Industrial actors and their rationales for engaging in STEM education

Abstract

In science education, critical discussions on the engagement of industrial actors in STEM education are scarce. In this study, we take the perspective that industrial STEM education initiatives are an arena for governing STEM education. The aim is to contribute to a critical discussion on the involvement of industrial actors in STEM education by scrutinizing how they describe their engagement. More specifically, we look at the discursive repertoires industrial actors put forward as rationales for engaging in STEM education initiatives. The data consist of web materials wherein industrial actors describe and justify their engagements. We identify the following interpretative repertoires used by industrial actors when justifying their engagement in said initiatives: a) Securing competent labour, b) Securing economic growth, c) Improving the public image-marketing, d) Contributing to a bright future, e) Increasing interest in STEM, f) Increasing knowledge in and of STEM and g) Empowering young people. The repertoires are discussed in light of potential tensions between public and private good. The notion of 'boundary repertoires' is introduced to discuss repertoires which can be adapted across discursive practices and which afford industrial actors possibilities for speaking to a varied audienceshareholders as well as teachers.

Industry, science education, and teacher agency: A discourse analysis of teachers' evaluations of industry‐produced teaching resources

“…We argue that the community of science education needs to develop ways to strengthen teacher agency on a collective level with respect to professional evaluations of teaching resources in relation to the overall aims and purposes they serve. This is important, since industrial actors tend to engage in science teaching because they want to secure competent labor, to secure economic growth, or to improve the public image of a specific company or a sector (Andrée & Hansson, 2020). Previous literature has warned that the increase in private sector participation in education risks a decreased emphasis on citizen perspectives in education (e.g., Robertson et al, 2012; Spring, 2015).…”

“…However, the local policy arena does not only include teachers but also local school administrators and other actors (such as industry) seeking to influence what is going on in the classroom. Industrial actors and industry‐produced teaching resources offered to schools thus become part of the local policy arena and the governing of school (Andrée & Hansson, 2020). The complex formations of policy in the local school context may be conceived of as “local assemblages of policy” (Simons et al, 2013, p. 142).…”

“…In our own previous research on the involvement of industrial actors in initiatives for science, technology, and mathematics education, we pointed to different rationales about how industrial actors legitimize their engagement in science education (Andrée & Hansson, 2020). Some of the rationales display potential conflicts of interest in relation to questions of education as a public and private good.…”

“…The overall picture is that citizen‐oriented aims and critical perspectives on the role of science in society are absent and that the industrial actors tend to have very explicit aims regarding their engagement in science education. These aims often include a desire to influence the aims and content of science education to better suit their needs (Andrée & Hansson, 2020). Similarly, Davidsson and Sørensen (2010) showed that the involvement of sponsors in science centers and science museums has had the consequence of sponsors frequently (directly or indirectly) interfering with the design of the exhibitions.…”

“…We see, for example, various kinds of industrial and corporate actors engaging in the production of teaching resources, teacher professional development, and informal science learning resources (Andrée & Hansson, 2020). In our own research relating primarily to the national context of Sweden, we found that private companies, business, and employers' organizations in the science and technology area (e.g., energy companies, pharmaceutical companies, mining companies, and chemical business organizations), and networks of such actors have taken on the role of offering various initiatives to support science education (Andrée & Hansson, 2020). These initiatives commonly include resources for science teaching in the form of lesson plans, student tasks, worksheets, textbooks, games, quizzes, etc.…”