Abstract:

This paper is based on part of the work conducted within the European project Supporting Mathematics and Science teachers in addressing Diversity and promoting fundamental Values (MaSDiV). The final goal of the MaSDiV project is to provide evidence to inform educational policies across Europe about effective teacher professional development concerning the delivery of high quality STEM education for all students (including those from minority or disadvantaged socio-cultural groups).

Starting from a comprehensive view and a deep understanding of how expert partners collaborated and articulate their contributions to achieve the objectives of the project, this paper describes the development of procedures and instruments for enhancing the quality of the activities and products. In particular, we will discuss the development of a comprehensive instrument to collect constructive feedback for improvement.

According to the specialised literature, the use of participatory approaches involving experts and different stakeholders is recommended for quality assurance, as well as for the external validation of evaluation instruments, such as the one reported here. Based on these recommendations, we will discuss a complex process of development were different experts and key stakeholders have taken part in four subsequent phases:
1) identification of key aspects for evaluation and quality indicators;
2) revision of the input collected in the first phase by experts and development of an initial instrument;
3) piloting of the first version of the instrument by key stakeholders and
4) revision of the instrument based on piloting.

Finally, implications for the project in particular, and for improving the quality of STEM education in general will be discussed.

Keywords:

STEM Education, Fundamental values, Quality Assurance, Instrument validation, Teacher Professional Development.