Written Evidence Submitted by Founders4Schools

(DIV0069)

It addresses the points:

● What has been done to address underrepresentation of particular groups in STEM roles

● What could and should be done by the UK Government, UKRI, other funding bodies, industry and academia to address the issues identified.

An introduction to Founders4Schools

Our mission is to reduce the skills gap by facilitating and assisting the provision of inspirational careers education to people under the age of 25.

Founders4Schools (F4S) was established in 2015 by serial entrepreneur, Sherry Coutu CBE, as a solution to the rising skills gap she saw in the workforce. She wanted to make it easy for educators to improve the employment chances of young people by bringing inspirational role models into the classroom.

We have created a unique digital platform that offers a free, simple and quick way for educators to book role models encounters either in the classroom or virtually, ensuring flexibility and accessibility to students without barriers. This supports young people to feel empowered and confident about their future career opportunities and prepares them for the rapidly changing world of work.

F4S has grown over the last six years to support over 460,000 students, through 1.4 million role model encounters and facilitated over 21,000 hours of volunteering from a network of over 6,000 diverse role models.

Our model is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals to achieve a sustainable future for all and help to drive a skilled and diverse workforce. We also focus on three pillars to help prepare young people for the jobs of today and the future, Digital careers, Sustainability and Maths4Girls - driving equity in STEM.

How schools and young people use Founders4Schools

The F4S free online platform is designed to save educators’ time, and to support them achieve Gatsby benchmarks 4 and 5, by quickly and efficiently connecting them with professionals able to share career insights with their young people.

This is actively supported by a team of Engagement managers who provide professional development and guidance to subject teachers and careers leads, and who guide speakers from business and industry to cover key ideas in a way that is accessible to the young people. By attending an F4S career event, educators also become upskilled in their own knowledge of careers education.

Continuing to scale

F4S and M4G are in a strong position to continue to scale our reach across the country. Our excellent relationships with educators is demonstrated by repeat bookings even throughout periods of remote and disrupted learning. Our outreach is strong, and we are regularly invited to speak to networks of careers leads, subject teachers, and wider audiences on the subject of careers education and employer engagement.

F4S currently has over 6000 professionals registered to engage with schools and young people. Including individuals, SMEs and large organisations and institutions. We continue to enable employers to engage with education and grow our relationships and partnerships across a range of sectors.

Employer engagement

F4S has close working relationships with our partners in business & industry. This enables F4S to maintain current awareness of challenges and barriers to engagement with schools whilst also challenging and supporting business & industry to have meaningful encounters with young people. We seek to ensure that partners and individuals are briefed on relevant education matters by providing written guidance and in-person events, including raising the profile of the importance of actively challenging unconscious gender-bias.

Maths4Girls

The aim of M4G is to encourage more young people, particularly girls, to engage with and study maths post-16.

Founded by F4S and initial funding provided by 100 Women in Finance. Please see appendix for evaluation of the pilot project in 2019.

Role model encounters; challenging stereotypes

We seek to achieve our aim by showcasing women who use maths every day in their job, to exemplify the vast range of careers using maths. Using existing best practice and research, volunteer speakers are guided to address points including application s of maths, maths identity, and resilience - all within the concept of the world of work.

Please see Appendix 1 for the M4G Theory of Change, further information and references.

Our progress so far

The pilot project was launched in 2019, as of end of December 2021 M4G has facilitated over 46 000 encounters between professionals and young people in over 100 schools across England and a number in Scotland.

Originally held in-person, in individual schools, since March 2020 M4G has broadened the offer to include online events for individual schools, plus themed events open to multiple schools and also out of school events open to young people at home or at extra-curricular clubs. Initially aimed at key stage 3, having seen the demand for and impact of M4G events with older students, M4G is available to all young people at key stage 3, 4 and 5.

The evaluation of the pilot project can be seen on request.

