1. We were set up on 25th February, 1965, by the Council for Scientific Policy in collaboration with the Committee on Manpower Resources for Science and Technology to examine the flow of candidates in science and technology into higher education. In our Interim Report (1) we stressed the importance of basing a diagnosis on statistics relating to individuals rather than to subjects or university places. We drew attention to the buoyant growth of science and mathematics in the schools up to General Certificate of Education 'Ordinary' level, and to the increased numbers of school leavers specialising in science. Now that we have carried out a more substantive analysis based on the choice and performance of individuals, the qualified optimism of our earlier Report has not been sustained. We find that science and mathematics are, relatively, losing ground in the sixth form. Since 1960 the proportion of school leavers specialising in them has declined in relation to other subjects of study and specialisation. There has been a marked and growing preference for economics, and for courses bridging the arts and science groups.

2. Several trends are concurrently at work. We are passing from a period in which the size of the relevant age group for entry to university has been rising to a quinquennium in which it is falling. Against this there is a rising tendency to stay on at school and enter the sixth form. The science stream in schools is still strong in terms of quality of 'Advanced' level performance, and as a percentage of the relevant age group is continuing to grow, but much more slowly than are other streams. If these trends continue unchanged, the numbers of suitably qualified candidates coming forward from schools to study science and technology in higher education over the next five years are more likely to fall than to rise. This contrasts with the situation in arts and social sciences which are benefiting from the recent growth and changing pattern of interests in our sixth forms. It should be noted that it is from the science stream in our secondary schools that we obtain most of our doctors, dentists, scientists, technologists and engineers.

3. The relative decline in the study of science and technology is, in our view, potentially harmful both to individuals and to society. Man lives in a physical world which from curiosity as much as necessity he seeks to understand and control. The search for understanding of the physical world is the pursuit of science; engineering and technology aim to control and harness energy and materials to useful ends. Science and technology make the parts of society increasingly interdependent, for example through developments in communication and transport. As our dependence on science and technology increases so also does everyday life become more complex; they bring new benefits, for example in medicine and agriculture, but also generate new and powerful concepts which are difficult to grasp without some basic scientific education. Those who have no scientific understanding are cut off from a great human activity; and may well feel excluded from intercourse with those who have such understanding. The study of these subjects should form part

(1) Enquiry into the Flow of Candidates in Science and Technology into Higher Education: Interim Report, February, 1966, Cmnd, 2893.

[page 2]

of everyone's educational experience. Scientific interests in young children are a natural expression of their curiosity about the world; and they have a right to the opportunity to nurture such interest. Whatever the subsequent careers of boys and girls now in schools may eventually be, they should for their own sake know and appreciate something of the aims, techniques and achievements of science and technology.

4. If the swing from science continues, our population of scientists and technologists will grow more slowly at a time when the prospects of social and economic benefit from discovery and innovation in these fields are expanding. The treatment of cancer and of mental health disorders, or learning how to farm the sea, depend as much on scientific and technological manpower resources as devising new and more economic catalytic processes or inventing new solid state devices that will compete in world markets.

5. The implications of the swing from science are far-reaching. Foremost, for scientific manpower policy, is the prospect of a pause in the growth of new supply to the stock of qualified scientists and technologists. For several years, beginning in about 1968, the growth in the annual supply of scientists and technologists with university degrees is unlikely to amount to as much as 5 per cent per annum, that is probably less than half the present rate of growth. In relation to the educational system our findings suggest a conflict between patterns of personal preferences and social aspirations (working against the traditional sciences) and published evidence (2) as to the demand for more scientists and technologists. They raise deep issues of the balance of our educational effort and of the power of scientific studies (and the careers believed to lie beyond) to hold their attractiveness for boys and girls. The problem is international, though not universal, as is clear from our study of trends in some countries of continental Europe, America, and Australia, where very different educational systems are to be found. But finding a solution is a national concern, to be devised within the framework of our present pattern of education. In our view the facts given below deserve the fullest consideration and their implications merit public debate. The facts to which we draw attention and the remedies we suggest are in educational fields which are mainly outside the ambit of the Council for Scientific Policy. But, although it will fall mainly to parents and pupils, to the schools, to the local education authorities and to industry to take account of these wider considerations, we have judged it right to comment on these matters which underlie future policy on science and scientific manpower.

6. With the continuation of present trends universities will find themselves increasingly recruiting rather than selecting candidates in science and technology; and other sectors of higher education will have to make comparable efforts if their contribution to studies in these fields is not to decline further in relative importance. The likely overall shortage of candidates coming directly from school may offer increased possibilities for receiving mature students from employment, and for giving more attention to in-career courses for up-dating and re-orientation.

(2) Report on the 1965 Triennial Manpower Survey of Engineers, Technologists, Scientists and Technical Supporting Staff Cmnd. 3103. H.M.S.O. 1966.

[page 3]

7. Tighter competition for newly qualified manpower in the early 1970s could have restrictive effects on new developments dependent on graduates in specialised fields. Current trends in the United States in schools and universities show a similar inability to meet her needs for scientists and technologists. The American employer is likely to seek to be more active in, rather than to withdraw from, the United Kingdom manpower market. Graduates in other disciplines may be increasingly drawn into scientific and technological areas of industry. With the rapid growth of school population of 16-18 year olds, recruitment to teaching may feel the situation even more acutely. There is likely to be pressure for improved utilisation of engineers, technologists and scientists both in industry and education. We are glad to know that a Working Group on Utilisation has been established by the Committee on Manpower Resources for Science and Technology "to examine and report upon the use of engineers, technologists and scientists in employment and to consider what changes may be required to meet current and future developments".

8. A variety of factors, not all yet fully discerned, underlies the recent changes in our sixth forms; and no single measure would be likely by itself to restore the position before the movement away from science began. Our Enquiry began with the desire to correct the swing away from science in schools. This aim we now see subsumed within the wider objective of meeting the needs of the individual pupil for a rounded education. Our recommendations, which we summarise above, are measures which taken together could, we believe, help to restore growth of the study of science and technology to A level commensurate with the need for them, both on the part of the individual and of society. The opportunity to fill university places already provided for candidates in science and technology over the next five years by drawing more widely on the resources in the sixth form offers a challenge to experiment and change that is without precedent in the last two decades. In the longer term, the resumed growth of the relevant age-groups for university entry in the mid-1970s might be expected to restore, to some extent, numerical growth of the supply of scientific and technological manpower through the present specialist routes of the sixth form and university. But we are certain that, to ensure that this comes about, educators and employers together must find new ways of attracting, preparing, and employing this highly qualified manpower, based upon a better understanding of the motivation, abilities and interests that have given rise to these recent changes in the schools.

Progress Since the Interim Report

9. Since our Interim Report in February 1966, a great deal of additional statistical data has become available, extending the earlier time series and, through special studies, the detail and depth of information about the 'Advanced' level performances and destinations of school leavers. Our sources (set out in Annex A) include: the collection of data made available to us through the generous collaboration of the Universities Central Council on Admissions; the enquiry by the Royal Statistical Society in association with the University of Essex into the demand for higher education (3); the studies that were carried out for us by the Northern Universities' Joint Matriculation Board, and by the Association for Science Education; the

(3) See Annex G.

[page 4]

School Leavers Surveys, and the Curriculum Survey, initiated and carried out by the Department of Education and Science. We are fortunate in being the first to make substantial use of the data provided by the Curriculum Survey. Our statistics are now based firmly on individuals rather than subjects as we recommended in our Interim Report; and we would here acknowledge with gratitude our indebtedness to the Department of Education and Science and to the Scottish Education Department for their part in our work. We hope that statistics of education will continue to be developed to display the flow of individuals through the schools and higher education as a dynamic basis for policy formulation.

10. It must be recognised that even with data established and trends discerned the complete diagnosis of the factors bearing upon the choice or selection of individuals for or against science and technology remains uncertain. Side by side with remedial measures there is a need for further research and experiment. In our Interim Report we outlined some directions for work of particular relevance. The first stage in this has been completed, and we have drawn substantially on a review by Mr. J. R. Butler (4) of existing literature on factors bearing on choice of occupation. Work has also begun on the qualities making for effective school teaching in science and mathematics, as we proposed. But such work is necessarily long-term and, in our view, can only contribute in part to a solution. We recommend that further research should be pursued, on a broad front and with a comprehensive national strategy. We hope it might include study of the effects of experiment and reform, such as the work of the Nuffield Foundation or that which might arise following our recommendations.

Structure of the Report

11. The first part of the Report (Chapters II-V) brings together the evidence bearing on the question of a movement away from science in schools of this and other countries. The Scottish situation is described separately (Chapter IV) since the patterns of study in higher forms of schools differ significantly from those in England and Wales. On this evidence, and from what is currently known of the processes of choice and selection (outlined in Chapter VI) we suggest, in Chapter VII, possible reasons why the movement developed. Finally in Chapter VIII we discuss possible remedies and make recommendations.

