In the EPI•STEM PODCAST Episode 22, co-hosts Geraldine Simmie PhD and Michelle Starr PhD reflect on the newacademic year ahead and the emphasis in the podcast to date of a rich variety of voices connected to STEM and STEAM Education, including researchers, teachers and partners.

Here, Geraldine and Michelle discuss the research study Geraldine completed for the European Commission, a scoping study on education and skills that was published in recent weeks (https://employment-social-affairs.ec.europa.eu/education-and-skills-social-transformations-and-resilience_en). The study is a philosophical critique of education and skills with an emphasison a futures orientation for a fair and sustainable green and digital transition in Europe. The study considers the key question under three headings. First, the study interprets the current state of play of education and skills in a fast-globalising world and in Europe.  Second, the study reveals supranational policy documents from UNESCO, OECD and others that are seeking a paradigm shift in the framing of education and skills, for a new social imaginary that repairs past injustices and provides a new emphasis on societal and environmental aspects. They discuss the findings in relation to teachers’ knowledge base and futuristic apprenticeships.

We want thank our Research Assistants who worked in EPI•STEM on a summer internship producing research-led CPDresources, in engineering and STEM subjects, resources that are free to all teachers who register on our EPI•STEM ACADEMY OF STEM TEACHERS (https://epistem.ie/hea-resources/).

The musical selection today is The Boyne Water, an arrangement by Martin Hayes and The Common GroundEnsemble played on fiddle by Eilidh Pope, an instrumentalist/composer who completed her BA in World Music in The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, Faculty of Arts and Humanities.