The STEM Partnerships Forum has released a Report, “Optimising STEM Industry-School Partnerships: Inspiring Australia’s Next Generation“. The Forum is a collaborative action under the National STEM School Education Strategy 2016-2026, Chaired by Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel. Business and education representatives from across Australia met to map out opportunities to facilitate efficient and effective partnerships between industry and Australian schools to improve STEM education.
At CSER we are proud to see our Digital Technologies MOOCs featured as one case study example of a successful and effective industry supported professional learning partnership (page 44 of the report). It was through seed funding and technical content from Google Australia in 2014 that enabled us to launch our very first Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), offering Australian teachers free online professional learning, which has also led to subsequent program extensions.
The Report presents a framework for successful partnerships, case studies, and outlines ten recommendations that have been developed by drawing on the experience of Forum members as well as insights provided by extensive consultation with education and industry experts from across Australia. The Forum believes that adoption and implementation of these recommendations will have a constructive impact on STEM engagement and performance, opportunities and Australia’s future prosperity.
