British Science Association – Written evidence (EDU0089)

1. The British Science Association is a charity that works to improve people’s connection with science. We have organised live events between scientists and the public since 1831 and, in recent decades, have sought to collect and share expertise among the science engagement practitioner community.   
2. The BSA has three core pillars of work: education, engagement and influencing (convening stakeholders from across different sectors). The BSA’s new 10-year strategy focusses on three key objectives: for science to be more relevant to wider society, more representative of marginalised groups, and more connected in order to address structural inequities in science engagement.   
3. The BSA provides the secretariat for the APPG on Diversity and Inclusion in STEM, runs the UK-wide educational initiative CREST Awards, the annual British Science Week, and the British Science Festival amongst other activities and programmes.  

Young people are not the problem

4. The green and digital economies are dependent on STEM skills. Yet, many young people do not feel like science and STEM is “for them”. There is not one factor or motivator that determines a young person’s perceptions, aspirations, and attitudes to STEM.
5. Lack of awareness of the breadth of career options that are enabled by STEM qualifications results in many young people feeling there is no point studying STEM post-16 unless they want to become a scientist or a doctor.[1]
6. Evidence suggests that effective and impartial careers provision is particularly important for students from working class backgrounds, yet students from disadvantaged groups and those who are unsure of their aspirations have been shown to be the least likely to receive careers guidance. There is also evidence that girls experience additional barriers.[2]
7. Research carried out by the ASPIRES 2 project, which explores the concept of “science capital”, found that the factors that shape STEM aspirations and identities in young people are “heavily influenced by existing social inequalities such as class, gender, and ethnicity”. They found that dominant representations of science as being associated with “cleverness” and “masculinity” made many young people feel less connected to science, and that the way science is represented in everyday life was influential in shaping young people's impressions of whether they were “suited” to science.[3]

Young peoples’ views on 11-16 education

8. Future Forum is the British Science Association's (BSA) programme which gives young people a chance to have their voices heard on issues involving science. The next generation are tasked with solving the greatest challenges in our time, yet our research has found that they do not feel able to have their say on the issues affecting their future and they don't feel spoken to by politicians, scientists and other influential figures.
9. We have run nationally representative surveys and workshops with 14 – 18 year olds to find out how they think about topics like genetics research, AI, creativity in STEM, and climate education.
10. The Future Forum series concerned with STEM and creativity explored young peoples understanding of the jobs and skills that will be needed to drive innovation in a future digital and green economy. We found that: [4]
• When asked to consider what changes they would like to see in the UK and globally within the next 10 years, young people focused on tackling urgent, near-term societal challenges, such as climate change, mental health, and societal inequality.
• Young people believe that the separation of STEM and Arts subjects within the education system is problematic. Workshop participants felt that this approach forces them to identify as either ‘creative’ or ‘technically minded’, which subsequently excludes them from engaging with subjects they enjoy, limits the career opportunities open to them in later life and stifles their desire to think creatively. According to our survey of 1,000 young people aged 14-18, over a third (35%) of young people say they are interested in being creative but don’t regularly use their creative skills. Almost one in five (17%) believe that ‘science isn’t for them’
• Participants reported that this division between subjects is also carried forward into information given to them by careers advice and guidance teams, where career choices are presented as either ‘creative’ or ‘scientific / technical’ opportunities.
11. The Future Forum series concerned with climate education (due for publication in May 2023) explored how young people learn about climate change, and how prepared they feel to contribute to a new green economy. We found that:
• The deficit of climate change knowledge in GCSE double science, relative to triple science, has the potential to reinforce inequality in climate literacy. Triple science has long been championed by the Government as the most prestigious entry route for science careers in the UK, however this qualification is far more prevalent in fee-paying schools and those with a low proportion of students eligible for free school meals (FSM), where the students are more likely to be higher attaining. 
• Climate change education is confined to subject ‘silos’ within GCSE geography and science and is not inclusive of all students.  Only 5% of all GCSE subject entries in England in 2022 were for GCSE geography, meaning that few students receive climate change education via this pathway. Teaching in ‘subject silos’ (i.e. scientific mechanisms in science and geological impacts in geography) is disjointed and presents a confusing narrative which makes it difficult for young people to understand the subject of climate change as a whole or to link topics together. 7 in 10 young people (72%) responding to our national survey told us they would welcome the opportunity to learn more about climate change in school and a further 7 in 10 (68%) felt that climate change education should be included across all subjects. 
• Climate change education is constrained by exam requirements. In both GCSE geography and science, young people feel that they are taught ‘just enough to pass the exam’, prompting concern about the constraints that exam requirements place on them and their teachers.
• Teaching tends to focus on impacts of climate change and rarely discusses solutions. Young people feel that climate change is presented as ‘a lost cause’ at secondary school with teaching that tends to focus narrowly on impacts and rarely on solutions. This approach contributes to young people’s sense of climate change anxiety, leaving them feeling demotivated and disenfranchised.
• Climate change education lacks relevance. Young people feel that climate change in school is taught as a ‘far away’ problem, divorced from its social, economic and political context, happening in remote locations or as something that will ‘happen in the future’. Our workshop participants reported the use of outdated case studies and that the teaching they receive has little relevance to current day issues or resonance with their day-to-day lives.

