STEM EDUCATION IN IRELAND AND BRAZIL SCHOOL SYSTEM: ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The development of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) competences has been for the last decade one of the main goals of the schools´ educational agenda in most countries. STEM learning approaches prepare students for the future workforce, develop their creativity and innovative thinking. The main objective of this research is to explore and examine how STEM programs are designed for schools in macro and micro levels for primary and post-primary education in Ireland and Brazil. The study focuses on the STEM education literature found in national policies and journal articles. It seeks to investigate how STEM national strategies and local initiatives foster schools´ curriculum and engage students in the STEM learning approaches. The findings show that Brazil does not have a national policy for STEM as Ireland does and offer recommendations based on these findings. It also summarizes the main objectives of STEM national polices as it describes some micro-level actions in STEM programs across the analyzed countries.