STEM news

Between October and December 2009 there was a discussion on the STEM Advisory Forum on the topic of STEM CPD. To read a summary of the completed discussion click on the link below:

STEM CPD discussion summary (opens a new browser window)

For this completed discussion we received responses from the Government's Department for Education, from the National STEM Centre, from the National Science Learning Centre (NSLC) and from the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics (NCETM):

Department for Education:

The discussion indicated the involvement of independent bodies, for example the Royal Statistical Society Centre for Statistical Education, in support for STEM CPD. This is to be welcomed; teachers and other directly involved in education are best placed to identify and meet CPD needs. The Government continues to support the STEM Programme, including financial support for CPD.

Jenifer Burden - Director National STEM Centre

At the heart of STEM is strong subject teaching in specialist disciplines. This discussion highlighted the importance of support for the individual subjects of science, technology engineering and mathematics, under the banner of STEM. The National STEM Centre is now launched and we already have many useful resources in science and in mathematics available in the eLibrary online resource collections.

Sir John Holman - Director National Science Learning Centre

The discussion underlines once more the importance of up-to-date subject knowledge and teaching skills for teachers of science. This has implications for initial teacher training as well as continuing professional development.

Jane Imrie - Director NCETM

The NCETM is pleased that the STEM Advisory Forum has drawn attention to our work in supporting collaborative CPD models for mathematics. The NCETM supports a range of activity that promotes and encourages collaborative learning to enhance mathematics teaching. National Centre MKN [Mathematics Knowledge Network] and Teacher Enquiry projects are major sources of support for groups of teachers - within and/or across schools and colleges - to work together to specifically reflect on their practice. This approach has in some cases included use of a collaborative CPD model of lesson planning, observation and feedback, which has been found to promote deeper learning, to identify the factors that make some lessons special and to develop and evaluate new lessons. Outcomes reported have included a more rigorous pedagogical approach to curriculum development and a closer connection between professional development needs and the development of teaching and learning strategies. Some of these projects have explored the M in STEM and the NCETM is funding further activity of this nature through the National STEM Centre. The National Centre has also undertaken research into what makes effective CPD in mathematics. The final report is available at the link below and has messages for subject-specific CPD across the STEM subjects.

www.ncetm.org.uk/recme (opens a new browser window)