Gender Balance in STEM Education Research to inform future policy
The Minister for Education Norma Foley TD today (Tuesday 17 November) launched a new publication: A Review of Literature to Identify a Set of Effective Interventions for Addressing Gender Balance in STEM in Early Years, Primary and Post-Primary Education Settings.
The report sets out what is known about critical barriers to girls’ participation in STEM education and STEM learning, while also highlighting effective interventions to increase participation of girls in STEM. The STEM Education Policy Statement 2017-2026 acknowledges that there is a need to increase the uptake of STEM subjects and to enhance STEM learning for learners of all backgrounds, abilities and gender, with a particular focus on uptake by females.
Minister Foley said: “I am delighted to launch this important STEM research.
“STEM teaches us about the need for evidence and analysis. This research allows us to identify clearly effective interventions that address key barriers and build critical assets and skills that young female learners need to learn and apply to thrive in the STEM subject areas. The research will be a vital input into ongoing policy formulation, and is very timely as the work on the next phase of the STEM Education Implementation plan commences in the coming weeks.”
This research was commissioned under the auspices of the Department of Education by the Gender Balance in STEM group, a sub-group of the Department’s STEM Education Implementation Advisory Group.
This report is a strong review of the key challenges and barriers to gender balance in STEM. It identifies that interventions are required across the STEM education ecosystem to effect change. It points to the fact that there is no single intervention that will achieve gender equity, rather there is a requirement to support multiple interventions addressing different segments of the ecosystem to effect the change required.
The chair of the Gender Balance in STEM group, Margie McCarthy, a Chartered Engineer and Head of Education and Public Engagement with Science Foundation Ireland said: “The goal of the Gender Balance in STEM group is to guide national actions that will ensure STEM education in Ireland is world class in improving gender balance and inclusion effectively for our young people.
“This isn’t easy, otherwise the problem would have been solved many years ago. This review is the foundation to ensuring these actions are evidence-based and informed by the knowledge of why these imbalances are happening and what works best in addressing them.”
Lead author of the research, Merrilyn Goos, Professor of STEM Education and Director of EPI*STEM at University of Limerick said: “STEM education is a shared responsibility across education departments and other government agencies, schools, teachers, families, industry and business, and communities.
Our report shows that we need to bring together these key constituencies to build a coordinated approach to addressing gender balance in STEM education.”
The evidence set out in this literature review will inform actions under the second phase of the STEM Education Implementation Plan, 2021-2023, with a view to addressing gender balance and increased overall participation in STEM. Development of phase 2 of the STEM Education Implementation Plan 2021-2023 will commence in early 2021, with publication expected mid-2021. The literature review is a step towards developing evidence-based policy for gender balance in STEM.
The Gender Balance in STEM group is committed to recommending actions that enable systemic change to addressing these barriers and create inclusive educational experiences for all learners.
Ends
Notes for Editors
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education
The Department’s STEM Education Policy Statement 2017–2026, published in November 2017, sets out the ambitious goals and actions required to achieve and improve the STEM education experience and outcomes for all learners.
Current position
The STEM implementation plan 2017-2019 built on a range of reforms and initiatives already underway in STEM, in areas such as curriculum and assessment reform, teacher professional development, embedding digital learning and advances in initial teacher education. The areas of policy development and action in relation to STEM education span four pillars as follows:
- Nurture Learner engagement and participation;
- Enhance early years practitioner and teacher capacity;
- Support STEM Education Practice; and
- Use Evidence to support STEM education.
Some of the achievements to date include:
- A Gender Balance group has been established to address the issue of gender balance in STEM, with an initial focus on female participation in STEM. The literature review commissioned to address this issue is published today.
- Guidelines in relation to forming business/industry-school partnerships were launched on 14November 2019;
- Ongoing STEM awareness campaign in conjunction with Science Foundation Ireland;
- A continuous professional development (CPD) Framework which supports the cross-sectoral design and delivery of STEM CPD has been developed;
- STEM-related curricular reform includes the introduction of Computer Science for Leaving Certificate
Next steps
The next phase of the implementation plan will focus on ‘embedding’ STEM and will run from 2021-2023.
The citation for the report is below:
Goos, M., Ryan, V., Lane, C, Leahy, K., Walshe, G., O’Connell, T., O’Donoghue, J., & Nizar, A. (2020). Review of literature to identify a set of effective interventions for addressing gender balance in STEM in early years, primary and post-primary education settings. Dublin: Department of Education and Skills. Available https://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Education-Reports/review-of-literature-to-identify-a-set-of-effective-interventions-for-addressing-gender-balance-in-stem.pdf