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Education

WG invests £7.2m in STEM education

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Astronaut Tim Peake: Promoting STEM study

PRINCE’S TRUST Ambassador Tim Peake landed in Cardiff on Tuesday (Jul 17) to help the Minister for Welsh Language and Lifelong Learning, Eluned Morgan, announce £7.2m of funding to encourage young people, especially girls, to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects at school.

The astronaut, joined the Minister at an event organised by The Prince’s Trust Cymru at Tramshed Tech where they met young people involved in the youth charity’s STEM-related programmes, There, the Minister announced an investment of £7.2m, including £5.2m of European Union funding, for two similar projects. Gwynedd Council’s £1.9m STEM Gogledd and Swansea University’s £5.3m Technocamps 2 have been awarded £1.4m and £3.8m of EU funding, respectively.

Both projects will help to ensure young people, particularly girls and young women, continue STEM studies at GCSE and beyond with the aim of pursuing STEM-related careers.

Over the next four years, STEM Gogledd will work with 600 young people, 60% of whom will be female, to enrich and promote STEM subjects through a range of activities that complement the mainstream curriculum within schools across Gwynedd, Anglesey and Conwy.

Technocamps 2 will work with 3,600 young people across West Wales, North Wales and the South Wales Valleys, two-thirds of whom will be female. It will target secondary schools which do not currently offer computer science as an option at GCSE, or where the subject is only recently available. The project will enable pupils in these schools to take part in workshops to build on their existing knowledge and enthusiasm for IT and computing.

Announcing the funding, the Minister said: “It is a pleasure to be standing alongside Tim Peake today to announce such an important investment which will help to build the skills of our young people to help drive a the Welsh economy.

“Wales must become a STEM nation if we are to build a modern, dynamic, open economy that benefits everyone in Wales. Both the pace and nature of technological change is increasing dramatically and, to have the skilled workforce to capitalise on it, it is vital we have more young people who choose to study STEM subjects to a sufficiently high standard. While this is quite a challenge to address for both boys and girls, the challenge for girls is much greater.

“This is why I am grateful to organisations like The Prince’s Trust for their pioneering programmes and to role models, like Tim, who are influential in promoting the study of STEM subjects. Tim’s Principia mission inspired a generation and showed just how far, literally, science can take you.

“We cannot just rely on people like Tim, though. We must all play our part in stimulating interest in these crucial subjects as a way of securing the next generation of STEM professionals in Wales. This is why I am so pleased to announce this £7.2m investment, £5.2m of it from the EU, for STEM Gogledd and Technocamps. This is a great example of EU funds helping to enthuse and excite young people, particularly girls, about the opportunities available to them.”

Philip Jones, Director of The Prince’s Trust Cymru said: “We are delighted that Tim Peake was able to join us and Welsh Government in promoting the importance of STEM to Welsh Education today. At The Prince’s Trust Cymru, we believe every young person should have the chance to succeed, and we believe Welsh Government’s latest commitment to STEM activities will help transform more young lives in Wales.”

Education

Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men cancelled in Wales over racial concerns

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WJEC, the Cardiff-based Welsh exam board, has announced that John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men will no longer be included in the GCSE English syllabus in Wales. The decision comes amid concerns over the book’s repeated use of racial slurs and its potential emotional impact on students.

First published in 1937, the novella explores the friendship between Lennie and George as they navigate life during the Great Depression. Despite its literary significance, the text will be phased out from classrooms starting in September.

Rocio Cifuentes, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, supported the decision, describing the text as “psychologically and emotionally harmful” to Black students.

She explained: “During our research into racism in schools, many Black children specifically mentioned this text and the harm it caused them.”

In Of Mice and Men, the character Crooks, a Black stable hand, is subjected to racial slurs and repeated use of the N-word.

‘Not Censorship’

Ms Cifuentes emphasised that the decision was not about censorship but safeguarding students’ wellbeing.

“This is about protecting children who have told us how harmful classroom discussions around this text have been for them,” she said.

“They’ve often been the only Black child in the room when these discussions occur, surrounded by derogatory depictions of people who look like them.”

