Memorandum submitted by the Save British
PREPARING YOUNG PEOPLE FOR LIFE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST
1. SBS is pleased to submit this response
to the Committee's Inquiry into science education between the
ages of 14 and 19. SBS is a voluntary organisation campaigning
for the health of science and technology throughout UK society,
and is supported by 1,500 individual members, and some 70 institutional
members, including universities, learned societies, venture capitalists,
financiers, industrial companies and publishers.
2. We begin by outlining the principles
on which we believe the education system should be built, before
detailing some of the problems that currently exist within the
system. We support the conclusions of the report on Science Teachers
issued by the Council for Science and Technology in 2000.1
3. Science education is important for four
principal reasons. First, and fundamentally, a civilised society
is one in which the citizens are able to explore knowledge and
understanding for its own sake. Second, a modern democratic society
works best when its members can make informed choices. Third,
the education system is a training ground for future generations
of researchers in the science base, which is the bedrock of the
economy. Fourth, learning about science, and especially mathematics,
also gives training in ways of thinking that are useful in many
4. These four principles should underpin
the system of scientific education in the UK, from the earliest
years of primary school to the education and training of doctoral
students. Science education should encourage the spark of creativity,
which is just as essential to scientific progress as it is to
progress in any other field of endeavour.
5. It can only do so by including a sufficient
element of basic factual knowledge. In later life, basic facts
may seem so obvious to most of us that we cannot remember learning
them, but a full education demands that they are indeed learned.
6. Because of these interlinking principles
and requirements, policies for science education should be viewed
as a whole, not decided piecemeal for each different age group,
with little reference to what precedes and follows each stage.
7. The school science curriculum must balance
two separate aims. It should educate the next generation of scientists,
at the same time as preparing those who will not go on to study
science at higher levels, but who will be prepared for active
participation in a modern democracy only if they have a grasp
of what science is and how it works.
8. The tension between these two desires
has created significant problems in recent years, but only because
the tensions are exacerbated by other problems, such as a shortage
of enthusiastic teachers.
9. In essence, the tension between teaching
a science specialist and science generalist is a creative one,
and much of the basic material required is the same for both.
For example, a need for an elemental understanding of how experiments
work (for example the need for a control group) is common to both
the budding scientist, and the budding citizen who wants to understand
newspaper reports of field trials on genetically-modified crops,
or studies of a link between MMR vaccines and health problems
in small children.
10. Problems arise because of other issues,
such as the difficulties of performing practical, experimental
work in schools. Other ways must be found to learn about analysing
empirical evidence, and this may potentially disadvantage the
budding scientists more than it disadvantages other pupils.
11. The single biggest problem with science
teaching in schools is that of recruiting and retaining high-quality,
enthusiastic, motivated staff. A survey last year showed that
35 per cent of mathematics teaching posts, 39 per cent of technology
posts and 26 per cent of science posts remain unfilled.
12. In physics, between 1993 and 1998, across
the UK, there were 1.856 fewer graduates training as secondary
school teachers than would have been needed to fill existing vacancies,
and posts created by the death, retirement or other loss of physics
13. Following the introduction of new training
salaries and starting bonuses for physics teachers, the number
of recruits increased in 1999, but in 2000, it had still fallen
by 66 per cent compared to 1993.3
14. The Education Bill that is currently
before parliament does nothing to address this issue in a serious
and sustained way.
15. Teachers are not as badly paid as other
professionals working in science education, such as university
lecturers. Nobody can pretend that school teachers are well paid
by comparison with what the same person could command in other
occupations in the open market, but it seems likely that there
are other significant barriers to the recruitment and retention
of sufficient high quality teaching staff in the sciences.
16. This is not a new problem and a body
of disparate work exists examining individual aspects of the issue.
