A main issue of PROFILES is the involvement of stakeholders and to support their interaction. In work package 3 the consortium tries to bridge the gap between science education researchers, science teachers, and other local actors by supporting stakeholder networks and co-operation. To reach these aims different approaches are promoted by the leader of WP3 and used by all partners, for example: The “PROFILES (Inter-) National Curricular Delphi Study on Science Education” as well as the two international “PROFILES Conferences on Science Education” and the two national “Stakeholder Meetings”.

 

A first step towards the aim of bridging the gap between science education theory and practice and enhancing stakeholders networks has been taken by collecting views of stakeholders regarding a desirable inquiry-based science education within the school systems in all partners’ countries. The PROFILES consortium has been working on this issue by collecting stakeholders’ views and involving the stakeholders in discussions about IBSE by means of the “PROFILES (Inter-) National Curricular Delphi Study on Science Education”. Therefore, in each partner’s country “National PROFILES Curricular Delphi Studies” are conducted and realised. The PROFILES Delphi Studies are designed in three rounds of polling stakeholders and providing the participant with feedbacks regarding the analysed stakeholders’ statements. At least four groups of stakeholders are involved in this study: students, science teachers, colleagues from science education and science education research as well as scientists. The PROFILES Consortium Members agreed to a number of approximately 100 participants (twenty-five per group), to a “core-list” of questions and to an approach how to analyse the stakeholders’ answers and statements as well as how to feedback the (interim) findings of the three rounds a PROFILES Curricular Delphi Study consists of.

Currently, most of the PROFILES consortium partners are analysing the data of round 2 or 3. The giving feed-back about the results of a specific Delphi round (the three “Interim Reports regarding a national PROFILES Curricular Delphi Study) to the participating stakeholders will be published – differentiated by the respective PROFILES partner - on the PROFILES partner’s national web-page.

Furthermore, the leader of WP3 and his working group was strongly involved in the organisation of the “1^st International PROFILES Conference on Stakeholders’ Views” and is currently organizing the “2^nd International PROFILES Conference on Enhancing Students Scientific Literacy and Teachers Continuous Professional Development” which will take place in Berlin in August/September 2014 (see WP1).

Beside this, the PROFILES Consortium partners agreed to organize two “PROFILES National Stakeholder Meetings” in their countries. For more and detailed information regarding these meetings, please take a look to the PROFILES partner’s national web-pages.

 

 

This Work Package is led by:

 

 

Links:

The “PROFILES 1^st International Conference on Stakeholders’ Views” in Berlin, September 2012

The 1^st PROFILES Book: Inquiry-based Science Education in Europe: First Examples and Reflections from the PROFILES Project; edited by C. Bolte, J., Holbrook, & F. Rauch (2012). University of Klagenfurt (Austria).