In 2016, key stakeholders from the Ministry of Education in Belize visited The School of Education (SOE) at Mona, Jamaica to discuss how the SOE could assist them to achieve their strategic goal to advance early childhood education in Belize. Beyond the need to develop the competences of teachers and Education Officers to improve quality standards of Early Childhood Education (ECE), the discussion highlighted the dearth of locally generated Belizean research in ECE to inform decision making.

The goal of this action research was to investigate and gather data concerning the effectiveness of technology as a mathematics teaching aid in an Early Childhood Classroom (ECE) at a school in Belmopan, Belize. It aims to understand (1) to what extent the use of technology as a teaching aid increase 12 students’ academic performance and (2) to investigate to what extent the use of tablets aid in stimulating students’ interest as they gain new knowledge and skills about Mathematics topics. The research was planned and conducted over a fiveweeks span in an Infant Two class.

Through case study methodology, this article outlines a contextual pedagogical framework for the development of an M.Ed in ECE programme. It describes the considerations made in the development of the programme and then juxtaposes them against best practice guidelines as outlined by extant literature on the principles of andragogy and higher education programme development. The findings suggest that higher education programmes need to be aligned to the needs of students and the contexts in which they are situated.

Despite the increased popularity of STEM education worldwide, there is much haziness about what constitutes STEM education. This theoretical paper seeks to stimulate discussion on what STEM is and how it should be implemented. It positions an integrated STEM approach as foundational to education but advocates a shift from the compartmentalized focus on the silos of subject disciplines to one that is phenomenon-based.