Guidance for Students Studying Science

This report from Ofsted is based on evidence gathered during a rapid response survey. Inspectors visited 45 secondary schools in February 2010 to look at their science curriculum provision at Key Stage Four and to find out how students at the end of Key Stage Three and Key Stage Four were guided towards specific science examination courses. A total of 1,623 Key Stage Four students returned questionnaires which were recorded electronically and analysed in detail for this survey.

One of the key findings in Ofsted’s triennial report, Success in Science in June 2008 was that the secondary schools visited were beginning to develop programmes of study for 14–19-year-olds; these programmes gave access to vocational and academic pathways in science that were suited to their needs and interests.

The curriculum provision had improved from June 2008. The schools visited had responded to the 2008 report and to the changes introduced by the former Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). The new Department for Education was formed on 12 May 2010.

Twenty-seven of the schools had introduced applied science and vocational courses to meet the needs of a wider range of students. Thirty-four of the schools were providing GCSE courses in the three separate sciences of biology, chemistry and physics (triple science).

This is consistent with findings from Ofsted’s science inspections from 2008 to 2010 that the proportion of schools offering three separate sciences continues to increase.

Inspectors judged that the schools were directing the vast majority of students appropriately to suitable courses at the end of Key Stage Three. The match of students to courses was commonly based upon analysis of performance data, teachers’ views of students’ likely success with test-based or coursework-based examinations, and students’ track record in terms of effort and commitment to learning.

Where students were allocated to vocational pathways, it was most often because the qualification was awarded through coursework only; the teachers believed that the students would achieve higher grades as a result of this method of assessment.

Although the staff were aware of the career implications if students followed particular courses, this awareness did not necessarily find its way into the advice offered.

The sixth form (Year Twelve) students interviewed were better informed and their choices for post-16 courses were managed more rigorously, and with better support, than those for students at the end of Key Stage Three who were choosing 14–16 options.