MIA Conversation with Nicola Percy, Institute of Physics award winning teacher and advocate for STEM Education for all

This is another STEM Positive Disruptor - MIA conversation with special guest, Nicola Percy, Institute of Physics award winning teacher and advocate of STEM Education for all.  This is the background: An article written in the Guardian Newspaper on 8 February 2024 stated that "More than half of UK girls do not feel confident learning maths while two-fifths feel insecure about science..., " The findings were based on the results of a YouGov poll of 1,000 young people aged 11 to 16 ahead of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on Sunday. NB: Not sure when poll was done but I do note that quite a few reputable newspapers picked up on this report by Teach First.  So  @DawnFitt posted this article on LinkedIn which started a conversation and this led me to invite Nicola Percy who has been an educator for over 2 decades and has been addressing this issue and providing effective solutions to combat this same problem.  So I asked how can we change this same narrative that has been repeated over the years in the media especially here in the UK because great initiatives have sprung up which have worked and continue to work, there is evidence that girls excel in GCSE and A 'levels Maths  and Science exams which has led to some studying STEM degrees at University and gone on to  work within STEM profession. So this article is not truly reflective of what is happening, so is this propaganda?  Nicola made some really good points addressing this issue, which she says requires a nuance approach before we can provide a solution we need to understand what the root of the problem is, which requires everyone to be involved. She believes it is a complex problem, that we should engage with young people from primary school  but it should not just be school focus but also ask why parents and society  perceive that Maths is hard.   It is also very important to celebrate what great work has been done and is still been done in the UK  by educators and others to impact our young people and getting positive outcomes where girls are excelling in these subjects - we should not minimize the hard work or efforts to bring about these achievement. Please listen do the whole conversation, support this channel by like, comment, share and click notification button.  This platform is to Educate, Raise awareness, Demystify and Change Perception about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and make it more accessible to the public.