WJEC said the decision was part of a broader overhaul that merges English Language and Literature into one GCSE. The board also employed an anti-racism consultant to advise on the selection of appropriate texts.

A WJEC spokesperson said: “We’ve provided a choice of works from writers of diverse backgrounds, nationalities, genders, and communities. This new selection aims to enrich the educational experience with themes that resonate with modern learners.”

Tory Criticism

Natasha Asghar MS, the Shadow Education Secretary, has spoken out against the decision, arguing that banning the book is counterproductive and limits educational opportunities.

“Instead of banning Of Mice and Men, we should teach it within its historical context, showing students how overt racism and sexism were commonplace and accepted in the past, and why this was harmful and wrong.

“Censorship doesn’t solve the problem; it prevents young people from confronting and understanding these prejudices, some of which, sadly, continue.

“Even in 2024, we continue to see racism and sexism in society. If we want to tackle this, then instead of banning a classic text, we would do better to challenge media companies that produce music containing misogynistic language and words with racist connotations.”

Teachers React

Rhian Evans, an English teacher at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin in Carmarthen, acknowledged the book’s value but understood the reasoning behind its removal.

She said: “We always addressed the use of the N-word carefully in class, discussing why it shouldn’t be repeated. But as a white woman, I can never fully understand how it feels for a child of colour to encounter that word in an educational setting.”

She added: “There are other authors from diverse backgrounds who explore similar themes in ways more relevant to today’s students.”

Previously, Of Mice and Men and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird were removed from the OCR English Literature syllabus in 2014, after then-Education Secretary Michael Gove pushed for the inclusion of more British authors.

The updated WJEC syllabus includes classics such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Contemporary additions include Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library and Christy Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo.

The changes aim to ensure a more inclusive and representative literary curriculum for Welsh students.

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Education

Respite care facilities at Pembrokeshire school approved

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PLANS for a respite care facility at Haverfordwest’s Portfield special school have been approved.

An application to Pembrokeshire County Council by Morgan Sindall Group, on behalf of Pembrokeshire County Council, sought permission for a three-bed respite unit for pupils aged between 16 and 19 years old.

Portfield School is an additional learning school for pupils aged three-19, and forms part of a broader network including Y Porth based at Ysgol y Preseli and Haverfordwest High VC School.

Portfield School is currently located in two buildings, one for primary school students, along with a secondary school building for key stages 3 to 4, and pupils aged 16-plus.

The proposed location of the respite care is where the existing lower school currently lies.

Demolition of the lower school was granted as part of a recently approved planning application for the wider site redevelopment, including a masterplan for the campus, the redevelopment of the new primary school building, refurbishment works to existing sixth form block and associated works.

A supporting statement by agent Asbri Planning said: “The proposed location of the respite care was marked out on the approved Site Masterplan as ‘proposed area for future development’. As Pembrokeshire County Council were unsure whether the funding would be available for the respite care, they decided not to include it within the scope of works for the main school application approved earlier this year. The funds have now become available which has allowed the application for a new respite care facility to be submitted to the Local Planning Authority.”

It added: “The respite care aims to conjure up a positive arrival experience for users by introducing an entrance courtyard, whilst enhancing links to nature where key vistas towards nature are considered. The users of the building will have full access to the communal areas and facilities.

“There will be no access for the general public, only the users of the building at that time. The unit will operate 24 hours a day all year round. Full-time care is to be provided and there will be staff available at all times for pupils.”

The application was conditionally approved by county planners.

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Education

Stonehenge may have been built to unify the people of ancient Britain

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THE RECENT discovery that one of Stonehenge’s stones originated in Scotland supports a theory that the stone circle was built as a monument to unite Britain’s early farmers nearly 5,000 years ago, according to a new study by researchers at UCL and Aberystwyth University.

In a research article published in the journal Archaeology International, academics analyse the significance of the recent discovery of the Scottish origin of the six-tonne Altar Stone, which confirmed that all of the stones that make up Stonehenge were brought to Salisbury Plain from many miles away. 

