the changing roles of science specialists during a capacity building program for primary school science

Science education starts at primary school. Yet, recent
research shows primary school teachers lack confidence and
competence in teaching science (Prinsley & Johnston, 2015). A
Victorian state government science specialist initiative
responded to this concern by providing professional learning
programs to schools across Victoria. Drawing on cultural
historical activity theory (CHAT), this paper reports the analysis
of transcripts of interviews with 17 science specialists from
eleven schools. It presents the various perceived and enacted
science specialist roles, and how they changed over time. The
CHAT analysis of the transcripts revealed seven different stages
describing trajectories of the science specialism. The variation
in the trajectories indicate the importance of the influence of the
community in the enactment of the science specialism.
Affordances, constraints and challenges of implementing the
science specialist role are discussed.