Science education "black hole" in Islington and Slough?
If you live in Islington or Slough, and can't afford to attend a private school, then the most significant human endeavour of recent centuries - science - may effectively be closed to you as a career option.
That's the bottom line in new data published today on the numbers of state schools offering triple science - separate physics, chemistry and biology at GCSE.
No pupils were entered for triple science GCSEs at state schools in Islington and Slough last year.
Nationally, only 46% of state schools entered at least one pupil in separate science subjects.
And overall only 8.5% of pupils took separate sciences at GCSE.
The government have promised that pupils who achieve above average Key Stage 3 results in future will be able to take three separate sciences at GCSE. Let's hope they make good on that promise - and also halt the erosion in GCSE standards recently highlighted by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
In the meantime, these figures highlight the importance of scientists engaging school groups about their work. Pupils need to experience some of the amazing places that science can take you, whether you study it just a bit further for interest, or pursue it as a career. And perhaps particularly if they live in Islington or Slough...
That's the bottom line in new data published today on the numbers of state schools offering triple science - separate physics, chemistry and biology at GCSE.
No pupils were entered for triple science GCSEs at state schools in Islington and Slough last year.
Nationally, only 46% of state schools entered at least one pupil in separate science subjects.
And overall only 8.5% of pupils took separate sciences at GCSE.
The government have promised that pupils who achieve above average Key Stage 3 results in future will be able to take three separate sciences at GCSE. Let's hope they make good on that promise - and also halt the erosion in GCSE standards recently highlighted by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
In the meantime, these figures highlight the importance of scientists engaging school groups about their work. Pupils need to experience some of the amazing places that science can take you, whether you study it just a bit further for interest, or pursue it as a career. And perhaps particularly if they live in Islington or Slough...
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Michael de Podesta, a physicist and Science Ambassador at the NPL has stimulated a lively debate about the quality of the GCSE physics curriculum in a post on the "How should we teach science?" blog.
He reports on a meeting he attended with the Qua…
Michael de Podesta, a physicist and Science Ambassador at the NPL has stimulated a lively debate about the quality of the GCSE physics curriculum in a post on the "How should we teach science?" blog.
He reports on a meeting he attended with the Qua…
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