East Ayrshire Council’s Learning Outdoors Support Team (LOST) are hosting a careers event to inspire and encourage girls and young women to pursue careers in Rural and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields.
The #WomenInWellies event will be hosted at Dumfries House on Tuesday 19th February 2019 from 9:30-2:45. All female pupils from 3rd year, will attend this event which includes hearing from inspiring speakers, talking with a wide variety of women from over 20 different careers and taking part in summit workshops.
The Scottish Government’s STEM strategy, highlights that there are significant differences in the participation of women in STEM and rural subjects, with gender imbalances seen across education, training and work sectors.
- Only 16% of entrants into Engineering and Technology higher education courses were female.
- Only 3% of Construction Modern Apprenticeships were taken up by women.
- Women in STEM tend to earn less than male colleagues,
- Girls are underrepresented in STEM subjects with 28% of Higher Physics entries, 16% of Higher Computing entries and 10% of Computing Science
The benefits of working and spending time in the outdoors particularly in natural or greenspace is increasingly acknowledged as one of the key factors in fighting stress, inactivity and poor overall physical and mental health.
It is hoped that attendees will leave the event inspired and motivated to learn and engage in STEM and rural learning, and investigate these pursuits as a potential career path.
We hope you agree that this will be a fantastic opportunity for your daughter to engage with professional women from a variety of different careers and will support them in attending the event.
Refreshments and sandwiches will be provided throughout the day.
There is no cost to parents/carers for this event.
A letter will be given to your daughter about this event and if you would prefer that she does not attend, please return the slip attached to the school office.
