On 1 July 2020, the European Commission presented a new Skills Agenda setting ambitious objectives for upskilling and reskilling for the next five years.

The Agenda has 12 actions that focus on skills for jobs by partnering up with Member States, companies and social partners to work together for change, by empowering people to embark on lifelong learning, and by using the EU budget as a catalyst to unlock public and private investment in people’s skills.

The aim is to ensure that the right to training and lifelong learning, enshrined in the European Pillar of Social Rights, becomes a reality all across Europe, from cities to remote and rural areas, to the benefit of everyone.

• Communication on the European Skills Agenda
• Factsheet on the European Skills Agenda
• Press release on the European Skills Agenda

The STEAMonEdu project consortium is especially pleased to see that Action 7 is focused on STEM:

Increasing STEM graduates and fostering entrepreneurial and transversal skill

According to the Communication, to contribute to the required increase of STEM graduates the Commission will:

• raise the attractiveness of STEM studies and careers, with focused actions to attract girls and women, and by encouraging a cross-disciplinary and innovative teaching and learning approach in schools, VET and higher education.
• as part of the European Education Area Communication, introduce activities for teachers, helping address the shortage of STEM teachers in EU countries and regions.
• foster science education in research and innovation actions such as through the development of key competence and assessment framework; dissemination of research results on science education in partnership with the European SchoolNet; and use of socially empowered portals bringing together schools from different European countries, notably those that have experience with the open schooling culture.
• promote an integrated framework and learning continuum inter alia between secondary and higher education systems, education and business in partnership with business professionals, and further pursue open schooling and research-based methods, contests, and citizen science.

The Communication (p.13) states that high level of STEM skills is crucial to foster innovation in cutting-edge ICT areas such as AI or cybersecurity. However, only one in five young people in Europe graduates from STEM tertiary education, less than two million STEM graduates every year. This number needs to increase, which could be achieved by promoting STEM pathways in particular among young women. Currently, only half as many women as men are graduating in STEM fields in the EU, although with huge variations across Member States. There is a need to better explain to young learners, and notably to girls, the opportunities offered by the choice of a STEM pathway.

Our STEAMonEdu project definitely contributes to this action, as our objective is to increase the attractiveness of STE(A)M education, especially among girls. We believe that thanks to the developed methodology and all the training tools, the involved teachers will be better equipped to promote STE(A)M education. If you would like to be part of it, join our STEAMonEdu community!

The actual Romanian education system needs new STE(A)M challenges and approaches that could revive interest in studying disciplines such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is necessary for these disciplines to become more challenging, to arouse the imagination and inspiration of today’s students, the citizens of tomorrow’s world. In Romania, STE(A)M education is at very beginning, and a lot of efforts should be done in order to develop these educational practices at national level.

STE(A)M approach is based on the idea of educating students with the help of five different disciplines: science, technology, arts, engineering and mathematics – in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. The five disciplines are not studied differently and separately, STE(A)M model integrates them in a cohesive learning paradigm, based on real world demands. What differentiates the STE(A)M model from traditional education is cohesive learning, which shows students how the scientific method can be applied in everyday life, by developing the type of thinking based on problem solving by applying real life solutions.

STE(A)M education is a concept that has started to be talked about in Romania quite recently, but which is believed to become a key point in preparing the young generations for the future. To achieve the integration of STE(A)M approach in the Romanian educational system, Ministry of Education developed in 2019 an “Action plan for education in Romania 2019 – 2030” aiming at increasing the quality of public education by improving the well-being of school communities.

Among the various objectives and actions included in this plan, there is a group referring to the implementation of a new STEM/STE(A)M curriculum. This will bring a new approach to mathematical skills, creative thinking skills, computational thinking and coding, engineering and technological innovation modernization of the student assessment system, as well as a calibration of the assessment of learning outcomes according to individual pathways and clearly defined standards.

The results of implementing the “Action plan for education in Romania 2019 – 2030” will be:

• Elaboration of a new STE(A)M curriculum, based on a trans-disciplinary approach
• Creation of OERs (Open Educational Resources) to support the implementation of the STE(A)M curriculum
• Implementation of an updated competences framework for educators from the STE(A)M field
• Phasing the implementation of the new curriculum at all school levels
• Ongoing monitoring, impact evaluation, and adjustment of resources and indicators for reaching maximum impact.

Although STE(A)M practices are not yet very widely spread in Romania at the moment, there are a few organizations and initiatives which promote and implement STE(A)M education practices and programmes.

