Part 3: Developing a more coherent
strategy for school science and maths
13. In 2004, a review of activities aimed
at encouraging children to take up and enjoy maths and
science identified 478 different initiatives, 120 led
by the Department and the rest by other government departments
or external organisations.[35]
To address the risk of duplication and inefficiency arising
from so many initiatives, work began in 2006 to rationalise
the support given to schools.[36]
At the time of the hearing the Department funded around
30 initiatives, at a cost of about £50 million
per year.[37] Some
of these initiatives have been evaluated and found to
be effective.[38]
However, take-up has been mixed. For example the Department
part-funds a national network (STEMNET), which brokers
and delivers activities in schools across England, but
in around a fifth of local authority areas, at least
25% of secondary schools do not participate in any of
these activities.[39]
14. The Department plans to reduce spending
on such central initiatives in future. It intends to
take a more strategic approach, carrying out fewer interventions,
only undertaking those initiatives which evaluation has
shown to be successful, and targeting actions in those
areas where they will make a difference.[40]
15. Good careers advice is an important factor
in encouraging children and young people to take up
science and maths, and is most effective when it involves
knowledgeable and enthusiastic teachers who have established
good links with the outside world.[41]
However, there have been problems in the past with the
availability and quality of careers advice in schools.[42]
The Department was undertaking a number of programmes
to improve advice on science and maths, including the
'Careers awareness timeline pilot' in 30 schools.[43]
16. As part of its policy to reduce the ring-fencing
of schools' budgets and devolve more funding to schools,
the Department does not intend to fund further pilots
or build on those already under way.[44]
Instead, schools will be responsible for delivering careers
advice and guidance and be held to account for their
use of the funding devolved to them.[45]
They will be supported by an all-age careers advice
service, replacing both Connexions, which aimed to
give careers advice to 13 to 19 year olds, and the
Next Step service, which provided a similar service
for adults.[46] In
this area as in others, the Department will be seeking
to encourage schools to learn from each other, with
outstanding schools taking the lead in spreading best
practice to their peers.[47]
17. The Department made clear that its future
strategy would place greater reliance on public scrutiny
of schools' performance to drive further progress in
take-up and achievement. For example, it was examining
how it could use school performance tables and the Ofsted
inspection regime to encourage the further spread of
the Triple Science offer.[48]
It also intends to make much more information available
to parents and others so that they can see more clearly
which schools are offering Triple Science, how well pupils
are doing in science and maths, and where pupils progress
to post-16.[49]
18. Such an approach runs the risk that there
will be too much information available which will be
confusing for parents.[50]
There is also a risk that the Department will not collect
the information it needs to monitor progress in take-up
and achievement. However, the Department told us that
it will still be collecting the data it needs to monitor
progress,[51] and
intends to publish - or require schools to publish -
information in a standardised, structured way, allowing
parents to easily compare schools' performance.[52]
19. Above all, the Department must reconcile
its plans for greater devolution and local accountability
with the need for a coherent, system-wide strategy. This
strategy will need to ensure that key success factors
such as GCSE Triple Science, specialist teachers, good-quality
science facilities, quality careers advice, and programmes
to increase take-up and achievement are made available
in a concerted fashion which both avoids duplication
and reaches all parts of the country, including the most
disadvantaged communities.[53]
35 Qq 32, 89-91, 93; C&AG's Report, para
3.29 Back
36
Q 92; C&AG's report, para 3.30 Back
37
Qq 32, 89, 93, 96 Back
38
C&AG's report, para 3.31 Back
39
Q 97; C&AG's report, para 3.44 Back
40
Qq 94, 95, 98 Back
41
Qq 27-28 Back
42
Q 19 Back
43
Q 19; C&AG's report, paras 3.2 and 3.4 Back
44
Qq 20-24 Back
45
Qq 24-25 Back
46
Qq 18, 19, 23 Back
47
Qq 29-31 Back
48
Qq 2, 3, 11, 25, 42 Back
49
Q 4 Back
50
Qq 9-11 Back
51
Q 4 Back
52
Q 11 Back
53
Qq 91, 97 Back
|