12. Our study deals with the first stage of the flow of future engineering, scientific and technological manpower from school, through higher education, to employment. It thus complements the work of the Group on Manpower Parameters for Scientific Growth under Professor Michael Swann. We understand that the Report of this Group will be submitted shortly after our own. We strongly urge that the two Reports be considered together, and have prepared ours with this in mind. Policy for the future supply of scientists and technologists should be based on a clear understanding of this process of flow through the schools and higher education and of the interactions that can occur within the educational system and externally with employment. We hope that these Reports will help to advance the techniques of manpower policy.

(4) Occupational Choice: H.M.S.O.

[page 5]

Terminology and Definitions

13. Science, technology and engineering, with which our Enquiry is concerned, differ in scope when applied to work in school, university or employment. Our primary concern is with qualified manpower and we have adopted the definitions and terminology used by the Committee on Manpower Resources for Science and Technology as set out in Chapter II of their Report on the 1965 Triennial Survey (2). The Committee found it necessary to emphasise some important differences between science, engineering and technology. Of these subjects schools mainly teach the first elements of science. Universities and other institutions of higher education teach science, technology and engineering. From the point of view of the creation of pure knowledge and new understanding science is undoubtedly of first importance. In the short term, engineering and technology predominate as important influences in the creation of national wealth, whereas the influence of science is frequently of longer term. In some respects science is the servant of engineering and technology, in others it is their mentor.

14. The terms must also be translated into statistical categories. Schools deal primarily with science, and in Annex B we set out the subjects we mean when we speak of science (5) in this connection. For 'higher education' we have followed the lines laid down by the Robbins Committee and, in discussing science and technology in this connection, we use the definitions adopted for education statistics. In relation to qualified manpower we use the categories of qualifications defined for the Triennial Surveys. These are all given in Annex B. In discussing higher education and manpower, engineering disciplines are subsumed, for convenience, under the general term 'technology'. And, again for convenience, throughout the rest of this Report we use the generic term 'qualified manpower' to mean scientists, engineers and technologists.

15. We shall also have occasion to use two technical terms of qualified manpower policy; stock as meaning the number of engineers, technologists and scientists employed or available for employment at any one time; and supply, the annual additions to stock of individuals newly qualified. Other terms used in a technical sense are defined where they first appear.

(5) Unless otherwise stated, references to 'science' include mathematics throughout the Report.

16. Higher education, comprising for the purpose of this Enquiry the universities, colleges of education and advanced courses in further education institutions, receives pupils from a variety of sources and of varying age. Our first aim has been to document the main components in this flow, as the background for an examination of secular trends (paragraphs 17-20). Next, we examine those trends that are colloquially known as 'the swing away from science', and what is likely to happen if they continue (paragraphs 21-38). Finally, on the basis of an analysis of changes over time in the school population and in the nature of the sixth form (1), we attempt a statistical diagnosis of the swing (paragraphs 39-60).

I. Flow of Pupils into Higher Education

17. Figure 1 shows the movement of pupils from O level examinations in 1963 to entry into higher education in 1965. In many schools the science stream begins to emerge two years before O level or even earlier, but the O level examinations are the first point at which it is feasible to examine national trends. It is also the main gateway to a university, this route providing through the schools about 85 per cent of the university (2) intake in 1965. The balance came from further education (about 4 per cent), employment (about 5 per cent) and from overseas (about 6 per cent).

18. To set the science and technology stream within this picture, 38 per cent of the pupils on A level courses in the first year year of the sixth form form in 1964 were taking science subjects only; and 48 per cent of university(2) admissions in 1965 were in science and technology. The sixth form Science Group is almost the only source of the university intake in science and technology coming directly from school (in 1965-66, 95 per cent of the school leavers entering these faculties were from the Science Group (3)): it also provides entrants into medicine, dentistry and (to a much lesser extent) social studies.

19. This approach illustrates the importance of considering data on individuals rather than examinations, and of studying particular points in the stream in the context of the full flow picture. Pupils move through the system at different rates; some leave it for a while and return later, some continue their education part-time. Developments in educational provision or opportunity (such as the situation of vacant places in science and technology faculties in universities), the introduction of new examinations (such as the Certificate of Secondary Education), or alterations in entry requirements for higher education will cause disturbances in the system of which the effects on the pattern of flow may not be apparent for several years.

(1) Sixth forms often provide courses for pupils not intending to take A level examinations but, in general, the statistics we quote refer only to those on A level courses.

(2) Including the former Colleges of Advanced Technology.

(3) See Annex B for definitions.

[page 7]

61. It is widely held that factors in the school environment, the teachers and the facilities for teaching science and mathematics, and the way individual subjects are approached and presented, have a considerable bearing on the student's choice for or against science and technology. These factors are not as yet fully documented although the recent survey of the curriculum and the deployment of teachers in secondary schools initiated by the Department of Education and Science (the Curriculum Survey) has yielded a wealth of new information. Moreover, research workers who have examined this point have reached conflicting conclusions (1). How important these factors are in relation to others less readily documented, such as family background or informal sources of careers guidance, remains an open question. But it is important to set down the facts, so far as they are known, because a significant body of opinion holds that the swing results primarily from the quality of science teachers and teaching.

62. There are two aspects to this question. Of these, teaching considered as a demand on qualified manpower in competition with other sectors of the economy will be dealt with by Professor Swann's Group. The other, of

(1) Occupational Choice. J. R. Butler.

[page 37]

particular concern for our Enquiry, is the teaching environment for science, that is the resources (time, teachers, technical supporting staff, facilities) devoted to the presentation of science in school. The most recent evidence on the teaching environment comes from the Curriculum Survey which sought information from a sample of 5 per cent of the maintained secondary modern schools and 10 per cent of other maintained secondary schools, direct grant grammar schools and independent secondary schools recognised as efficient in England and Wales open in January, 1965. (The Survey did not deal with primary schools.) The data represent the position in the schools in the autumn term, 1965. The response from the sample was 97 per cent. The relevant results of the Survey are tabulated in statistical form in Annex F (2).

63. In considering this evidence it must be borne in mind that a survey of this kind cannot deal with those aspects of teaching effectiveness which defy measurement. It cannot reveal the relationship between academic and teaching ability. It cannot reveal the effects upon the nature of the teaching force in science of the existence of alternative posts in further and higher education and in research and industry. The survey did not seek to identify the teaching of new or experimental curricula, nor the extent to which in-career refresher courses were used.

Teachers (3)

64. Teachers with a qualification or professional teacher training in science (4) formed over a quarter (28 per cent) of all full-time teachers (Table 14). Nearly one half (47 per cent) were graduates, a proportion equalled in arts and exceeded in languages (59 per cent) but not in geography and social studies (5) (41 per cent).

65. The proportion of teachers qualified in science with first-class honours degrees (4 per cent) was equalled only among those qualified in languages. Lower proportions were found in the other arts (2 per cent) and in geography and social studies (1 per cent). The average figure for all secondary schools was 3 per cent (Table 58, Annex F). (In comparing these proportions it must be remembered that higher proportions of first-class honours degrees are awarded in science than in arts, by a factor of 2-3 times.) The pattern of graduate teachers with second-class honours degrees was rather different;

(2) In all tables the maintained modern school sample has been included as double its actual size; graduate equivalent teachers have been included with graduates; non-maintained schools totals comprise the direct grant grammar and the independent secondary schools recognised as efficient.

(3) Although we deal in a separate chapter with the position in Scotland, it is perhaps worth noting at this point that in Scotland secondary teachers of mathematics and science (as indeed of all other academic subjects) are required to have a university degree or equivalent qualification in the subject as well as a course of teacher training. In England and Wales the requirement for all teachers is to have qualified teacher status, by the successful completion of a course of teacher training or on the strength of a university degree or other accepted academic qualification, though not necessarily in the subject or subjects they may subsequently teach.

(4) Teachers qualified in engineering and technology form only about 9 per cent of the total and teach some science, together with technical drawing, metalwork and woodwork.

(5) Categories are defined in Annex B.

[page 38]

the lowest proportion were in science (17 per cent), in this case exceeded by geography and social studies (22 per cent) and well below the figures for other arts (26 per cent) and languages (33 per cent).

66. The age distribution showed that in all subjects a high proportion of those with first class honours degrees were approaching retirement. 47 per cent of science teachers with first-class honours degrees were over 50; but in the case of languages 50 per cent were over 50 (Table 62, Annex F). The age structure for those holding second-class honours degrees was however entirely different. Only 24 per cent were over 50 in science, and 23 per cent for languages. Particularly important is the finding that 40 per cent of science teachers with second-class honours were under 30 compared with 33 per cent for languages (Table 62, Annex F). This is far from discouraging and suggests that recent policies for the recruitment of young scientists into teaching have met with a measure of success. Nevertheless, the high proportion of those with the best degrees nearing retirement must be a source of concern for the future.

