CBI calls for teenagers to study triple science at GCSE
12 August 2011
The Government must encourage more students to study physics, chemistry and biology as separate GCSEs, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
The employer’s group claims that the UK’s economic recovery could be hampered because two fifths of firms are struggling to recruit graduates with science and maths skills. Companies in the low-carbon, pharmaceutical and digital media sectors are all seeking engineering and technically-minded candidates.
The CBI believes that studying all three sciences at GCSE will give pupils longer to properly understand the subject and boost their confidence to study a science-based subject at A Level or university.
According to the Daily Telegraph, official figures show that more young people attempt science A-levels if they had taken all three GCSE science subjects, rather than two. However, only 20 per cent of youngsters took all three sciences in 2009-2010.
Despite the CBI’s call, it is possible that many schools do not have the facilities to cope with an increase in the teaching of science.
Last year, the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) released a statement claiming that 65 per cent of school laboratories were sub-standard or uninspiring, and that it would cost £1.9 billion to bring them up to scratch. Coupled with the cancellation of BSF, and the fact that the Government’s new PFI building scheme is only expected to cover 300 schools, it may appear that many schools will not be able to make the improvements to their science classrooms needed to teach science on a wider scale.
The ExplorerLAB™ Mobile Science Lab from LapSafe® Products can provide a solution for schools that cannot afford to refurbish their existing fixed laboratories, or for schools wanting to replace their existing science classrooms to save space.
The mobile science cart is a revolutionary portable teaching platform, and fully functioning mobile laboratory, to deliver interactive and experimental learning for biology, chemistry and physics. The ExplorerLAB™ comes complete with all of the equipment usually found in a traditional fixed laboratory compacted into a secure, robust and rust-free mobile cabinet to enable science to be taught anywhere.
Designed and manufactured by trusted education brand LapSafe® Products, the ExplorerLAB™ Mobile Science Lab is also perfect for primary schools that may not have dedicated science labs, and schools, colleges and universities looking for a quality teacher demonstration unit to conduct and explain science experiments.
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Source, Daily Telegraph