STEM Ambassadors
"The children thoroughly enjoyed meeting 'real life' scientists and started to realise that there are many different areas of science that people work in - and that scientists are certainly not always men with white coats and crazy hair!
Each Ambassador covered a different topic, including air, sound and water. They each brought their own knowledge and experience to the classroom and caught the children’s imaginations with their experiments."
Vicky Purling, West Wimbledon Primary School
Ambassadors are an invaluable and free resource for teachers and schools. They offer their time voluntarily to enthuse and inspire students within schools about STEM subjects. They can do this through a variety of activities such as clubs, careers talks, helping with school events, lessons and competitions, and much more. Your local STEM Ambassadors Management contract holder can help you decide how best to employ an Ambassador.
All STEM Ambassadors:
- Have a STEM background – they are usually professionals and experts in their field
- Are volunteers and therefore free
- Have been checked by the CRB
- Have had a basic induction about how to approach the classroom
Benefits to teachers include:
- Access to skilled resources to support staff in the classroom
- Gaining extra support for extra-curricular clubs
- Developing a varied teaching and learning style
- Networking with local companies and gaining further opportunities
Benefits to students:
- Better motivation, more confidence and enthusiasm regarding STEM subjects
- Opportunities to improve key skills and increase understanding in STEM
- A better understanding of the opportunities that a career in STEM can offer
What can STEM Ambassadors do?
The types of activities that Ambassadors can typically support include:
- assisting with STEM clubs
- helping add a work-related learning perspective to curriculum topics
- providing an insight into career opportunities arising from STEM qualifications
- facilitating workplace visits where appropriate
- working as mentors
- attending careers fairs
- and judging competitions.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. We aim to work with you to best support your students’ needs.
Contact your local STEM Ambassadors Management Contract Holder to organise for an Ambassador to visit your school and support a STEM related activity or event. To find your local contract holder please click here
For more information on the STEM Ambassadors programme, visit the STEM Ambassadors section.
"Many of the teachers in our science department do not have industrial or research experience themselves, so meeting STEM Ambassadors working in engineering and science fields has helped them to broaden their knowledge. They will now be better equipped to talk to our students about science-based careers."
Gerry Courtney, Assistant Headteacher, Plashet School
"Kelly's talk at Mossbourn yesterday was absolutely brilliant and really captured what we were aiming for in our 'jobs in science' week. He put together a talk with very little input from me and the students were engaged from the start. He made his job and his work accessible to the students with the use of analogy and had developed a good rapport with the studentsin the short time he was with them. We will definitely be asking him back next year! Thanks for all your help!
Jill White, Mossbourne Community Academy