Support and Challenge

M4G has an active Steering Committee including esteemed figures from organisations including the Department of Education, Mathematics in Education and Industry, and the Careers & Enterprise Company. We are championed and advised by industry partners including Chubb and our primary funder 100 Women in Finance. This dynamic group ensures strong communication and collaboration between education and industry, and use of best practice at all times. See Appendix 2 for current membership of the Steering Committee.

What could be done to support the issues identified

An alignment of education, employers and policy at the same time. For example policy, such as curriculum or interpretation of Ofsted requirements, can be prohibitive to excellent work in schools and business & industry. At other times, cost can be prohibitive to implementing a policy of embedding good practice and initiatives into the curriculum.

To build on this, good practice in encouraging diversity and inclusivity could be given more opportunities and profile, for example in professional benchmarks and frameworks within education and employment.

Furthermore, opportunity, time and funding would allow for long term relationships to be built between schools, employers and providers. Without penalising approaches that may be best for the young person, for example in losing funding if they go to a different provider.

Take lessons from projects such as the Institute of Physics Improving Gender Balance programme and implement them across the whole school. Focus on diversity, rather than diversity in STEM. Even better, extend this to families and then the local community. Excellent work on shifting stereotypes and beliefs can quickly be undone by opinions from home and in the community - even if this was not intended.

Finally, all of this work should start at primary age or earlier. As strong, hard to shift stereotypes and alternate frameworks of thinking can form at a very young age.

Appendix

Maths4Girls Theory of Change (ToC)

The impact of M4G Encounters on the attitudes of young people towards maths and the value of maths in their future career

What is the M4G theory of change?

This ToC is a concise method to explain the who, how, and what outcome of Maths4Girls encounters on young people. It is a working document; to be used, reviewed and updated over time.

Scope

Maths4Girls also impacts educators and families. The encounters themselves can improve careers awareness for this audience too. The events can provide talking points that continue to have impact beyond the duration of the encounter. The content of the Maths4Girls website, social media channels and YouTube Channel can be valuable education resources. These impacts are outside of the scope of this Theory of Change document.

Why have a theory of change?

● To ensure our efforts are best focussed, based on identified need and current thinking around barriers to girls pursuing maths.

● To communicate to our funders.

● To communicate to our audiences.

How does the theory of change work?

The M4G theory of change diagram is similar to a flow diagram. It explains if we do ‘x’ then we think that ‘y’ will happen. Each arrow in the diagram is an assumption. We use evidence to support these assumptions. Examples of this evidence can be seen on page 4.

1. Input of a M4G encounter leads to short term impacts 1, 2 and 3.

Supported by pre- and post-encounter surveys of young people, by feedback from groups including pupils and educators, and the results of the Maths4Girls pilot project.

2. Short term impacts 1, 2 and 3 lead to medium term impacts 1 and 2.

Supported by published research in a range of publications.

3. Long term impact is supported by published research in a range of international journals.

Theory of Change Diagram

The original, higher definition diagram can be viewed by clicking on the link.

Evidencing the M4G Theory of Change

Short Term Impact 1: M4G session leads to increased knowledge of the maths understanding, skills and confidence involved in various jobs and of ways which can improve access to the job market

Evidence from feedback/survey following encounters.

Short term impact 2: M4G session leads to increased awareness that perseverance and help-seeking can improve learning and attainment.

Evidence from feedback/survey following encounters.

Short term impact 3: M4G session leads to increase in teachers’ intention to use the principles of the session in school activities.

Evidence from feedback/survey following encounters

Medium term impact 1/2: Short-term impacts lead to increased proportion of female students intending to/actually studying mathematics post-16.

Evidence to support this:

- How much students value mathematics/STEM subjects contributes to their choice of subjects to study (Archer et al., 2013; 2020).

- There is little awareness among KS3 students of the value of mathematics/STEM subjects for future careers (ASPIRE project – Archer et al., 2013; 2020).

