'Catastrophic' slide in science standards

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Standards in science exams in UK schools have suffered "catastrophic slippage", according to the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).

The RSC is calling on the government to improve the exams in order to prevent science teaching from failing a generation of pupils.

They claim that official figures showing annual rises in the numbers of school children getting a grade C or higher in GCSE science subjects is a "myth".

The report, published today, states that pupils only require a "superficial knowledge" of scientific theories in order to get a pass.

It calls on vital skills of problem-solving, critical thinking and mathematical calculation to be reinstated into the curriculum.

The report analysed the results of a national competition run by the Society, which involved over 1,300 school children answering science questions from GCSE and O-level exams from the last 50 years.

The average result for the questions from the 1960s was just 15 per cent, rising to 35 per cent for the current decade.

The report stated: "The inevitable outcome is that, with so little emphasis on the quantitative aspects of science, pupils will not be able to develop better logic and problem-solving abilities, and their appreciation of the context of science will be, at best, superficial."

Dr Richard Pike, chief executive of the RSC, told the BBC this morning that businesses want employees with skills in problem solving, critical thinking and manipulation of mathematics.

He claimed that the current science curriculum does not teach these methods.

"Today, students are given questions that are very simplistic," he said. "You don’t have to work through very much at all."

Pike explained: "What we find is that bright children have been brought up on a diet of very, very short questions. They are unprepared to answer the more complex ones."

He stressed that the RSC was not suggesting that a new kind of science or maths should be taught.

He added: "We are just talking about working through, in a step-wise way, questions which are more representative of the real world."

But Professor John Holman, director of the National Science Learning Centre told the BBC that while it was an interesting experiment, it was not representative of the truth.

Holman stated: "Today's GCSE students would be able to tell you that when you do an experiment like this, you have to have a control. The problem is that we haven’t got a time machine.

"What we should really be doing is getting back the pupils from the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s and having them sit the exams of today."

He claimed that there were things in today's science exams that many former pupils could not do, such as detail on the methods of science.

But Pike stated that the RSC research did not need a control.

"Although I would agree that things have changed, what hasn't changed is that companies want kids who can solve problems," he said.

"In this competition we went out of our way to make sure that the science was the same."

He added: "The big issue that we have is that they are not being exposed to problems that take three or four steps to get to the conclusion. They have been given questions today that require one step. That is the most fundamental difference that we have seen."

The report also warned that many students do not have the mathematical training required to begin a chemistry degree and that universities are being forced to consider offering basic maths courses.

Shadow children's secretary Michael Gove commented that the RSC research was the latest in a line of independent bodies to warn of the devaluation of science education.

He said: "We've slipped 10 places in the international league tables for science and children are being asked questions that show our curriculum isn't preparing them for the challenges for the 21st century. That's why we need to make sure that our exams are as good as the world's best."

But a spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "Standards in science have improved year on year thanks to 10 years of sustained investment and improvement in teaching and the education system - this is something we should celebrate, not criticise.

"The fact is that exam standards are rigorously maintained by independent regulators and we would rather listen to the experts whose specific job it is to monitor standards over time."

Alongside their report, the RSC has launched a Downing Street e-petition calling for urgent intervention to halt the slide in science educational standards.