Is practical work in UK schools and colleges fit for purpose? We are conducting a review exploring how practical science can be made more effective for learners, more manageable for schools, and more relevant to the workplace and further study.

Gatsby has long-supported projects to encourage good quality practical work in school science.  But both the education system and science are changing rapidly, and it is not clear how practical work will be fit for purpose in the future.  In the short-term practical work appears under threat from various pressures within the education system; in the long-term it may need to change in order to better meet the needs of students, universities and employers and to be more sustainable within schools and colleges.

We are conducting a review, running from spring 2011 to summer 2012, which aims to:

• establish an accurate picture of the current health of practical science in UK secondary schools and make international comparisons where feasible;
• identify - and seek to quantify in relative terms wherever possible - the current enablers and barriers to effective practical work;
• identify the likely impact on practical work of the upcoming education policy changes, including the 2011/12 review of the National Curriculum and changes to funding mechanisms, Local Authority involvement and initial teacher education; 
• make pragmatic recommendations (to the science community, local authorities, initial teacher education providers, exam boards and government) on the action needed to ensure high-quality practical work occupies a central and sustained role in all secondary schools.

We are particularly interested in:

• gaining a more accurate picture of what practical skills school leavers need in order to be successful in Further and Higher Education, and employment;
• exploring methods and modes of formal science assessment that support rather than inhibit a range of good quality practical work;
• the role of extra-curricular activities (such as after-school clubs) in providing a context for good quality practical work;
• the environments which promote more effective and efficient decision-making within school science departments, with particular regard to the role of school science technicians and the management of resources;
• how science teachers gain confidence and ideas with regards to practical work from initial training and throughout their career.

The project is being undertaken as an active evaluation of the current landscape. We will take opportunities to inform and influence education decision makers wherever we may have a positive impact.

In March 2011 we submitted evidence to the Department for Education as part of the first phase of the review of the National Curriculum (of England and Wales), calling for the Science Curriculum to set high expectations of attainment in the laboratory skills that employers and higher education value.

In May 2011 we submitted written evidence to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee inquiry into practical experiments in school science lessons and science field trips.  We were subsequently invited to give oral evidence to the Committee. We called attention to the many threats to practical work posed by recent, rapid changes in education policy and warned that new measures may need to be put in place to avoid irreversible decline.