- Five factors affect the intention to study mathematics at A Level: prior attainment in mathematics, enjoyment, perceived competence, interest in mathematics and awareness of the utility of mathematics for supporting access to other areas (Smith, 2014)

- A growth mindset (i.e. believing that perseverance can improve learning and attainment) is associated with engagement in mathematics. Girls are more likely to have a fixed mindset. (Murphy et al., 2019; review of international evidence).

Long term impact: Medium-term impacts lead to a higher proportion of female students choosing careers in STEM

Evidence to support this:

- Higher attainment in mathematics (studying to higher level) contributes to further choice of mathematics study and choice of stem careers (Holmes et al., 2018; Australian data)

- Studying mathematics at school is linked to choice of STEM careers (Kaleva et al., 2019; Finnish data).

- Students with more confidence in their mathematics skills and better knowledge about STEM careers are more likely to choose a STEM career (Blotnicky et al., 2018; Canadian data).

References:

Archer, L., & Tomei, A. (2013). What influences participation in science and mathematics. A briefing paper from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Targeted Initiative on Science and Mathematics Education (TISME)(ESRC, Swindon)

Archer, L., Osborne, J., DeWitt, J., Dillon, J., Wong, B., & Willis, B. (2013). ASPIRES: Young people’s science and career aspirations, age 10–14. London: King’s College, 11, 119-132.

Archer, L., Moote, J., Macleod, E., Francis, B., & DeWitt, J. (2020). ASPIRES 2: Young people's science and career aspirations, age 10–19.

Holmes, K., Gore, J., Smith, M. et al. An Integrated Analysis of School Students’ Aspirations for STEM Careers: Which Student and School Factors Are Most Predictive?.Int J of Sci and Math Educ 16, 655–675 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-016-9793-z

Murphy, S., MacDonald, A., Wang, C. A., & Danaia, L. (2019). Towards an understanding of STEM engagement: A review of the literature on motivation and academic emotions. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 19(3), 304-320.

Kaleva, S., Pursiainen, J., Hakola, M., Rusanen, J., & Muukkonen, H. (2019). Students’ reasons for STEM choices and the relationship of mathematics choice to university admission. International Journal of STEM Education, 6(1), 1-12.

Smith, C. (2014). Gender and participation in mathematics and further mathematics A-levels: a literature review for the Further Mathematics Support Programme.

