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Lord Drayson, minister of science, at the Centre of the Cell, a new science education centre
Lord Drayson, minister of science, at the Centre of the Cell, a new science education at Barts and the London medical and dentistry school in Whitechapel. Photograph: Linda Nylind
Lord Drayson, minister of science, at the Centre of the Cell, a new science education at Barts and the London medical and dentistry school in Whitechapel. Photograph: Linda Nylind

Science in schools remains elitist

This article is more than 14 years old
Boring lessons, geeky stereotypes and poor careers advice have turned many pupils off science. That has to change, says science minister Lord Drayson, as a new children's science education centre opens in London

Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton assumed her cousin Kate's job was boring. Kate was a scientist, after all. It was only since Kate died a fortnight ago, aged 27, that Skelton realised how wrong she had been.

She discovered that Kate was in fact a globetrotting atmospheric chemist who measured the ozone layer around the world and had just finished a PhD.

"I never really asked what she did," Skelton says. "I thought it was just some boring science thing. When I found out, I was blown away. Maybe if I'd known more about science, I would have gone into that too."

Skelton was speaking to scientists and teachers as she opened a new children's science education centre, Centre of the Cell, in Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, in east London, last week.

So why do so many young people still perceive science as "geeky" and "boring"? The science minister, Lord Drayson, visiting the centre on its opening day, thinks it is partly the curriculum's fault and partly the fault of career advisers and teachers.

"The science curriculum should be more practical," he says, in an interview with Education Guardian. "The feedback we are getting says what inspires young people is the chance to do hands-on experiments and tackle real-world problems. Health and safety regulations have limited schools' ability to do this. We need to maintain an excitement in science and show it's not about learning dull facts."

Some science teachers protest. David Daniels, principal of Petchey academy in Hackney in east London and a former physics teacher, says school science is "broad enough and offers sufficient depth to suit any child, whatever their ability".

But Drayson is not the first person in recent months to point to failings in the science curriculum.

In March, 21st Century Science GCSE, a course that started three years ago with the aim of making science more relevant to young people, was criticised by the exams regulator, Ofqual. Its investigation of the qualification – which includes topics on global warming and genetically modified foods – found a "lack of challenge" in papers and too many multiple-choice questions.

Then came a study which showed that four out of five students training to be science teachers on undergraduate courses had fewer than two A-levels.

Drayson says too many young people are ill-advised on which subjects to study at school. This prevents them from becoming scientists later down the line, he says: "Young people don't understand well enough how the choices they make at school affect their life choices in the future."

Again, Daniels disagrees. "I can't imagine a secondary school allowing children to make choices without in-depth guidance," he says.

But things could be looking up. This summer's GCSE and A-level results indicated that attempts to ignite pupils' interest in science were starting to pay off. There was a leap in the number of students taking individual science GCSEs: those taking biology rose by 18% in the last year to more than 100,000, while chemistry and physics rose 20% and 21% respectively, with at least 91,000 entries each.

A-level physics is also on the rise: 5% more teenagers studied it at A-level this year than last.

Drayson, a multimillionaire and amateur racing driver, says he was "pleasantly surprised" by the results. "We are making progress. Young people are thinking about what they are going to do in the future."

But it isn't enough, he insists. Schools and society have to be more inventive if we are to create the next generation of scientists. "We have got to find imaginative ways of helping young people end up doing research. It's about career advisers finding ways for young people to meet science heroes," he says.

"Let's get them to understand what these heroes do and they'll think 'I'd like to do that myself. Now I understand why we are learning this stuff at school and why it is important.'"

Fran Balkwill, professor of cancer and inflammation at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, agrees.

Balkwill was awarded the Michael Faraday prize in 2005 for her outstanding work in communicating the concepts, facts and fascination of science in a way that appeals to children of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities.

"Not many children seem to see science as a stable career," she says. "It's very difficult for them to get a good idea of what science really is within the science curriculum. A lot of children go for money-making careers in the City because they don't see science as a career which is stable or that gives much money.

"But if you look at surveys, a science degree, in the long run, enables people to earn comparable amounts – and, of course, it is fascinating and a chance to do some good, too."

Drayson knows this well. When he was running a biotechnology company, Powderject, he was constantly losing his best scientists to the City because it offered better pay, he says.

But new ways of tackling the problem are being tried out – and the Centre of the Cell could be one of them. It is the first science education centre in the world to be located in the middle of a working laboratory, the medical school research labs of Barts and the London medical and dentistry school in Whitechapel, east London.

School parties can visit, free of charge, its giant cell "nucleus", seemingly suspended in mid-air. The nucleus opens to reveal interactive games, while an easy-to-understand presentation is beamed on to the walls. Afterwards, pupils get to meet researchers working in the labs, who will explain what they do.

Drayson is so taken with this project, he thinks scientists should take an equivalent of the Hippocratic oath and swear to communicate what they do to the public in an engaging way.

"Science is still elitist," he says. "I think it's because we don't have enough opportunities for people to actually see real science being done. We need young people to see scientists at work."

The project may help to dispel stereotypes that science is "boring". But Drayson, himself, is guilty of perpetuating these – he describes his younger self as a "science and technology geek".

Some in the world of science, including at the Institute of Physics, have suggested that science graduates should have their student loans paid off by the government if they choose to become teachers. Many already receive "golden hello" payments from schools of up to £5,000. The Department for Children, Schools and Families says applications for trainee science teachers are up 42% on last year.

"There are now huge opportunities for science graduates to come back and do that PhD, or teach, or start a science spin-out," Drayson says.

But what is the benefit of studying science if those students then choose a different career – such as politics?

"We need more scientists in politics," Drayson says. "Working on something scientific gives you an understanding of what it is to deal with the unknown, to deal with a problem. How do you then define that problem and find a way into it? Politics involves a lot of that.

"What I want is the democratisation of science and technology," he adds, whipping out his iPhone. "People can write their own software for this phone on the Apple website. What we need is for people to think this kind of science and technology is theirs for the taking."

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