Annual Conference EMINENT 2024
Setting the Stage for A Better Future with STEM Education
From 11 to 12 December 2024, Eminent, European Schoolnet' annual conference, explored the potential of STEM Education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to inspire and support a better future for all. Through inspiring keynote speeches, informative roundtables, and practical workshops, participants discovered and exchanged on policy, school best practices and state-of-the-art innovations to deliver impactful and relevant STEM education that reflects modern society.
Eminent 2024 organised in Brussels, in partnership with the Ministry of Education of Flanders and Scientix®, the community for Science education in Europe, brought togetherpolicy makers from 30 ministries of education, industry partners, education practitioners, and academics, during two days of dialogue and co-creation for the improvement and futureproofing of European education.
In his official welcome, Hamid Riffi, Director at the ‘Digisprong Knowledge Centre' from the Flemish Ministry of Education reflected on the importance of STEM skills to develop problem solving and critical thinking, and on the shared challenges faced by all European member states.
Indeed, from closing the persisting digital skills gap to solving gender inequality and ensuring that both students and teachers thrive in a digital environment, addressing the challenges requires a culture of innovation to adapt education to the transforming needs of society. Despite some meaningful gains in general enrolment in STEM studies, recent data, from the OECD PISA report and the EC Education Training Monitor uncover a general decline in performance in science and mathematics and a significant shortage of STEM teachers. Marc Durando, European Schoolnet's Executive Drector, emphasised setting ambitious, practical and realistic ambitions for future education plans and strategies.
Long-term curriculum reform for more contextualised learning, stronger public-private partnership, early childhood education and care, and science outside the classroom will all play a major part in achieving better STEM learning and labour results. But these plans should "address the issues in a logical way: starting with teachers and their needs to provide better outcomes for students", said Marc Durando, re-asserting European Schoolnet's commitment to deliver meaningful gains for European teachers.
An event at the nexus of best practice, policymaking, business and innovation, Eminent put the spotlight on collaboration for long-term policy gains and on the challenge of bridging the STEM skills gaps for a competitive European workforce.
STEM skills are among the European Commission's priorities to address the worrying scientific literacy trends shared Steffan Hermans, Director of Policy Strategy and Evaluation, Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture atr the European Commission. In line with the European Commission President's ambition to build a Union of Skills, the EC' plans to launch a new action plan on skills and STEM education will emphasise the importance of building skills from the earliest stages of education to build lifelong interest in STEM and seek to support educators at all levels of education.
Nurturing success, digital skills and inclusive education were at the heart of the 2024 Eminent discussions on future-proofing Science education in Europe. Read on for a more detailed account.
Achieving success in STEM studies
Presenting the new findings of the recently published TIMMS report, Dr. Paula Koršňáková, Senior Research and Liaison Adviser at IEA set the stage for an animated discussion on the contributing factors and challenges to success in STEM subjects. The study's results reinforce the understanding that success in science education rests on a range of core and satellite factors, such as attitude toward science, but also gender (bias), and socio-economic background.
Improving students' competences and performances in STEM needs to be central to structural initiatives, like Malta's forward-looking Digital Education Strategy 2024–2030, which aims to bridge the digital divide while preparing students and educators for the demands of an increasingly digital society. This strategy, relayed Mario Muscat, Science Education Officer for the Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation of Malta, continues to build on the necessity to transition from traditional teaching paradigms to more immersive and engaging ones fit for modern students.
Different teaching methods will of course require building educators' confidence and skills with more training programmes. Providing an example of a successful national initiative, Alge Ilosaar, from the Education and Youth Board (Harno) of the Ministry of Education and Research in Estonia attributed the country's success in science education in part to an updated curriculum and framework that provides teachers with the necessary support to implement an integrated curriculum.
In Italy, reported Elisabetta Mughini, Research Director at INDIRE, The curriculum has been updated to reflect STEM "as a view of the world", providings students with a "comprehensive understanding of both their own perspectives and the dynamics of the labour market, while simultaneously equipping them with the requisite skills for the future".
