SCORE Conference Report: ‘Science in the National Curriculum’

On Monday 21 March, SCORE held a one-day conference in London looking at ‘Science in the National Curriculum’ designed to bring together people from the science and science education communities to help inform the SCORE response to the Government’s recent call for evidence. The event was attended by over 100 participants who explored the whole range of issues impacting upon the development of the new National Curriculum.

The conference was opened by Diana Garnham, Chief Executive of the Science Council, who highlighted some of the concerns facing employers. For example, recent research commissioned by the Science Council suggests that ‘by 2017, over 58% of all new jobs will require STEM skills, specifically mathematical and analytical skills. Employers will also want people who can apply their scientific knowledge to other challenges, as well as those who are aware of the ‘multidisciplinarity of science in the 21st century’ and aware of how the core disciplines relate to each other; this is something that must be achieved through the education system.

Stefano Pozzi, Assistant Director of the National Curriculum Review research unit then spoke about the reasoning behind the National Curriculum Review and what the Government hoped to achieve through it. The Government’s aim is to create a slimmed-down Curriculum that is ‘underpinned by evidence and informed by international best practice’.

Robin Millar, Professor of Science Education at the University of York then spoke about the topic of ‘the nature of science’, arguing that science shouldn’t just focus on scientific investigation but much broader science topics; topics such as science in society, knowledge about the material world and scientific reasoning. Millar mentioned how ‘all students, from primary through to secondary, should know that the fundamental aim of science is to explain natural phenomena, and not simply to amass, collect and catalogue information’.

Andrew Hunt, an independent consultant echoed some of these thoughts, highlighting the need to make science interesting and relevant in order to switch young people onto science, and to explore challenging concepts that have not yet necessarily been proved or confirmed. Hunt looked explicitly at the ‘How Science Works’ 2006 strand and explained how questions were often poorly devised and not extendable enough, leading to the strand becoming discredited.

Professor Wynne Harlen then offered a talk on placing science as the ‘development of big ideas’. Namely, big ideas looking more at science’s impact on society, which are developed through the progression of smaller ideas, are of more benefit to science students. Wynne concluded by saying how ‘a curriculum expressed in terms of big ideas to be understood, will endure for a longer time than one based on specifics’.

Christine Howe, Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge, then presented ‘four messages from psychology’, to provide a slightly different perspective to curriculum design and reform. She described how it was important to:

The audience agreed with some of these points, claiming that ‘students need a range of different teaching and learning activities such as – practical work, discussion, independent and group learning, as well as teacher presentation.

Professor Mary Ratcliffe, Associate Director of Myscience, was next to talk, and she explored the idea of ‘entitlement’, namely that the Curriculum should comprise a core entitlement for young people which would then provide them with more flexibility when choosing what subjects to continue. Ratcliffe also referenced a recent survey conducted by the National Science Learning Centre which asked teachers what ideas they might want to see in this ‘core entitlement’. Out of over 600 responses, there seemed to be a lot of support for the concept of ‘big ideas’ (as referenced by Wynne Harlen) such as explanations, theories, models and applications of science.

The final session was led by Jim Donnelly, Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Leeds, who talked about Applied Science at Key Stage 4 and beyond. Donnelly identified that there had been a solid rise in applied science qualifications but that the qualifications themselves are not perfect yet. As part of the review, Donnelly suggests that the ‘character and rationale of applied science in the curriculum also needs to be discussed, along with questions such as whether they should have distinctive progression routes’.

The full report is available to download from the SCORE website.

There are only three days remaining to submit your own evidence to the Government’s Curriculum review, visit the Department for Education website for further information.