You’ve probably heard that the roots of innovation and great leadership often start in the formative years, with STEM education being the most fertile ground for that growth, especially during the fourth industrial revolution.
Various reports and research indicate the growing importance of STEM degrees. STEM graduates tend to earn more than their non-STEM counterparts and enjoy brighter job prospects in high-paying industries like tech, finance, healthcare, and engineering. According to the STEM Connect Report, STEM graduates take home at least 20% more than the average worker. The opportunities for STEM graduates are continuously growing.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that employment in STEM occupations is expected to grow faster than in non-STEM occupations between 2022-32, with a growth rate of 7% compared with 2%.
The significance of STEM is further underscored at the university level. A World Economic Forum survey revealed that the top 25 college degrees by pay and demand are all in ‘STEM’ subjects.
The reality, however, is otherwise. Despite opportunities galore, the IT industry is combating skills shortages; it is a challenge for them to hire the right people with the right skills for the right roles.
International Data Corporation (IDC) survey findings revealed that the skill gap is impacting the overall business and revenue of the IT industry. Nearly two-thirds of the IT leaders surveyed said a lack of skills has resulted in missed revenue growth, quality issues, and a decline in customer satisfaction. (https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS52128824)
And the situation is not expected to get any better. IDC predicts that by 2026, more than 90% of organizations worldwide will feel the pain of the IT skills crisis, amounting to some $5.5 trillion in losses caused by product delays, impaired competitiveness, and loss of business. For instance, cybersecurity talent gaps exist across the United States.
Fastest Growing Occupations
Fastest growing occupations: 20 occupations with the highest projected percent change of employment between 2023-33.
As industries rapidly embrace technological advancements and new economic models, the international job market is witnessing a seismic shift that impacts the nature of work and the skills required to succeed.
Traditional education and skills are no longer sufficient to thrive in the workplace because automation and artificial intelligence are changing the workplace culture, creating roles that didn’t exist earlier and making others obsolete.
Traditional jobs are fast disappearing or becoming obsolete. Emerging sectors such as data science, AI, and renewable energy are leading the way, offering lucrative opportunities for those with relevant knowledge and expertise.
The US Labor Statistical Bureau (BLS) released a list of the 20 fastest-growing jobs from 2023 to 2033, and the primary prerequisite for most of them is STEM proficiency.
According to the list, renewable energy and healthcare are driving significant job growth, highlighting the importance of STEM education. Roles like wind turbine technicians and solar panel (PV) installers are crucial to the clean energy transition and require a solid foundation in math, science, and even computer science.
For example, wind turbine technicians must meet qualifications such as a General Educational Development (GED) certificate, which emphasizes math and science as well as mechanical and electrical skills.
Similarly, PV installers must know physics to understand energy conversion, mathematics to calculate angles and power, and computer science to manage automated systems.
In health care, nurses are one of the fastest-growing professions. To have the knowledge and skills required for a nursing career, aspirants must take science and math courses in high school.
This emphasizes the importance of STEM education in equipping students for careers focused on the future.
Trends in STEM Education in the world
The US is undoubtedly the global leader in innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly concerning the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). It boasts more patents for new technologies than any other country across the globe. In fact, when it comes to 4IR patents held by small and medium-sized enterprises, the US outpaces the European Union.
The US, along with the UK, is known to be best prepared to embrace the 4IR. However, when it comes to producing STEM graduates, it lags, according to the data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Asian and African countries are leading the way in producing STEM graduates. Malaysia and Tunisia are the countries with some of the highest numbers of STEM graduates, with 43.5% and nearly 37.9% of students earning STEM degrees. STEM graduates in India stand at 34%.
Arab nations are catching up too: the UAE and Oman are producing a significant number of STEM graduates.
The boost in STEM education has affected the market in a big way. In 2024, the K-12 education market was estimated to be $60.14 billion, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.7% from 2025 to 2030.
STEM Education Trends in the United States
As STEM is taking center stage in the future of education, the world is adopting STEM education rapidly.
So, what is the status of STEM learning in the United States?
New studies that compare how US K-12 students perform against students in other OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries show mixed results, underscoring both strong points and areas that need improvement.
In science, US students performed above average; they ranked 12th out of 37 OECD countries. The US average science score has remained virtually unchanged since 2018, according to Pew Research.
However, they fall behind in math, with scores below the OECD average. US students ended up 28th out of 37 OECD countries in math, and the average score dropped by 13 percentage points from 2018 to 2022.
Math, a key part of STEM education, plays a crucial role in solving problems and thinking across different fields.