Science and Mathematics in the Curriculum

67. In all secondary schools included in the survey almost one-third (32 per cent) of teaching time was devoted to science and technical subjects (including technical drawing, metalwork and woodwork). The same proportion of teaching time was spent on languages and other arts subjects (excluding music and visual arts). Mathematics occupied 12 per cent of teaching time, almost as much as English (13 per cent) (Table 63, Annex F). The proportion of teaching time devoted to mathematics did not vary with year of course. But other science subjects taken together occupied an increasing proportion of teaching time from 8 per cent in the first three years of course to 22 per cent in years of course 6-8.

The Deployment of Teachers

68. The Curriculum Survey provides some evidence on the intensity of use of teachers with a qualification in science compared with those qualified in other subjects, and upon the amount of science teaching which was provided by teachers whose main qualification was in a non-science subject. Of all graduate teachers, those with a science degree were more fully occupied on their own or related subjects than other graduate teachers (Table 15, and Table 64 in Annex F); 93 per cent of graduates in science (including mathematics) taught some science, and spent 72 per cent of their time doing so. The highest figures on the arts side approached these; 91 per cent of language graduates (including English) taught languages for a total of 66 per cent of their time. But in other subjects groups (excluding technology, which is exceptional in that the graduates teach mainly science subjects) the proportions are considerably lower. Thus only 78 per cent of the graduates in arts other than languages (mainly history and theology) taught the subjects in their group, for a little over one half of their time.

69. A broadly similar pattern is seen in the use of non-graduate teachers, although a large proportion of the non-graduate teachers were trained in two subjects which fell into two different subject groups. Of the non-graduate

[page 39]

88. As indicated in Chapter I, our remit covers Scotland as well as England and Wales. But in order not to complicate an already complex picture by constant qualifications dealing with differences between the two educational systems, the preceding chapters have been written solely in English and Welsh terms. We now attempt to describe the main relevant differences between the situation in Scotland on the one hand and that in England and Wales on the other.

Demography and Staying on at School

89. The demographic picture (see Figure 8) is broadly similar to that for England and Wales. The 17-year-old age group, from which entrants to higher education are predominantly drawn, shows a peak of 96,700 in 1965 which by 1970 has declined to 76,000. Thereafter the rise is steady until the 1980s but the 1965 level is not expected to be attained in the foreseeable future.

90. However, the tendency for increasing numbers to remain at school after the statutory leaving age will rapidly mitigate the effects of the post-1947 decrease in the birth rate. Figure 9 shows that by 1968 the drop in the number of 17-year-olds at school will have been arrested and that by 1972 the 1965 peak will have been passed.

Increasing Numbers of Pupils in the Yearly Stages S.V and S.VI

91. The tendency for more pupils to stay on at school has increased the pool from which pupils are presented for school leaving qualifications. The following table shows the rise in the proportions of the relevant age groups entering years S.V, S.VI (the final two years of secondary school).

Main Differences in the Scottish and English School Systems

92. Before we go on to consider the subject preferences of the increasing numbers of Scottish pupils in the latter years of secondary schools, it is necessary to take account of the main differences between the two school systems. Essentially these are: a later age of transfer from the primary

[page 48]

[page 49]

[page 50]

school, and a certificate examination structure which reflects different traditions and ideals. The aim in certificate courses has been to provide a general unspecialised education for five years (up to the age of about 17), i.e. the majority of pupils study at least four or five subjects, covering a wide range, for the whole of their secondary school course. This course lasts at most six years, and it is common for pupils to complete their secondary education in five years, moving straight from the fifth year to higher education. The pivot of this system is the Higher grade (taken after five years in the secondary school, at a standard considerably above the G.C.E. O level, but below the G.C.E. A level). The influence of universities in helping to maintain the key position of the Higher grade and, with it, the traditional broad pattern of education in Scottish schools is of great importance. It is a requirement of the four older universities (which until 1964 were the only Scottish universities) that all candidates for admission should obtain four Higher grade passes (or three at a specified standard); that at least one Higher grade pass should be in each of two of the following groups - (1) English, (2) languages, (3) mathematics/science, and that there should be (at least) an Ordinary grade (taken after four years in the secondary school and equivalent in standard to the O level of the G.C.E.) pass in the third. The minimum entrance requirements for the newer Scottish universities entail a similar number of Higher grade passes and a similar spread in the total subjects presented; there is not, however, the same insistence on a spread of Higher grade passes over different groups. It is too early to say whether the differences in the minimum entrance requirements of the newer universities will affect the pattern of studies in the schools. For the present (although, as we note below, there have been considerable changes in the organisation of the curricula of Scottish schools in recent years) the basic pattern of the broadly based Scottish school course remains; and the reason for this lies, so we are informed, in the continuing belief among teachers and educationalists generally in the merits of the traditional system, reinforced by the entrance requirements of the universities.

Recent Developments Affecting the Examination Structure

93. The pre-eminence of the Higher grade has not remained unchallenged, and at different times alternative proposals have been canvassed but have always been rejected. In 1960 the Advisory Council on Education recommended the introduction of a certificate of sixth year studies with the primary purpose of providing a focus and objective for work in the sixth form; and in 1968 a new examination designed to achieve this is to be introduced. On the face of it there would seem at any rate a possibility that this new Certificate might come to supplant the Higher grade in course of time. If this were to happen, the relationship between the final year of school and the first years of university would clearly be altered, probably with the ultimate effect of increased specialisation at school. Educationalists in Scotland are clearly aware of this possibility as can be seen from the following statement in the Annual Report of the Scottish Education Department for 1966:

"The new Certificate is intended to supplement and not to replace the existing Certificates. The new examination is not an alternative to the Higher grade examination and the new Certificate is not being introduced with the intention that it should come to be regarded either by

[page 51]

the universities or by the professions as a formal requirement for entrance."

94. In this connection it is perhaps relevant to note that although, as seen above, the influence of the universities on school leaving qualifications has been of great importance, the Scottish Certificate of Education Examination Board which conducts the leaving certificate examinations is not itself a university body. It is, rather, one on which there is wide representation of the major partners in the educational system - the schools, the universities, the education authorities, the Scottish Education Department, the colleges of education, etc. We would hope and expect that a widely representative body of this sort would be fully aware of all the implications of introducing certificate examinations in greater depth and able to guard against the risk of premature specialisation.

95. The change already made to the examination structure by the introduction of the Ordinary grade is of course not without significance. Before 1962 there were two grades of the certificate (the Higher, and the Lower which was of a standard between that of the Higher grade and the O level of the G.C.E.): both were taken in the fifth year and the only significant variation lay in the spreading of presentation on the Higher grade over the fifth and sixth years. Since the introduction of the Ordinary grade, it is by no means uncommon for presentation to be spread over three years. A candidate may, for example, take a number of subjects on the Ordinary grade in the fourth year, thereafter dropping some, continuing others to Higher grade in the fifth and/or sixth years, possibly adding further Ordinary grade subjects in the later years. This means that pupils are tending to get more certificate passes and in a wider range of subjects than was the case before 1962.

96. Another consequence of the introduction of the Ordinary grade examination has been that the change from a general course to one more closely related to pupils' individual interests and intentions now takes place at the beginning of the third year, a year earlier than was previously the case. At the same time there has been a considerable increase since 1962 in the number of subjects examined for the certificate; new subjects have been introduced, and what were previously composite subjects - science, commerce, technical subjects, homecraft - have been divided into separate branches. Thus the range of options available to pupils from the third year onwards has been increased. Moreover, following the recommendations of the Report of the Working Party on the Curriculum of the Senior Secondary School (1959) head teachers have been concerned to provide as much variety and flexibility in courses as their circumstances will allow.

The Secondary Course Still Broadly Based

97. Despite these developments, the general impression seems to be that there has been no fundamental change - for instance towards greater specialisation - in the course structure of Scottish schools. This impression was

[page 52]

tested - and confirmed - by means of a 10 per cent sample survey of pupils carried out early in 1967.

98. The course content for each pupil was defined in terms of the subjects already presented at the H grade, and those for which presentation, other than to improve a grade already obtained, was intended. The science group was defined as science, engineering and mathematics, the non-science group as languages, history/geography and commerce and all other subjects, including English. English is an integral part of courses in the fifth and sixth years (it featured in the courses of all those participating in the survey) and it may, therefore, be thought a little misleading to take it into account in the determination of science/non-science groupings. However in order to get as close as possible to a comparison with the position in England and Wales the subject has been included.

99. The numbers and proportions of pupils whose course structure fell at or between the two extremes of completely science biased, completely non-science biased are shown in Table 20.

