‘Principals as STEM leaders’ has govt backing

The federal government is backing a new initiative from school principals aimed at enhancing leadership and changing the way science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is taught in our schools.

Minister for education and training Simon Birmingham said the Turnbull Government’s ‘Principals as STEM Leaders’ project would strengthen the foundation for greater participation and engagement, and ultimately better learning outcomes in STEM subjects.

“We want to identify and replicate the best STEM leadership practices across Australia,” Mr Birmingham said.

“Three-quarters of the fastest-growing occupations in Australia require skills in STEM so it’s vital our next generation of workers have the skills to thrive in the changing employment landscape.

“It is no secret the performance of Australian students in STEM subjects has stagnated, and even declined in some measures, and this project will identify the leadership and teaching practices in STEM that are currently working well, with the aim of rolling these practices out more broadly in our classrooms.

He said, “it’s those leading approaches that we want to support to drive whole-of-school improvement in STEM engagement and learning outcomes”.

“The $2.6 million we’ve committed to this project will back the research, development and piloting of professional learning approaches to build on principals’ STEM leadership skills.

“However, while funding is important, we know what’s more important is how it’s used which is why projects like this are so important.”