Ms Fiona Longmuir:

We are talking about significant societal issues that are really systemic so there is no one simple solution to remove the barriers we are talking about. The approach the Institute of Physics has started to take is to look at the whole physics ecosystem rather than trying to influence young people as they make decisions on subjects for the leaving certificate or trying to influence people into taking up apprenticeships. We are recognising that messages are drip-fed in from early years education and compounded at every stage through the ecosystem. That is one thing; we have to look at it as a cohesive ecosystem rather than picking out specific parts. The approach the Institute of Physics is taking in our Limit Less campaign, our campaign against stereotypes in physics, recognises that this is not a problem of young people's making. It is one thing to go straight to the young people - their voice is obviously incredibly important - but we are looking at those who influence those young people and at the different places they are getting those messages from. They are getting those messages from the adults in their lives, their families, their communities, their schools, the Government and the media. It comes from lots of different places and, if we want to influence young people, we need to think about influencing those influencers first.

When it comes to apprenticeships, the Deputy is spot on. Our Solving Skills report found that there are still a lot of negative stereotypes around apprentices, particularly from families. They are often still seen as a low-status option, which is obviously not true at all. Something that is really interesting about physics and apprenticeships is that the stereotypes almost work against each other. Physics is seen as a really elitist and impractical academic subject, while the apprenticeship stereotypes are the opposite. If we are able to bring those two things together, physics and apprenticeships may be able to help each other out. Perhaps we can help to cancel out those negative stereotypes.