To deal with the increasingly complex reality in class, which has accelerated in the last years, teachers need support through professional development (PD) activities to adopt new integrative methods. This need is particularly pronounced in STEM teaching (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) since STEM is a field in which all pupils, including migrants or those from disadvantaged backgrounds, should acquire appropriate skills in order to ensure their participation in work and life. Nowadays, the need for high-quality STEM teacher PD and the promotion of approaches that allow teachers to deal with complex classroom realities has been recognized. This can be seen in policy documents and reports such as the new Science Education for Responsible Citizenship (2015) report. It is also evidenced by the recent trend in Europe to establish PD centres to promote STEM teacher PD. What has not yet been achieved is to deliver the highest possible quality, based on findings from research, practice, different contexts, subjects and countries. Too often, therefore, PD activities do not lead to necessary changes in classroom practice. Hence, our overall aim is to improve the quality and relevance of STEM teacher PD on a large scale, and to do so by strengthening the position, work and knowledge base of STEM PD centres across Europe: through transnational exchange and mutual learning in a stable European PD centre network, through linking research with practice, through developing urgently required ready-to-use guidelines and reference materials for STEM PD providers. To have the widest possible impact specialized STEM PD centres will be working together in this project and set up a European network. They are united by their mission to improve STEM teacher PD and bring together a wide range of different expertise. On the basis of a prior informal network, two European meetings and a survey among PD centres, we have identified the needs and requirements to effectively increase the quality of STEM PD delivery across Europe. Based on this we will produce and disseminate:• Quality criteria for PD and guidelines to day-to-day implementation • Ready-to-use guidelines on measuring the quality of a PD activity • A catalogue for PD providers to take advantage of today’s diverse classrooms• A commented selection of STEM PD materials of the highest quality available across Europe• A review of PD centre models, their challenges and success factors leading to improvements in STEM teacher PD delivery of those centres• An interactive web-portal • Policy briefings on core concerns, insights and outcomes of the network Our work comprises five main strands of activities: (1) Development of the intellectual outputs; (2) dissemination activities; (3) working on the sustainability of the PD centre network; (4) quality assurance and evaluation and (5) project management. Quality assurance and evaluation as well as project management are built into the other working strands and thus ensure maximized output and impact. Our intellectual outputs are designed relying on the expertise of 12 different STEM PD centres and 2 schools that jointly will ensure quality and relevance of our results. All outputs are based on a substantial preparation phase (e.g. literature research), a development and design phase (e.g. linking research with practice needs and contexts) and a drafting, reviewing and optimizing phase (cf. quality assurance). Transnational learning activities serve the two-fold purpose: to further enhance our outputs while providing learning and exchange for the benefit of organizational improvements among PD centres. Our activities to enhance impact will start right from the beginning of the project (through e.g. web publications, tweets, newsletters, workshops, enlarging contacts database). They support dissemination throughout the project; in particular the broad reception of our major intellectual outputs will be supported through (inter)national multiplier events.The joint development of PD guidelines, compendia, materials, mutual learning activities, dissemination activities and multiplier events will support the organizational development of STEM PD centres in the network, improve the quality of their offers and strengthen their role as leveraging institutions in national contexts. Our activities will as well impact on PD centres beyond the network – and thereby invigorating the role of PD centres in general and strengthening the voice of PD practice in Europe vis-à-vis policy, research and the public. Through our approach the project will significantly improve the quality of STEM PD delivered across Europe. Teachers will be better prepared to deal with complex and highly diverse realities they encounter in classrooms today. This will in turn be to the benefit of European pupils. Our European network that will be enlarged and continued during/after the project’s duration provides for long-term benefit.
STEM PD Net (2016-2019) is an innovative Erasmus+ project to strengthen European collaboration and exchange among STEM Professional Development Centres in Europe. To deal with the increasingly complex reality in class, which has accelerated in the last years, teachers need support through professional development (PD) activities to adopt new integrative methods. This need is particularly pronounced in STEM teaching since STEM is a field in which all pupils, including migrants or those from disadvantaged backgrounds, should acquire appropriate skills in order to ensure their participation in work and life. Nowadays, the need for high-quality STEM teacher PD and the promotion of approaches that allow teachers to deal with complex classroom realities has been recognized. Therefore, quality in STEM education and STEM teacher professional development is key to raising interest in STEM and increasing the quota of STEM graduates. Within the STEM PD Net project, solutions and approaches to these challenges were established. An EU funded group of experts of 12 different STEM PD centres and 2 schools in teacher PD from across Europe has put together a set of guidelines to improve the quality of professional development in STEM education by strengthening the position, work and knowledge base of STEM PD centres across Europe. Therefore, STEM PD Net developed guidelines to day-to-day implementation, which link the best practice and research in STEM PD and offer a solid basis for institutions to examine and further develop their own structures and processes. They inspire STEM PD providers to self-evaluate and improve their own courses. For this, we have considered several users: Government agencies can benefit from these guidelines for reforming and working with their professional development centres. STEM PD centres themselves may use the guidelines for reflection on their practice in order to maintain and achieve quality. STEM PD teacher educators will find stimulating material on STEM teacher PD that they can use and adapt, but can also familiarize themselves with quality assurance measures. The guidelines are ready to use and applicable in day-to-day implementation: (1) “Ready-to-use Guide for High Quality STEM Professional Development” presents concrete examples illustrating its theoretical content. It is easy to apply in a daily context and promotes the idea of challenging participants to reflect on their work. (2) “How can we measure the impact of a PD activity? Ready-to-use guidelines” gives pragmatic advice on the large variety of evaluation devices. It considers what they achieve and provides pros and cons for some of them. PD providers as well as authorities will find the guide useful for selecting and advising on how to obtain appropriate evaluative feedback. (3) “Guide to reflecting on PD culture and diversity and equity in the classroom” is a catalogue of ways to exploit diversity and will be a valuable resource for government agencies for their own national adaptations and PD providers for their own needs. (4) “Selection of PD materials with Comments” is a selection of ready-to-use STEM PD materials, which did not existed so far, and was collected from STEM PD Net project partners, designed in various STEM-related European projects. The expert group has provided comments on their educational approaches, applicability and compliance with the quality criteria for PD in guide 1. (5) Within the guide of “PD centre models: context, mission, structure and activities” the participating centres from across Europe have examined their own national landscapes and internal structures, which shows how PD centres might be set up or developed within different contexts. In addition, STEM PD Net contributes information to policy makers through the development of a set of three policy briefings in order to establish and strengthen cooperation with policy makers. These policy briefings target policy makers’ needs and summarize key messages concerning professional development in the STEM area. Policy makers received important information on challenges and ways forward in STEM PD provision, on the STEM PD network, and on effective models and possibilities to organize STEM PD centres. Within the development of an interactive web portal all information about STEM PD Net, participating organisations and activities within the project and the wider European STEM PD centres network is easily available: http://stem-pd-net.eu/en/. With linking the extensive European STEM PD centre network (30 participating centres) as an umbrella for the project, we strengthened the PD providers’ leadership role in education. Through the sustainable cooperation with the European STEM PD centre network and further dissemination of the STEM PD net outputs, the guidelines and conceptual materials are available for everyone persistently.