UK are currently NEET. At the same time, the STEM sector faces its own challenge: 76% of engineering employers say they struggle to recruit for key roles.
Despite how neatly I’ve placed those two statistics alongside one another, there is, of course, no neat solution to either the NEET challenge or the STEM skills gap. But there is something that connects them: while potential is everywhere, opportunity and exposure are not.
As the old adage goes, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Perhaps we should go a little further: you can’t be what you’ve never had the opportunity to imagine yourself becoming.
For some young people, aspiration comes relatively easily. They hear about an opportunity and can immediately imagine themselves taking it. For others, particularly those with lower confidence or little connection to the world of STEM, that journey can take longer or, worse, may never happen.
This is why exposure matters. Visiting somewhere like an RAF base, an engineering business or a technology company isn’t simply about somebody explaining the jobs that exist. It’s an opportunity to see those jobs being done, experience the environment, meet the people working there and begin to understand what being part of that world might actually feel like.
The evidence increasingly supports this. Research into employer engagement shows that meaningful encounters with employers can broaden young people’s horizons, raise aspirations and increase confidence and motivation. In STEM specifically, research into “science capital” and STEM identity points to the importance of experiences, connections and, critically, a sense that STEM is somewhere you can belong.
There is no doubt that a brilliant visit at the right time can create a spark in a young person. The challenge is that the “right time” is different for everyone. To turn that spark into something meaningful, young people need the confidence, resilience, skills and support to act on it.
At JET, we address this challenge through Blue Skies. This three-year programme progressively builds aspiration, confidence and resilience, while exposing young people to STEM workplaces and professional role models.
We can’t work alone. We rely on a network of supporters and partners, including the Skills Builder Partnership. With support from the RAF Charitable Trust, we worked with Skills Builder last year to map our programme against its Universal Framework.
The Skills Builder framework enables us to take an asset-based rather than a deficit-based approach to skills. It encourages our young people to ask not, “What am I not good at?”, but “What can I already do, and what is my next step?” A career aspiration becomes far more powerful when a young person can recognise the skills they already possess and understand the skills they can build next.
Bringing together relatable STEM role models, experience of STEM workplaces and the ability to recognise and develop your own skills can help create that vital feeling: “People like me can succeed here.”
On National STEM Day, our challenge is to make sure every young person has the opportunity to discover what STEM might offer them, recognise the strengths they already possess, and build the confidence and skills to take their next step.
Because once a young person can see a possibility, experience it and begin to believe they belong within it, STEM can become more than a subject or a career choice. It can transform what they believe is possible for their future.
