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STEM Education Across the Learning Continuum pp 87–112Cite as

Making STEM Visible in Early Childhood Curriculum Frameworks

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Abstract

Increasingly, education systems around the world are implementing national curriculum frameworks for early childhood education settings. However, the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are not always explicitly articulated in such frameworks, and consequently, the potential for STEM learning within these frameworks is not always well understood. In this chapter, we offer a counter argument to the “typical” justification of STEM education that it is in nations’ interest to develop a STEM literate workforce in order to be economically competitive on a global level. Instead, we highlight a child-rights perspective for STEM education in the early years, elucidating the potential access to STEM education afforded through national early childhood curriculum frameworks. This chapter interrogates the national early childhood curriculum frameworks of Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden in order to demonstrate how STEM can be made visible in such frameworks.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Skolverket is the Swedish National Agency for Education.

  2. 2.

    These linkages between the SDG, targets and core international human right instruments can be searched and visualised with the Human Rights Guide to the Sustainable Development Goals (Danish Institute for Human Rights, 2018) which is accessible online (see http://sdg.humanrights.dk/en).

  3. 3.

    “Kaitaki” is a Māori word meaning “trustee, custodian, guardian, protector” (Ministry of Education, 2017, p. 66).

  4. 4.

    Te Marautanga o Aotearoa is the curriculum for Māori-medium schools in New Zealand.

  5. 5.

    “Kaiako” is a Māori word meaning “teacher(s)” (Ministry of Education, 2017, p. 66).

  6. 6.

    “Papatūānuku” is a Māori word meaning “Earth” or “Earth mother” (Ministry of Education, 2017, p. 66).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Charles Sturt University, Albury-Wodonga, Australia

    Amy MacDonald

  2. Early Childhood Australia, Albury-Wodonga, Australia

    Carmen Huser

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  1. Amy MacDonald
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  2. Carmen Huser
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Correspondence to Amy MacDonald .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia

    Amy MacDonald

  2. School of Teacher Education, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, Australia

    Lena Danaia

  3. School of Education, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia

    Steve Murphy

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MacDonald, A., Huser, C. (2020). Making STEM Visible in Early Childhood Curriculum Frameworks. In: MacDonald, A., Danaia, L., Murphy, S. (eds) STEM Education Across the Learning Continuum. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2821-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2821-7_6

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