For example, it is some years since it was suggested that a majority
difficulty in recruiting mathematics and physics teachers was
that the satisfactions provided by teaching were not those sought
by specialists in the physical sciences, and that it was necessary
to broaden the range of potential applicants.4
17. Nor is the problem unique to the UK.
As early as 1986, France was training only 60 per cent of its
requirement for mathematics teachers, and in New Zealand 5 per
cent of schools had been unable to recruit qualified and trained
staff in physics. In parts of Australia, 21 per cent of physics
classes were taken by teachers "whose qualifications comprised
minimal or nor content studies, and no curriculum studies in the
18. In 1989, the House of Commons Education
Committee foresaw serious problems with the recruitment and retention
of science teachers. The Committee believed that "the overall
demand for teachers will be higher than that assumed by [the Government],"
and that "the assumption that recruitment . . . in shortage
subjects [specifically the sciences] will be 20 per cent above
current targets is distinctly optimistic" because "increased
competition for school leavers . . . [will mean that] teaching
will attract less than its present share".6
19. SBS advocates that the Government should
sponsor a detailed, quantitative study designed specifically to
identify the factors that attract people into teaching, and those
that discourage them to train or encourage them to leave the profession.
No such large-scale research base currently exists to our knowledge,
and an evidence base is essential to properly informed policy
20. Most pupils no longer study individual
scientific disciplines for public examinations at the age of 16.
Instead, they study combined science. The theoretical advantages
of this approach include the fact that it allows the majority
of young people to gain a fundamental scientific understanding
and appreciation, without the need for equally in-depth knowledge
of chemistry, physics and biology. It also allows future scientists
to understand the cross-disciplinary nature of science, and does
not encourage children to see barriers between individual disciplines.
21. In practice, however, the current situation
falls far short of this ideal, as many pupils are taught various
parts of the curriculum by teachers who are not qualified in the
appropriate subject matter.
22. At Key Stage 4, only 33 per cent of
people expected to teach physics have a bachelor's degree in the
subject, and 29 per cent do not even have an A-level in physics.
In chemistry, fewer than half of teachers have an appropriate
degree and 14 per cent have not studied chemistry to A-level standard.
Among biology teachers, 61 per cent have a degree in the subject,
but 16 per cent have not passed A-level biology.7
23. Moreover, of those who enter teaching
training with some level of qualification in their subject, the
sciences have a very high proportion of people with lower class
degrees. Although the data are somewhat out of date, figures presented
in 1997 but collated earlier show that 38 per cent of teacher
training entrants in physics had a third class degree "or
below," with 37 per cent in mathematics, 34 per cent in chemistry
and 15 per cent in biology, compared with just 5 per cent in history,
and 7 per cent in both English and geography.
24. The effects on pupils of improperly
or inadequately qualified staff are all too evident on young people:
a group of university students described to SBS how some of the
teachers who had taught them a couple of years earlier were "unenthusiastic
or, more usually, simply unqualified to teach the material for
which they were responsible".8
25. The same group also felt their schools
had been unable to provide adequate information about scientific
careers, partly because their careers advisers were unenthusiastic
about science, and partly because of the huge demands placed on
26. Few, if any, of these problems can reasonably
be blamed exclusively, or even principally, on schoolteachers
themselves. It is unreasonable to expect people to teach subjects
in which they are inadequately qualified.
27. Sufficient resources should be available
that a student studying for GCSEs in science can be taught by
at least one specialist in each of the three core disciplines
of biology, chemistry and physics. This may require co-operation
among local schools.
28. Partly because they are not always qualified
in the subjects they are required to teach, many teachers lack
confidence in their own ability to teach the material for which
they are responsible.
29. For example, at Key Stage 4 (GCSE level),
only 50 per cent of teachers who teach the "Physical processes"
part of the curriculum (which roughly equates to physics) say
that they have "a lot of confidence" in their ability
to teach the material.9 In "Materials and their properties"
(chemistry), 60 per cent say they have "a lot of confidence"
and in "life processes and living things" (biology),
the figure is just 52 per cent. The low figure for biology is
despite the fact that a higher proportion of science teachers
have degrees in biology than have degrees in chemistry or physics,
and despite the fact that biology teachers have, on average, degrees
of higher classes.
