Preparing Integrated STEM Educators In PNG: The Enabling and Constraining Factors

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education is a high priority in many countries, seen to enable future economic growth and competitiveness. Teachers play a central role in this endeavour. This paper reports on an Australian government funded research project in Papua New Guinea evaluating the extent to which a post-graduate science teacher education course prepared future teachers as integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) educators. We conducted 11 interviews to determine stakeholders’ current understandings of integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths in education, what enables and constrains STEM education practices, and how they could be improved in Papua New Guinea. Margaret Archer’s emergent properties were used as a robust theoretical frame to analyse the data. While some enabling conditions were present, findings revealed a broad lack of understanding about integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, as well as significant structural constraints. Recommendations are made for how integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths practices can be improved moving forward which include a coordinated national approach to increase integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths understanding and integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths teacher education.