100. It is clear that the great majority of boys - in S.V, 431 out of 605 (71 per cent), and in S.VI, 417 out of 516 (81 per cent) were following science-cum-arts courses, and a very substantial group - indeed the largest single group (40 per cent in S. V and 52 per cent in S. VI) - were following genuinely balanced courses (row C). Among girls the weighting was towards non-science with the group taking only non-science subjects the largest both in S.V (59 per cent) and in S.VI (50 per cent).

101. It is, however, important to emphasise that the position is to some extent distorted by the fact that the non-science subject English is virtually a sine qua non. If English is left out of account altogether, the following picture emerges (Table 21). The effect of excluding English is, first, to exclude altogether those pupils who are studying only two subjects, one of which is English. The total number of S.VI pupils, for example, in Table 21 is 993 as compared with 1,238 in Table 20. Again the exclusion of English shifts the distribution between categories A to E towards the science end (for example a pupil studying English, mathematics, French and science appears in category C in Table 21 and in category D in Table 20). As can be seen from Table 21, although the majority of boys continue to be shown in science-cum-arts courses, the tendency is now distinctly towards science. With girls, however, the weighting is still clearly towards non-science.

102. Traditionally, girls appear always to have shown a strong preference for arts subjects. Moreover, there is a feature of the educational scene peculiar to Scotland which has made it possible for girls - but not for boys - to give up the study of mathematics and science at school and yet still go on to a course of higher education, in the three-year Diploma courses for primary teachers at colleges of education. Hitherto only girls have been permitted entry to these courses (boys were admitted for the first time in session 1967-68). The minimum entry standard is four O grades and two H grades, which is less stringent than the requirement for university entry in both the number and span of Higher grade subjects. A pass is necessary in English on the Higher

[page 53]

116. In attempting to diagnose the factors underlying the movement away from science and technology we wanted to know if the trend was confined to England and Wales or was to be seen elsewhere. Certainly there has been no comparable development in Scotland. In examining trends in other European countries we have had the benefit of the researches (1) of Dr. Celia Phillips of the London School of Economics. Dr. Phillips' comparisons cover England and Wales, the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany, and France; countries chosen for the diversity of the educational systems they represent (2) but precluding thereby direct comparison of the statistical evidence. International comparisons of educational systems are difficult to make, and even when adequate statistics are available it does not follow that the comparisons which are possible are significant. For this reason we have confined our attention to salient features relevant for our Enquiry and to the broad question of a trend away from science.

117. At several points in the educational systems of the countries under study there are marked differences of scale. For example, in 1965, 55 per cent of the children in the relevant age group (3) in France were receiving secondary school education in schools providing a pre-university education (4); comparable figures were 25 per cent in England and Wales, and 15 per cent in the Federal Republic of Germany and the Netherlands. France achieves university entrance (5) for 8 per cent of the relevant age group, compared with 4-5 per cent for other European countries. However, graduation rates are so varied as largely to invalidate such comparisons; for example, six out of every seven undergraduates in Great Britain take a degree compared with one in four in France.

118. The comparisons show that England and Wales are exceptional in Western Europe in abandoning science and mathematics (and even languages) for a significant proportion of those in schools above the age of 15. In each of the other countries all pupils continue to study some science, mathematics and a language in the later years of course and are generally examined in these subjects. Courses differ in the amount of science offered but (with the exception of the Netherlands) there are no subject requirements for faculty entry apart from the holding of the higher certificate. Some linking of school and university subjects does occur and in France and the Federal Republic of Germany pupils with school qualifications in science are more likely to enter a science faculty than another. But changes in subject between school and

(1) Changes in Subject Choices at School and University; thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of London, by Celia Mary Phillips, May 1967; to be published.

(2) Sweden, which provides universal comprehensive education, was not included in Dr. Phillips' study because frequent changes in the period considered rendered the statistics on trends inadequate.

(3) The figures are taken at initial entry point viz. 11-12 years of age.

(4) Schools generally providing a pre-university education were taken to be (in 1965), Netherlands: Hogereburgerschool, Gymnasium and Lyceum; France: Collège d'education and Lycée; Federal Republic of Germany: Gymnasium; England and Wales: Grammar schools and Independent schools recognised as efficient.

(5) Based on faculty inscription, i.e., entry to full-time courses of British degree level.

[page 69]

university are frequent enough for an expansion of science faculties to be theoretically a possibility without reorganisation at school level.

119. The contrasts between France on the one hand and England and Wales on the other are particularly significant. Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of all pupils in French schools in the first year of the baccalauréat in 1963-64 were following courses with a science bias (6), compared with 42 per cent of pupils in England and Wales (the comparable level was taken to be success in six or more O level subjects). The contrast was more marked for girls; 71 per cent in France, compared with 37 per cent in England and Wales. The drop-out rate from science courses is much smaller in England and Wales than in France. In France the rate in science is greater than in the arts, while the reverse is true in England and Wales. This would suggest that there is an inertial bias towards arts in England and Wales and towards science in France, and that only those with a natural proficiency towards science study the subject here.

120. In all countries except England and Wales the courses with a science bias are general in nature up to the end of school. They do not necessarily lead to the study of university science, whereas the probability of a science specialist in an English or Welsh school reading science or technology in a university is very high. In Western Europe, the proportion of university entrants taking science and technology is highest in Great Britain standing at 45 per cent in 1962-63 compared with 35 per cent in the Netherlands, 32 per cent (7) in France and 26 per cent in the German Federal Republic. In comparison with other European countries, the predominance of science and technology at the point of university entry in Great Britain is in marked contrast with the relatively narrow base at the secondary level from which candidates are drawn.

121. Both the Netherlands and Germany have shown the same relative trends against science in the universities as in England and Wales. In the Netherlands there has been strong growth of the social sciences between 1955 and 1965, related to similar developments in schools. In Germany the social sciences have declined relatively along with science and technology (8), while the proportion of students taking arts subjects at university grew steadily between 1956 and 1962. Only France has shown a growing proportion of university entrants in science over this period (1956-61) - which is hardly surprising in view of the very considerable school attainment in science-oriented courses and the capacity of the whole educational system to react quickly to central regulations.

122. Independent evidence from Australia (9) shows that since about 1961 there has been a relative trend away from science and technology in under-

(6) i.e., courses devoting substantially more time to science (other than mathematics) at the expense of arts subjects (generally fewer languages).

(7) Based on university faculty inscription and therefore effectively including the Grandes Écoles.

(8) Since 1962-63 there are signs of a halt in the relative decline of science and technology at university intake although the student population in these subjects has continued to fall relative to the total.

(9) See J. A. Allen, 'Scientists, Technologists and Technicians' from Royal Australian Chem. Inst.: 3rd National Convention, August 1966.

[page 70]

graduate enrolments in Australian universities, corresponding closely to what is happening in England and Wales.

123. An analysis of trends in the United States must take account of the high retention rates and later specialisation compared with European educational systems. Of the 11-year-olds in 1957, 71 per cent stayed at school until they were 18, and 38 per cent became first-time college students. Relatively higher drop-out rates from this point onwards bring the proportions of the age groups graduating nearer to European standards. Subject matter enrolment data for secondary schools cannot be considered a very direct measurement of commitment to science and technology. Nevertheless developments at this level provide an essential base for expansion in these fields in higher education and it is significant that the study of science and mathematics in public high schools has gained ground, relative both to total school-age population and total enrolments. Between 1948-49 and 1962-63, enrolment in science courses increased by 104 per cent and in mathematics by 128 per cent. In the same period total enrolment in grades 9-12 increased by 86 per cent while the population aged 14-17 increased by only 44 per cent.

124. In higher education in the U.S. several trends are to be seen. Taken together degrees in science, technology and social sciences have formed a rising proportion of all degrees awarded at the bachelor's, master's and at the doctorate level. Within this overall growth, at the bachelor's level, degrees in mathematics more than doubled in proportion to the total degrees in all fields (1.5 to 3.9 per cent), social sciences increased moderately (12.6 to 16.19 per cent), and engineering decreased (8.5 to 6.6 per cent). All fields except engineering increased in absolute numbers. At the master's degree level, only in the physical sciences did the relative share of all fields decrease, and again all fields gained in absolute terms; and the same pattern is seen at the doctorate level, namely an absolute increase throughout with relative decline in the physical sciences. On balance it would appear that science and technology as a whole in the universities have continued to gain in absolute and in most relative terms and that the past decade has not seen a movement away from these subjects. Rather, in a period of rising attention to higher education in general there has been a strong concurrent interest in non-science fields.

125. In so far as these broad comparisons can be made to illuminate any basic principle, it is that success in expanding university science and technology courses must rest upon a broad and massive educational achievement sustained into the later stages of secondary education, which only France has succeeded in achieving in Western Europe in the last decade. The methods by which this has been done (in particular the institutional controls), and the implications for resources and deployment of teaching in the schools in that country obviously merit further study. And there is certainly more to be learned from continued study of the situation in other countries about the influence of the pattern of education on subject and occupational choice, and on the flow of manpower. For the present it is clear that the trends with time against scientific studies are general, and by no means confined to Western Europe, or even the Northern Hemisphere. It is therefore the more likely that they stem from very deep-seated causes relating to the nature of the appeal of science and technology to young people under many diverse educational and social conditions.