30. One of the reasons why even trained
biologists may lack confidence in their subject material is that
modern biology moves forward very rapidly, with high profile developments
in areas like genetic modification and stem cell research.
31. It is for this reason that SBS has advocated
the introduction of sabbatical periods for teachers to spend time
in universities or other laboratories, or in some other activity
that can reinvigorate their knowledge and enthusiasm for their
subject. Reciprocally, scientists and engineers from industry,
universities and elsewhere should be encouraged to spend time
in schools, passing on their experience, knowledge, enthusiasm
and skills to a new generation.
32. The academic curriculum after the age
of 16 is narrower in most of the UK than in the rest of Western
Europe and America. Students are strongly encouraged to choose
exclusively between the arts and the sciences at the age of 16.
33. Whether or not it is true, students
perceive that A-levels in science subjects are harder than those
in the arts and humanities. With increased pressure to succeed
in exams, it seems likely that many students are influenced in
the choice of A-levels by the perception that science and mathematics
are more difficult to pass than other options.
34. The proportion of A-level students who
have chosen to study three arts and humanities has held steady
at roughly 50 per cent of the cohort since the early 1960s, while
the proportion studying three sciences has fallen dramatically,
from about 45 per cent in 1962 to about 15 per cent in 1995. The
shortfall has been made up of students choosing to study a mixture
of arts and sciences.
35. These trends suggest two conclusions.
Students increasingly want to study a broad mixture of subjects,
but a decreasing proportion is fully prepared to enter science
courses at university. For example, a chemistry lecturer at a
well-known British university found that none of his class of
undergraduates had the simple arithmetical skills required to
dilute a solution of known concentration to a different specified
concentration.10 This supports the Select Committee's suspicion,
voiced in its announcement of the current inquiry, that the mathematical
content of the school curriculum is being diluted.11
36. For years, SBS has advocated the introduction
of a system more like the French baccalaureate, in which students
study both some sciences and some arts and humanities, and in
which their studies in one or the other are sufficiently in depth
that they are fully prepared to enter university. Since most students
studying for A-levels now enter the higher education system, this
is an important consideration.
37. Recent changes in the system of A-levels,
whereby students study more subjects in the lower sixth and specialise
more in the upper sixth are welcome in principle, but have not
proved entirely successful in practice. A broader-based curriculum,
incorporating an appropriate degree of specialisation, can only
really be achieved through an integrated system like a baccalaureate.
38. SBS has welcomed discussions in the
Welsh Assembly about the possible introduction of a baccalaureate
in Wales, but warned that if the project goes ahead in isolation,
without some parallel developments in England, confusion about
parity between the baccalaureate and the A-level syllabus could
disadvantage some students.
39. The Select Committee, in its notice
of the current inquiry, reiterated a common observation: many
people believe the science curriculum lacks relevance to the everyday
lives of pupils and parents.
40. Insofar as this is true, it is partly
a feature of the entire school curriculum: most parents and children
do not need to speak French as part of their everyday lives, the
Battle of Hastings is of little relevance to them, and the formation
of ox bow lakes is of minor concern to working families.
41. That these things have little direct
impact to the everyday life of most pupils does not make them
irrelevant, any more than it is irrelevant to study Shakespeare
or the underlying causes of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Why then
should we insist on the entirely utilitarian nature of the science
42. What people seem to mean when they complain
of a lack of relevance is that the science curriculum does not
adequately explore the developments that really do occur in everyday
life and are reported in the media, such as genetically-modified
foods or the risks of inoculation with the measles, mumps and
43. This is one reason that SBS advocates
(in paragraph 31), giving teachers the opportunity to spend sabbatical
periods refreshing their knowledge, and why we have advocated
elsewhere the extension of the ethos behind the numeracy hour.
