Student Scientists Get Partnership Boost

A new partnership arrangement between the commercial and educational sectors has been announced.

It aims to enhance the experience of pupils studying science, to provide opportunities for work experience and to increase awareness of employment possibilities in the scientific field.

Assembly Education Minister, Caitríona Ruane, has praised local schools who are working in partnership with business organisations to enhance pupils’ skills development under the scheme.

The Minister was speaking at the launch of ‘Our Partner for the Future’, a partnership between Norbrook Laboratories, St Colman’s College, Newry and St Paul’s High School, Bessbrook.



The Minister said: “I have seen these learning communities and partnerships growing in many local areas; all distinct and unique to their localities but with one thing in common; a focus on maximising the opportunities for their young people.

“This focus on our young people and their futures is what I think is so exciting about the work that St Paul’s, St Colman’s and Norbrook are embarking on,” she commented.


The partnership seeks to enhance the experience of pupils studying science, to provide work experience and increase awareness of employment in science.

Emphasising the importance of skills development in young people to ensure the long-term economic success the Minister added; 

“The business community has a wide-ranging role to play in helping us to deliver a world class education system: by communicating their needs to education providers, by raising awareness of career opportunities and by providing experience of the working environment to pupils and to teachers.

The ‘Our Partner for the Future’ project encompasses all of these things and provides young people with the opportunity to explore the scientific world of work.”



Under the Revised Curriculum and the Entitlement Framework there are aims to develop key skills, to increase access and choice for all young people (both at Key Stage 4 and Post-16) and to enable young people to make informed decisions about their futures.

Partnership working will be a key aspect of the delivery of these reforms, and many schools are embarking on collaborative arrangements with other schools, with further education colleges and developing links to the business community.



Through the framework young people will have access to a wider range of subjects, both academic and professional and technical and will be able to choose a mix that best suits their needs. 



The Department of Education, in conjunction with the Department for Employment and Learning, is carrying out a review of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to produce a strategy to enhance pupil uptake of these subjects and to increase the number of teachers qualified to teach STEM subjects. The overall aim of the STEM review is to emphasise the links to the skills and innovation needs of the wider economy.

(BMcC)