Over the last decade, governments across Europe have made science one of their key national priorities particularly in terms of economic growth (European Commission, 2004), which in turn has focused political attention on education particularly in the results of large trans-national comparison studies such as PISA and TIMMS. In addition, the European Commission has set a EU benchmark, which states that ‘by 2020 the share of 15-year-olds with insufficient abilities in reading, mathematics and science should be less than 15 %’ (EACEA/Eurydice, 2011).

This heightened political attention prompted a number of prominent science educators to critically reflect upon the state of science education across Europe, in terms of it purpose, place within the curriculum and its’ nature and inclusivity (Osborne and Dillon, 2008). The resulting report for the Nuffield Foundation made seven recommendations in particular that ‘EU countries should ensure that teachers of science of the highest quality are provided for students in primary and lower secondary school…the emphasis in science education before 14 should be on engaging students with science and scientific phenomena’ (Osborne and Dillon, 2008, p.9). Furthermore they suggest that ‘Transforming teacher practice across the EU is a long-term project and will require significant and sustained investment in continuous professional development.’ How initial teacher education facilitates and supports the development of pre-service teachers’ towards building their content knowledge (both subject and pedagogical) as well as their confidence provides the context for the present research.

Within the Scottish context, more recently a leading group of scientists through the Science and Engineering Education Advisory Group (SEEAG, 2012) has focused political attention upon Science Initial Teacher Education (ITE) by raising concerns particularly about weaknesses in STEM teaching within primary education.  These concern are not a new phenomenon. For example, Harlen, Holroyd and Byrne (1995) reported and technology is less than for almost all other curriculum aspects (p.195).  More recently, the 2007 Scottish Survey of Achievement (SSA): Science, reported that primary teachers’ confidence when teaching science was more nuanced than Harlen, Holroyd and Byrne’s (1995) analysis suggest, where it claims that almost all of primary teachers surveyed taught science to their own classes with around 90% of the primary teachers surveyed being fairly or very confident teaching biology topics, but far fewer were confident about teaching chemistry (60%) or physics (just over half)” (Scottish Government, 2008, p.9). However, Education Scotland (2013) in their impact report The Science 3-18 suggest that in practice, primary school science was too often predominately or exclusively delivered though an interdisciplinary approach which is not planned sufficiently well to ensure breadth and to develop children’s knowledge and skills in a progressive way and that the contribution of the science element to children’s broad general education is not always currently being met (p48).

Against this background, the present study forms part of a larger three-year action research project which aims to explore pre-service primary teachers’ beliefs about the place of science within the primary curriculum, their beliefs about classroom organisation; their views about science teaching objectives, and their epistemological beliefs as part of there developing professional identity. The data derived from this research will be used to develop primary science curricular materials designed to better support undergraduate and postgraduate primary education students’ developing practice in science. It is hoped that this research might stimulate further professional reflection as to the place of science within the primary curriculum within Scotland, the rest of the United Kingdom and across Europe in the light of increased government scrutiny of science education and how higher education institutions might support efforts to improve STEM education within primary education.

European Commission (2004). Europe needs More Scientists: Report by High Level Group on Increasing Human Resources for Science and Technology. Brussels. European Commission. Harlen W., Holroyd C., and Byrne M. (1995). Confidence and Understanding in Teaching Science and Technology in Primary Schools. Scottish Council for Research in Education. University of Glasgow. Markic, S., & Eilks, I. (2008). A case study on German first year chemistry student teachers’ beliefs about chemistry teaching and their comparison with student teachers from other science teaching domains. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 8, p.25–34. Science and Engineering Education Advisory Group, (2012) Supporting Scotland’s STEM education and culture: Second Report. [Available online] http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0038/00388616.pdf (last accessed 10/05/2013) Scottish Government (2008). 2007 Scottish Survey of Achievement (SSA) Science, Science Literacy and Core Skills. [Available online] http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/226080/0061213.pdf (Last viewed 27/11/2014). Thomas, J.A., Pedersen, J.E., and Finson, K. (2001). Validating the Draw-A-Science-Teacher-Test Checklist (DASTT-C): Exploring mental models and teacher beliefs. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 12 (3) p.295-310. Osborne, J and Dillon J (2008). Science Education in Europe: Critical Reflections. London: Nuffield Foundation. EACEA/Eurydice (2011) Science Education in Europe: National Policies, Practices and Research. Brussels: Education Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency P9 Eurydice.