Children and young people today face an unscripted future that is full of possibilities, where developments in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) will create opportunities that we cannot yet imagine in their classrooms, communities and future careers. To prepare children, we must support them to develop the skills they will need to navigate, embrace and exploit the opportunities of our ever-changing world.
The STEM Teacher Internship Programme (STInt) is a unique programme that places student teachers in 12 week internships in STEM roles, enabling first hand experience of industry, technology careers, and the application of STEM in a wide range of workplaces. Founded in DCU in 2016, it has now expanded to include student teachers from Maynooth University, UCD, UCC, UL and NUI Galway.
To date, the programme has supported 180 interns, who will go on to inspire a passion for STEM in over 600,000 students during their teaching careers. DCU now wants to make STInt available to all institutions offering STEM teacher education on the island of Ireland, expanding to reach more student and early-career primary and post-primary teachers.
The development of the STInt programme has been supported by Accenture, the 30% Club Ireland, Connecting Women in Technology (CWIT) and Science Foundation Ireland.
