This document provides information about the Teacher Development Schools STEM Innovation Partnerships program, which aims to explore practices that increase student engagement in STEM education. The program is a partnership between the Department of Education Western Australia and Innovation Unit. It will bring together clusters of schools to interrogate challenges in STEM engagement, design promising practices through innovation methods, and test and refine resources to support implementation. Schools that participate will commit to collaborating within partnerships to develop practices that address real challenges and have measurable impact on student learning and engagement in STEM subjects. The selection process for the program focuses on schools' commitment, performance and capacity for innovation in STEM education and partnership with external organizations.

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Teacher Development Schools
STEM Innovation Partnerships
Expression of Interest Form
A Department of Education Western Australia and
Innovation Unit Partnership

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Welcome to the TDS STEM Innovation Partnerships.
This program – a partnership between the Department of Education Western Australia and
Innovation Unit - brings together clusters of schools and other interested parties –
‘partnerships’ – to explore professional practices that increase student engagement in STEM
education.
The TDS STEM Innovation Partnerships aim to:
● increase the STEM capability, engagement, participation and aspirations of learners
in all Western Australian public schools;
● increase and illuminate the quality of teaching and capacity of teachers in STEM
areas;
● facilitate effective partnerships with tertiary education providers, industry and the
community in order to make STEM learning more relevant and meaningful and open
up new opportunities for both learners and teachers that might not otherwise be
possible;
● build networking, innovation and collaboration capability in WAschools; and
● provide schools with future focused innovative STEM resources that have been
co-developed with and for the teaching profession.
Over 2016, we will bring together up to 20 schools across four partnerships in a
design process that will see participants:
● interrogate their school-specific challenges with engaging students and fostering
success in STEM subjects through ethnographic-style research;
● refine the problem and create an enquiry question;
● use innovation methods to collaboratively design and test promising practices that
address challenges faced both within individual schools and across the partnership;
● learn about how best to collect evidence of impact through creating a theory of
change and exploring a range of data sources that might indicate whether new
practices are having the desired impact on learning and engagement; and

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● design and trial resources that can support the implementation, scaling and diffusion
of the partnership’s most promising practices.
High performingcountries are characterised by a science,technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM) literate population that celebrates
discoveryand innovation. An exemplary STEM education offers a rich
context for developing skills, such as creativity,independentthinking,
criticalanalysis,problemsolving,teamworkand communication –
essential for the success ofindividuals, emerging industries and
communities of the 21st
Century.
The challenge
Nations around the world are turning their attention to science, technology,
engineering and mathematics education as a means of addressing the diverse
economic and social challenges they face in the 21st
Century.
In a rapidly changing world, we need students who are equipped with the kinds of
capabilities that will enable them to thrive in an environment of both increasing diversity and
inequality: a world in which globalisation is altering the course of how, when and where we
live and work; where natural resources are quickly depleting; where global conflicts displace
large populations of people and where advancements in technology change the nature of
employment as we know it.
Our students must be able to not just solve known problems but identify future challenges
faced by future generations. They need to be curious, entrepreneurial and analytical whilst at
the same time being empathetic and ethical, and possess a high level of relevant knowledge
and skill to make a positive difference to their local and global communities.
In Australia, the need for graduates with the qualifications, skills and passion for
STEM roles is increasing.

