The ubiquity of computing in all spheres of human endeavour and the complex, and almost intractable problems that society faces today (e.g. climate change, sustainable development), entails that the STEM subjects have assumed an ever more prominent status and importance in national curricula, and in classrooms and schools throughout Europe and beyond.

As a consequence, within teacher education, STEM and the recruitment of teachers, and promotion of student engagement in these key subject areas are becoming increasingly important.

The ‘T’ or technology dimension of STEM is now the focus of efforts to design and mobilise STEM education more broadly. Internationally, initiatives such as CS4All are helping to lead the way in terms of how we can promote key competences, for example: coding and computational fluency, as foundational, critically important aspects of broader STEM education initiatives. In the design of STEM teacher education programmes, alignment to EU policy (with the ultimate aim of enriching the lives of our students), and an interdisciplinary and intersectoral approach are required. Such an approach to engage meaningfully in the design of educational innovation and learning, while promoting the enhancement of STEM education across formal and informal learning settings, is key.

Therefore, to initiate and sustain innovative and impactful change and development in STEM education, joined-up approaches are warranted; where all key stakeholders (including: policy, technology, industry, teachers, parents, schools) are centrally involved in the recruitment of teachers, and the collaborative promotion of STEM education with young people.

In the recent research literature on educational innovation, new approaches are emerging that offer the potential to achieve the kind of joined-up thinking and collaborative innovation that is needed on multiple levels to promote innovation in the design of STEM education. For example, educational infrastructuring has emerged as a high-impact, participatory methodology that can potentially achieve the priorities of digital education policy in Europe (Penuel 2019, 2015.) Delivering the discipline specific knowledge; and providing technology or access to devices alone to pre-service teachers does not automatically enhance educational quality. Complementary measures and policies, providing learning spaces and creating an awareness of and being exposed to informal learning settings are indispensable. This STEM ecosystem could and should be harnessed more fully and integrated in teacher education programmes.

Educational infrastructuring engages teachers and other key stakeholders collaboratively in educational technology, across formal and informal learning settings. In meeting the prevailing challenges in STEM education, such as diversity and inclusion; student disengagement and absence of relatedness to reality – the STEM teacher education programmes need to address the practices and pedagogies of effective infrastructuring in their design. Availing of and accessing networks of people and places where learners can pursue deeper learning, whether in formal educational settings, work, play, or community will be invaluable to the overall teacher education programme. The formal and informal learning setting for STEM education is very much evident in leveraging industry internship opportunities, as well as community involvement such as coding clubs, the Coderdojo movement and CSforALL Summits for example.

The goal in the STEM teacher education programme design therefore should be rather than eliminate the perceived deficits in students, their communities or school placement experience, but rather harness the connections between each of these and the discipline specific expertise and practices (Warren, Ogonowski & Pothier, 2003). 

Supporting educational infrastructuring is crucial for Europe in positioning itself as the global leader in STEM education. This paper describes how Europe’s key priorities, set out in the EU’s Digital Education Action Plan (EU 2018) can be aligned and incorporated in STEM teacher education programme design.

This research demonstrates that as well as illustrating the potential of effective infrastructuring and co-design with teachers as is typical, we have chosen to look at STEM programme design through the lens of the pre-service student teachers that focus specifically on key issues for European education and society today. For the pre-service teacher students, and to address the strategic pillar of the DEAP (2018): Making better use of digital technology for teaching and learning, we have specifically chosen to focus on two key areas of priority for Europe and young people’s education, reflecting current and future, key themes of European educational policy. These include young people’s health and well-being detailed in The European Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2020 (WHO Europe, 2015, WHO Europe (Obesity), 2017), their engagement with their diverse cultural heritage as Europeans (EU-UNESCO, 2018) during the now challenging times for European identity, and their engagement in sustainable environmental design in education, which impact our climate ecosystem and planet, both today and into the future (Europe Environment Agency, 2018). The methodology and approach presented in this paper reflects the design of the BA Education (Computer Science and Mathematical Studies) undergraduate initial teacher education degree programme. It is necessary for the teacher education programme to align with EU policy, the Irish Teaching Council regulations and avail of the STEM ecosystem documented in the introduction. The rationale for the Bachelor of Arts in Education (Computer Science and Mathematical Studies) programme is to address contemporary educational developments, specifically the introduction of the new Computer Science Senior Cycle curriculum and to recognise and harness the close conceptual relationship between Computer Science and Mathematics. This programme will prepare for the future need for highly educated and suitably qualified Computer Science and Mathematics teachers. The paper presents the programme development process in the programme development, the rational for designs taken and finally presents the structure of the programme.

The Bachelor of Arts in Education (Computer Science and Mathematical Studies) programme offers a unique combination of coursework and practical experience that has been strategically sequenced over the four years to ensure that students grow and develop into talented education professionals with an awareness of important national and international issues in education, an appreciation for the unique dynamics of a school environment, proficiency with research-based teaching methods, a willingness to incorporate innovative techniques and technologies in the classroom and a commitment to continued professional development and lifelong learning. The programme was designed to take cognisance of the European Commission Digital Education Action Plan and the technology dimension of STEM the focus of efforts to mobilise STEM education more broadly. This is critical to not only realising Europe’s ambitions but challenging policy vision for digital education and in the service of the public interest: to enhance the educational outcomes of Europe's young people. Furthermore, it also ensures Europe does not lose the opportunity to lead on, and benefit from commercial opportunities that will arise in the rapidly expanding global e-learning and STEM industry.

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