15. STEM to STEAM: Policy and Practice

Higher education institutions have been criticised for not contributing as much as they should to innovation in the wider economy, particularly in their regions (EC, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on a renewed EU agenda for higher education. Brussels, 30.5.2017 COM(2017) 247 final, pp 1–12, 2017). While STEAM at societal level offers an avenue for the sciences, the arts and the humanities to pool knowledge and resources to address global challenges (de la Garza A, Travis C, The STEAM revolution bridging the divide: transdisciplinary approaches to arts, humanities, science, technology, engineering and mathematics studies, Springer, Cham, 2017), the policy context in which universities operate plays an important role. This chapter argues that in order for STEAM to advance beyond individual initiatives or transdisciplinary/interdisciplinarity debates it requires support in the policy context. Using Kingdon’s (Agendas, alternatives and public policies, 2nd edn. Longman, New York, 1995) Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) the policy emphasis on STEM in the Irish context will be explored and the resultant implications for STEAM approaches will be considered. The chapter concludes that current policy approaches in the Irish context makes it challenging for advocates of STEAM to develop the approach as a viable policy alternative.