Dr Marie Oldfield, Director of Oldfield Consultancy and IST Executive member, is at the forefront of efforts to address the UK’s growing STEM skills gap and inform government legislation. Through her written evidence (PSU0075) and ongoing advocacy, Marie highlights critical deficits in STEM education and workforce preparation. The UK is grappling with a shortage of professionals trained in rapidly advancing fields such as Data Science, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). She argues that the lack of ethical training, robust modelling practices, and industry-aligned education frameworks is leading to significant economic losses and endangering public safety. By pushing for comprehensive subject benchmark statements and professional accreditation for these disciplines, Marie aims to bridge the gap between academia, industry, and policy.
Marie’s evidence underscores the challenges businesses face in recruiting talent with appropriate STEM skills. Many employers are unclear about the expertise they require, compounded by the absence of standardised educational pathways. Practitioners often must piece together fragmented knowledge from disparate courses, which lack critical components such as ethics and advanced modelling. She advocates for industry-wide accreditation systems and continuous professional development (CPD) programmes to enhance workforce readiness. Her work also reveals the broader systemic issues in STEM career pathways, including inadequate communication between stakeholders, a lack of clear job descriptions, and the tendency to assign multiple roles to individuals, particularly in smaller businesses, diluting specialisation.
Beyond technical expertise, Marie stresses the importance of addressing cultural barriers in STEM professions. The lack of diversity and accessibility within professional bodies and educational institutions is a recurring issue. She calls for actionable steps to improve inclusivity, such as providing facilities for carers, fostering diverse leadership, and leveraging social media to inspire under-represented groups. Furthermore, she critiques the teaching profession’s unappealing conditions, including low pay and excessive workloads, which deter highly skilled individuals from pursuing STEM education careers.
Through her policy recommendations and leadership within the IST, Marie Oldfield is not only shining a light on these critical challenges but also paving the way for systemic change in the UK’s STEM landscape.
Link to the written evidence: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/6838/people-and-skills-in-uk-science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics/publications/written-evidence/