STEM skills gap and the digital decade
Our society's increasing reliance on technology and the changing job market have generated the need for a diverse digital-competent workforce, leading to the Digital Decade Programme setting a target of 20 million highly skilled IT professionals by 2030. "More than just targeted skills for the workplace, digital skills are necessary to all in everyday life", asserted Georgi Dimitrov, Head of Unit at the Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture at the European Commission, "and as such should be regarded as fundamental competences for all citizens".
But if STEM careers and digital skills are crucial, Europe is facing an evident shortage of digital experts. As explained by June Lowery Kingston, Senior expert working on women in digital and CNECT Equality Coordinator and former Head of Unit "Accessibility, Multilingualism & Safer Internet" at the Directorate General CNECT at the European Commission, such a persisting shortage, if left unaddressed, will significantly impact the European Union and its citizens. Not only does it reduce Europe's productivity on the increasingly competitive global markets, but it also stalls the crucial innovations needed to address the social, environmental, and technological challenges of the future.
Helping to develop the skilled and adaptable workforce of tomorrow will require strong partnerships between educational institutions and European companies to ensure that STEM graduates are job-ready upon graduation. These partnerships strengthen formal and education and help teachers keep pace with the quickly evolving skills requirements of the job market.
The European STEM Industry, in engaging with educational programmes, can help educators stay up to date on such pertinent topics as the advancement of artificial intelligence, online literacy, or the proliferation of fake-news said Ibrahim Ouassari, the founder and CEO of MolenGeek, a Brussels-based incubator with the mission to make digital technology accessible by drawing attention to the world of entrepreneurship. Public-private partnerships, to be successful, must also address social disparities, ensuring that disadvantaged groups can fully participate in the Digital Decade.
Integrated STEM Education: Interdisciplinarity and real-world learning
Equipping the European STEM workforce of tomorrow will require developing new transversal and critical skills that are not always at the centre of all education in Europe.
Ubiquitous to all the discussions, integrated STEM Education, also known as STE(A)M, took centre stage of the 2024 Eminent Conference. In STE(A)M teaching and learning, STEM subjects can be integrated with (All) other topics of the curriculum to provide contextualised and relevant learning experiences, emphasising interdisciplinarity, problem-based learning and critical thinking.
This approach to STE(A)M focuses on the process of learning as much as the subjects integrated, said Jessica Niewint Gori, Head of the Research Structure ‘Technological Applications for Laboratory Teaching' at INDIRE in Italy, who collaborates with European Schoolnet on the STE(A)M Education European Roadmap (the SEER). Oliver Straser, Vice Director of the International Centre for STEM Education (ICSE) at the University of Freiburg in Germany, highlighted that the project is animated by the observation that most teachers think that interdisciplinarity is essential for students to understand the value and applications of STEM, while still feeling unequipped to deliver such transversal learning. Offering clear directions, the SEER will deliver knowledge, guidance, and practical recommendations for all major education stakeholders to help bring the policy and paradigm shifts necessary for transversal learning.
Mirroring the collaborative nature of STE(A)M Education, the Conference reinforced the necessity for education stakeholders, public sector authorities and private partners to collaborate to provide concrete STEM career prospects for students, but also nurture the interdisciplinary mindset necessary for a career in STEM. "Industry and tertiary education already break the boundaries between topics", commented Beatrice Boots, Director of the Platform Talent for Technology (PTvT) and chair of the EU STEM Coalition, "secondary education needs to catch up".
Focused on paving the way for mainstream STE(A)M Education in Europe, the project will also deliver an impact assessment mechanism to help project reviewers and project coordinators assess and improve the impact of future STE(A)M education initiatives and EU funded projects.
Breaking gender stereotypes in STEM
As it connects education with the world around us, STE(A)M puts the focus on showcasing STEM career prospects to students through diverse, relatable and representative role models, making it a promising contributor for addressing the STEM skills gaps and gender disparities in STEM fields.