126. As a first stage in our examination of the problem of how decisions are made for or against science and technology we commissioned a critical review of existing studies on choice of occupation and subjects for study. The basic questions considered are:

(i) What is the nature of the process by which occupational choices are made?

(ii) What are the factors that influence the process, and how do they interact to bring about specific decisions?

Terminology

128. The usage of terms like 'choice' and 'career' differs between different workers in this field. In our discussion we attempt to confine their use in the meanings given below:

Choice: referring to a decision resting primarily with the student;
Career: a person's course of employment through life;
Occupation: the general field or nature of a person's employment;
Employment or job: the specific post in which a person is or intends to be engaged.

129. These distinctions become important at the present time of rapid technological change and increasing mobility of manpower. During the careers of children now in school the pattern and content of jobs, in science and technology at least, are likely to change radically and to require from most individuals a readiness for change, for bringing their knowledge up-to-date, even for re-education, without precedent in their parents' experience. Education is not a process that ends abruptly on leaving school or university and it is mistaken to think that a young person enters upon his first job equipped thereby with knowledge and skills which will last him for life. The process of occupational choice remains extremely important to the individual and to society but we would urge that it should not necessarily be regarded as a unique and once-for-all commitment, and that it should in all its stages be as mature and informed as it is possible to make it. This is a responsibility of parents, teachers and employers as much as of the pupil.

(1) Occupational Choice: J. R. Butler.

[page 72]

The Process of Occupational Choice

130. For most people, the choice of an occupation is the culmination of a process over time rather than a single unique event. During the process, the individual's experiences and choices of action predispose him towards choosing certain kinds of occupations, and limit or prohibit his choice of others. These experiences start early in life - in infancy, up-bringing and childhood - and continue even beyond the first job. Within this general framework, however, pupils differ considerably in the ways in which they make a choice and in the factors by which they are influenced. Some make a clear choice at an early age, and this determines their subsequent actions and decisions at various stages of their education. At the other extreme, some students have been shown to lack clear preference even on completion of a university course. Although there may be a substantial amount of revision and change before a stable choice finally emerges, pupils are able to make fewer major changes as they progress through school and university. The development of a stable pattern of interests, a growing awareness of the content and values of different kinds of work, and the limitations imposed by the choice of subjects for study, will all contribute towards making the process increasingly rigid and inflexible.

131. In the process of making choices, pupils usually become committed first to a broad field of work, and then to a particular job. Studies of the age at which the first crucial choices are reported to occur show a wide range of ages, but these findings must be treated with some caution. Although revisions in career concepts may frequently occur later, by age 15 or 16 a substantially irreversible commitment will have been made by most pupils to a science/non-science orientation. Science pupils seem to show an earlier vocational awareness than arts pupils, and they relate their subjects more specifically to eventual occupation.

132. The sequence is by no means clear cut, and evidence is lacking as to what pattern is a norm, and precisely how it is tied to chronological age. Moreover, we know little about the dynamic nature of the process, or about the relationship between interests, abilities and choices at successive ages. Nevertheless, the available evidence gives some insight into the earliest stages of commitment to a general field of work, and suggests the ages at which the introduction of measures to interest pupils in science are likely to have the maximum effects.

Factors Bearing on Choice

133. The factors which determine the process of choice can be identified in two groups. The first group includes all those variables which contribute to the uniqueness of human personality: characteristics of physique, temperament, intellectual endowment and sociability; patterns of upbringing and socialisation; experiences in the family and peer group; and so on. Although many of them are important in moulding levels of aspiration, in forming values and in contributing to educational achievement, they are to a large extent beyond direct control. Insofar as deep-seated psychological factors exert a more direct influence in predisposing pupils towards arts or science, the swing may be partly uncontrollable, and the effect of measures to reverse it may be diminished. There is some evidence, for example, that the nature

[page 73]

and methods of science may be inherently attractive or repulsive to basic personality types.

134. There is, however, one set of personality traits which may be harnessed to good effect. Many studies have shown that fairly stable vocational interests begin to emerge at a young age; and that the great majority of children up to about 8 or 9 years of age show an interest in scientific concepts. At this stage it is not apparent that only a small minority will become engineers, technologists or scientists. That many do not do so appears to stem from neglect in fostering and nurturing early interests and curiosity. In all the stages leading to a higher qualification in science or technology the greatest numerical loss to qualified manpower undoubtedly occurs between the primary school and the sixth form. Measures to bring pupils into early contact with up-to-date, relevant and attractive teaching of science (particularly in the early years of secondary school) are likely to do much to counteract the swing.

135. The second group of factors which influence the process of choice is to be found in the structures of the various institutions with which the individual becomes involved during childhood and adolescence. In the course of his participation in these institutions, he is obliged to make a series of choices which are closely related to occupational choice, but they may not always be seen by him as career decisions carrying critical consequences. At school, for example, pupils make choices of O and A level courses of study which will limit the ultimate range of occupations from which they can choose, but it is an open question how far these particular decisions are themselves influenced by a pre-existing occupational choice. Key decisions may be made by the individual himself, or by other people on his behalf.

Choice and Selection as a Consequence of the Curriculum

136. We cannot escape the fact that much choice for or against science is a consequence of the structure of school courses and the nature of university entrance requirements. This is a point where action is feasible and likely to be particularly effective, and we give it particular attention.

137. It is generally accepted that university requirements exercise a powerful influence on the organisation of sixth form studies and on the use made in England and Wales of the G.C.E. Advanced level examinations wherever a school aspires to send its pupils to university. Many writers and reports have drawn attention to this: a (to us) striking illustration of this nexus is the close parallel between A level achievement and university entry (Annex E). The universities' requirements also extend to the Ordinary level of the G.C.E. How much further down the school they polarise the curriculum is still a matter for discussion and research. Four years ago the Robbins Committee noted the tendency to arrange for pupils to be examined in O subjects as early as possible with the result that the general education of many pupils was being restricted to the first four years of the secondary school course. Especially pertinent to our Enquiry was their finding that

"40 per cent of those reading arts subjects at universities took no science subjects (as distinct from mathematics) at Ordinary level, and over a third of those reading science took neither history nor geography

[page 74]

at Ordinary level. Although subjects taken for examination do not always correspond to the whole range of subjects studied, these figures suggest strongly that, even at this level, there is in many schools an excessive narrowing of the area of study." (2)

139. There have emerged, to date, three findings bearing significantly on the present issue:

(i) Most schools in the sample offered courses leading to O level subject combinations with a strong science bias (mathematics and two separate sciences). For the majority the latest point of entry to the course was two years before O level; for about one tenth of the schools it was four or five years below O level. Where courses with two or more languages were offered the timing was similar, or slightly earlier.

(ii) Analysis of O level subject combinations on a de facto basis (see section (iv) of Annex G) indicated that, of those fifth formers taking five or more O level subjects (nearly 90 per cent of the whole sample), over half (57 per cent) were taking combinations that effectively ruled out the study of science and technology in higher education as university entry requirements now stand. A little under 1/10th (7 per cent) of the group had effectively excluded the possibility of following arts or, in large measure, social sciences by concentrating on science; and the remaining 4/10th (36 per cent) had kept open the science/arts option.

About 5 per cent of the whole sample dropped mathematics before O level and in all nearly a quarter did not show mathematics among their O level subjects.

(iii) Given a set time to cover an O level course, pupils who were placed in a fast stream tended to begin specialisation a year younger.

(2) Cmnd. 2154 (paragraph 201).

[page 75]

141. Facing pupils with curricular options certainly plays an important part in helping to crystallise occupational aims and the choice of a discipline in higher education. It is equally certain that not all pupils appreciate the full implications of the options. The extent to which the decision records a process of choice as opposed to selection is not known though it is significant that a majority of children in the Royal Statistical Society enquiry indicated 'themselves' when asked who had guided them most in choosing the subjects they were studying in the fifth form.

142. Whichever influence is dominant we are convinced that, for the majority of pupils, limiting curricular decisions are taken too early. We set out our reasons for this in paragraphs 174-175 below. The problem of reform is a difficult one and there are certain aspects we would like to stress at this point:

(i) As has been seen from the international comparisons made in Chapter V the present system in England and Wales (but not in Scotland) goes much further than any other we have studied in exclusive specialisation, making inevitable the abandonment of mathematics in particular at an early age by most of those who wish to study non-scientific subjects in the sixth forms.

