As part of our STEM: Branching Out project, Beck Greener fee-earners work with our community partner, STEM Learning UK (“SLUK”), as STEM Ambassadors.  In January 2018, SLUK asked to prepare an impact report on our project, and in February 2018, we conducted a number of workshops with the additional aim of collecting data for the report. Students were asked to complete a survey before and after the workshop. Over two hundred Year 9/10 students took part, and SLUK analysed the students’ answers and prepared the report.

The SLUK study showed that the numbers of male and female students who would consider a career in STEM doubled as a result of taking part in our “Spot-The-Invention” workshop.  The impact study further showed that the project is achieving its primary aims of:

  • raising STEM awareness:
    • 54% of students knew beforehand what STEM skills are, compared to 87% afterwards who learned new things.
  • increasing the number of students interested in studying STEM:
    • 53%/35% of male/female students would now consider studying STEM at A-level/degree (80%/35% increase in male/female student numbers (29%/26%) who would previously have considered a STEM career).
  • increasing the number of students interested in STEM careers:
    • 90% increase in the total number of students who would consider STEM career (30% to 57%).
    • 100%/100% increase in the number of male/female students who would consider a STEM career (29%/26% to 58%/52%).

The impact study further demonstrated that the project is also contributing significantly to the wider aims of:

  • raising aspirations:
    • The proportion of students reached claiming free school meals was well above the national average; none of these students were likely to encounter IP profession before leaving school otherwise.
  • improving gender diversity in STEM:
    • The number of female students considering a STEM career doubled (26% to 52%).
  • improving ethnic diversity in STEM:
  • Over two-thirds of the students reached were from minority ethnic heritage/for whom English is not their first language.