Other

The members of the SEER Network will work together to produce state of art knowledge on STE(A)M education,
collect pedagogical resources for teachers and schools, and collaborate to build the foundations
of the SEER Roadmaps.

The objectives of Together4STEM programme in 2023 are deployed into 2 Workstreams:

1. Strengthen business-education initiatives to inspire and empower young people in STEM

2. Ensure a smooth transition to work for current and future generations.

The 2 Workstreams aims respectively to: Learn, Share & Co-create:

• Amplify the impact of company STEM initiatives by developing a common methodology and share best practices

• Strengthen existing company STEM initiatives by exchanging knowledge and provide insights at EU level

  Pool Companies learning content for stronger impact:

• Pool together existing resources in the format of a website (e.g. STEM@Home) and

  written material to be disseminated (e.g. Climate Education Toolkit)

• Analyse educational perspectives and needs for online platforms by organizing

  Teacher Working Groups

  Local Collaboration:

• Build Local STEM Networks to organize school activities supported by the Climate

  Education Toolkit

• Gain knowledge on quality of materials by measuring impact through activities

  - How are they measured / what are the KPI’s?
  Before 2023: Outreach/visitors STEM@Home website, Downloads of the Climate Education Toolkit From 2023 on: Together 4 STEM will conduct an impact measurement after all activities organised under the 2023 plan. The survey will measure the impact and quality of the platform's materials and activities.

  - Do these objectives relate to a broader (government) strategy? If so, which one (link) and how?

• Pact for Youth: The aim of the European Pact for Youth was to improve partnerships

  between business and education to boost the chances of young people getting jobs. The Pact, initiated by CSR Europe is an appeal to business, social partners, education and training providers and other stakeholders to develop or consolidate partnerships in support of youth employability and inclusion. Together 4 STEM project emerged from this pact and will continue its legacy and serve as an example to build bridges between education and business.

• European Year of Youth 2022: In 2022 “Together 4 STEM Goes Green” was announced in May and launched its Climate Education Toolkit later in October. This initiative contributed directly to the objectives of the Year, namely

o To make young people aware of the opportunities provided by the green and digital transitions;

o To help young people become more engaged and active citizens;

• European Year of Skills 2023: The European Year of Youth mission remains a deployment point and continues to live on in the European Year of Skills 2023. Therefore, Together 4 STEM remains committed to this and the programme is oriented on the importance of

putting young people at the heart of this European Year, in order to bring about a change of mindset in lifelong learning and the further acquisition of STEM skills.

According to Eurostat (see 'data' page) only 22.8% of employed ICT specialists in Estonia are women. In addition, girls are strongly underrepresented in extracurricular STEM courses among children aged 7-12 (for every ten boys, there is only one girl). The HK Unicorn Squad girls-only hobby groups aim to increase the number of girls that show an interest in STEM in this age-group (lower secondary education level) as well as maintaining that interest over time.

The founders of the movement are Kerstin and Taavi Kotka, a married couple, who started a “girls-only” technology hobby-group for their daughter Helena in September 2018, as she was kicked out from the technology hobby group at school given the explanation that the field is more suitable for boys.

Unicorn Squad hobby group is a “ready-to-use” solution. Teaching materials are fully prepared for the lessons along with video tutorials for the supervisor. Also, equipment for certain courses is provided by the programme. Course modules take place once a week. Teaching materials and equipment (e.g. robots and other teaching materials) for certain lessons are sent to mentors in a big plastic box weekly using a parcel machine. After using them, the mentor returns them or sends them to next group according to instructions from the HK Unicorn Squad project manager.

The interest and demand for girls-only technology hobby groups was so big that within two years the movement has engaged 1200 girls (age 7-14) all over Estonia. Active hobby groups are available in almost  every county of the country. The interest keeps on growing and additional hobby groups are constantly opened.

STEM is a very large field of work and exploration. With the ARTIFEX project and through the learning platform (see link above), the project attempts to help educators identify their personal strengths and weaknesses with regard to teaching STEM, and to assist them in improving their skills and competences by providing ready-to-use practical workshops. The learning platform offers the following components.

• Self-assessment tool for teachers and educators
  Our ARTIFEX SAT was built and tested by university researchers of Antwerp University and Karlstad University and it helps teachers and practitioners who wish to integrate STEM in their classes and workshops better understand their strengths and weaknesses with regard to teaching STEM in relation to the 21st Century Skills. Based on a short questionnaire, the tool will recommend personalized workshop scripts and instructions tailored to the specific competences and activity areas which an educator chooses to improve. This tool is available in different languages.
   