(ii) Part of the problem springs from the fragmentation that has occurred in the teaching of science into a number of separate and traditional disciplines, and their general isolation from one another and from other subjects studied at school. This pattern has persisted at a time when, at the frontiers of knowledge, such barriers are either breaking down or may be shown to be matters of convenience only. The present time is far more favourable to a unified approach to science teaching than, for example, before the full contribution of physics and chemistry to biology was appreciated, or the characteristics of matter, whether nuclear, atomic, molecular, or cosmological, could be seen as likely to become part of a consistent system. But with the need to convey to the pupil an appreciation of these inter-relationships within science, and between science, engineering and technology there is the further problem of maintaining a sense of the breadth and variety of the fields in which these disciplines are practised. To reduce the number of subjects on the science side while they are growing in the arts, social science and vocational studies could convey to some pupils faced with the choice an artificial impression of narrowness and concentration. Science must be presented in a unified and unfragmented way as an exciting activity relevant to human life and society. In this form it should be studied by all pupils up to O level and, we would suggest, by the majority of pupils until they leave school.

(iii) There is an obvious temptation to attempt to solve the problem of premature specialisation in schools by spinning out the educational process and adding a further year or more to the first degree course, but such a temptation should be resisted because it would short circuit the vital need to trim school and university curricula to the needs of twentieth century scholarship and national activity; this,

[page 76]

of course, does not rule out the likelihood that it will prove necessary to increase the time devoted to the education of specialists, at the tertiary or post-tertiary stage, in the light of the accumulation of new knowledge and new understanding.

(iv) As we have noted earlier, what in the past had been selection by the universities of those applicants whom they wished to admit to study science and technology has for some universities become increasingly a problem of recruitment. It would be catastrophic for science if this challenge were met solely by the lowering of entrance standards. There is need for a wholesale review of the joint interaction of secondary school curricula and university entrance requirements and we recommend that this be undertaken periodically. Science and technology faculties may well find that, provided they are prepared to take a wide range of academic attainments as qualification for entrance and to teach many scientific subjects ab initio to able pupils who have had a much more general education, a very great opportunity can be forged out of an apparently serious situation.

(v) Although we would not wish to comment here on the Schools Council proposals (3), we are encouraged by the fact that the Council is already engaged in discussion with the Universities Standing Conference on University Entrance and that agreement has been reached, on educational grounds, on the desirability of reducing specialisation and making possible later choice, which we ourselves propose in Chapter VIII. We hope that this or other machinery can be made an effective instrument for achieving these objectives, and for the review we recommend above.

143. In addition to the demands of the educational system, pupils come into contact with a number of people who offer advice or guidance about careers and, within the limits set by personality traits and the educational system, this no doubt exercises some influence in the determination of choices. Much is done in schools to assist pupils in making their choices. Most schools have a careers teacher and the majority of pupils come into contact with the Youth Employment Service and its Officers. It seems however from such studies as have been made that these sources of guidance may play a lesser part than might have been expected in helping pupils to make their choices, particularly when compared with the influence of parents, friends and other acquaintances. Much might be achieved by aiming more guidance at parents and less directly at pupils.

Summary

144. From this review it is clear that the swing away from science can arise from a complex variety of factors, and that no single remedy is likely to redress the balance. We are faced with a situation where we are clearly

(3) Some Further Proposals for Sixth Form Work; Schools Council Working Paper No. 16.

[page 77]

deficient in teaching resources but there is no statistical evidence that the academic quality of the resources we have is significantly worse than in subjects of growing popularity. We have a difficult problem of curriculum organisation in that, whether or not it is desired by the pupil, choice is required at an early age, and traditional attitudes to sixth form work and university entrance requirements have led to specialisation to an extent without parallel in other countries. We strongly suspect (but at this stage it can be no more than a suspicion) that the root causes may lie more deeply in the individual, in the attractiveness and relevance of science as it is widely presented in the middle stages of secondary education, and in the beliefs (whether or not borne out in fact) about the kinds of career which lie ahead in science and technology. If these suspicions are well founded, then it seems to us that the arguments for looking broadly and fully at the relative intellectual appeal of scientific studies, and at the image of the scientific or technological career as seen through the eyes of young people, are very strong.

145. Science, engineering and technology gained ground in school and higher education from about 1945 to the late 'fifties. The reasons suggested for this include

the promise of discovery, progress and excitement associated with science courses, and the prospect of growing control over the environment by the spectacular advances of research and technological innovation;
• the prestige of obtaining a university place in science or technology, allied perhaps with the greater possibility of an uninterrupted career thereafter;
• the emphasis in statements of public policy on the shortage of engineers and scientists, with consequent prospects of better careers in these subjects.

147. From our analysis of the evidence we are convinced that no single factor can account for this decline, nor can a final and unequivocal explanation be given. We set out below what we believe to be the main factors, as a basis for discussion and as indicating the breadth and variety of action required to counteract the movement.

Science in School and Higher Education

148. We believe that some pupils, and in particular able students unwilling to commit themselves at an age when the curriculum requires them to do so, are deterred by the apparent rigour and unattractiveness of science in school, by what has been described as its grammarian approach. The impact made on the student by his first contact with science in the secondary school is crucially important, especially if it happens at about the time he is required to make curricular decisions with career implications. When science is unimaginative in presentation, and its essential qualities are shrouded in heavily factual content; when it seems far removed from human affairs and without roots in contemporary technological achievements such as space travel, or the transistor; when there is a body of received knowledge to be acquired before speculation and imagination can be given free reign; then curiosity and enthusiasm will surely be quenched. We are convinced there is an urgent need to look afresh at the science curriculum and at the ways in which curriculum reform and syllabus revision come about.

[page 79]

149. The study of science requires intellectual rigour; indeed it is one of the cardinal characteristics which distinguish it from mere speculation and experiment. For the gifted pupil this can be a positive attraction. But most young people are now able to choose apparently less rigorous alternatives and have to be encouraged, if not persuaded, to face the discipline of science. It is most important not to equate intellectual rigour with excessive reliance upon long periods of routine experiment, upon reiterated formal exercises based on elementary theory, and upon the committing to memory of large quantities of factual information which can readily be derived from basic principles. This applies as much at university as at school. The reputation of university courses among students percolates back to the school. Courses calling for long hours of factual accumulation and practical work will inevitably appear less attractive than others offering more immediately apparent intellectual challenge and stimulus, and the opportunity for self-expression and debate between students and teacher on equal standing. Every opportunity should be taken in teaching science and technology to engage the pupil directly and personally in the work, for example in projects for which he has responsibility.

150. We suspect that scientific studies in schools may be suffering from the after-effects of the intense competition for university places in science and technology which characterised the 1950s, and from strait jacket effects of the G.C.E. examinations and university entry requirements. Preoccupation with scholastic aims may well have hindered pupils from discovering that science is imaginative controlled curiosity and that technology is the creative application of scientific principles. Few students can be aware at this stage of the extent to which science ultimately unifies knowledge and makes learning easier by giving a structural framework of concepts that brings diverse facts into relationship; even fewer can appreciate the blend of practicality and creativity to serve social purposes that characterise engineering and technology. A. N. Whitehead wrote (1): "Youth is imaginative and has but slight experience and those who are experienced have feeble imagination. The task is to weld together imagination and experience." He urged that universities (and pari passu all educational institutions) should "preserve the connection between knowledge and a zest for life by uniting the young and the old in the imaginative consideration of learning - which transforms knowledge." May not this vision be more apparent in the fields outside science and technology, and likely to appeal more at an earlier stage in the choice process, when less accommodation has been made with reality?

Science and Technology in Society

151. For many young people science, engineering and technology seem out of touch with human and social affairs. It is significant that biological and medical studies have not suffered the decline of the physical sciences: and part of the attraction of the social sciences is that they deal with people and with society. The objectivity of science and the purposefulness of technology have become identified, for some, with insensitivity and indifference.

(1) The Aims of Education.

[page 80]

152. Are science and technology too materialistic? The young are idealistic and the fruits of science, at least as they appear to some laymen, pose more problems, ethical and moral, than they offer solutions. Successful innovations in engineering and technology come to be taken for granted and pass into the environment; failures and disasters are remembered. Where success is recognised, material progress, for many young people, may seem to be irrelevant to current moral issues, if not an actual affront to widespread poverty and suffering. Clearly it would be desirable to establish whether there is real repugnance in the minds of many young people to the harder and more materialistic manifestations of science and technology, or to the acute and unprecedented moral problems to which the consequences of science give rise.

Desire for Breadth

153. The rapid growth of the Mixed Group, the spread of general studies among science specialists, and the popularity of subjects such as economics and geography which have both quantitative and qualitative aspects, are evidence of a reaction against a narrow concentration of studies in a particular field, and of a desire to bridge the extremes of specialisation that have developed in school. This is hardly surprising; given the chance, students will follow subjects they like and can do. It may be evidence that the gulf between the 'two cultures' is a consequence, not a cause, of the curricular problems we have discussed in Chapter VI. For the immediate situation where science specialists are short, the Mixed Group merits careful consideration as an additional source of candidates. In the longer term, courses in science and technology in schools and higher education will have to recognise and satisfy this urge for a broader approach.

