What Do Educators Need to Implement STEAM Education? A Systematic Review

Implementing STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education places substantial, varied demands on teachers, yet evidence on what educators need to enact it remains fragmented. This systematic review synthesizes empirical research on educators’ needs for STEAM implementation across five interrelated dimensions—preparation, implementation, coordination, collaboration, and professional development—as outlined in the STEAMCompEdu framework. A systematic search of Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, and Wiley Online Library, reported per PRISMA 2020, identified 62 eligible peer-reviewed studies from 29 single-country contexts and 7 multi-country studies (2019–July 2026) and synthesized them through combined deductive and inductive coding. Coded needs encompassed those self-reported by educators as well as barriers and conditions identified by researchers and study authors; a sensitivity analysis restricted to educators’ own statements reproduced and, for coordination and collaboration, sharpened the main asymmetry. The analysis revealed a marked asymmetry: preparation and professional development were near-universal concerns (each reported in 98% of studies), whereas coordination and institutional support were addressed in fewer than half (40%). The needs most consistently reported across the literature—STEAM-specific knowledge, interdisciplinary curriculum design, instructional resources, and sustained professional development—cluster at the individual level, while the organizational and system-level conditions that enable STEAM, such as leadership, scheduling, and cross-sector collaboration, remain comparatively underexamined. Effectively supporting STEAM teachers, therefore, requires coherent action that extends beyond individual training to encompass institutional and policy conditions.