STEAM EDUCATION wins EUROPEAN ENTERPRISE PROMOTION AWARDS National Edition

The STEAM Education strategy, promoted by Aveiro City Council throughout the entire school network in the municipality, won this year's national edition of the European Enterprise Promotion Awards, in the category "Investment in Entrepreneurial Skills".

Coordinated in Portugal by IAPMEI, the initiative of the European Commission, which aims to distinguish good practices in promoting entrepreneurship in Europe, awarded first place to the project STEAM Education in Aveiro, a teaching methodology which provides the integration of knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, in order to prepare students for future challenges, both as citizens and in the labour market.

In Aveiro, the implementation of this teaching model, which is materialized, for example, through the Tech Labs, is developed in partnership with the seven school groupings and the University of Aveiro, through the Fábrica Centro Ciência Viva. Highlight also to other activities such as the code literacy platform UBBU or the contest "Your idea counts", in which also participate the two professional schools of the municipality, Gesentrepreneur, Betweien, Starteatro, UA Incubator and local entrepreneurs, who are also recognized in this European Enterprise Promotion Award.

The promotion of STEAM skills, which took off through Aveiro Tech City in 2019 in schools, from 1st cycle to secondary education, is already running in the entire school network of the municipality, thus responding to the political strategy of Aveiro City Council in placing Education as one of the fundamental pillars for building a knowledge-based municipality, preparing the new generations with the necessary skills for their success in the new digital age.

Learning is widely benefited by interdisciplinarity and contributes to stimulate the discovery of abilities and the interest of students in these areas, with the creation of experimentation spaces and direct contact with ICT, for an efficient, critical and responsible use of digital technologies.

Simultaneously, training initiatives have been promoted for teachers and educators, with more than 500 teachers already having completed training in this area. The implementation of this STEAM education strategy has already allowed the involvement of more than 22,600 students in Aveiro.

It is also the municipality's ambition to move forward, in 2023, with the creation of a European STEAM Cities Network, in partnership with the city of Oulu - European Capital of Culture 2026, through which it will be possible to share and learn from experiences that are being implemented in other cities in Europe.

The STEAM Education strategy arose in the scope of the Aveiro Tech City initiative and is today an integral part of the candidacy process of Aveiro to become the European Capital of Culture 2027.

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