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/79498409.pdf

2. M4G Steering Committee Members

Charlotte Avery - Headmistress, St Mary’s School Cambridge St Mary’s is an all-girls school where any girl can thrive and achieve academic excellence. Building on their 115 year tradition the school belongs to an active international network of over 200 Mary Ward schools worldwide. It focuses on fostering a love of life and learning, while growing the academic talents and spiritual wellbeing of each individual girl, from within. It is not a one-size-fits-all education, as the school offers renowned pastoral care, understanding and individual support that encourages girls to look beyond themselves so that they enter adulthood aspiring to be more and to give more, not just to have more.
Toby Baker - Nesta Programme Manager, Education Toby works to help schools and colleges benefit from new ways of working, through grant-funding, research and some more experimental programmes. Toby's recent publications include ‘Educ-AI-tion Rebooted? Exploring the future of AI in schools and colleges’, ‘The EdTech Effect: Lessons from nine examples around the world’, and ‘What next for digital social innovation?’. He is also a founder member of Sleuth, a co-operative data consultancy. Before Nesta he worked for a consultancy looking at transport policy.
Rachel Beddoes - Girls' Participation Coordinator and Careers Lead for Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI) and has been working for them on the Advanced Maths Support Programme (AMSP) since September 2018. Previously she taught maths for 20 years and was also a STEM Coordinator, working with businesses to convince students of the utility of maths through its various applications and the different careers that studying STEM subjects could possibly lead to. In October 2015 Rachel won The Joan Sjøvoll Award for STEM Leadership and in March 2017 her school won the Young Engineers ‘Inspiring Futures through Engineering Engagement’. Rachel is passionate about making students (and teachers and parents) aware of the importance of studying maths after GCSEs and the vast and varied careers that doing so can lead to.
Dr Katie Chicot - CEO Mathsworld UK and Senior Lecturer Open University Dr Katie Chicot is CEO of MathsWorldUK and Senior Lecturer Staff tutor in Mathematics and Statistics at the Open University. “I am passionate about the MathsWorldUK project to create the UK’s first Mathematics Discovery Centre. Tackling mathematical problems and encouraging others to engage with mathematical investigations are the cornerstones of my work. I have used all sorts of means of communicating mathematics, including co-creating the series Patterns of life for the Open University’s YouTube channel, captaining the OU’s team on BBC2’s Beat the Brain, participating in Facebook events and, more seriously, as academic consultant to BBC Radio 4’s More or Less. A recent venture is the creation of a maths/brain teaser app called Perplex, which is available on the App Store and Google Play. This was a collaboration with the UK Mathematics Trust, with whom I have worked for many years.”
Sherry Coutu - Founders4Schools Chairs Founders4Schools, and serves as a non-executive Director or Trustee of Workfinder, Pearson, DCMS, London Stock Exchange plc, and Raspberry Pi Foundation. She is also an author and a philanthropist, was awarded a CBE for Services to the Economy in 2013 and has been awarded three honorary doctorates for her work in education and the economy.
Michaela Eschbach - Founders4Schools Managing Director After a career across different industries, Michaela has successfully set up and runs an SME. She has strong leadership skills, the ability to formulate and drive strategy in a challenging environment. She has the ability to translate strategy into operations, making it accessible to the team. Her agile mindset allowed her to move quickly and identify opportunities as they arose, enabling her to secure grants, sponsorships and new contracts. This has enabled her to more than triple turnover over the 4 years of operations. Her strong interpersonal skills and social mindset, has enabled her to successfully liaise and build continuous relationships with stakeholders on all levels. She successfully positioned herself and the organisation to be an influencer and subject specialist. Her financial and operational skill set enabled her to manage the organisation's finances as well as ensure delivery against targets in a fast growing business.
Jane Fisher – Founder & Director of JFA Management Consultancy Following a career as a Biology teacher and FE lecturer, Jane progressed into management before moving into LA work leading ESF & DfE projects to increase the learning and progression opportunities for young people. She led national policies that resulted in Barnsley receiving national recognition for its success, from the DfE and Ofsted. She harnessed the potential of partnership working between different sector providers to diversify the 14-19 curriculum, developing supporting frameworks disseminated nationally as good practice. Promoted to 14-19 Lead Officer in the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, she led the development of the 14-19 learning and skills strategy, leading schools, colleges, training providers and employers at strategic level. She also worked with the Humber LEP to develop strategies to improve the sub-region’s CEIAG to help raise the aspirations and employability skills of young people. Jane now runs her Management Consultancy, working with leaders and their teams as an Advisor and Consultant, helping them develop and implement strategies that deliver sustainable organisational changes. She also volunteers as a Young Enterprise Business Adviser & Enterprise Adviser in schools.
Mina Gerowin – 100 Women in Finance Mina is a Non-Executive Director of 100 Women in Finance, CQS, The Population Council and also on the advisory board of RUSI. Mina was one of the first women to break into the hedge fund industry and was the first female Vice President at Lazard Freres and Co. Mina moved to London in 2008 where she headed Paulson’s European event, distressed and credit investment teams. In 2009 Mina was awarded the European Hedge Fund Leadership Award of 100 Women in Hedge Funds (now 100 Women in Finance) and has been named several times as one of the Top 100 Women in Hedge Funds by the Hedge Fund Journal and as one of the Top 50 Women in Finance by efinancial news/Dow Jones. Mina is a former non-executive director of EXOR, CNH Industrial NV and of Lafarge SA and member of the Global Advisory Committee of Samsung Asset Management.
