Tytler, R., Symington, D., Williams, G., White, P., Campbell, C., Chittleborough, G., Upstill, G., Roper, E., & Dziadkiewicz, N. (2015). Building productive partnerships for STEM education: Evaluating the model and outcomes of the Scientist and Mathematicians in Schools Program. Melbourne, Deakin University.
The Scientists and Mathematicians in Schools (SMiS) program is a major Australian initiative funded by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training in conjunction with CSIRO, which delivers the program through a national SMiS program team. The program involves volunteer science, mathematics, engineering and technology (STEM) professionals working in partnership with teachers in primary and secondary schools to engage students in quality learning in the STEM disciplines. Since its inception as Scientists in Schools in 2007 it has expanded to formally include Mathematicians in Schools and more recently ICT in Schools. Up to June 2015 it has brokered in excess of 4600 individual teacher-STEM professional partnerships and the program represents a major innovation in the national STEM education scene. Since 2007 the program has been evaluated three times, leading to affirmation of the success of the model in terms of outcomes for students, teachers and the STEM Professionals, and recommendations for expansion. The evaluations have informed the development and expansion also of the SMiS program team which arranges the matches of the STEM professionals and teachers, provides support and advice for partnerships through project officers in each state, and organises workshops, online support and a website. SMiS can be viewed as one of a suite of models of partnerships between STEM professionals and schools, which have achieved increasing prominence as concern with lack of engagement of students in STEM subjects and futures increases. A number of key strengths characterise SMiS as distinctive amongst these initiatives: first, the partnerships involve a collaborative arrangement between an individual STEM professional and a teacher; second, the partnerships are flexible enabling response to local contexts; third, the partnerships are ongoing; and fourth, the program has significant national reach.
