What if a simple STEM lesson could help a young person in Timor-Leste imagine a future they had never considered before?
02 Oct 2026
Over the past several months, Y2 Architecture’s Pedagogical Development Team has been working alongside the educators at Colegio Marista Lautem in Timor-Leste to co-develop a new Grade 6 STEM program for implementation in 2028.
Having partnered with the Star of the Sea Province Marists of Champagnat through the delivery of Stage 1 and now Stage 2, Y2 Architecture sees this work as a natural extension of our commitment to the Marist community and its future. What makes this work so meaningful is not the program itself, but the way it is being created.
Through workshops, surveys, regular Teams meetings, school visits and ongoing conversations, we are working closely with teachers to understand their students, their curriculum, their aspirations and the realities of teaching in Timor-Leste. Together, we are building a program that is grounded in the National Curriculum (Currículo Nacional do Ensino Básico), while introducing new pedagogical approaches and technologies, STEM concepts and future-focused learning opportunities.
Our role is not to bring a solution. It is to listen, learn and create together.
By co-designing the program, we are striving to ensure it is culturally relevant, contextually appropriate and genuinely useful for the educators who will deliver it. Most importantly, we want teachers to feel confident, empowered and equipped to continue growing the program long into the future.
The Pedagogical Development Team brings together a diverse team of educators, principals, education specialists, researchers and architects, united by a shared goal: co-creating meaningful learning opportunities for young people in Timor-Leste. Working alongside local Marist educators, we are helping to strengthen STEM education in a nation that continues to rebuild and grow its education system following centuries of colonisation and decades of occupation.
Bringing together the expertise of Julia Wake, Graeme Wiggins, Jana Mollison, Matthew Dwyer, Sarah Jasenia, Michelle Brodrick, Craig Deed, Mary McPherson and Shelly Michalke, the Pedagogical Development Team is working collaboratively with educators in Timor-Leste to co-design this program. It has been some of the most rewarding work Y2 Architecture has had the privilege to be involved in. Not just because of what we are creating, but because of the relationships, trust and shared learning that are shaping it along the way.
Written By
Sarah Jasenia, Practice Manager, Y2 Architecture
