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IET comments on government’s response to the House of Lords 11-16 Education Committee Report

The Department for Education’s response to the report is disappointing and will severely hamper efforts from the STEM community to protect and promote Design and Technology, a subject that has been in decline for several years.

Commenting on the Department for Education’s response to the House of Lords Education for 11-16 Year Olds Committee’s report: ‘Requires Improvement: Urgent change for 11-16 Education’, David Lakin, Head of Education, Safeguarding and Education Policy at the IET, said:

“The Department for Education’s response to the report is disappointing and will severely hamper efforts from the STEM community to protect and promote Design and Technology, a subject which has been in decline for several years.

“Despite the recommendations of the Committee and growing pressure from the sector, the Department confirmed that they will not review Progress 8 secondary school accountability measures, scrap the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) measure or targets, or review the current National Curriculum – which hasn’t been reviewed in the last 10 years.

“Our Engineering Kids’ Futures report, which was published in 2022 and has received backing from more than 170 leaders from industry and academia, recommended that the EBacc system and the national curriculum should be reviewed as a matter of urgency to ensure we are giving students a varied and full curriculum, a call which was echoed in the Committee’s report.

“We already know the UK is facing a skills shortage: our 2023 IET International Green Skills Survey, found that 63% of engineering employers believe that the education system does not prepare graduates well for industry. With rapidly changing technology, employers are increasingly looking for an agile and adaptive workforce to remain innovative and competitive. Without making changes to both the EBacc and national curriculum we will be failing students and the skills gap in crucial engineering and technology sectors will continue to grow.”

IET response to the House of Lords Education for 11-16 Year Olds Committee’s report: ‘Requires Improvement: Urgent change for 11-16 Education’

Find out more information about our response to the Committee’s original report.

Go to 12 December 2023: IET response to the House of Lords Education for 11-16 Year Olds Committee’s report: ‘Requires Improvement: Urgent change for 11-16 Education’

ENDS

Notes to Editors

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