The STEM Nation Award has been developed by Education Scotland to celebrate, promote and build on effective practice in STEM education within and across sectors. All early learning and childcare (ELC) settings, primary schools, secondary schools and providers of community learning and development (CLD) are eligible to apply for the STEM Nation Award. Settings may apply for an individual element or any combination of elements. Settings which achieve all five elements within a three year period will be eligible for the full STEM Nation Award.

Teachers, ELC practitioners and CLD providers from across Scotland worked with Education Scotland during the pilot phase and as part of a CLD working group to shape the award criteria and application process. The programme is designed to be flexible and supportive in response to the varying needs of different sectors and specific local contexts.

Find out more:

• Information for ELC settings and schools (including special schools and specialist provisions within mainstream settings)
• Information for CLD providers

The elements

The STEM Nation Award consists of five elements:

• Leadership in STEM
• STEM family and community learning
• Employability and STEM partnership working
• STEM curriculum and learner pathways/progression routes
• Equity and equality in STEM

Further information on each of these elements can be found in the relevant STEM Nation Award guidance document for your sector. Further support for individual award elements is available on this page.