STEM and STEAM and the Spaces Between: An Overview of Education Agendas Pertaining to ‘Disciplinarity’ Across Three Australian States

Abstract

This article presents an overview of how interdisciplinary education agendas are being interpreted and enacted within three Australian states: New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria. A comparative discussion is offered to ascertain the common and contrasting inhibitors and enablers of these agendas, specifically approaches to STEM and STEAM across the three states. Consideration is given to the priorities espoused in current State and Federal policy agendas. The article explores how disciplinary acronyms such as STEM and STEAM are being mobilised to empower or exclude particular disciplines, and how this implicates upon enactment of the three dimensions of the Australian Curriculum. By focusing on the contested spaces between these disciplines, the distinctiveness and potential of various interdisciplinary agendas can be better understood. In turn, ways of recognising, embracing and prioritising different forms of disciplinary knowledge can be identified in the spaces between disciplinary curriculum and pedagogy. These diverse ways of knowing are posited as integral to equipping young people for uncertain futures.