Career Prospects

154. How much do pupils know of the employment open to them after obtaining a higher qualification? Are they attracted by a high starting salary or rapid promotion; or do the aims and nature of the work tell more with them? Evidence on these points is incomplete and difficult to assess. Such work as has been done confirms our impression that informal sources of information (including inevitably some bias) may be more important than the formal. First impressions received from somewhat older pupils are probably very important. If studying science and technology is said to be disappointing, or the opinion is conveyed that the hopes of getting ahead as a scientist or engineer are not bright, this can have considerable influence on younger students.

155. Students at all stages would appear to know relatively little about the real nature of employment. A great deal of careers advice flows towards the sixth former from masters and parents, Youth Employment Officers, universities and professional bodies; but how much of it reaches him and is comprehensible, and to what extent it conveys the real flavour of a job and the extent of opportunities, is open to question. For industry, impressions from family friends or television probably make most impact. For school teaching, students will probably tend to extrapolate their own school experiences as a guide. For academic life the impression filtering back from former school

[page 81]

fellows is likely to be that a career in research is the only worthwhile outcome of a scientific degree. This is unlikely to attract the student who is not deeply committed to science or who does not rate his chances of academic distinction highly. We suggest that these factors may combine to present, with some justification, a less attractive range of opportunities in science and technology than may seem to be open to those graduating in other disciplines.

156. Managerial studies have attracted the attention of an increasing number of young people, and the thought has been generated that if they concern themselves with economics, social studies and mathematics they will qualify for well-paid managerial posts within a few years of graduation. At the same time there is an awareness that the transition from scientific posts to the management side generally comes much later and is much less easy. In our view it is both in the interest of the individual and in keeping with the consequences of technological change that science and technology should increasingly become a route to management; and that quite early in his career, the scientist or technologist should be able to move to a managerial or administrative post. A broad base of study in the sixth form and higher education, including some early study of economics, together with appropriate post-experience training, would facilitate this transition. The desire for breadth in school, and the growing interest in economics and social studies, are in accord with the longer-term interests of the individual and of his employer.

The Teaching Environment

157. Many hold that the quality of science teaching has been the main cause of the swing. They would argue that if the recent decline in the proportion of new graduates (especially the academically more able) in science and mathematics entering teaching were to continue, the movement away from science would further diminish the number and quality of science graduates in the next generation available to the schools. But we have found no clear cut evidence either that academic and teaching ability go together or that the choice of pupils is predominantly determined by either or both of the qualities in his teachers. Until more significant work has been carried out in this field the notion that children will prefer those subjects in which, other things being equal, their teachers are academically qualified, must remain as a plausible but subjective opinion.

158. Nevertheless there are indisputable signs of an acute shortage of graduate scientists in schools at present, particularly in mathematics, in the intensive use of science and mathematics graduate teachers in schools compared with those in other disciplines, and in the extent to which these subjects are taught by teachers whose main subject of qualification is in other fields. The age distribution of science and mathematics graduate teachers, taken with the decline in recent years in the proportion holding first class honours degrees, reinforces this view; and over the last decade the total number of graduate teachers in science has grown more slowly than the size of the 15+ age group in schools. In these terms the shortage may well have grown more acute in recent years. The data will be analysed in greater detail in the Report of the Working Group on Manpower Parameters. We concur with

[page 82]

the Group in the finding that there is at present an acute shortage which is likely to intensify if recruitment is not immediately improved.

159. We would accept that the quality of science teaching may have been a factor in the swing; but to establish this conclusively would require much further research and we regard it as more profitable to focus on the means for increasing recruitment of science graduates and of helping to make more effective use of existing teaching resources. In our view the ways in which existing resources are used and possible improvements in the quality of science teaching are as important as increasing recruitment and offer greater possibilities in the short-term of counteracting the movement away from science.

We would suggest consideration of these points:

(a) Is the influence of the graduate science teacher sufficiently felt in the early years of the school course? There is frequently a link between enthusiasm for a subject and academic ability in that subject; enthusiasm that can be communicated to others. We suggest that, directly or indirectly, graduate science teachers should participate more fully in the presentation of science to younger pupils particularly at the ages of critical choice.

(b) Does the science teacher get the support he needs from technicians, laboratory facilities and from developments in educational technology? Our evidence (paragraph 78) suggests that the provision of technicians is probably well below what might be considered desirable, say one technician per main science stream.

(c) Could local resources outside the school, people or equipment in other schools, in universities or in industry, be drawn upon more extensively in presenting science and technology to children?

(d) By the nature of the subject all teachers of science are faced with particular problems of keeping up-to-date, often in the absence of positive incentives or sufficient opportunity. Do science teachers receive the up-dating and refresher courses that they need? There is growing recognition of the need though in our view not yet on a scale or with a determination that matches up to that need. Ways must be found of helping teachers to participate even if it means a change in the way courses are now provided. Only the most up-to-date teaching can convey to the open-minded student the challenge and significance of science and technology and show how the latest manifestations interact with everyday life.

(e) Is the fullest opportunity taken of conveying a sense of the aims and relevance of science and technology in teaching other subjects, such as English and history? Science subjects in schools tend to be regarded as a specialised and separate part of the curriculum, the very antithesis to the effects of science and technology on society. To some extent we suspect that this separateness, particularly in mathematics, may relate to the way the subject was presented to the graduate teacher in his degree course. Much more could be done to bring out the relevance of science, mathematics and technology throughout the school curriculum.

[page 83]

We recognise that we are posing, not answering, questions on matters outside our direct, current experience; but as we look at these problems from our standpoint we feel obliged to commend them for reappraisal to the teaching profession and to those who administer education.

University Entry Requirements

160. There has been growing flexibility during recent years in the requirements for university intake in science and technology. To some extent this has been prompted by the aim of simplifying and liberalising the admission procedures, and in response to the changing patterns of presentation from the schools. The shortage of suitably qualified candidates has been and will continue to be a further factor. Our impression is that the pattern of entry requirements, and these recent trends, have not directly influenced the choice of pupils for or against science and technology. The knowledge that there are vacant places might have been expected to encourage students in that direction: the growth in applications in technology through U.C.C.A. (2) may be evidence of this. But the contrastingly low growth in admissions suggests that the opportunity of a place is no longer an incentive to the abler pupil.

161. Against this university entry requirements, at least as perceived by the schools, probably play a powerful though indirect role through their influence on the school curriculum and on early specialisation. Decisions are thereby precipitated at an age when the pupil can have no mature appreciation of the consequences for his career. Only the most dedicated can confidently choose science at this stage: for all others an early commitment will seem restrictive.

(2) U.C.C.A. Fourth Report.

Later Choice, and Greater Attractiveness of Science, Engineering and Technology

162. The investigations we have undertaken show clearly that while the output from the sixth forms of the secondary schools is continuing to grow rapidly, the output of specialists in science is not. The annual age groups from which sixth formers are at present drawn are smaller than those of the 'bulge' of the immediately preceding years. Even as a proportion of those smaller age groups, science specialists have increased only slightly, and the remarkable growth which has been achieved over the past decade in sixth form education has been largely devoted to the development of studies which, under present conditions, in effect disqualify for higher education in science and technology.

163. Against this situation must be set the increasingly important role of science and technology in everyday affairs and in the economy. Discovery and invention in these fields, and their exploitation, depend upon an adequate force of scientists and technologists and their effective use in employment. This country, to a greater extent than many others, depends on its qualified manpower as a national resource for the creation of wealth. High level scientific and technical jobs form the fastest growing occupational group in Great Britain, as shown by the 1951 and 1961 Censuses of Population (1). And the 1965 Triennial Manpower Survey showed an increased forecast demand for scientists and technologists unlikely to be met by the supply. In particular fields, notably in industry and in the schools, the shortage of recruits of good quality is likely to prove critical.

164. In such a situation are we justified in recommending that there should be a national effort to influence the choice and selection of the individual in relation to his studies and hence his career? The tradition of respect for the choice of the individual is rightly embedded in our educational as well as our political institutions. We esteem that tradition and would not wish to see it altered. But we think it right to insist that the individual, in choosing the subjects that he studies at school, should have as mature an appreciation of those subjects and of the implications for his career as it is possible to give. National requirements do, after all, determine the opportunities for individuals. We feel strongly that considerations of curriculum organisation which have remained substantially unchanged in the last forty to fifty years should not force a premature and largely irrevocable decision for or against science and technology.

165. In considering possible remedies we were moved at first by a desire to correct the swing away from science. In the later stages of our study this aim has become subsumed within the wider objective of meeting the needs of the individual pupil. The remedy we propose has two main elements. The

(1) Occupational Changes, 1951-1961, Manpower Studies No.6. Ministry of Labour. H.M.S.O., 1968.

