Assessment of practical work in A Level and GCSE sciences – time to try harder

Tue 17 June 2014

Cripps Court

The role and place of practical learning in science education has become heavily contested. GCSE and GCE redevelopment is underway, conditioned by new policy directions by both Government and the national qualifications regulator.

Revised approaches to the recognition of science coursework in GCSEs have precipitated a landslide of protest from schools: ‘…if it doesn’t contribute to grades in GCSEs, then we will stop doing it…’. To this has been added the concerns of individuals and institutions from the scientific community, who argue strongly for a rich diet of practical work in the science curriculum, and oppose any moves in assessment which might downgrade practical work and the skills and knowledge which pupils gain from it.

Sir John Holman is a key figure in this debate. As well as being Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of York, Sir John is an adviser to the Gatsby Foundation, which recently surveyed science staff at 25 universities and found that 57 per cent felt that the lab skills of new undergraduates had declined in the past five years. “So what has gone wrong?”

As part of the seminar series which stimulates debate on matters at the heart of education and training, the Cambridge Assessment Network has invited Sir John Holman, recently named as one of top 100 scientists by the Science Council, to scrutinise models currently used to assess practical skills in A Level and GCSE sciences and investigate approaches to coursework that meet criteria for both ‘good learning’ and ‘good assessment’.

Cost: free