Empowering early childhood teachers to foster high quality learning using a scalable technology-driven professional development initiative

The integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) into Early Childhood Education (ECE) has garnered significant interest in providing early exposure to key skills such as creativity, inquiry, problem-solving, and teamwork. However, in Vietnam, low competencies among ECE teachers in STEM adversely affect their ability to facilitate STEM activities for students. To address this issue, the project is using STEMsmart, a promising teacher professional development model to enhance ECE teachers' competencies in STEM. This innovative model is based on sound teacher professional growth theory and integrates advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, making STEM learning accessible and engaging.

This project is adapting the STEMsmart model to suit diverse ECE contexts, address gender equality, equity, and inclusion concerns, and gather evidence of its effectiveness and scalability. It aims to produce a STEMsmart teacher professional development model to suit public preschools in Vietnam, including a companion online STEMsmart Platform, to train ECE teachers and leaders to implement the innovation, and to develop a handbook on sustainable public-private partnerships.