Teacher CPD Primary schools

Leading STEM in your School

Lead digital learning and STEM across your primary school, from a first audit to a finished Digital Learning Plan.

  • 20 hours
  • 19 short lessons
  • Online, at your own pace
  • Certificate
Enrol now · €79

About this course

A course for primary school leaders: principals, deputy principals and anyone leading digital learning or STEM in their school. It starts with the Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 and the Digital Learning Framework, then works through auditing your devices and network, spending a budget well, choosing platforms with GDPR in mind and planning for devices wearing out. It covers bringing reluctant colleagues along, running in-house CPD in Croke Park hours, inclusion and assistive technology, your Acceptable Use Policy, and AI and deepfakes. You finish with STEM targets set through School Self-Evaluation and a Digital Learning Plan for your school.

What you will be able to do

By the end you will be able to audit where your school stands, set a digital vision your staff can sign up to, plan spending and devices over several years, build a team to share the work, update your policies for AI and digital citizenship, and write a Digital Learning Plan with measurable STEM targets.

What's in the course

19 lessons, 30 to 49 minutes each. Take them in order, whenever suits you.

Module 1 · 4 lessons
The Digital Landscape: Policy, Vision and Baseline Audit

Participants examine the national policy landscape shaping digital and STEM leadership in Irish primary schools. They use the Digital Learning Framework as an audit tool to evaluate where their school currently sits on the continuum, and draft a Digital Vision Statement that aligns their school's specific ethos with national priorities. By the end of the module participants hold a leadership-confidence baseline, a first DLF positioning entry, and a draft Digital Vision Statement.
  1. 1 Welcome and Leadership Confidence Audit 34 min
  2. 2 The Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 40 min
  3. 3 The DLF Continuum: Effective Vs Highly Effective 42 min
  4. 4 Crafting Your School's Digital Vision Statement 40 min
Module 2 · 4 lessons
Infrastructure, Procurement and Resource Management

Participants move from vision to infrastructure. They audit the current digital reality of the school, plan sustainable procurement against a realistic budget, evaluate platform choices for GDPR compliance, and design a maintenance strategy that protects investment over a 3 to 5 year cycle. The module produces an infrastructure audit, a mock procurement proposal, and a GDPR safety check.
  1. 5 The Digital Infrastructure Mini-audit 40 min
  2. 6 Sustainable Procurement and the €5k Budget Challenge 30 min
  3. 7 Platform Selection and GDPR Compliance 44 min
  4. 8 Maintenance, Lifecycle and the Total Cost of Ownership 40 min
Module 3 · 3 lessons
Leading People: Building Staff Capacity and Culture

Participants address the single biggest barrier to whole-school digital change: staff confidence and culture. They develop strategies to mentor reluctant adopters, design in-house CPD that respects colleagues' time, and form a Digital Team that distributes the leadership load. The module produces a mentoring script, a 45-minute Croke Park CPD plan, and a Digital Team structure.
  1. 9 Mentoring the Reluctant Adopter 43 min
  2. 10 Designing In-house CPD: the Croke Park Hour 38 min
  3. 11 Distributed Leadership: Forming a Digital Team 40 min
Module 4 · 4 lessons
Inclusion, Ethics and Digital Citizenship

Participants examine the inclusion and ethics dimensions of whole-school digital practice. They apply UDL to the school's digital plan, audit and modernise the Acceptable Use Policy for AI, smartphones and social media, evaluate assistive technologies built into devices, and develop a defensible stance on AI and digital citizenship. The module produces a UDL task audit, a tracked-changes AUP critique, an assistive-tech plan, and an AI stance.
  1. 12 UDL in the School Digital Plan 40 min
  2. 13 Updating the Acceptable Use Policy 48 min
  3. 14 Assistive Technology and Bridging the Digital Divide 43 min
  4. 15 AI, Deepfakes and Digital Citizenship 46 min
Module 5 · 4 lessons
The Digital Learning Plan and SSE Integration

Participants synthesise the course's policy, infrastructure, people, and inclusion strands into a coherent draft Digital Learning Plan. They use the SSE 6-step process as the structuring spine, write SMART targets, design a monitoring strategy, and complete the capstone: a draft DLP and a 'first move' for September. The portfolio becomes the school's working Digital Learning Plan.
  1. 16 The SSE 6-step Process for STEM 40 min
  2. 17 Drafting SMART Targets for STEM Improvement 37 min
  3. 18 Monitoring, Review and Success Criteria 49 min
  4. 19 Capstone: Your Digital Learning Plan and First Move 40 min

What you get

A certificateFor 20 hours of professional learning, when you finish.
Your own portfolioEverything you write in the course collects in one place to keep.
At your own paceShort online lessons you can stop and start whenever suits you.

Ready to start?

19 short lessons, at your own pace, with a certificate at the end.

Enrol now · €79
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