Post-Primary Context - STEM Policy

STEM Education

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has been placed to the forefront of recent reform in Irish education in recognition of its importance in equipping our young people with the skills to participate fully in a 21st century society and in sustaining our economic development. Underpinning the development of STEM education is the STEM Education Policy Statement 2017-2026. Within the document there are three key principles which underpin all STEM education initiatives.

Key principles which underpin all STEM education initiatives:

STEM is about igniting learners’ curiosity so they participate in solving real world problems and make informed career choices.

STEM is interdisciplinary, enabling learners to build and apply knowledge, deepen their understanding and develop creative and critical thinking skills within authentic contexts.

STEM education embodies creativity, art and design and the acknowledgement that learning happens within and outside of the classroom within a broad STEM ecosystem.

Principles of STEM teaching and learning

Central to the STEM learning experience is inquiry based learning, where students develop their thinking and skills in a culture which is student centred and where learning is constructed through collaboration between students and teachers. Students are encouraged to develop the skills necessary to solve complex problems using the scientific method of hypothesising, testing, drawing conclusions and defending their reasons.

An inquiring habit of mind is promoted through students being encouraged to pose their own questions around how their world works and to investigate these using the scientific method. To facilitate these developments, teachers design rich tasks for students to engage with. These tasks are intriguing, have reduced scaffolding and contain inherent ambiguity, encourage exploration, have more than one outcome, allow for productive failure and motivate curricular content.

Reform of Post- Primary STEM subjects

In addition to broad reform of STEM education, there have been a number of subject-specific reforms:

Junior Cycle Science, Mathematics and Technologies: With the introduction of the new Junior Cycle, all subjects have undergone change. Introduction of Classroom Based Assessments (CBA’s) and an Assessment Task alongside a change in the exam structure.

Senior Cycle Agricultural Science: There is a new specification which includes the introduction of an individual investigative study (worth 25%) to accompany the new strands of the course; Scientific Practices, Soils, Crops and Animals.
Senior Cycle Computer Science: An initial cohort of 40 schools introduced Computer Science as a Leaving-Certificate subject in September 2018. A second cohort of 60 schools are due. The subject has 3 main strands; practices and principles, core concepts and computer science in practice. There is also a short course at junior cycle level on coding.

Senior Cycle Applied Mathematics: Applied Maths is currently undergoing reform with a key focus of the new syllabus of engaging students with the full problem-solving cycle so that they can move beyond calculating procedures and into formulating expressions representing problems, interpreting and verifying results and asking appropriate questions.
Senior Cycle Biology, Physics and Chemistry: The initial consultation phase of the reform of these subjects has been completed.

Focus of Teaching, Learning & Assessment

Promoting curiosity is a key principle of a high quality STEM education. To enable students to achieve this, teachers provide learning experiences that develop critical thinking skills, foster a problem-solving mentality and promotes design, creativity and innovation. Any STEM education environment should recognise the strong connection between the constituent subjects and between STEM and Arts education.

Further Supports

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