Anna Cristina D' Addio, Senior Policy analyst for UNESCO and author of the 2024 Global Education Monitoring Gender Report, revealed that despite all the positives associated with studying and working in STEM, preexisting stereotypes and harmful perceptions continue to negatively impact the choice of young people. And while technology can play a crucial role in bringing gender balance to STEM education, the digital transformation has a significant road to travel before achieving genuine equality. This should prompt European countries to adopt policies that support girls and women in STEM education if they are to achieve their diversity ambitions.
Laurence Jacobs, author of the book Women in Tech and Manager of Member Relations for Agoria, emphasised that strong female role models in STEM jobs are needed to inspire future generations of STEM experts. Representation, from the classroom to the boardroom, Ms. Jacobs argued, is key to creating inclusive education, policies and business strategies. But such strategies should be based on measurable objectives and indicators to ensure viability and avoid tokenistic inclusivity, indicated Eva Díaz, founder of the STEM Women Congress, a platform that works for the visibility and promotion of the feminine talent on the STEM field. In addition, if such initiatives are to be a long-term benefit to society, they should avoid inadvertently perpetuating discrimination and seek to engage all citizens regardless of gender.
To benefit the entire community, it is important that ethical and social perspectives are paired with a sound business-oriented approach to ensure that meaningful inclusivity ambitions are met, added Marine Rabeyrin, EMEA Education Segment Director for Lenovo. Nevertheless, quantitative data is of limited value unless it is translated into qualitative actions, tempered Solène Moutier, Education Project Specialist for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and coordinator of the Girls go Circular EU-funded programme. Bringing together environmental concerns, mobility, the circular economy and technological innovation, the initiative has equipped 45,000 schoolgirls across Europe with digital, entrepreneurial, and green skills through online learning in three years. Championning a problem-based approach to encourage more girls to connect with STEM skills, the initiative confirmed the leitmotiv of the conference: contextualising STEM with real-life applications is key to helping all students understand what STEM stands for.
Scientix®, the leading community for Science Education in Europe
Over the past 14 years, Scientix® the leading science education community in Europe, has worked to advance STEM education on a global scale, providing a range of resources and services with a particular focus on four core areas of activity. These priorities are defined in close consultation with the Ministries of Education STEM Representatives Working Group and focus on improving STEM education at all levels, linking STEM education to global challenges, widening access to STEM careers and facilitating exchange and peer learning among STEM educators.
These priorities are translated into transformative projects and initiatives focused of a wide range of topics and classroom innovations, from environmental education to integrated STEM teaching and learning. Bringing together educators, policymakers, industry partners and EdTech providers, Scientix® aims to strengthen education through concerted effort and collaboration.
As summarised by Jan de Craemer, Chair of the European Schoolnet, "STEM is not just about numbers, technology, or science. It's about people. It is about young minds inspired to solve problems, and about teachers equipped with the skills, tools and confidence to prepare their students for an ever-changing world."
-
EMINENT 2024 PRESENTATIONS
Keynote Speeches
Assessing students' performance on mathematics and science - Dr. Paula Koršňáková
Breaking stereotypes in STEM - Anna Cristina D' Addio
Women in tech - Laurence Jacobs
National Initiatives
Luxembourg - Isabelle Schmartz
Parallel Sessions
Integrated STEM: connecting STEM subjects and people (secondary education)
Integrated STEM: primary school teachers approach STEM teaching
Contextualising STEM: Environmental Sustainability
Emerging Technologies: EdTech and Innovation
Contextualising STEM: Culture and Society
Exploratory Actions: Beyond STEM (citizen science, informatics, STEM careers)
Additional Ressourcces
To stay informed about our digital education initiatives, subscribe to our policy newsletter. For real-time updates on publications, events, and recommendations, follow us on our various social media channels.
Scientix TV - Interviews from the EMINENT Conference