23rd May 2012 13:05
By Blue Tutors
Science A Levels Examine a ‘Worrying’ Amount of Maths.
Another day and another article about how A levels fail to prepare students for university life. This time it’s the Sciences which are feeling the force of public inquiry.
In a report published on 27th April 2012, Judith Burns, Education reporter for the BBC, writes on the recent Score report which states that little of the Maths required for further study of the subjects is covered in A level courses and examinations.
The report covers all the Sciences, for example ‘the requirements for physics and chemistry A-level left out calculus and the requirements for biology A-level ignored the maths needed to convert between different units.’
But perhaps more worrying is that the report also found a disparity between the different exam boards, with some requiring a greater proportion of maths and more complex calculations than others.
The authors of the report call for a framework to ensure parity between boards, and a review of the mathematical requirements for each of the sciences at A-level.
Prof Graham Hutchings, chairman of Score, said "Our findings are worrying. A significant proportion of the mathematical requirements put in place by the examinations regulator, Ofqual, for each of the sciences were simply not assessed and, if they were, it was often in a very limited way." He further stated that professional scientific bodies should play a role in the design of A-levels to ensure they were fit for purpose.
This is exactly what I was commenting on only a week or so ago with the Government arguing that Universities ought to have more say in the requirements of A level courses and only yesterday when I wrote on a study which reported that A levels were getting easier. Things are not looking good for the A level system at the moment.