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STEM skills jobs grew at about 1.5 times the rate of other jobs in recent years – by 14%
compared to 9% in other jobs between 2006 and 2011 - while at the same time around 44%
of employers report difficulties in recruiting workers with the necessary STEM qualifications1
.
At the same time, advances with automation are seeing large numbers of low and medium-
skilled roles disappear, and significant growth in areas that demand both high mathematics
skills and high social skills2
.
“40% of current jobs are considered at high risk of automation over the next 10-15
years…(and) more than half of young Australian students are currently getting
educated for dying jobs: nearly 60% of students are being trained in occupations
where the vast majority of jobs will be radically affected by automation in the next 10-
15 years”.3
However, despite the growing demand for STEM skills from employers, Australian
students are on the whole falling behind.
In the 2012 PISA results, Australia ranked 19th
in the world on maths performance and 16th
in science. Australia's maths performance dropped the equivalent of half a year of schooling
between 2003 and 2012, with around a third of students not meeting the benchmark in
maths, science or technology.
“In the future, 75% of jobs will involve Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths
(STEM). Currently, 42% of 15 year olds are not proficient in maths, 35% are not
proficient in science, and 35% are not proficient in technology”.4
In addition to declining performance, students are also quickly opting out of STEM subjects –
and those who persevere are not necessarily being given the opportunity to explore the full
range of possibilities on offer for STEM graduates in Australia.
“Participation rates in science subjects at years 11 and 12 are at their lowest in 20
years, and more and more students are opting to take mathematics at a level below
their true ability. Students who do go on to study a science at a higher level are
1
The Australian Industry Group, Progressing STEM Skills in Australia, March 2015
2
David J Deming, The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market, August 2015
3
Foundation for Young Australians, TheNew Work Order, 2015
4
Foundation for Young Australians, Howare Young People Faring in the Transition from School to Work?, 2015
report card

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encouraged to become research scientists — they are rarely given the same
encouragement to think about all the other roles where people who understand
science might be useful.” – Chief Scientist Ian Chubb5
The solution?
If we are to increase participation and performance in STEM, we must find new ways to
deeply engage students in STEM areas through the design of compelling new professional
practices.
Being engaged in learning means being meaningfully connected with it – cognitively and
emotionally. If students don’t feel engaged in what they are doing, they won’t value or care
about it and will be unlikely to succeed at it.
“Motivation and engagement can be regarded as the driving forces behind learning.
Given the importance of mathematics for students’ future lives, school systems need
to ensure that students have not only the knowledge that is necessary to continue
learning mathematics beyond formal schooling, but also the interest and motivation
that will make them want to do so”.6
The learning experiences we design must have relevance and meaning to the lives of
learners, utilising real-world contexts and connecting to contemporary issues in order for
students to see and experience the application of concepts to the world around them.
“Engagement in learning is both a robust predictor of increased academic and life
outcomes, and also closely associated with students’ orientation to new and
challenging experiences”.7
Learning experiences in STEM areas must excite students by connecting to or emerging
from their individual passions and interests, and be closely integrated so that it is seamless
and logical.
5
Prof Ian Chubb, We can adopt technology early and be an industry innovator, The Australian,12 November
2015
6
OECD PISA, Students’ Drive and Motivation, 2012
7
Abbott-Chapman et al, The longitudinal association of childhood school engagement with adult educational
and occupational achievement: findings from an Australian national study, 2013

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“In order to make choice and freedomof action motivational, students should be
provided with options to engage in schoolwork that are relevant to personal goals and
interests”.8
However, teachers need not face this challenge alone.
Partnerships between schools, community, parents and industry are essential if we are to
capture students’ interest and imagination through STEM and increase both academic
performance and engagement.
“Employers indicated the importance of a range of candidate attributes when
assessing the suitability of STEM qualified applicants for their workplace. Over two
thirds responded that work experience in a relevant industry was important or very
important”.9
Local organisations, universities and individuals can offer a wealth of opportunities to
help schools expand their capacity to creativelymeet the needs of students.
Partnerships with external organisations can provide students with opportunities for real
world STEM experiences through internships, intellectual resources through access to
professional experts, and physical resources or equipment that schools may not otherwise
be able to use. Partnerships such as these also provide incredible professional learning
opportunities for teachers and often lead to the collaborative development of mutually-
valuable, powerful new practices that may not have been possible in the past.
Finding new ways to engage students in STEM learning is no easy feat. But with the
right tools and support, schools can work together to gain a deep understanding
about the current barriers impeding participation and achievement, and
collaboratively design practices that meet the needs of students and have a
significant impact on engagement and motivation towards STEM areas.
Are you ready to accept the challenge?
8
Wang & Eccles,2013
9
Roslyn Prinsley & Krisztian Baranyai, STEMSkills in the Workforce: What do Employers Want? March 2015

