Age Heterogeneity of STEM Educators

Abstract

One of the ways to improve the quality of math and natural science education is to develop the pedagogical community of STEM education. On the one hand, according to the forecasts, an increase in the number of students and teachers is expected by an average of 20 % in both Russia and worldwide. On the other hand, there is definitely some specificity in the pedagogical community as compared with any other labor collective, since the pedagogical community develops alongside with the student one. In this perspective, the age heterogeneity of the teaching staff is of particular relevance. Consequently, the key point in the management of math and natural science education is the analysis of the age structure of STEM educators. The following subjects are taken to conduct a further analysis of STEM education: mathematics, handicraft, physics, biology, and chemistry. Accordingly, the purpose of the article is to analyze and forecast the heterogeneous development of the age structure of STEM teachers. The authors of the article justify the necessity for changes in the personnel policy on the basis of the assessment of the capacity of the teaching staff of STEM education in schools of the European part of Russia. The leading research approach is the method of the normal and natural distribution of age groups in the structure of the STEM education pedagogical community. As a result of a study conducted in 569 schools of the European part of Russia in 2016–2018, the authors of the article have found out the following: the average age of STEM school teachers in the European part of Russia is 6.8 years higher than the average age of teachers in Russia; there is a significant shortage of STEM teachers aged under 35; the average rate of the teaching load of a STEM school teacher in an academic subject is 0.72, but the load is distributed very unevenly, math teachers having the highest teaching load. The theoretical significance of the research lies in its contribution to the development of scientific ideas concerning the age heterogeneity of STEM school teachers. The research results can be used in building development trajectories of STEM education teaching staff by implementing a series of managerial and organizational measures to achieve the normal state of the age structure of teachers.