Welcome

Are you fed up with giving your top sets stuff which is too simple? baffling the bottom set and turning them off Science forever? constant changes to the curriculum that you don't agree with? poor quality materials and examinations from the awarding bodies? Then join us and help to change it!

Science teachers rewriting Science education What makes us different? We're teachers. We know, in minute detail, from daily experience what is working and what desperately needs fixing. We have a high opinion of the opinion of teachers. (And we want your opinion.) We passionately believe that the needs of future scientists/doctors/engineers/etc are radically different to the needs of future scientifically-literate citizens and that these different needs must be catered for by different courses, not differentiated versions of the same one. We believe that providing for these differing needs begins in year 8; year 10 is too late. We are constructing a single-stage, 5-year science curriculum. We are following a logical process of bottom-up curriculum design and this collaborative site both documents the progress of and the evidence for consensus ideas. We advocate the need for "critical thinking", the importance of appreciating evidence and a proper development of the ideas of what science is and how science progresses — not the over-simplification that "how science works" has become. We value an evidence-based approach to teaching science that rests upon scientifically-valid research. We structure the curriculum to exhibit a logical ordering of concepts that tell coherent 'stories'. Concrete and abstract concepts are recognised and dealt with appropriately. We recognise the importance of a properly constructed curriculum in bringing long-term stability to Science education — removing the constant cycle of change that undermines our capacity to teach. Learn more: visit the Curriculum Project pages.

Progress to date So far, we have proposed a definition of Science proposed a set of aims of Science education assessed the efficacy of current Science education in the light of these aims begun to discuss the broad principles of a new Science curriculum outlined a way to empower teachers to have a greater input into education What do you think? Please, contribute your opinion to let us know: this project is being driven forwards by challenge and constructive criticism! And have you seen… …our forums and our projects? At the moment we are surveying the profession's opinions on current Science education. Why not give us your views now? Beyond this site… AQA survey AQA will release new draft specifications (for first teaching in September 2011) in April 2010 and accredited ones in August 2010. They are currently surveying teachers' opinions regarding aspects of these new specifications. The statutory criteria (from QCDA) has not changed very much, and so we should not anticipate any vast differences, but, to AQA's credit, their questionnaire is quite comprehensive. Tell them what you want by taking their survey.

If you are excited by what we're about and what we're doing, we'd love for you to join us.

Our motivation Motivation We, like several other science teachers we have spoken to, have become worried about the downward spiral of science education in this country. In 2002, the House of Commons science and technology committee described science education as failing to inspire or prepare students for study post-16 or even to provide a general science education at all. Partially in response to this, new science curricula were developed and introduced in 2006. While it is fair to acknowledge that this has yielded some successes, it is equally fair to acknowledge that since their release, the new specifications and assessments have been criticised harshly by some - including Ofqual - for letting down the students who we would hope would go on to become our scientists, engineers and doctors of the future. Unfortunately, some of the committee's criticisms are still valid today, seven years on. This summer, the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency quietly sought the opinions of science teachers regarding a review of these "new" statutory science criteria. The low levels of marketing and user-friendliness of the consultation, however, have frustrated many of us who were aware of the process. Further, it would appear that only minor changes will be made to the criteria, sealing the fate of our scientists and engineers of the future for perhaps another five years. Apathetic and accepting as teachers can sometimes be, the seeming lack of interest by government in the views of the science teaching profession have finally goaded us into some positive action. We have launched this collaborative website so that science teachers can constructively share ideas regarding how to address the failings of the current system of science education and, more importantly, attempt to arrive at a viable better alternative. A science teachers' science curriculum, if you like. This may turn out to be a long-term project, but in the short-term may also produce ideas of immediate value to individual science teachers. We think that it's time to stop moaning to each other in corridors and classrooms and use our skills to show Government what they are missing by not valuing our opinion when they write their curricula. A version of this was published in the TES on 16th October.