Top marks! Education on the agenda at Science and the Parliament

STEM education dominated the agenda as politicians, scientists, teachers and students came together for a day of discussion at Science and the Parliament.

Scottish Minister for Further and Higher Education Graeme Dey MSPs gave the keynote speech in Edinburgh, while fellow MSPs from across the political spectrum faced a grilling.

Scores of interested delegates descended on Our Dynamic Earth for the 23rd running of our popular annual event, with a series of panel discussions exploring topics affecting STEM education in Scotland.

Around two dozen organisations from across the education and science sectors also set up exhibition stalls at the Holyrood hub to showcase their activities.

Our president Professor Gill Reid and chief executive Dr Helen Pain both played parts in a day packed with debate, ideas sharing and networking opportunities.

She added: “While we each have different areas of expertise and interest, we all share a common goal: to build a strong STEM community for our generation and those to follow, for the benefit of Scotland and the wider world. Today is an excellent opportunity to discuss how we can work together to achieve that ambition.”

She pointed to our 2022 Science Teaching Survey, which gave educators a chance to voice their concerns about the nature of life in schools right now and called for more to be done to help teachers. The impacts of COVID were also flagged as something that is still affecting the sector.

However, there was also plenty of cause for encouragement. That focus came through once more as she emphasised our commitment to providing resources that can help and provide value for both students and educators. She also pointed to our programmes focusing on science culture, such as Broadening Horizons, and our activities in Scotland with local authorities and universities as examples of our work and wants to see more progress made.

However, he also made it clear that he sees science as a key part of the curriculum and something that is integral to Scotland’s economic fortunes in a rapidly evolving world.

Mr Dey said: “It’s self-evident how important science is. One only has to look at the various aspects of our economy to see how science fuels those and that will become increasingly the case as we look to the future.”

He added: “We need to look at what we’re doing well but also see where we’re coming up short and seek out solutions to those issues.”

That was a view echoed in the next session, which saw representatives from four political parties take to the stage for another panel discussion.

Clare Adamson (SNP), Pam Duncan Glancy (Labour), Liam Kerr (Conservatives) and Beatrice Wishart (Liberal Democrats) joined former BBC journalist Bill Whiteford to share their views on the progress of education reform and how they would address the problems facing Scottish schools and education institutions.

The impassioned audience peppered the MSPs with questions during a spirited discussion that saw the politicians put on the spot and generated some interesting talking points.

For Niall Sommerville, a public affairs manager in our Parliamentary Affairs team, the engagement with representatives from across the political spectrum illustrated what we are doing behind the scenes to bring about change.

"We're always keen to run these events and we've been running them for so many years because we see ourselves as being a connector within the sector," he said.

"We want to be the ones that are loud and advocating on behalf of the sector, so that when politicians and the government need to make decisions about things which affect our members, they know that we're a trusted body, they can come to us, we'll give them the information they need, and that we'll be the advocates for the sector."

He added: "Now is a really important time for STEM education in Scotland because we're potentially looking at qualification reform and curriculum reform so it was really good to have the opportunity to get the sector together at a time when the Government's maybe starting to think about these things."

One final panel session shone a spotlight on another slew of issues within the education sector, as Dr Ibiye Iyalli (Robert Gordon University), Dr Derek Jones (Open University) and Fiona Jackson (Forth Valley College) shared their views and took more questions from the interested delegates.

The day’s final formal element was an apt one given the event’s theme. Dr Julie Fitzpatrick, the Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland, joined Dr Pain and Prof Reid to present a series of awards – including a pair of RSC Education Prizes – to worthy winners from schools and colleges around the country.

Science and the Parliament is one of a series of events that we organise annually across the devolved nations. We also hosted Science and the Senedd in Cardiff, Wales, earlier this year and were in the Northern Irish capital of Belfast last month for Science at Stormont.

Our Parliamentary Affairs team also lobbies politicians from all parties to back the work of chemical scientists across the country, with a view to making the world a better place through chemistry.

This year’s Science and the Parliament event took place just one day after a members event that broke records for participation. Around 200 members showed up at Our Dynamic Earth for an evening of networking and discussion, including Dr Pain and Prof Reid.