STEM for all: Supporting teachers’ professional learning for inclusive STEM
Year Awarded
2024
Amount
€59,923
- Organisation:Dublin City University (DCU)
Project Summary
This project aims to enhance teachers’ capacity and skills for the delivery of inclusive STEM Education in primary schools in order to broaden the participation of disabled and neurodiverse learners in STEM education. A university-school partnership with 8 schools will support teachers to transform their practice to effectively include all learners in STEM Education, in particular disabled and neurodiverse learners.
We will work with 8 teachers to support them lead professional learning communities (PLCs) for inclusive STEM Education within their own schools, involving 8-10 teachers in each PLC. The project team includes 4 academics who have specific expertise in inclusive education, professional learning for inclusion and STEM Education. The project team will facilitate a core PLC with 8 PLC teacher leaders to support them to lead PLCs within their own settings.
The core PLC will also include 3 additional teachers from different schools who have STEM expertise to act as critical friends to the PLC teacher leaders. The PLC teacher leaders will develop school PLCs from January – June 2025 which will involve monthly collaborative meetings to identify inclusive approaches for STEM to trial and develop in their own classrooms each month. The PLC meetings will focus on teachers collaboratively refining and improving inclusive STEM practices to effectively include and engage disabled and neurodiverse learners in STEM. The project team will support the PLC teacher leaders to capture effective inclusive STEM practice from the 8 schools to co-develop a STEM inclusive practice framework to support other schools to enhance inclusion.