Royal Society calls for A-level changes

February 15 2011

A-levels should be scrapped in favour of a baccalaureate-style qualification that enables students to study a wider range of subjects.

This is according to the Royal Society, which said that increasing the number of subjects that pupils study lead more people to apply for science courses at university.

The organisation expressed concern that some schools fail to enter a single student for maths and physics A-level exams.

Professor Athene Donald, chair of the Royal Society's education committee, said: "At a time of economic uncertainty, when science and scientists can play a key role in revitalising the UK's financial outlook, it is deeply worrying to find that numbers of A-level science students are at such low levels.

"There can be no doubt that the lack of science and mathematics specialist teachers plays a significant role in the decline in participation in A-levels in these subjects."

Welsh education minister Leighton Andrews has this week called for a national debate on A-level and vocational training subject choices.

Posted by Andrew Jones

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