STEM Projects

Education – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 2:45 pm on 25 January 2010.

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Photo of Robert Coulter Robert Coulter UUP 2:45, 25 January 2010

4. asked the Minister of Education why funds for developing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects have been returned to the Department of Finance and Personnel.            (AQO 622/10)

Photo of Caitriona Ruane Caitriona Ruane Sinn Féin

Chuir mo Roinn cistiú faoi urrús ón gciste nuálaíochta le tacaíocht a thabhairt d’ábhair STEM agus d’fhás sainscoileanna STEM; tá mé sásta go bhfuil seacht scoil déag a bhfuil sainainmníochtaí STEM acu. Táimid ag déanamh réimse an-leathan nuálaíochtaí eile chun STEM a chur chun cinn.

My Department secured funding from the Innovation Fund Ireland to support STEM subjects and the growth of STEM specialist schools. I am pleased that we now have 17 schools with STEM specialist designation. We are undertaking a wide range of other interventions to promote science, technology, engineering and maths. A programme of professional development for teachers has been commissioned to promote and support STEM in the primary and post-primary sectors within the revised curriculum, as well as improving the range and quality of resources available to teachers and pupils. We are also supporting the Institute of Physics in Ireland and the establishment of a physics teacher network here. STEM-focused career education, information, advice and guidance are other crucial elements of our efforts to promote STEM subjects and pathways.

Clearly, our work to raise standards in literacy and numeracy also contributes to ensuring that young people have the opportunity to develop the communication and mathematical skills they need to access STEM subjects and STEM careers.

My Department funds a number of exciting, major events designed to encourage our young people to consider careers in STEM. Last week, I told the Assembly about the BT Young Scientist and Technology competition. This year, entries to that from the North had increased by 66%. I was delighted once again to host a reception in the Long Gallery for all the students from the North who entered the competition and to attend the award ceremony in Dublin at which two out of four of the top awards in this island were made to schools in the North. My Department also funds the STEM Experience, which is planned to run for three years and aims to promote a better understanding of STEM. A total of 1,822 primary school pupils from P6 and P7, and 1,842 secondary pupils in years 8 to 10, attended the events. We also fund the very successful £1·2 million STEM truck, which is a resource that benefits the entire island of Ireland and a wide range of schools.

Photo of Caitriona Ruane Caitriona Ruane Sinn Féin

It is a mobile teaching laboratory. What is happening is very exciting, but I am not complacent, and there is lots more work to be done. We have to find the spark — the chispa — that ignites the fire of learning in our young people.

Photo of Robert Coulter Robert Coulter UUP

Will the Minister tell the House whether the entire budget for STEM subjects has been used, and how much has been returned?

Photo of Caitriona Ruane Caitriona Ruane Sinn Féin

My Department secured funding from the innovation fund to support the growth of STEM specialist schools. That funding included a £3 million resource allocation that is fully committed and a capital element that can be used only to support capital projects that are related to STEM specialist schools. As the innovation fund is a central ring-fenced fund, it cannot be used to support other areas of capital development, and, if it is unused, it must be returned to the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP).

Funding for the innovation fund was confirmed in January 2008 when the Executive published the 2008-2011 Budget, by which time important lessons had been learned from the experience of previous capital support grants to specialist schools. After a review of the policy, and based on the experience of schools in previous years, the funding arrangements were changed, and the capital support grant was removed and replaced by a current support grant. The same level of capital funding was not, therefore, needed, and the additional recurrent funding was made available through the existing Budget. The costs associated with the construction of the STEM truck fell — I am sure that Members are glad to hear that — thereby leaving a surplus in the 2009-2010 Budget of £816,000. In line with current budgeting rules, there is no flexibility to transfer capital budget to recurrent budgets, and there is a clear responsibility to secure value for money from all public expenditure.

The Department of Education declared other easements in respect of funding from the innovation fund. Those were: £0·6 million, which was caused by difficulties in recruiting staff, increasing the programme of professional development in STEM areas and the lower than expected bids received from STEM specialist schools; and £51,000, £40,000 of which was caused by delays in recruiting staff to identify gaps in STEM curricular resources and developing and disseminating such resources to promote STEM in the primary and post-primary sectors, and £11,000 of which was caused by the lower than expected cost of the independent panel’s assessing the STEM applications from schools.

Photo of Pat Ramsey Pat Ramsey Social Democratic and Labour Party

I acknowledge the Minister’s comments about the importance of access to, and growth of, STEM subjects. Will the Minister outline her Department’s implementation plan for the STEM review?

Photo of Caitriona Ruane Caitriona Ruane Sinn Féin

As Members know, the STEM report is a comprehensive document that was jointly launched by Reg Empey and me. The launch was exciting and innovative, and it took place on the same day that we launched the STEM truck, which I was proud to be part of showcasing at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in Dublin. The truck was at the exhibition all week, and students from all over the island had the opportunity to see it. I am happy to forward a copy of the STEM report and the Department’s implementation plan to the Member, if he does not already have them.

Photo of William Hay William Hay Speaker

Before I call Lord Browne, I remind Members that it is important that they continually rise in their place if they wish to ask a supplementary question. There is no point in Members’ rising once and then thinking that they will be called to ask a supplementary question, because that will not happen. I make that absolutely clear. I do not know how many times the Deputy Speakers and I have had to say that in recent weeks.

Photo of Lord Wallace Browne Lord Wallace Browne DUP

Will the Minister tell us the rationale for reducing the capital funding of STEM from £75,000 to £25,000?

Photo of Caitriona Ruane Caitriona Ruane Sinn Féin

I already explained in a detailed answer that the capital funding is ring-fenced, and the rules for that. [Interruption.] I am not going to take the time to repeat that.

Photo of Mitchel McLaughlin Mitchel McLaughlin Sinn Féin

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Most Members will, objectively, recognise the value of STEM subjects in rebuilding and sustaining a viable economy here. Will the Minister give us an indication of the events that her Department funds in promoting STEM subjects?

Photo of Caitriona Ruane Caitriona Ruane Sinn Féin

Go raibh maith agat as an cheist sin, agus aontaím leat faoi STEM. Promotion of STEM subjects is important for future economic growth, and my Department is fully committed to playing its role. I also wish to mention the revised curriculum, because it focuses on ensuring that all pupils have the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in communications, mathematics, ICT and science, and the skills needed to succeed in life and work.

Some of the best experiences that I have witnessed involved young people in primary schools learning science through play. I watched one class, in which the children had built a volcano and learned about volcanoes through an interactive whiteboard. Those children did not realise that they were learning. However, they were learning, and in a real and very stimulating way. That is much better than the 11-plus, in which children learned about the life cycle of the frog and, in many ways, were bored to death. [Interruption.]

Photo of Caitriona Ruane Caitriona Ruane Sinn Féin

For the past two years, and for the first time ever, we have been funding the BT Young Scientist and Technology exhibition in Dublin, which is an absolutely fantastic event. I have been working very closely with BT and with schools in the North; and, every year, there is an incredible increase in participation in that event.

Earlier, I mentioned the Institute of Physics in Ireland, and the Department has a special programme with primary school principals. On the North/South agenda, there was a conference in Cavan on the teaching of mathematics in primary schools, which brought together teachers from across the island to share good practice.

The Department is funding a specialist schools programme, and there are 17 schools with specialist designations in science, technology and mathematics. Reg Empey and I, and our Departments, are working very closely to ensure the promotion of science, technology, engineering and maths.