Key Stage 3 Science

12. Key Stage 3 is an important stage for supporting students’ later understanding of an engagement with science. With science GCSEs being so “content heavy”, there are signs that schools condense Key Stage 3 into two years by bringing forward GCSE content. [5] This de-prioritisation can mean that classes are split between more than one teacher, and that young people are more likely to be taught by non-specialists.
13. Additionally, Key Stage 3 is failing to build on content from Primary education, and enable young people to make connections between what they have learned at earlier stages.
14. In Wales the Curriculum for Excellence has wider aims than the English curriculum. The Curriculum for Excellence has four "purposes", and with wider purposes more is achievable at Key Stage 3.
• ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives
• enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work
• ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world
• healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.
15. At present in England the curriculum in science has no purpose linked to equipping students for a future economy, rather it is focused on the three disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.

GCSE Science

16. In their 2020 report Equity in the STEM education system, the APPG on Diversity and Inclusion in STEM (which the British Science Association provides secretariat for) identified clear issues with science teaching at the 11-16 stage, particularly in the ‘dual route’ at GCSE stage.
17. Schools’ role in GCSE option selection is leading to inequity, especially in the most disadvantaged areas. Double and Triple Award science access varies greatly and enables exclusion to STEM A-levels and Higher Education.
18. The UK lacks a joined-up Government approach to tackle the causes of inequity in STEM education. There is clear evidence of inequity at each stage of the education journey and Government must plan policy holistically with the input of experts, recognising that piecemeal interventions have limited effect.
19. Recommendations from that Inquiry that are relevant to the Committee’s work are:
• There should be a minister responsible for addressing inequity within the education system and widening participation within higher and further education to prepare young people for the future.
• We recommend this portfolio sits within the Department for Education, and supports cross departmental co-ordination on related policy areas for the future skills for young people, whether or not they go on to work in a STEM field.
• Government should conduct an in-depth review of each stage of education pathways to identify policies and measures to reduce inequity and loss of opportunity.
• STEM education should be more relevant to the lives of all young people, appeal to a wider cross section of young people and do more to create the conditions to enable students to experience STEM as inclusive and ‘for me’.
• We ask that equity is given greater weight when monitoring and reviewing STEM education and barriers to the participation of students, particularly in relation to low aspirations and links between grading and perceptions of difficulty.
• Steps should be taken to ensure that all teaching and learning approaches and resources are broad and inclusive in the knowledge and practices that they represent and that they do not reproduce normative ideas of who does STEM.
• We call for the Government to improve the capturing and sharing of information on the effectiveness of interventions that reduce misperceptions and raise aspirations.
• We recommend that an organisation is chosen or a coalition is created that can work with the Careers and Enterprise Company, STEM Learning, employers and the full range of providers of cost-effective, high quality STEM enrichment in order to provide an easily accessible and user-friendly mechanism by which schools and teachers can connect with them.
• There should be more action to address teacher shortages in STEM subjects and more support for teachers to access to specialist skills and knowledge linked to improving equity.
• Recognising that Government policy is supportive, we call for more resources to strengthen the recruitment and retention of specialist STEM teachers in schools/colleges in disadvantaged areas, with a particular focus on physical sciences, maths and computing.
• We call for the Department of Education to update Initial teacher education (ITE) and continuing professional development (including within the Early Career Framework courses) for all teachers to better prepare them to tackle inequity in the classroom.
• Changes to careers support and guidance suggested by the Careers Strategy for England (2017) must be fully implemented and followed up to ensure it is consistent across all schools and reaching all young people.
• Government should ensure that support for implementing new arrangements is speeded up, any gaps in delivery are urgently identified, and additional support is provided to schools if needed.
• Robust evaluation, monitoring and reporting is needed to ensure that the changes are reaching those that need it most and are effective in reducing inequity.
• The Government should take steps to address the existing inequalities in provision of Double Award and Triple Science at GCSE.
• We recommend the Government identifies what further support is needed by schools in England that are currently not offering Triple Science at GCSE to enable them to do so, and take steps to ensure that this is provided without delay.
• We request Government considers what policy changes or other measures are necessary to ensure that decisions about whether individual students take Double Award or Triple Science are most appropriate to the individual student as a matter of urgency.
• We ask the Government to ensure schools’ public reporting includes annual uptake of Triple Science and Double Award compared to overall pupil characteristics.
• There should be a review of fundamental changes to STEM GCSEs which considers equity issues, providing findings to those preparing the next round of reforms.
• We recommend that Government initiates a review addressing the following issues that involves key stakeholders, builds on prior evidence, and commissions new research and evaluation where necessary:
• The possibility of a revised common single route of study in the sciences up to the age of 16 that is accessible to all learners.
• The role that students’ practical work plays in equity and how they perceive science, including the content of practical work, how it is assessed and how it is resourced in all schools.
• Potential interventions or policy changes that could reduce the growing and acute gender divide in computer science.
• Changes that may help ensure computer science is offered in all schools, including the possibility of adjusting the qualification and/or training arrangements so as to broaden the pool of teachers who can deliver it to a good standard.