This include Asociatia CRESTEM, an innovative non-profit organization whose purpose is creating, developing and promoting an educational ecosystem capable of providing children and students with a complete, balanced and quality education, which will allow them to make informed decisions that will have an impact on the world and how they will live. Main objectives of CRESTEM association are:

• Creating an educational framework, STE(A)M type, adapted to the Romanian educational system;
• Creating, adapting and promoting STE(A)M educational programs (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) adapted to the context and specifics of the Romanian education system;
• Supporting the adoption of STE(A)M programs by public and private educational institutions;
• Supporting the creation of extracurricular activities such as robotics clubs, computer circles, etc., which use the STE(A)M approach; Organizing high quality contests and competitions that promote the STE(A)M approach. Their programmes are very well received by kids, youngsters, and students.

Besides the organizations and initiatives implementing STE(A)M education and practices in Romania, there are also a significant number of teachers who attended STEM/STE(A)M training programmes and now are using STE(A)M practices with their students in the classroom as part of their teaching process. Most of these teachers are also members of the SCIENTIX community and eTwinning community and platforms. This two communities help them in developing their skill to use STE(A) approach within the teaching system.

Another great resource for STE(A)M approach in Romania, that many teachers are using is School Education Gateway platform – European online platform dedicated to pre-university education is a great resource. Available in 23 European languages, the School Education Gateway portal is an online platform for teachers, school principals, researchers, trainers, decision makers and other specialists in pre-university education. On this portal one can find a lot of resources, materials and opportunities related to development of STE(A)M practices and programmes.

STEAMonEdu and Fundatia EOS – Educating for an Open Society

STEAMonEdu project partner – Fundatia EOS – Educating for an Open Society, has collected recently various best practices implemented by Romanian schools, of which we mention the following: “RoboCodeTech and Coding in Scrath from Matei Basarab High School Craiova”, “Let’s code the Micro:bit and Minecraft voyage from Nicolae Titulescu Theoretical High School Slatina”, “Scratch și…… Gool! from Association Pro Teodor Murăşanu Turda”. Content of this practices and all Romanian practices that were collected can be found on our STEAMonEdu platform.

We are confident that our participation in the STEAMonEdu project will contribute to the development of STE(A)M practices in Romania and will bring more experiences in this field at national level.

By EOS Romania

Romania is facing a lack of policies and action plans in the field of STE(A)M education at central and regional level. This is one of the reasons why EOS Romania Foundation together with eight other organizations promoting digital education, decided to create the Coalition for Digital Education (CED).

CED aims to support the development of quality digital education in Romania and the adaptation of the educational offer, so that it prepares children and young people for the transformation of society and the labour market in line with technological development trends. Due to its composition, CED has extensive knowledge about the opportunities that digital education offers, but also the importance of responsible, planned and inclusive use of the solutions that digital education proposes.

The nine organizations that initiated this approach promote digital education and STE(A)M education among students and young people through concrete and varied activities. Thus, they trained in this field about 1,500 teachers in Romania, conducted lessons with about 18,000 students, including those from rural areas, and managed to mobilize also and human resources from outside the education system involving in their work over 250 mentors.

In the context of COVID-19 and the disruptions caused by the pandemic in education, EOS Romania on behalf of CED sent an open letter to the Romanian Ministry of Education, to highlight some critical issues to be dealt with:

• reducing the digital divide between urban and rural areas, given that schools in rural areas have poor infrastructure and limited access to online educational resources;
• predictability and regulation regarding the education of students in the final grades who are most affected by the interruption of courses – the need for a plan with concrete actions and firm deadlines, implementable as soon as possible;
• the importance of developing a unitary distance education strategy, a guide for teachers in order to effectively plan and conduct educational activities in the online environment;
• the need to train teachers to make effective use of tools and resources available online – given that a number of online resources are available, teachers must have the necessary skills to select and use the most effective tools for the proposed educational purpose;
• making the best use of the solidarity and congruence of action and reaction of ICT professionals, in order to coagulate effective and sustainable long-term alternative education initiatives, to combat the implications of the educational syncope’s generated by the current state of emergency as soon as possible;

Currently, EOS Romania has started through CED the localization of an important resource for the development of teachers’ digital skills, so that they become STE(A)M ready. DigCompEdu is the basis for the development of STE(A)M competence framework within the STEAMonEdu project and for the elaboration of STE(A)M educator profiles.