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Expression of Interest – TDS STEM InnovationPartnerships
Overview
The establishment of the TDS STEM Innovation Partnerships reflects a growing desire of
education systems around the world to provide opportunities for schools to collaborate on
the development and testing of innovative new practices, in order to understand and better
meet the learning needs of young people.
Innovation is often seen as a high-risk activity due to the high-accountability environment in
which schools operate. Collaborative communities of practice (partnerships) help to calculate
and manage risk by creating a space where new practices can emerge from a diverse mix of
experiences, and can be tested and refined in controlled environments over a number of
learning contexts before being piloted and scaled. Schools participating in partnerships also
have the opportunity to develop a more robust evidence base about the impact of new
practices than individual schools can.
The focus of TDS STEM Innovation Partnerships is on the collaborative development of
practices that increase engagement, participation and achievement in STEM. These
partnerships are action-oriented and require participants to be prepared to learn and work
together in a collaborative endeavour, for the benefit of students in their school, other
schools in their hub, and every public school in Western Australia.
What will we do?
Schools who apply and are selected to participate will, over the course of the year, seek to
understand more about the experiences of their learners and use innovation methods in
order to design, test, evaluate and iterate engaging new STEM practices that are responsive
to learner needs.
The partnerships will meet face to face five times over 2016 to:
● Form the community (8 March 2016): begin to understand how we might learn and
work together through engaging in user-centred research about the challenges faced
by learners, and developing enquiry questions that will guide STEM-focused
explorations over the following months and beyond.

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● Explore design thinking and rapid prototyping (26 and 27 May 2016): discover
how disciplined innovation methods can support educators to generate and test
radical new practices that meet the needs of learners and result in improved
outcomes.
● Understand data and evidence (26 August 2016): design a theory of change and
gather compelling evidence from a range of sources to find out the extent to which
practices are having the desired impact on learning.
● Develop tools and resources (14 October 2016): collaboratively identify the most
promising STEM practices emerging from the partnership so far, and work through a
rapid design process to create tools that can support the implementation of these
practices in new contexts.
● Plan for scaling and diffusion (11 November 2016): explore common myths and
realities about how practices scale beyond their place of birth, and establish some
strategies for effective scaling of promising practices across and beyond your school.
In between workshops, participants will engage in a range of activities within and across
schools in order to build and strengthen their partnership, including:
● coaching conversations that address challenges and opportunities that arise from
reimagining teaching practices and developing productive and sustainable
partnerships;
● mini-enquiries and ethnographic-style research into students and their learning;
● sharing of insights, ideas and resources to stimulate discussion and debate amongst
participants;
● reflective journaling, resource sharing and blogging within the CONNECT community;
and
● local school expeditions and connections with national and international innovative
STEM learning environments.
In 2017, schools will continue to convene to share outcomes and learning and continue to
take promising practices to scale.

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How will partnerships be resourced?
Partnerships will have access to resources (up to $50 000 in the 2016 calendar year) to
support their enquiry and commensurate with the scale and aspiration of the challenge.
What might schools expect to see as a result of participating?
We will know if we have been successful when we can start to observe and measure the
following over time:
● increased participation in STEM areas of students who have been exposed to new
practices by participating teachers;
● improved academic achievement in STEM areas of students who have been
exposed to new practices by participating teachers;
● increased engagement in STEM learning – cognitive, behavioural and social;
● the establishment - and impact on learning and teaching - of partnerships with
external organisations and individuals;
● increased teacher confidence and capability in applying disciplined innovation
methods to solve problems; and
● the collaborative development of new practices (and associated resources) that
address real teaching and learning challenges faced by participating schools.
What are the expectations of participation?
Schools applying to be part of the STEM Innovation Partnerships should:
1. Have a strong belief that there is a case for exploring new practices that will increase
engagement, participation and achievement in STEM areas.
2. Have demonstrated high standard of performance or demonstrable improvement in
performance in STEM areas.
3. Be prepared to commit leadership time to supporting the program, and time for your
core project team to attend events and participate in community of practice activities.

