1. Building a STEM Nation
Professional Learning in STEM survey: Key findings
June 2017
For Scotland's learners, with Scotland's educators

2. Supporting you to deliver excellence in STEM learning
Many thanks to all of you who responded to our STEM CLPL survey. We had a fantastic response; with over 780 early years, primary, secondary and ASN practitioners, school technicians and classroom assistants sharing their thoughts.
STEM CLPL for those who inspire and engage with Scotland’s children and young people in early years and school settings is key to achieving our national ambition to become a STEM nation. It’s vital, therefore, that any CLPL on offer is tailored to meet your needs, and made available to you in a way that suits you best.
The rest of this presentation contains a summary of the key themes that came out of what you said - together with an overview of how we plan to act on your suggestions.

3. 1. What is your one big, bold idea for STEM CLPL?
What you told us:
Our STEM CLPL vision
We want an online STEM CLPL ‘one-stop-shop’
We need to ensure relevance and accessibility for all
We want to share and network with each other and others – and allow our creativity to flourish
We want to engage with industry and further/higher education
We want enough time and resource to make it happen properly.

4. 2. Tell us about the best STEM CLPL you’ve received…
What you told us:

5. 3. What are your main source(s) of CLPL in STEM?
What you told us: What we’ll do:
Attending an externally-provided course outside of my setting
Collegiate working within my centre/school
Collegiate working across my cluster.
Professional reading/engaging independently with research
Support/training organised by my local authority
Work with key STEM CLPL providers to enhance the offering they provide.
Provide additional support to settings and clusters to explore and embed great STEM CLPL through a network of dedicated STEM Officers in each Regional Improvement Collaborative.

6. 4. Which organisation(s) do you go to for STEM CLPL?
What you told us: What we’ll do:
SSERC
My local authority
Science Centres
Education Scotland
STEM Ambassadors
Work in partnership with existing and new STEM CLPL providers to help them extend and enhance their STEM professional learning offer.

7. 5. What barriers do you face in accessing STEM CLPL?
What you told us: What we’ll do:
Difficulty in finding staff cover
I have too many demands on my time
Lack of money to pay for training
Family commitments – difficulty in attending training outside of school hours.
There are no courses available that suit my needs (particularly EY)
Facilitate dialogue between practitioners from all sectors and STEM CLPL providers to co-design flexible, accessible, relevant CLPL opportunities that meet the needs of learners.
Showcase and celebrate good practice in CLPL provision through our new online STEM ‘one-stop-shop’.

8. 6. What would have the highest impact on your STEM CLPL?
What you told us: What we’ll do:
Provide an ‘one-stop-shop’ to facilitate access to STEM CLPL opportunities, guidance, and case studies.
Design a suite of online learning resources tailored to the needs of each sector.
Provided dedicated STEM Officers in each Regional Improvement Collaborative to support settings, and enable collegiate working and sharing.
Support settings to establish external STEM partnerships with industry and other bodies.
More hands-on, face-to-face CLPL from a specialist organisation
Time to work collegiately in my school/setting
Time to work collegiately in my cluster
A partnership with a STEM employer: leading to STEM initiatives/activities for staff and learners.
An online professional learning resource for practitioners tailored to the Experiences & Outcomes: including videos, examples and case studies.

9. 7. What are your professional learning priorities in STEM?
What you told us: What we’ll do:
Developing confidence in the teaching of mathematics/numeracy: including numeracy across learning
Pedagogies/teaching approaches to deliver STEM learning & teaching experiences effectively.
Using STEM as a context for raising attainment in literacy and numeracy.
Skills progression in STEM subjects
Support for new content in National Qualifications in STEM subjects (particularly secondary)
Work with practitioners from each sector, and other identified expertise to capture good practice and guidance exemplifying these professional learning priorities.
We’ll share this information nationally through our ‘one-stop-shop’ approach.

10. Help us to help you…
We’re working with our colleagues in the wider Developing the Young Workforce team to ensure that we fully capture and celebrate the evidence of Scotland’s journey towards becoming a STEM nation. Look out for the annual DYW survey being issued in autumn and be sure to share your STEM story as part of it.
Join the conversation! Keep up to date and share your STEM ideas, good practice, comments, thoughts and queries with us using the following methods:
Yammer:
Twitter:
STEM Blog:
STEM ebulletin:

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For Scotland's learners, with Scotland's educators