At a time for curriculum change in the UK, more emphasis was placed on the foundation subjects and their importance in providing cultural capital for learners and thus improving their prospects for future employment. Curriculum reform was high priority in primary schools across the UK and we can learn so much from our higher achieving neighbours. We aimed to develop the skills for the future in our staff and children by improving our practice in teaching and learning from a European perspective, with particular regard to digital science, technology, art, engineering and maths (STEAM) with a multi-disciplinary approach. STEAM is the future of our children in this everchanging society and we aim to ensure that we are at the forefront of the technological revolution.. Finland takes a multi-disciplinary approach to maths and science in the form of STEAM and phenomena/inquiry based learning where subjects are taught within a project and not isolated. We wanted to learn more about this and how it could be achieved within the constraints of the National Curriculum.
After researching the data from 2018 PISA league table results,it was clear that Estonia and Finland were best performers in Europe in maths and science and achieving well above OECD averages. UK were much further down the line and slightly above average meaning we have a lot to learn from our European partners and their practice, particularly in the primary years. Our school development plan identifies and tackles our areas of weakness in maths and science and we felt that visiting these countries to observe practice and participate in training opportunities provided by them would result in improvement in staff competencies and therefore raise standards in STEAM. The Reggio Emilia approach originated in Reggio Emilia, Italy also sparked interest with our early years staff. We attended training in a Reggio Inspired pre-school in Worthing, Sussex and wanted to further our research by attending a training course and visiting educational establishments in Reggio Emilia itself. Technology and digital competence plays a big part in early learning Reggio style as it is important for children to see things from different perspectives and with a variety of media.