Ryan Gibson - National System Leader Careers at Academies Enterprise Trust AET Ryan iis responsible for the quality of careers education for 35,000 young people across 58 primary, secondary and sixth form schools. Ryan is an experienced senior leader in secondary education and was awarded the Sinnott Fellowship for his work in connecting education and business. He is passionate about helping students apply what they learn in the classroom to the wider the world. Before joining AET, Ryan worked as a member of the Executive Team at the North East LEP, where he established ‘North East Ambition’ and served on the Regional Employment and Skills Board. In 2015 Ryan successfully led the national pilot of the Gatsby Foundation’s 'Good Career Guidance' benchmarks, resulting in a new DfE National Careers Strategy in England. Ryan worked with the Careers and Enterprise Company on the regional and national roll out of the Gatsby Benchmarks, including the development of the national careers hub model. In 2017 Ryan was recognised as ‘UK Career Educator of the Year’ by the Career Development Institute and during the Covid19 pandemic he helped to create the careers content for Oak National Academy, which was accessed by over 100,000 young people. He is proud to be Vice Chair of Governors at a primary school in Gateshead and a Governor of a secondary school in Sheffield.
Dr Camilla Gilmore - Co-Director of the Centre for Mathematical Cognition Camilla Gilmore is Reader in Mathematical Cognition and co-director of the Centre. Her research is focused on understanding how mathematics skills develop with particular attention to early years development. This work aims to identify cognitive and environmental factors that influence mathematics learning and to understand why some children have difficulties learning mathematics. She holds a Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship from the Royal Society and was awarded the 2020 Experimental Psychology Society Prize Lecture.
Paul Glaister - A Professor of Mathematics and Mathematics Education in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Reading With a background as an academic, 38 years’ teaching and leadership experience and 450 publications. For the last six years he has also spent much time and energy on mathematics education reforms (mostly in England), particularly Post 16 Mathematics - A levels and Core Maths. Paul works with many colleagues (50+) in DfE on mathematics education policy, practice, curriculum, qualifications, professional development, and teacher recruitment, retention, non-specialist maths teacher initiatives - future teaching scholars, maths scholarships, TSST. He works with many teachers, learned societies and subject associations in the course of these activities, and is a member or chair of 50+ national and regional advisory boards/committees, including the Royal Society ACME A level Contact Group, Ofqual Expert Panels, DfE Expert Panels, IMA, LMS, CCEA, AMSP, Maths Hubs, and is the immediate past Chair of the Joint Mathematical Council of the UK. Paul is driven to do everything he can to provide appropriate opportunities and strong encouragement for all students to take mathematics post 16, and to ensure the highest quality mathematics education for all.
Timo Hannay - School Dash Managing Director is the founding Managing Director of School Dash Limited, an education technology company based in London. Prior to SchoolDash, Timo was the founding managing director of Digital Science in London, United Kingdom where he ran the company from its foundation in 2010 until 2015. Digital Science was founded to provide software and services aimed at scientific researchers and research administrators. Prior to this Timo was director of nature.com, a consultant at McKinsey & Company, a writer for The Economist and a research neurophysiologist at the University of Oxford and Waseda University in Tokyo. He is also a non-executive director of SAGE Publishing.
Dr Helen Harth - Health Education England
Carole Haynes – Royal Statistical Society joined the Royal Statistical Society as Education Manager in 2018 focussing on education policy. RSS is an internationally recognised organisation that can influence education policy for the greater good. Carole enjoys engaging with RSS members, and other interested individuals, to inspire our generation by highlighting the importance of understanding statistics and using data to explore the world within an ethical framework. This will help policy-makers make informed evidence-based choices to positively improve our everyday lives and communities.
Lesley Hill - Chair Lesley studied mechanical engineering at Bristol University followed by working in the offshore oil industry in Scotland before moving to America to study an MBA at Harvard Business School. She then worked as an operations manager in manufacturing in Silicon Valley, California followed by roles in sales and strategy consulting. More recently she has been involved in education as a school governor for 15 years in both the private and state sectors and as a local theatre supporter with the Bush Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith. Lesley is committed to increasing diversity and inclusion by encouraging women to pursue careers in STEM subjects.
Professor Matthew Inglis Co-Director of the Centre for Mathematical Cognition Matthew Inglis is a Professor of Mathematical Cognition at Loughborough University, where he co-directs the Centre for Mathematical Cognition. His research aims to understand the cognitive processes involved in numerical thinking, logical reasoning, and mathematical learning. His work has been widely published across psychology, education and philosophy journals. In 2014 he was awarded the Selden Prize by the Mathematical Association of America, and in 2017 he was named the Times Higher Education Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year.
