"What were the mechanics of the corruption of science teaching?"

You are mistaken if you think that the changes in science have been driven by teachers. Science teachers are simply trying their best to impliment the constant flow of changes imposed from above by well meaning politicians and "educationalists".

The present situation was not "planned" it is the unforseen side effect of what looked like good ideas and from the interaction of the dozen or so bodies with some stake in science education.

There was a report published around 1999 called something like "Beyond 2000". This identified the fact (which most science teachers would agree with) that we were forced to teach a whole lot of abstract stuff to less able pupils which a) they could not get b) demoralised them and c)had no value for them.

There was wide agreement that there should be 2 routes through science: a "science for scientists" route which would lead to A-level and a "science for citizens" route which would equip young people to participate in our technological society.

So far, so good. We were all hopeful. It has not worked out that way. In trying to deal with the crossover area (and prevent pupils being locked into a non-A-level route) QCA decided to tell exam borads to create a joint "Core" science course for yr 10. This is where the dumbing down started for the "scientists".

On top of this (read more on the HowScience.wikidot.com site) exam boards bought publishers and were given freedom to create a diversity of courses. At no point are practicing teachers involved in this process. QCA also instructed exam boards to make a lot of the assessment multiple choice and done as unit tests (not terminal exam). Consequesntly we now see content which seems to be designed simply to give material for multiple choice questions!

There are not even checks on the reading age of the material - for example the Oxford Press OCR Applied 21st Century science texbook is unreadable by the pupils it is designed for.

But.. there is nothing teachers can do. When we approach exam boards they clam up. The OFSTED inspectors put pressure on Head teachers to improve "standards" (ie exam grades), so science departments are pressured into picking the exam and teaching method which is likely to give the highest score (rather than teaching the science well).

The only solution is a professionalisation of teaching to the point where there are established "experts" and where teachers are involved in the development of the curriculum. (see "professionalisation" on the wiki).

It is almost impossible to get teachers interested - they are all "heads down and stuck in" to trying to run this system, ignored by govenment, ridiculed by the press and all the time trying to do the job they love - helping young people.

Because it is not an easy, one line, headline explanation, this type of analysis gets little publicity.

In a few months another group of well meaning politicians will change the rules again and more chaos will ensue. Teachers will keep their heads down and do their best - and then be blamed for the consequesnces.

Ho hum

Posted by Mike Bell at January 28, 2010 08:29 AM

There is an old saying that you never know what you've got till its gone.
I believe that one contributory factor to this problem is that there once was a time when many students (particularly below average ones) knew a lot of facts, but couldn't apply them with reason. In an attempt to remedy this and in the knowledge that facts were becoming readily available, the emphasis switched to teaching reason. Unfortunately reason without facts is about as useful as an engine without fuel.

Posted by Pat at February 6, 2010 11:35 AM