STEM education gained importance in the early 2000s to equip students for a knowledge-based economy driven by constant innovation. An educated workforce well-grounded in STEM skills was seen as critical to maintaining a competitive edge in the global economy and prosperity). Despite STEM education and industries’ diversity outreach efforts, STEM is beset by socioeconomic, gender and racial inequity. Addressing these issues points to the need for going beyond the narrow instrumental and competitive economic goals of STEM to embed it in the more encompassing social and environmental goals of education. The real challenge to STEM education is not merely preparing students for STEM jobs, but promoting in them their higher-order abilities as critical consumers, creative and ethically astute citizens to address the global crises impacting social and environmental wellbeing.

This symposium brings together researchers from four diverse contexts to present their research findings about the nature of support in STEM teaching and teacher education that can help educators adopt and teach to the broader goals of sustainable development that renders STEM education that is inclusive and socially just.

Presentation 1 uses word test to explore the challenges posed by STEM instructional language of English in South Africa to students speaking other languages and its implications for making STEM education more democratically accessible.

Presentation 2 identifies the problems of accessibility to quality STEM teacher preparation in the Czech curriculum context using discursive and content analysis.

Presentation 3, set in the US, employs narrative inquiry to demonstrate how science as inquiry, culturally responsive pedagogy and multi-faceted mentoring merge to create more socially just STEM education.

Presentation 4 from India, illustrates how STEAM can broaden the base of STEM education to achieve sustainable development for all using the Vygotskian Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) framework.