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4. Have an interest in implementing a disciplined innovation process – perhaps initially
in a small team, but with an ambition to scaling successful processes and practices
across your school.
5. See the value in and commit to collaborating within and across schools, including in
the online CONNECT platform.
6. Be prepared to engage the wider school community through sharing the processes
and outcomes of the work being undertaken.
7. Be open to developing partnerships with external organisations and individuals -
parents, community members, industry, universities - geared towards the creation of
new learning opportunities for students and teachers.
Practically, participating in the STEM Innovation Partnerships will require:
● the release of a nominated team of educators (ideally 3-5) to attend the five
workshops from March to November;
● the release of some or all team members to participate in between-workshop
activities: these may require 1-2 days of release time in order for team members to
intellectually engage with concepts and activities; and
● the collection of data about the extent to which students are engaged, and the extent
to which interventions are having the desired impact.
Selection Criteria
Schools applying to be a part of the STEM Innovation Partnerships are required to
demonstrate expertise, capacity and interest against the following criteria:
1. Active engagement and buy-in from the senior leadership team in sustained innovation
initiatives.
2. Demonstrable high standard of performance or improvement in performance in STEM
areas.
3. A context for developing STEM skills, such as creativity, independent thinking, critical
analysis, problem solving, teamwork and communication.

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4. Willingness and appetite of staff to engage in and evaluate innovation activities focused
on improving student learning.
5. Flexibility in timetables and school structures where possible.
6. Development of a pervasive and effective professional learning culture throughout the
school.
7. Experience in successful change management across the school.
8. Experience and/or interest in establishing external partnerships and collaborative
opportunities with other schools, parents, industry, higher education and community.

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Expression of Interest Form
This expression of interest (EOI) form provides schools with the opportunity to address the
areas of expertise, capacity and interest required for participation in STEM Innovation
Partnerships. The form has been divided into three parts:
PART A: Primary contact details
PART B: School statement
PART C: Areas of expertise, capacity and interest
Schools may receive a site visit as part of the selection process.
Pages 14 -16 of this application form must be submitted to
TDS.SS.Co@education.wa.edu.au before 4.00pm on Wednesday, 10 February 2016.
Late applications will not be considered.
Enquiries relating to the application process can be directed to:
Karen Webster
Director
Teaching and Learning Services
T: 9402 6100
M: 0401 653 015
Karen.Webster@education.wa.edu.au
Lorraine Scorer
A/Manager
Learning Area Support
T: 9402 6130
M: 0429 005 236
Lorraine.Scorer@education.wa.edu.au
Wendy Hewitt
Principal Consultant
Teaching and Learning Support
T: 9402 6315
M: 0403 051 540
Wendy.Hewitt@education.wa.edu.au

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PART A: Primary contact details
School:
Contact name:
School position:
Email:
Phone:
School Address:
Any other information you believe is useful (we welcome any forms of supporting
information, including images and video files):

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PART B: School Statement
Please provide a brief outline of why your school would like to join STEM Innovation
Partnerships (up to 500 words). Your response may address, but not be limited to, the
following:
● What are the current challenges and opportunities for learning in STEM areas in your
school?
● What you would expect to gain from participation?
● What you would hope to contribute to a learning community?

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PART C: Areas of capacity, skill and interest
Please provide a brief outline of why your school would like to join STEM Innovation
Partnerships (up to 250 words per indicator area below). Please tell us about:
1. An innovation initiative developed at your school to improve student learning.
What was the challenge it sought to address? What was the role of leadership in
supporting the initiative? How did other members of the school community engage
with it? Did any adjustments need to be made to school processes and structures to
accommodate the innovation? What was the impact on learning and how this will
inform/support your involvement in the partnership
2. What steps has your school taken to build and sustain an effective
professional learning culture? What does an effective professional learning culture
look like to you?
3. Please describe an experience your school has had with collaborative
arrangements and partnerships. Why was the partnership established? What
processes were put in place to enable its success? What barriers did you face? What
was the result/impact for both parties?