EOS Romania and CED will continue to raise awareness among Romanian policy makers on policies and frameworks already developed at EU level that can be adapted and implemented in the Romanian education system. Moreover, they will support the Government in creating a country-wide STE(A)M strategy that will support the introduction of STE(A)M approach in schools across the country.

by EOS Romania Foundation

A guide on STE(A)M education policies and educators needs will be launched in December 2020 by STEAMonEdu project consortium. The aim of the guide is to present a comprehensive analysis of the STE(A)M education policies that were collected by each project partner at national/EU level and to increase the adoption and impact of STE(A)M education by investing in the community of stakeholders and the professional development of educators.

The guide will cover both policies at the EU level and those at national and regional level in five countries: Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, and Spain. Nineteen policies were collected and uploaded on the STEAMonEdu project platform, and 15 most relevant policies have been selected to be included in this guide – policies that are bringing significant impact on the education systems, by reforming the curriculum or by ensuring a broader reach of STE(A)M in schools.

The STEAMonEdu project is based on various research activities that are conducted during the project lifetime, thus an EU and country level policy analysis supports the project in reaching its targets, but also supports further research as well as any stakeholder interested in the implementation of STEAM in education across Europe.

Project partners developed a methodological framework in order to identify, select and analyse STE(A)M in education policies.

The process to identify and collect policies has been supported by desk research as well as data collection through online surveys. While the desk research has been undertaken by the project partners, the online surveys have been opened to external stakeholders, through the wider STEAMonEdu community, with the scope to identify and collect as many relevant policies as possible.

In the context of this project, the following STE(A)M policies have been collected and analysed in order to be included in the guide:

• EU policies
• National (governmental) policies
• Regional policies
• Institution level policies (e.g. schools)

The analysis of the collected policies has been carried out by using a series of criteria and policy questions. In this effort, some policy makers have been consulted to bring clarity and accuracy to the policies, and to the implementation progress.

Beyond analyzing the policies, the STEAMonEdu consortium performed an analysis of the policy context in each project country and at the EU level, by researching a number of existing publications as well as by gathering information from the wider project community.

Also, an analysis of the efficiency and impact of STEAM educational policies at EU and national level was conducted by project consortium and all these findings will be included and integrated in the guide together with a short analysis of the STE(A)M educators needs.

Stay tuned!

By EOS Romania

In order to develop the Policy Influence Toolkit, a series of five online capacity building sessions were organised by ALL DIGITAL for STEAMonEdu project partners. Each of the sessions focused on a different layer and scenario, with the purpose of supporting project partners to develop and consolidate their policy-making strategy and to ensure a transversal action across Member States involved in the action.

With these sessions, we tried to provide a clear insight on how the institutions operate and to define the role of each organisation in convincing their government and policy makers in the importance of our cause. The sessions were centred on concrete examples of advocacy strategies and described diverse tools tailored to different actors at various levels. They were all moderated by ALL DIGITAL’s CEO Renato Sabbadini and involved speakers from partner organisations and external experts.

We have already talked about the first three sessions in our blogs The Way to Advocacy and One step closer to successful advocacy.

The 4^th session on 3 December, was focused on effective advocacy practice to influence policy at national level. In the discussion with Pierluigi Vaglioni, Italian representative on the Working Group DELTA of DG EAC and public official at the Ministry of Education of the Italian Republic, participants learned about national policy-making environments and advocacy dynamics; some tools and approaches used at national level; and practical examples of national advocacy.

The 5^th, final, session on 10 December “Effective communication strategies” was devoted to the most important aspects of effective communication in policy-making – how to develop communication strategy for advocacy, how to create and communicate advocacy message(s), engage policy makers and key stakeholders, and organise awareness raising campaigns.

Valentin Dupouey, Head of Communications at European Green Party, gave a detailed presentation about Advocacy-Campaigns-Comms. Valentin talked about elements of successful campaigns and tips for advocacy with practical effective examples at European level.

Valentin’s engaging presentation was complemented by Ekaterina Clifford of ALL DIGITAL, who touched upon other aspects Communicating for advocacy with the focus on what ALL DIGITAL does in policy and advocacy, what STEAMonEdu consortium can do as a whole to influence policy, and what tools, channels, approaches each partner can use in their work to convince busy policy-makers and raise awareness among educators and general public about the importance and benefits of STE(A)M education.

STEAMonEdu consortium thanks all the speakers for sharing their expertise and hopes these sessions will support partners in their activities to ensure proper impact and further exploitation of project results.

By ALL DIGITAL