Ms Arlene Forster:

My first point is to ask where does all of this start, which connects back to a couple of points made earlier. In Ireland, we use the Aistear curriculum framework in early years settings. While the framework does not refer to science, mathematics, computer science or even STEM, a lot of the key skills that we have talked about, and Ms Murtagh touched on their relevance to life in general, are strongly supported in the Aistear curriculum framework. That is a good example of a curriculum that supports experiences that are not necessarily labelled as STEM but develop creativity, problem solving and inquiry-based learning in very young children. .

In the case of the primary curriculum, as I mentioned in my opening statement we are redeveloping the primary curriculum to include STEM. Beyond that there are other ways in which the curriculum across our different sectors promotes what can be called STEM thinking or learning.

I am thinking of things like key skills and competencies which are embedded across the curriculum. Examples of those include being creative, being a digital learner and being a communicator. They are all key aspects that feed into inquiry-based teaching and learning and that ultimately become important if a young person chooses to take up subjects in the STEM area. They are ways of promoting foundational skills and ways of thinking that, in turn, can further support STEM teaching and learning. They do not require allocated blocks of time because they are promoted right across the curriculum. The curriculum development that is afoot is giving us an opportunity to embed some of the latest thinking around key competencies.

The final point I will make is around the types of teaching and learning that go on in classrooms. We spoke earlier about the success story of computer science. That highlights the importance of learning activities and experiences for children, whether they are in a post-primary classroom, in an early years setting or at primary level. Opportunities for children to try out ideas, to pose questions, to solve problems and to share their thinking with one another are the types of experiences that support and nurture STEM thinking and STEM learning. Those are a few of the ways the curriculum can promote this.