44. The numeracy strategy has worked in
primary schools by giving teachers structured support and materials
to assist in teaching parts of the curriculum with which many
feel a lack of confidence. The same approach could assist secondary
school teachers in their efforts to teach up-to-the-minute developments
in science, which are reported in the media, which are seen to
have direct relevance to people's lives, and which, if taught
well, could be the gateway to excitement, enthusiasm and understanding
for many young people.
45. Practical experimentation is an essential
part of learning about science. A good science education in school
depends both on pupils being allowed the opportunity to conduct
their own experiments, and on their being able to watch larger
scale demonstrations, where it is inappropriate for individual
children to undertake particular procedures (such as adding reactive
substances like potassium or sodium to water). Such practical
work captures the imagination of children, and can excite them
46. In its report on Science and Society,
the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology
expressed concern about the decline of practical work in school
47. In its follow-up report on Science in
Schools, the Committee explored further the reasons for this decline,
which is believed among much of the scientific community to be
largely due to regulation. In fact, only two commonly-used experiments
have been formally removed from the curriculum in the past 30
years, both involving benzene, which is a highly dangerous compound.
48. However, the interpretation of Health
and Safety regulations is unquestionably hindering the conduct
of practical work in schools. In the words of the House of Lords
Committee, " health and safety regulations, if they do not
actually ban experiments, nonetheless affect adversely the way
in which they can be carried out".13
49. In its response to the Committee's original
report, the Government denied that regulation was preventing the
conducting of practical classes in schools. While this may have
been strictly accurate, it was not considered a helpful comment
by members of the House of Lords Committee.
50. Over the past decade or more, new vocational
qualifications, such as National Vocational Qualifications and
Technology Education Certificates, have been broadly welcome additions
to the educational landscape.
51. This is especially true given that the
concept of the apprenticeship has declined as the economy has
changed, and as the job market has shifted away from traditional
52. However, there remains some confusion
as to the precise purpose of some qualifications, and in particular
the meaning of their nominal equivalence to academic qualifications.
53. For example, there is a feeling among
many university lecturers in mathematics that the system is unfair
to students who enrol in the higher education system with a GNVQ
that includes the nominal equivalent of an A-level in mathematics.
In many cases, this supposed equivalence cannot be justified,
and the students are not adequately prepared for the mathematical
education they will receive as part of their university degree.
They have been misled, their work consistently suffers, and they
are unable to take full advantage of the educational experience
of being at university.
54. The problem would be solved by greater
clarity in what the various qualifications are genuinely supposed
to represent, and in the insistence that qualifications that purport
to have equivalence do in fact contain the appropriate content.
55. Vocational qualifications are valuable
and worthwhile in their own right, and they do not need to be
devalued by the pretence that they are the same as academic qualifications
if they are not.
1 Science Teachers: A report on supporting and
developing the profession of science teaching in primary and secondary
schools, Council for Science and Technology, 2000.
2 Physics teacher supply: Current issues facing
secondary education, Institute of Physics, 1999 [IoP Policy
3 Physics Today, October 2000, p.13.
4 Smithers, A. and Hill, S. Recruitment to physics
and mathematics teaching: A personality problem? Research
Papers in Education, Volume 4, Number 1, pp.3-21.
5 The shortage of mathematics and physics teachers,
Department of Education, University of Manchester, 1988.
6 The supply of teachers for the 1990s, Second
Report of the House of Commons Education, Science and Arts Committee,
Session 1989-90 [HC 208-I].
7 Figures supplied by the Institute of Physics.
8 Issues Concerning Students in UK Higher Education,
SBS 2000 [SBS 00/91].
9 Dillon, J and others (2000) A study into the
professonal views and needs of science teachers in primary and
secondary schools in England, King's College London.
10 SBS Newsletter, Winter 1998, p 2.
11 House of Commons Science & Technology Committee,
Press Notice Number 7 of Session 2000-02.
12 Science and Society, House of Lords Select
Committee on Science & Technology, 3rd Report, Session 1999-2000
[HL Paper 38].
13 Science in Schools, First Report of the
House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, Session
2000-01 [HL Paper 49].