The gap between science and math performance highlights an urgent need to balance STEM education. While science scores have remained stable since 2018, the stagnation also suggests that there is little room for complacency.
On the upside, the United States is undoubtedly a light year ahead in inventing new technologies and providing transformative leaders. On the downside, there is a need to improve STEM education at the school level as indicated by the data.
This is despite the federal government investing approximately $12 billion annually in STEM education, an amount comparable to the budgets of the National Science Foundation/Environment Protection Agency, according to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).
Continual improvement is essential to remain competitive globally, especially as other nations accelerate investments in STEM education.
Scaling STEM Education
There has been a focus on STEM education over the years, but few students are gaining from many educational reforms floated by government agencies, according to a recent report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
The report emphasizes the need for wider implementation of effective STEM educational innovations in schools, from prekindergarten through high school.
Furthermore, it calls for federal agencies, state governments, and school districts to work together in designing strategies to spread these practices.
For successful scaling, the STEM education innovation should incorporate a strong core program, flexibility for adoption, and professional learning to enhance teacher capacity.
In other words, education leaders should work on creating a system that would allow for the expansion of these successful models as outlined in the report.
The recommendations from the report can be a catalyst in turning the STEM education scenario in the country.
Key suggestions include:
- Adopting big-picture approaches to improve STEM education at the pre-K to 12.
- The US Department of Education should provide funds to support the professional development of teachers in all areas of STEM to enable the teachers to impart education in these areas.
- Educational leaders should adopt a continuous improvement framework to monitor and enhance STEM education programs over time.
State and District Partners: The report reveals a need to initiate data systems to gather information on the student’s learning opportunities and the advancement toward creating a highly qualified STEM teacher workforce.
Local and Regional K-12 Leaders: It also emphasizes the need for local leaders to enhance the STEM learning environment for all interested parties in the educational system, including students, teachers, and administrators.
Notably, these recommendations have the potential to promote a more integrated and effective STEM education system, which will help reduce the existing inequalities and provide every student with an opportunity to access high-quality STEM learning experiences while improving the global rating
Considering the changes in the job landscape, implementing these measures can create a stronger and more flexible workforce to face the challenges and prospects of the emerging STEM-based world.
Edtech: A Respite
To prepare students for a technologically driven future, the edtech industry is persistently innovating and expanding STEM education within the current landscape, resulting in a complete learning system. It equips students with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive by providing robust platforms for practical knowledge through hands-on learning.
The demand for online K-12 STEM education is growing mainly because it offers customized online courses, recorded sessions, experiential learning, and much more. From learning to code to working with hardware, the platforms expose students to a multifaceted platform where they can exploit their potential and creativity by engaging with complex concepts, ideating, innovating, and creating.
Edtech has something for everyone. Be a fast or a slow learner; there is a tailormade learning solution to suit everyone.
According to a report by the Global Newswire, in 2023, customized courses were highly popular, tapping 40.08% of the market share and generating $15.5 billion. It’s not stopping here. It is projected to grow rapidly between 2023 and 2028.
In 2023, the North American K-12 STEM education market was the largest, holding a 36.08% market share, worth $14 billion. Asia-Pacific and Western Europe followed it.
Moonpreneur is one of many edtech companies helping the next generation to get ready for college and tomorrow’s workforce with initiatives in subjects such as Robotics, Coding, AI/ML, STEM, Product Building Experience, Soft Skills, etc.
Our STEM-focused Innovator Program empowers children aged 7-16 with skills in technology, entrepreneurship, and essential soft skills. The program includes multi-grade mathematics for middle school success and AP courses for accelerated college readiness. With a dynamic Shark Tank-style model, we inspire innovation, with students already launching real-world business ideas.
Future: STEM will rule the roost
At its core, STEM education is driven by curiosity; curiosity leads to discovery and innovation. William Arthur Ward once said, “Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.”
STEM not only nurtures this curiosity but also encourages students to ask questions, tackle complex problems, and develop solutions that shape the future.
The future belongs to technology, and it will become more tech-centric. Therefore, students pursuing STEM would have a brighter opportunity.
I am leaving you with this data to ponder:
- The projected growth rate for tech jobs in the US over the next decade is two times faster than the general workforce.
- The information technology skills gap will impact over 90% of the world’s businesses by 2026.
- Instead of hiring new employees, 48% of tech companies emphasize upskilling and cross-training employees.
- The global average income for information technology specialists is $88,448.
- The number of AI-related job postings on LinkedIn more than quadrupled between 2021 and 2023 on a global scale.
- The tech industry hired a higher number of tech talent workers in 2023 compared to non-tech industries.
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