In their new paper, the researchers say that Stonehenge’s long-distance links add weight to the theory that the Neolithic monument may have had some unifying purpose in ancient Britain.

Lead author Professor Mike Parker Pearson from the UCL Institute of Archaeology said: “The fact that all of its stones originated from distant regions, making it unique among over 900 stone circles in Britain, suggests that the stone circle may have had a political as well as a religious purpose – as a monument of unification for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal links with their ancestors and the cosmos.”

Co-author Professor Richard Bevins of Aberystwyth University, said: “It’s really gratifying that our geological investigations can contribute to the archaeological research and the unfolding story as our knowledge has been improving so dramatically in just the last few years.

“Our research is like forensic science. We are a small team of earth scientists, each bringing their own area of expertise; it is this combination of skills that has allowed us to identify the sources of the bluestones, and now the Altar Stone.”

The study has been published (on 20 December) the day before the winter solstice, when the setting sun dips below the horizon over the middle of the Altar Stone and between the two largest upright stones (one of which is now fallen).  During this winter period, Neolithic people feasted close to Stonehenge at the great village of Durrington Walls, and the midwinter solstice was probably central to these events.

Stonehenge is famous for these solar alignments on the solstice and even today attracts large crowds to the site on the shortest and longest days of the year. In addition, it was also the largest burial ground of its age. Some archaeologists think it might have been a religious temple, an ancient observatory and a solar calendar, and this new research adds a political dimension.

Professor Parker Pearson, a Professor of British Later Prehistory, added: “We’ve known for a while that people came from many different parts of Britain with their pigs and cattle to feast at Durrington Walls, and nearly half the people buried at Stonehenge had lived somewhere other than Salisbury Plain.

“The similarities in architecture and material culture between the Stonehenge area and northern Scotland now make more sense.  It’s helped to solve the puzzle of why these distant places had more in common than we might have once thought.” 

Stonehenge’s 43 ‘bluestones’ were brought from the Preseli Hills in west Wales some 140 miles away, while the larger ‘Sarsen’ stones were hauled from their sources at least 15 miles away to the north and east of the stone circle.

Transporting these massive monoliths was an extraordinary feat. Although the wheel had been invented, it had not yet reached Britain so moving these massive stones must have required the efforts of hundreds if not thousands of people.

The researchers point to how Stonehenge’s horizontal Altar Stone is similar in size and placement to the large, horizontal stones of the stone circles of northeast Scotland, where the Altar Stone originated.

These ‘recumbent stone circles’ are found only in that part of Scotland and not in the rest of Britain, so there may have been close ties between the two regions. Megalithic stones had ancestral significance, binding people to place and origins. The Altar Stone may have been brought as a gift from the people of northern Scotland to represent some form of alliance or collaboration.

It is difficult to pin down a precise date when the Scottish Altar Stone was brought to Stonehenge, but it probably arrived around 2500 BCE around the time that Stonehenge was remodelled from its original form.

This is the timeframe when the Neolithic builders erected the large sarsen stones forming an outer circle and the inner horseshoe of trilithons – paired upright stones connected by horizontal ‘lintels’ – that is present today. The Altar Stone lies at the foot of the largest trilithon, which frames the midwinter solstice sunset to the southwest. This was the second stage of construction at Stonehenge, long after the first stage (around 3000 BCE) when it is thought the bluestones from Wales were erected.

This second iteration of Stonehenge was built at a time of increasing contact between the people of Britain and arrivals from Europe, mainly from what are today the Netherlands and Germany. The researchers suggest that this period of contact may have been what spurred this second-stage rebuilding, and the monument was a reaction to these newcomers meant to unite indigenous Britons.

The new arrivals brought with them knowledge of metalworking and the wheel and, over the next four hundred years, their descendants – known as the Beaker people on account of the distinctive pots they buried with their dead – gradually replaced the population of indigenous Britons, and people with this European ancestry became the dominant population across the island.

The geological research was supported by the Leverhulme Trust.

Ends

Picture: The Altar Stone, seen here underneath two bigger Sarsen stones. Credit: Professor Nick Pearce, Aberystwyth University.

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