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By AROSE STEM Program Manager, Holly Kershaw
We’ve catalogued 255 STEM engagement initiatives across six life stages and five layers of delivery – the places, programs, platforms, people and backbone that make up Australian STEM engagement. It is the most complete national picture that we can find. It shows a sector working collectively on great programs, but with systemic gaps that prevent the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
Programs and delivery cluster at secondary school and in capital cities, thinning at both ends and the further you get from metro centres. Of 90 major providers, 70 reach lower secondary students, but just 16 reach early learners and 14 in the first years of a STEM career. 81% of initiatives are substantively available in metro areas, compared to 24% in rural and remote.
Our modes of delivery are also largely serving students who are already interested in STEM, with most programs that provide sustained engagement only available through opt-in or nomination. Students with a casual interest in STEM get single touch programs, where this is a cohort that we could have the greatest impact on.
The report investigates where the ecosystem is thin, and why. Early years, average and disengaged students, early career, VET pathways and the coordination and evaluation of programs.
It also looks at the sector’s own evidence, and where it is and isn’t available. Evaluation is not distributed by how much a program cares about its impact. It is distributed by who is funding it. When funding doesn’t cover the full cost of delivery, evaluation is one of the first things to go, and the map shows exactly where that is happening.
Our colleagues across the sector are asking from many angles – what are we collectively doing, and how can we work together to increase our impact. This report and map provides a starting point to start answering the questions of what are we already doing, and what is missing, so that we can further this conversation together.
The STEM Ecosystem changes constantly, with programs ending, funding lapsing and new initiatives beginning. We also know that this map is not complete and that we’ve made assumptions in some cases, and would love to hear about the programs we have missed so that we can add them.
If your program isn’t here, we’ve got something wrong, or you’d like to chat about what we’ve found, let us know. We can also share the raw data behind our analysis, get in touch if you’d like us to send it to you.
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