A TREASURE trove of education material for teachers from across the UK has been launched in York.

The National STEM Centre, which opened yesterday at the University of York, aims to give teachers and lecturers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) swift access to a collection that can support their work with the launch of its eLibrary.

The freely accessible online resource, funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the Department for Education, was launched by former science minister and Gatsby founder, Lord Sainsbury, and the chairman of the Wellcome Trust, Sir William Castell.

The eLibrary will initially hold around 30 collections of teaching materials and will build and expand over the next three years.

The National STEM Centre’s physical collections already include print, multimedia and practical teaching and learning materials from the 1960s to present day.

Examples include a suite of design and technology information from the Nuffield Foundation, including ideas for tasks that develop design generation skills, and a set of safe and exciting experiments from the Institute of Physics for pupils to try at home.

The national collection was a key recommendation of the 2006 STEM Programme Report, which called for a “British Library of STEM Resources”. Speaking at the launch of the eLibrary yesterday, Lord Sainsbury said: “I am extremely pleased about the way that industry, schools, learned societies, charitable funds and Government have worked together in recent years to improve the service provided to teachers.

“But there is still more that could be done in terms of reducing the number of schemes that exist, increasing their effectiveness, and making them more inspirational, and I am confident that in the difficult years ahead the National Stem Centre will play a key role in this important task.”

To find out more about the centre and its online resources, go to www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk