The UK's Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) hosted an event at the Chemistry Centre in London last week, at which the science-alliance SCORE launched a report on A levels and science. RSC is a SCORE partner.
New evidence shows that A-levels in a range of subjects fail to equip students with an appropriate level of mathematical skills. This, and research revealing the differences in mathematical difficulty between different exam boards' papers, has led leading learned societies and education experts to make recommendations for the upcoming A-level reform.
SCORE (Science Community Representing Education), a collaboration of leading science organisations, has published a new report that analyses the type, extent and difficulty of mathematics within the 2010 A-level examination papers for the three sciences - Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Also, Nuffield Foundation has published an analysis of the mathematical content in six other A-level subjects that require quantitative skills (Business Studies, Computing, Economics, Geography, Psychology and Sociology).
The reports consider whether the type of mathematics in the examinations was suitable for progression within the subject's field (type), the proportion of the examination that depended on mathematical knowledge (extent), and the complexity of the mathematical questions (difficulty).
According to SCORE representatives, the 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 and at a lower level of difficulty than students will need to progress to degree level or into relevant employment.
It has been pointed out that a framework is required to regulate the way mathematics is assessed within science A-levels to ensure parity across exam boards.
