Increasing the size of the pool

The final Royal Society ‘state of the nation’ report published today: Preparing for the transfer from school and college science and mathematics education to UK STEM higher education, focussed specifically on the ‘pool’ of 16-19 year-old students taking mainstream science and mathematics combinations suitable for entry to higher education. The report, the fourth in the ‘state of the nation’ series, looked at differences across the United Kingdom, and makes a number of recommendations for changes to the current educational system to ensure that we are able to create ‘the next generation of excellent UK scientists and technologists that is so badly needed’.

The three main, broad recommendations announced by the President of the Royal Society, Paul Nurse, as a result of the report are the following:

The report also draws particular attention to Scotland, showing that around 50% of students taking Highers or Advanced Highers (the Scottish equivalent of A-levels) are choosing to study core sciences (with or without mathematics) whereas for the other UK nations – England, Wales and Northern Ireland – this figure drops to 28%, 27% and 37% respectively. The report explains that this difference could well be down to the fact that Scottish students generally take five Highers, while students in the other UK countries typically take just three A-levels, thereby allowing Scottish students to take much more varied combinations of subjects. Nurse describes how “England, Wales and Northern Ireland should aim to emulate the high levels of student participation in science and mathematics evident in Scotland. Furthermore, one of the report’s recommendations as a result is that:

The full report and a 12-page summary of the report can be downloaded from the left-hand side of this page.