Gill Kyle – Primary Maths Specialist, Maths Circle Ltd. Gill works closely with schools across the globe, championing Maths Circle’s GirlsRocks initiative. Maths Circle is an internationally trusted Ed Tech company who are dedicated to helping children acquire fundamental numeracy skills. They are the brains behind Times Tables Rock Stars (a carefully sequenced programme of daily times tables) and more recently, NumBots(which uses understanding, recall and fluency in mental addition and subtraction to move children from counting to calculating). Gill started her career working in publishing at Condé Nast Ltd after completing a MA Hons at The University of Glasgow. She then moved into the online industry in the early 2000s as the lead account manager for Yahoo UKIE. After a career break to have children, Gill returned to the workplace with a PGCE MFL. Gill has taught across Foundation, KS1 and KS2. She was the Maths Lead at her school for many years and worked closely with her local Maths Hub, Enigma, in the teaching for mastery work groups. Gill is passionate about raising the profile of maths and its opportunities amongst our younger generation and more specifically, girls.
Christy Lombard - Client Director Fry Family Office Currently the client director in a multi-family office, advising families and implementing bespoke financial plans and investment strategies. Christy started her career in South Africa, after graduating with a Business Management Degree from Stellenbosch University, where she majored in Corporate Finance, Investment Management and Financial Planning. She further went on to qualify as a Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Wealth Manager in the UK. Passionate about coaching and empowering women to be financially independent. Member of 100 Women in Finance and Volunteer for Maths4Girls. Avid trail runner.
Dr Ems Lord - Director NRICH, Cambridge Dr Ems Lord joined the NRICH team as its Director in 2015. She is a member of The All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Teaching Profession, the immediate past-President of the Mathematics Association (2019-2020), a member of the Joint Mathematical Council and a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teachers. Ems has taught mathematics across the key stages, from Early Years to A Level Further Mathematics, and has worked in a variety of settings including a hospital school. Her previous roles include supporting schools as a Leading Mathematics Teacher, local authority consultant and as a Chartered Mathematics Teacher. Ems successfully led one of the largest Mathematics Specialist Teacher programmes and has taught mathematics education on both BEd and PGCE teacher programmes. She is a research fellow at Clare Hall College, Cambridge and supervises students following the Masters programme for the Faculty of Education.
Louise Maule - Maths4Girls Project Lead Originally a secondary biology teacher, most recently as a Lead Practitioner for a Learning Trust of primary and secondary schools. Louise led a DfE funded STEM Learning regional programme of CPD for science educators including initiatives to develop thinking and reasoning skills, improve transition from primary to secondary science, and joint projects with stakeholders such as the Maths Hub and the EEF. This encompassed creation of resources, bid writing, designing, delivering and commissioning CPD based on local and national needs. In particular has focussed on a number of strategies to improve STEM careers awareness, highlight unconscious gender bias in STEM, and improve Science Capital in students. This included leadership of ‘Aspire to STEM’ partnerships which tackled low aspiration in deprived areas through improving teaching, leadership, and careers information. Louise is particularly interested in using coaching to support professional development, and has also served as a primary school governor.
Dawn Miller - Country President at Chubb Insurance (Switzerland) Limited Dawn has more than 25 years of experience in senior international positions in the insurance industry. Prior to joining Chubb in 2018, she was President/CEO of Axa Insurance Company in the United States. She has also held other leadership roles in Europe, the Middle East and the United States for AIG and Willis Towers Watson.
Tim Oates - Cambridge Assessment Group Director Tim is Group Director of Assessment Research and Development at Cambridge Assessment, focussing on national and international research on assessment and measurement. He has published widely on assessment and curriculum, also undertaking wide-ranging international comparison of the performance of education systems, and advising OECD on its curriculum review work. He was a member of Ofqual’s Standards Advisory Group from 2010-16, recently moving from this group to the Ofqual Vocational Standards Advisory Group. Tim routinely provides briefings and advice to the UK and other governments. He is a Fellow of Churchill College Cambridge, and in 2015 he was awarded a CBE for Services to Education.
Alex Smith, Policy Lead for Post-16 maths in the STEM Education Division of DfE Alex is the post-16 maths policy lead at the Department for Education, leading on policies to support advanced maths and to encourage more students to study maths post GCSE. Alex has been a civil servant for around 18 years, working on policies including exam reform and the English and maths curriculum. She has been in the DfE’s STEM unit for four years.
Mary Stevenson, Assistant Director for Secondary at National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) and involves network collaborative projects including the Secondary Mastery Specialist programme, and working with Initial Teacher Education providers. Mary taught mathematics in secondary schools and a sixth form college, including two Head of Mathematics positions. Subsequently I moved into higher education, where I led PGCE Mathematics, devised and taught PD programmes for serving teachers, led a mathematics undergraduate degree pathway, and taught on a mathematics Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) course and MA modules. Mary believes that mathematics educators can share their diverse expertise and learn from each other, and thereby improve outcomes for learners, enabling children and young people to enjoy lasting benefits from success in mathematics.
Leilah Tott – Assistant Director, STEM Education division, Department for Education Leilah previously taught as a primary school teacher, with a particular interest in maths and science, before joining the Civil Service in 2014. After roles within the Cabinet Office, The Behavioural Insights Team and managing JobCentres, she joined the Department for Education to work on STEM policy. Leilah was instrumental in designing and setting up the new National Centre for Computing Education and overseeing the development of the £76 million Teaching for Mastery maths programme.
Pete Ure - Founders4Schools Strategic Data Analysis Experienced data analyst with a background in identifying trends and uncovering insights in the financial, education and government sectors.