• Workshops
  The project partners have designed and tested a collection of STEM workshops. Each workshop comes with a set of instructions - difficulty level, group size, materials, activities, timing. STEM is a fun way for students to learn an important set of skills and be better prepared for their future workplace. With the help of the Assessment Tool, teachers can improve their competences.
   
• Good practices, some ideas for policy makers
  Successful STEM education typically requires cooperation between schools, teachers, students, local authorities and communities, and the business. The project has collected interesting cooperation models from different EU countries to help policy makers understand the variety of possibilities when designing STEM policies on a local or a regional level.
   
• Insights
  Read what people who currently hold STEM-related occupations say about their work, their vision for the future of their jobs and sectors, and the challenges ahead. Our go to the website to read about the ARTIFEX research. In a collaboration between the University of Antwerp and the University of Karlstad, Belgian and Swedish teachers were asked about their feelings of competence, and their concerns regarding working in a high-tech informal learning environment.

The Ambassador is responsible for giving lectures on the importance and necessity of the STEM fields, representing and supporting the STEM Platform in Hungary and abroad and also setting a good example for the younger generations.

The STEM Ambassador must have reference from at least two experts recognized in the field of mathematics and engineering. Based on the references, the management of the Hungarian STEM Platform has the right to decide on the admission, the mandate will be valid until withdrawal.

The management of the Hungarian STEM Platform reserves the right to reject applications without having to justify it.

The demosciences conference is focused on training professors in the latest industrial- and ICT technologies. As a result, they will be able to use these technologies in the classroom during their lectures and experimental activities, with their students. Each conference is focused on a specific theme (e.g. computer science).

ICSTEng is the international Conference of Science, Technology and Engineering. It is organised each yearly for professors and industry. During the sessions, the professors and the industrial partners exchange their point of view on the development of education for industries. The conference is organised around a specific theme (e.g. energy).

The conference features presentations by industry and researchers, company visits and in-depth debates allowing teachers, industry, students, parents and decision-makers to assess the relevance of science education. 

The conference is broadcasted live on the Canal C2 website. Previous broadcasts are availabe on the UPSTI website.

On 13 May 2013, over 60 parties signed the National Technology Pact 2020 in an effort to structurally improve alignment between education and the technology job market and reduce the shortage of technically trained staff. Since the official signing of the Technology Pact, all the involved partners have made concerted and dedicated efforts to implement the necessary measures on the basis of an integrated approach entitled ‘Choosing, learning and working in technology’. The Technology Pact is characterised by a regional approach with a national support infrastructure. 

As the results clearly show, the approach has proven effective and is now being emulated at international level: in the wake of Estonia and Flanders, Denmark is also set to introduce its own Technology Pact later this year.

The Technology Pact was updated three years after its original signing in order to evolve in pace with the inevitable social changes as a result of ongoing technological developments. A new structure has been defined on the basis of twelve objectives, offering room to continue ongoing measures from the original Technology Pact and formulate relevant new goals. The overarching ambitions for the Technology Pact 2016–2020 will remain unchanged: developing a structural approach to ensure a well-trained workforce with enough smart and capable technicians for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

An English version of the document can be downloaded here.

The MakersTown is a fair held to showcase makers across Europe. Makers are a new wave of entrepreneurs and Do-It-Yourself experts empowered by Web 3.0 tools, technology and crowdfunding. From 3D printing to robotics, from wearable technology to new ICT, from food to fashion, they are today’s Robert Bosch, Enzo Ferrari or Arthur Guinness.

MakersTown takes place yearly in Brussels, Belgium and is organised by ThinkYoung in collaboration with the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies and various partners from industry, including Google, Intel, ABInBev and Coca Cola. The event is supported by the European Commission and Startup Europe.

Makerstown is the first event of its kind in Brussels bringing together Makers, business leaders and European policy-makers to showcase, share and succeed!

Europe’s manufacturing tradition is getting an update, come to #Makerstown to experience it first-hand!

STEM Teacher Academy is a programme of the Dutch national STEM platform aimed at improving the content of STEM courses (and the way it is taught) in secondary education through cooperation with industry. The programme was launched in 2014 for a three year period and contributes to objectives set in the Dutch national Technology Pact and several government programmes aimed at reducing teacher shortages. 

The programme's main ambition is to provide the most up-to-date teaching tools to STEM teachers in secondary education, now and in the future. This ambition is implemented through various activities, including guest-lectures by industry professionals and short-term 'internships' for teachers in technology companies. The programme is structured to build lasting links between technology companies and classroom and builds on existing regionalised networks and programmes, including the VO-HO netwerken (pre-university secondary education) and Toptechniek in Bedrijf (VET).