STEM Education Policy
Aims:
Research in this area examines multiple aspects of education policy as they relate to science education and STEM education. We analyse how policy in this domain changes over time at the national level across a range of countries, investigating the varied ways governments design and revise strategies for teaching STEM. Another key focus is on how states implement policies intended to cultivate excellence in STEM fields—what programmes, standards, funding priorities, and accountability measures are prioritised, how teacher preparation and professional development are structured, and which curricular and assessment reforms are promoted to raise achievement and innovation.
We also study how dimensions of power and social status are manifested in education policy for these fields. This includes examining who influences policy decisions, which student populations are targeted or marginalised by particular initiatives, how resources are allocated across schools and regions, and the ways policies reproduce or challenge inequalities tied to class, race/ethnicity, gender, and institutional prestige. We interrogate how policies frame talent, merit, and competitiveness, and how those framings shape access to advanced courses, enrichment programmes, and pathways into higher education and STEM careers.
In addition, we investigate the professional identity of science education scholars themselves and explore how that identity is being formed within contemporary academia. This line of inquiry looks at researchers’ conceptions of their roles (teacher-educator, policy analyst, curriculum designer, advocate, or disciplinarian), the institutional incentives that shape career trajectories (funding structures, publication expectations, departmental priorities), and the networks—both national and international—that influence research agendas. We consider how interdisciplinary collaborations, engagement with practitioners and policymakers, and participation in reform movements contribute to researchers’ self-understanding, and how tensions between applied impact and theoretical contribution affect decisions about methods, topics, and dissemination.
Together, these strands of research aim to provide a comprehensive picture of how STEM education policy evolves, whom it benefits or excludes, and how those dynamics interact with the identities and practices of professionals who study and shape science teaching.
