This study undertaken on the professional development HighFliers course is to understand the role of STEM teacher in a modern school and to promote educationally relevant skills needed for STEM teachers. Designing a practical course for this purpose is challenging, particularly in the emerging field in which there are insufficient STEM teachers in Estonia and worldwide. For this reason, this course targets undergraduate students in the fields of science, mathematics and technology - these fields being seen as the source for future STEM teachers. In this study, the course follows four developed modules from the project „Highly Interactive Guidance Helpful For Leadership In Educationally Relevant Skills“, i.e. (1) relevant communication skills for STEM teachers, (2) understanding nature of science, (3) modern science teaching methodology and (4) self-management plus leadership skills for STEM teachers. The whole learning process is supported by the Moodle environment and includes practical activities that enable collaboration and support creativity in order to understand the essence and specifics of teaching and to support the learner's own development. 18 undergraduates was registered, with the biology, geography and mathematics background. During the course, each module was handled in a separate session (90 minutes) and consisted of, at least, two practical activities (e.g. developing communication and presentation skills through writing exercises; widening understanding about nature of science and recognising its relevance as a component of science subjects in schools; using modern methodological approaches relevant in the school setting to deal with climate change mitigation issues; developing self-management and leadership skills through raised self-awareness and coaching type of practices). At the end of the course, students were asked to make a 3-minute video (group work) explain one controversial issue from society which has a scientific content. Within the video, students were also asked to demonstrate the skills obtained from the course. After the course, 6 students were interviewed, based on voluntary participation, each Interview lasting approximately 30 minutes. The interviews were analysed using inductive (data driven) thematic content analysis, seen as recognizing meaningful units, coding, generating, reviewing and naming categories (Vaismoradi & Snelgrove, 2019). Based on the outcomes from the first piloting of the course, it can be said that students appreciated the course, as they gained an insight into what is expected from STEM teachers in school and how they use self-management and leadership skills as teachers. Additional results from the qualitative study are to be presented and discussed during the symposium presentation.

Vaismoradi, M., & Snelgrove, S. (2019). Theme in qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 20(3). https://dx.doi.org/10.17169/fqs-20.3.3376.