(Photograph) - Britain’s premier scientific body this week said that the Government needs to do more to persuade 15-year-olds, such as Sam Butcher of Easingwold school in York, to carry on with science.
In a speech to mark National Science week, Professor Patrick Dowling, chair of the Royal Society’s education committee, said ministers had failed to deliver on a 2004 promise to achieve a “step change” in the numbers choosing science. “Almost two years on, there is still no clearly defined strategy and measurable targets for achieving the ambitions on science education,” he said.
A-level entries in physics have fallen by 35 per cent since 1991, maths entries by 21.5 per cent and chemistry entries are 12.6 per cent lower.
Photograph by steve raceguzelian