Establishing a collaborative research agenda for STEM education with Chile

Background: Improving quality and equity in the Chilean educational system has been one of the most important priorities during recent decades. Major efforts have been made to improve the quality of teaching and to strengthen schools in disadvantaged communities. Nevertheless, evidence from Chilean and international assessments suggest that the international standardised assessments scores of Chilean students are strongly influenced by socio-economic status (SES). As a consequence, students from lower SES groups present disadvantages in relation to their peers in terms of their preparation to participate in the information society and the labour market. Such participation invariably depends on what are known as 21st century skills such as communication and information problem solving using the Internet. Employability is often linked to success in science education. Promoting initiatives that support lower SES students’ 21st century skills and science skills, therefore, is essential to promote social justice and economic development in Chile.

Description of activity: The primary aim of this project is to develop closer working relationships with the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and thereby develop a greater understanding of the Chilean STEM context, the needs of Chilean partners and the potential contribution of the GSoE. By the end of the project I aim to have a research plan outlining priorities, potential particpants, research questions and possible funders. My time would be spent meeting academics from the three Chilean partners, visiting schools and other educational institutions, giving seminars and running workshops on research design and STEM education. At least half of the time would be spent working on producing a research agenda with Chilean colleagues.

The three universities offer different research expertise. For example, the team from Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso has experience of creating teacher development programmes about the nature of science, scientific inquiry and content knowledge.