Widening Dialogue – Introduction
The range of stakeholders in the women in STEM ecosystem is wide and includes:
- Girls and women;
- Boys and men;
- Schools, colleges and universities;
- The media;
- Teachers and mentors;
- Parents, families and peers;
- Employers and co-workers;
- Government; and
- Intermediary organisations.
Some stakeholders are already actively involved in conversations about the challenges of increasing the number of women in STEM and some are already making choices and changes that will have an impact.
These choices and changes are not, however, happening at the scale we need to deliver a step change in women’s representation in the In Demand STEM skills we need to deliver DfE’s Vision for a 10x Economy. We need to build critical mass.
The key tasks are:
Refresh our key messages and approaches to take account of the new strategic context in which NI is operating.
Develop a strong core message and use it to conduct dialogue across a mix of strategic channels.
Engage individuals, groups and organisations on the demand side who have limited awareness of, or interest in, the need to increase the number of women in the In Demand STEM workforce.
Bring forward proposals on what NI must do to ensure it has the culture and value system it needs to support positive change, learning and evolution.
Secure funding and implement collaborative proposals to ensure NI has the culture and value system it needs to support positive change, learning and evolution.
Refresh our key messages
We need to refresh our key messages and approaches to take account of the new strategic context in which NI is operating. We need to ensure that all parts of the women in STEM ecosystem understand that strategic context and what it means for improving the pipeline. We need to secure commitment to a shared approach that reflects DfE’s Vision for a 10x Economy and we need to help our partners on the supply side to align their activities to deliver that critical mass.
Develop a strong core message
We will conduct this dialogue using a mix of strategic channels which will include online meetings as well as face to face ones. This will ensure we are able to achieve the breadth and depth of dialogue that we need quickly.
What we are doing
We are developing a strong core message that clearly sets out the new strategic context and the imperative to focus on In Demand STEM skills. We are also engaging in dialogue across the network of delivery bodies to share the core message and secure buy-in to it. We will continue to refine and adapt the core message in light of (for example) our research findings and the insights we will gain from the learning network of international policy makers.
We have developed a communications strategy which has been agreed by the steering group.
Engage across the economy
We will engage individuals, groups and organisations on the demand side who have limited awareness of, or interest in, the need to increase the number of women in the In Demand STEM workforce.
Bring forward proposals for positive change
We will bring forward proposals on what NI must do to ensure it has the culture and value system it needs to support positive change, learning and evolution.
Secure funding and implement collaborative proposals
We will ensure NI has the culture and value system it needs to support positive change, learning and evolution.
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