The Teacher Fellows programme for cohort 4 has four parts:
1. Evidence-informed approaches to STEM learning
The strand will draw on ideas from research with reference made to literature throughout and set ideas within practical and practice focused STEM contexts, so that these can be translated immediately into the classroom to support and develop teachers’ practice. At the end of each session teacher fellows will be set a challenge to develop, trial and evaluate ways of teaching their subject related to the ideas covered in the session. Teachers’ feedback and reflections from classroom implementation will be built into subsequent sessions to support teacher fellows learning from each other, and the different contexts and subjects they teach. In this way teachers’ learning will be inquiry-driven and sustained.
Teachers will increase their understanding of key areas of focus including:
2. Understanding STEM practice through research and inquiry
In this strand, teachers will work together with staff from SIOE, experts in particular subject areas and representatives of local STEM industries to develop, trial, evaluate and disseminate new approaches to the curriculum. Inputs will be provided on key themes, including:
With the support of SIoE staff teachers will identify areas of practice they wish to improve. This may be an idea or approach from Strand 1 or they may explore other areas of interest. Working in a supported practitioner research model, each teacher will draw on the evidence and expertise of colleagues and STEM collaborators to develop and trial new approaches, which may be classroom-based or operate outside the classroom, for example through visits to STEM industrial sites. Each teacher will be supported throughout their research project by staff from SIOE, including input on models of dissemination so that teachers are supported to share their learning with other participants. This strand will include vignettes of STEM researchers’ practice in education and industry.
3. Developing STEM leaders
This builds on strands 1 and 2, where teachers will have the opportunity to try out ideas in their own classrooms. However, no matter how good an idea or intervention is in principle, success depends on how it manifests itself in day-to-day practice in schools. Therefore, the aim of Strand 3 is to introduce the knowledge, skills and behaviours associated with effective STEM leadership to enable teachers to influence others and share effective practice across school.
All participants will be supported to develop their leadership skills via school-based activity culminating in a small-scale leadership project. Input will be provided on four key themes:
4. Individualised support through mentoring
Multiple studies show that mentoring has an impact on teachers’ feelings of self-efficacy and that this in turn leads to greater professional satisfaction and likelihood of staying in the profession. The impact of mentoring is often enhanced when it is undertaken by somebody external to the school. Each early career teacher will therefore be allocated an expert STEM teacher mentor from a nearby school. The teacher and their mentor will follow an individualised, structured programme of support. Mentoring meetings will take place approximately once a month over the 18 months of the programme, totalling around six full days of mentoring support. Mentoring meetings will take place face-to-face or online at a time and location to suit the early career teacher and their mentor. Crucially, mentors will also receive support to develop their skills.
