Schools that make a difference to post-16 uptake of physics and chemistry

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• Professor Judith Bennett, Department of Education, University of York
• Monday 29 April 2013, 16:30-18:00
• GS1, Donald McIntyre Building, Faculty of Education, 184 Hills Road, Cambridge.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Ann Waterman.

Tea & Coffee available on arrival from 16.15

Concern over numbers choosing to continue to study physical science subjects beyond the compulsory period has been a constant feature of school science education for several decades. The project described here aimed to identify schools that were more successful in encouraging young people to pursue their study of chemistry and physics beyond the compulsory period;and to identify educational features and practices within these schools that made them more successful. The schools that participated in the study were identified through interrogation of the National Pupil Database (NPD),and consisted of four pairs of schools, matched on a range of indicators,but with one school having high uptake and the other having low uptake of chemistry and physics. In each school: interviews were held with three key school staff (head of science, member of school senior management team responsible for the curriculum, school careers adviser), and with six-to eight post-16 students studying science and non-science subjects.Additional contextual data were also gathered, including school examination results, levels of teacher qualification, subject specialism and experience. The study indicated that high uptake school are characterised by five particular features that are not apparent in low-uptake schools: curriculum diversity pre-16, higher expectations in relation to AS admission grades, appropriate and targeted careers advice from science teachers, appropriately-timed work placements that were mapped to student interests, and a range of opportunities for student to interact with the world of work.

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• GS1, Donald McIntyre Building, Faculty of Education, 184 Hills Road, Cambridge

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