John Yarham - Interim CEO The Careers & Enterprise Company is CEO for the Careers & Enterprise Company, the Government's national body for delivering the careers strategy for young people in England. The role involves senior stakeholder engagement including senior government (ministerial and civil service), major employers and a variety of national partner bodies. John has more than 20 years’ experience in the employment and skills sector and was previously the Chief Executive of the Futures Group, a social enterprise supporting tens of thousands of young people and adults with their next steps in careers, as well as supporting businesses with their recruitment and training needs.

Laurena Robinson - Founders4Schools Director of Fundraising and Partnerships Dynamic, revenue-focused fundraising leader with broad experience across the board. A confident contributor at senior leadership level since 2008, I am skilled in strategic, long-term and sustainable income planning, communication and marketing, branding, PR and media, stakeholder engagement and effective networking, VIP management, presenting to large audiences, inspiring leadership and efficient people management, identifying wider organisational opportunity and delivering to target.
Sam Shoyinka - Founders4Schools Head of Project Management & Business Analysis Joined F4S in January 2021 to support the Engineering and Project team. Prior to F4S, Sam has worked as a resourceful and hands-on Business Analyst/Project manager with various financial institutions (Barclays, RBS, Nationwide, Link Asset Management) and local authority. Sam has experience of full project life cycle working within Agile (Scrum) and Waterfall environments. He is adept at business process evaluation, analysis and modelling. Sam has excellent project/stakeholder management skills and good requirements elicitation/analysis/documentation/management skills.
Awaiting profile information Elizabeth Tyler, Ark Curriculum Plus+, Managing Director Rich Hickin, Ark Curriculum Plus+, Partnerships Director Cath Boulton, Royal Society - Maths Futures

(January 2022)