www.europeanschoolnet.org - stimulating interest in stem careers among students in europe...
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www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org
Stimulating interest in STEM careers among students in Europe
Supporting career choice and giving a more realistic view of STEM at work
Alexa Joyce
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org
Dedicated to
Support schools in bringing about the best use
of technology in learning
Promote the Europeandimension in schools
and education
Improve and raise the quality of education
in Europe
Network & think tankof 30 Ministries
of Education in Europe
About European Schoolnet
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org
Three strands of activityEuropean Schoolnet’s activities
•Policy and practice research
•Innovation and exchange
•School networking & services
•Validation & support for pilot schools
•Interoperability and content exchange
•Resource platform
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org
• Europe is training too few scientists, technology experts and engineers– Asian countries train twice as many scientists
compared to European member states, and three times as many engineers.
• Europe’s highest scientific achievers – Finnish students – outperformed by Chinese students in Shanghai and Hong Kong (PISA, TIMMS)
• No growth in choice of scientific higher education and career paths but high unemployment in EU & strong demand for particularly IT & engineering profiles
Focus on STEM education
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Horizontal axis: Human Development IndexVertical axis: Scores on questions designed to measure positive attitudes towards studying science
Svein Sjoberg, University of Oslo: Project ROSE
Attitudes to STEM & STEM careers
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Engineering – demand vs interest
Shortages already today – opportunity cost of €6.6 billion in Germany alone
Eurostat 2008
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IT – demand vs interest
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90% of future jobs will require higher level of IT skills than todayand 800 000 posts likely to be unfilled by 2020
Eurostat 2013, Empirica 2013
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Link to school to work transitions
• Hypotheses:– Contextualisation of
STEM with job / career information increase interest and motivation in STEM
– School-industry partnerships can provide these experiences
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School-industry partnerships in STEM
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CRECIM, 2012
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Key factors in STEM career interest
• Engagement in school: inquiry-based learning, collaboration, contextualisation of STEM
• Career information: more access to “real life” job information and role models in STEM.
• Personal characteristics: role playing, self–efficacy activities allowing students to understand ability to do STEM
• Social/ethical perception of STEM – helping students to better understand social and ethical aspects.
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CRECIM, 2012
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org
Typical characteristics of partnerships
• Provision of resources for schools to promote the improvement of scientific or technological knowledge potentially related to the company (materials, ambassadors, courses, etc.)
• Establishing direct communication between STEM professionals and students.
• Offering company premises to support schools/to students.
• Engaging STEM professionals with students’ work.
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CRECIM, 2012
Operate at any level: international, national, regional, local.
More partners = more sustainable
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Practical examples – e-Skills Week
• Encourage interest in tech & tech jobs among young people in all EU member states – European Commission + Schoolnet + DIGITALEUROPE
• 30 countries and 200 stakeholders – education, industry, associations
• Tangible positive impact on young people more interestedin tech and tech jobs (evaluationsurvey + interviews)
• Diverse events: meet role models, workshops, robotics competitions, introduction to programming, industry visits, etc.
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Practical examples – Intel ISEF
• Reaches 5 million students around the world – local & national STEM fairs
• Self-driven research projects, mentored by teachers & encourage links to researchers
• Fairs involve business & research personnel in judging teams who meet students & review their projects
• Laureates win significant scholarships for STEM studies & act as mentors for future competitors
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Class engagement impacts
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Teachers Students
• More confidence in innovative methods & topics
• Increased awareness of support resources & tools
• More access to training opportunities
• Increased enjoyment of STEM lessons
• Increased knowledge and understanding of specific topics
• More collaborative experience in class
• More interest in taking subsequent STEM electives
NFER, Kudenko & Gras
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Career perception impacts
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Teachers Students
• Up to date knowledge of career opportunities helps teachers relate STEM content in teaching to real-life examples.
• Better understanding of how to tackle social and ethical issues.
• Increased awareness of careers that involve STEM
• Less stereotyped perception of what a “scientist” or “technologist” does
• Better understanding of social, ethical and legal constraints and measures taken by industry/research to tackle societal and ethical challenges.
NFER, Kudenko & Gras
Overall, more short term interest in STEM and STEM careersBUT hard to measure long term impact
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Obstacles & and facilitators
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StructuralMotivatio
nal
Procedural
Cultural
Structural
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Structural
Obstacles Facilitators
• Lack of resources (economic, human, time)
• Lack of support from internal management and external partners
• Geographical distance between school and industry
• Ministries of Education should include recommendations in STEM curricula/teaching requirements for school-industry partnerships
• More virtual partnerships forms should be developed to reach schools in distant locations
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Motivational
Obstacles Facilitators
• Mismatch of goals/objectives between schools and industry
• Lack of interested individuals
• Lack of continuity/commitment
• Clear partnership agreements should be drawn up based on best practice models to clarify objectives and targets
• Individuals (in companies and schools) need information and training to understand the benefits of partnerships
• Companies should make long term commitments to partner with dedicated staff
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Procedural
Obstacles Facilitators
• Communication between partners can fail
• Regulations e.g. students not allowed in laboratory facilities
• Intermediaries (broker organisations such as associations) should support partnerships to help resolve communication difficulties
• For difficult/dangerous facilities to visit, companies can create virtual or remote tours
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Cultural
Obstacles Facilitators
• Different realities of industry and education
• Clashing schedules
• Negative stereotypes of industry
Intermediaries (broker organisations) to support partnerships & resolve communication difficulties
Time made available by companies and schools to ensure availability
Teacher peer learning to ensure they are positive about the potential of the partnership
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Conclusions
• School industry partnerships have strong potential to help ensure more smooth transition from school to work in STEM fields
• Numerous diverse examples but few structural interventions reaching every student in countries
• Many barriers to uptake of opportunities, but solutions exist
• Need for more commitment on education side, industry side, and further measurement of impact
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More information?
• inGenious website on STEM school-industry partnerships: http://ingenious-science.eu
• European Schoolnet: www.europeanschoolnet.org
• Contact me: Alexa Joyce – [email protected]
Thank you!
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