**6. Conclusions and recommendations**

This chapter responded to the globally growing calls for an urgent need to put in place clear national frameworks to inform in developing and implementing STEM education at classroom level. There are four main conclusions drawn from the discussion in this chapter. First, the starting point to realize the endeavours of STEM education is for nations to clearly define their theoretical framework. The chapter suggests a STEME (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education) integration framework as a starting point for better understanding and operationalizing STEM education. It orders a variety of STEM integration approaches from level lowest level to highest level 5. Second, collaborative engagements of experts are to be used in a six stepwise implementation of STEM education process. These are building a national STEM education collaborating team, critical and holistic analysis of the status of STEM education, identification of the desirable level of STEME level, assessment of the STEM education needs, developing an implementation plan and implementing the plan. Third, the idea of driving STEM education from a well-defined national theoretical framework like STEME can be an effective mechanism for facilitating innovative STEM education practices at classroom level. Lastly, the strength of theoretical framework such as STEME is in systematically contextualizing STEM education from a research and well-defined context. This is of critical importance in light of the significant variation across individuals, nations and disciplines with respect to current understandings of STEM education and its core components. The framework underscores that implementing STEM education requires correct interpretations and deep understandings of its endeavours from national level that cascades down to classroom level. The paper recommends that the developments of national STEM education approaches inform not only STEM teaching but also the development of teaching materials such as textbooks. The strength of this STEME theoretical framework is not only in its adaptability to different contexts but also in its easy to operationalize. The chapter further recommends researchers to use STEME as a springboard for further communication and research exploring the successful implementation of STEM education in their nations and beyond.