Practical work and enquiry

20. The roll out of project-based learning at secondary school level and below would ensure that all children have the opportunity to participate in enquiry-based learning, both likely to improve uptake of STEM subjects in later life and improve the likelihood of young people seeing themselves as going on to careers in STEM.
21. Ofsted’s recent ‘Finding the optimum’ report on science learning in schools revealed a large variation in the quantity and quality of practical science work taking place in schools. This hands-on learning is, as the report states, a vital part of science education. Our CREST Awards scheme, for example, enables students aged 5-19 to experience what it’s like to be a scientist or engineer by letting them take the lead on investigating and solving a real-world problem. The proportion of CREST Awards achieved by girls remains around 50% (internal BSA figures). Such practical activities develop critical thinking, analytical and teamworking skills, build confidence and embed knowledge in a way that brings together scientific concepts and topics that are relevant to their lives.
22. Over the years the BSA has commissioned multiple evaluations of the scheme that have found CREST to have a positive impact on young people’s science identity, skills, knowledge, and confidence as well as employability skills. Evaluations of the CREST URA grants (UKRI-funded grants for schools in our Underrepresented Audiences network*) have found that:
• Around 63% of students participating in the CREST activities had low science capital (Research toolkit 2021)
• Participating teachers believed that pupils were much more interested in STEM subjects and were more confident presenters of their work by the end of the programme activity (Research Toolkit 2021).
• There was a marked positive effect on student interest in STEM, with 26% of students saying they were much more interested in STEM as a result of completing their CREST award. Girls were more positive than boys. (Vector STEM 2019)
• All teachers thought that the scheme had some impact on the profile of STEM subjects and 15.7% said that it had a very high impact. (Vector STEM 2019)
23. Since 2015, the Welsh Government have provided funding for all students to access CREST for free.

* a school or community group which meets at least one of the following criteria: has at least 30% of pupils eligible for pupil premium (or equivalent); has at least 30% of pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds; is located in a designated rural postcode.

Our recommendations

24. Mindful of the current fiscal climate, we recommend that:
• The Committee takes steps to hear directly from young people as part of this inquiry, to ensure that the recommendations are relevant and meaningful to their lives.
• The purpose of Key Stage 3 should be clarified, and staps should be taken to ensure that young people benefit fully from this stage of their education.
• Young people have an entitlement to project-based learning, through participation in quality assured schemes like CREST, to be introduced at Key Stage 3. The Government should provide funding to enable this, particularly for schools in challenging circumstances, such as those in the 55 Education Investment Areas.
• Climate change solutions and green skills are embedded in the curriculum across all subjects, as recommended by the Climate Education Bill. [6]

9 May 2023

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