[page 85]

first is that all pupils in the sixth form should follow broad courses of study that keep open the options (both for subjects of study in higher education and for eventual occupation) as late as possible in the individual's educational career. We see this as desirable for the student of the arts or social studies as well as for the potential scientist and technologist. In consequence, decisions for or against science and technology would be deferred to an age of greater maturity than is at present the case. Such a change would have implications for the present patterns of O level study and, in the sixth form, the continued study of mathematics, a key subject in maintaining flexibility, would become the norm for the great majority.

166. We are here concerned both with the desirability of higher standards of scientific and mathematical attainment for all well-educated people and with the prospects for subsequent specialisation in science and technology arising from a wider general basis in sixth form education. We have seen that France has succeeded, against the general trend, in increasing its university intake in science and technology on the foundations of a massive educational effort in these fields at the secondary level. The general continuation in England and Wales of mathematical studies alone would immensely increase the base from which qualified manpower could spring.

167. There is a clear risk that such a change towards a more mature and rational choice of career could work to the disadvantage of science and technology. Radical changes have taken place over the last decade. Ten years ago there was a severe shortage of university places, a policy of providing two thirds of all new places in universities in science or technology, and a clear national objective (since achieved) of doubling the output of scientists and technologists. In the sixth forms there was very little alternative to the traditional science-arts dichotomy. Now we have a situation of expanding opportunity in the social sciences, clear and popular alternatives in the sixth forms, renewed debate on the exact nature of the relationship between the supply of and demand for scientific and technological manpower, together with a sense of doubt on the attractiveness of careers in science and technology. In a much more open and indeterminate situation than has existed hitherto the individual's choice and the factors which bear upon it have become critically important. The deferment of choice and of specialisation will provide us with a larger reservoir: but we shall not be able to draw upon it unless science and technology courses in sixth form and university, and the careers to which they lead, are able positively to attract the uncommitted student. There will, we hope, always be a strong stream of able students who by their attainments at school are naturally directed to scientific or technological careers. Schools must continue to ensure that these pupils are fully satisfied in their studies and in their work; and that any remedial measures that may be adopted should not jeopardise the high motivation of this group. What is additionally necessary is to attract those who have less clearly defined motivations or whose abilities are ambivalent.

168. This then is the second and vital part of our remedy, that engineering, technology and science must be made more attractive throughout the whole of education and in employment. We recognise that unless the several issues of curriculum, teaching resources, university entrance requirements, and

[page 86]

career opportunities are dealt with, continuing sixth form studies in science and mathematics would be simply hold open options which would not be taken up. Indeed to increase the exposure of young people to inadequate science teaching resources, problematic university selection, unnecessarily rigorous undergraduate programmes, and uncertain or unattractive career prospects would certainly work to the detriment of science and technology.

Implications for Educators and Employers

169. It follows therefore that all who teach science and technology must ask themselves whether their courses are sufficiently attractive and relevant to the able but uncommitted student. They must also ask whether more provision should be made for courses at university level which do not assume an advanced level of specialisation in the schools, but which are aimed at attracting to science and technology students willing and able to study these subjects from the beginning. From the days of inadequate places and severe selection science courses in particular have inherited an austerity and a rigour - perhaps also a routine - which render new developments in other fields all the more attractive by contrast. The great volume of experimental work, the mass of material to be committed to memory, and the absence of opportunity for personal speculation at the undergraduate level all play their part in dissuading the uncommitted student. The problem of the nature of the university course and its effect upon ultimate employment has been examined in more detail by Professor Swann's Working Group; we welcome their discussion of the issues of specialised and generalised studies, as we believe that the pattern of studies in higher education can have important influences on the attractiveness of science in school.

170. It is of course unlikely that the attractiveness of courses of study is the only factor. There are important matters relating to the kind of career prospects which are envisaged and also to popular conceptions about the scientific and technological age and its tendencies. It is still widely believed (and with some justice) that by no means all employers put the same value upon scientific attainments as on others throughout the career; and it is perhaps because so few scientists and technologists at present have, or are believed to have, a sufficiently broad education to take managerial and organisational problems in their stride that the impression persists that they are kept 'on tap' rather than 'on top'. It is certainly the case (as the Working Group on Migration has shown (2)) that employers in the United States put a higher value upon scientific attainments early in the career than we do in this country. No policy for the popularisation of science and technology among students could hope to succeed unless there was also real evidence of an increased awareness among employers of its value for career purposes.

171. There may well be (as we saw in Chapter VI) psychological factors more deeply-rooted than this. There may be ground for believing that the formality or the impersonality of science can be unattractive to large numbers who need a more personal or practical approach to their studies. There may be an element of subconscious revulsion from the forces which scientific

(2) The Brain Drain. Cmnd. 3417.

[page 87]

progress makes available, and the large moral and social issues which the control of those forces raises. There may be a case for projecting more firmly the social and humanitarian benefits of science and technology alongside the more spectacular demonstrations of power. These are not matters which changes in educational processes can influence rapidly; but they may be very close to some of the central problems of the technological society. It is significant that relative trends away from science and technology are no less evident in other countries where engineering and technology have been more widely accepted as a means to national progress.

RECOMMENDATIONS

172. Our recommendations are framed with several aims in mind: the need to give the individual a broad educational background including an appreciation of the aims and achievements of science and technology, whether or not he or she ultimately specialises in these subjects; the need to reverse the movement away from science at school and to increase the flow of potential qualified manpower; the need to establish the place of science and technology in education, and their status in society, so that the supply of scientists and technologists will flow in response to the nation's requirements rather than be subject to the uninformed and immature decisions of pupils and to changes in the pattern of educational opportunity.

173. Our recommendations relate to several aspects of education and to a variety of individuals and institutions; necessarily so, from the interlocking nature of the education system and the complexity of factors bearing on the processes of choice and selection. There is neither sovereign remedy nor short term solution. The problem must be tackled in its entirety by sustained and concerted effort, and progress must be closely followed.

Later Choice and Specialisation

174. First and foremost:

I. We recommend a broad span of studies in the sixth forms of schools; and that, in consequence, irreversible decisions for or against science, engineering and technology be postponed as late as possible.

175. On the other hand we have had regard to the range of attainments likely to be required for scientific and technological employment over the next decade or so. The accelerating pace of technological change, and the increasing extent to which science and technology will penetrate society and affect day-to-day living, will mean that scientists and technologists will have to be readily adaptable to new technical situations and capable of deploying their talents from a sound general scientific base in a variety of specialised

[page 88]

jobs. They must be open to, and aware of, the progress of research as a source of innovation without necessarily being personally involved. They must also be articulate and literate, not least to be effective in issues of policy in their fields and in the management of resources, in which all scientific and technological manpower are to some extent involved. They must be aware of, and sensitive to, the boundary areas where their activity is felt: economic, social, humanitarian, organisational, governmental. The longer their early studies can keep open this breadth of approach, the better.

176. There are probably many ways in which this breadth could be achieved and it lies beyond our competence to suggest detailed solutions. We are certain that the continued study of mathematics is an essential element; and we are much attracted by the suggestion that pupils should normally follow, in addition to mathematics, three or four main subjects. These might be drawn, one from each of the main groups - science, social studies, arts - together with one other to be chosen by the pupil for a degree of emphasis that reflects his preference and ability. It would follow that these subjects could not be studied as deeply as they are at present and that they would differ from those now taken at A level. Moreover the form of assessment should not be such as to allow 'hidden' specialisation. Criteria for entry into higher education would need to include one based on overall assessment of the sixth form course and examinations, and details of the candidate's performance in a particular subject should not be available to selectors.

177. We recognise that these changes would pose grave problems of teaching, curriculum organisation, and assessment for schools and examining boards; and for universities and other institutions of higher education they raise questions about the nature of their courses and entry requirements (some of which we discuss in paragraphs 189-193). The bodies concerned will have to consult extensively and co-operate closely in any changes, and further experiment will almost certainly be needed. Fundamental changes in the sixth form will take time but there is one measure which, within the present context, could increase the flow of potential scientists and technologists and make supply more responsive to demand, namely the wider study of mathematics in the sixth form.

Mathematics

178. In our view normally all pupils should study mathematics until they leave school, and only in exceptional circumstances should it be held to be possible or desirable for a pupil to opt out. At present a high proportion of pupils with O level passes in the subject abandon it in the sixth form, and some pupils drop it even earlier. We believe that the overwhelming majority are capable of benefiting from the continued study of this subject. We do not mean that everyone should specialise in mathematics, but all pupils need to develop an enhanced capacity to use mathematical techniques for a wide range of purposes in science and technology and outside, and greater appreciation of its relevance to human affairs. Progress is being made in discovering how to make good the shortcomings caused by insufficient or interrupted study of mathematics; but in our view the only sensible solution (and this is rein-

[page 89]

forced by our international comparisons) is not to create the problem by abandoning the subject. The content of the curriculum is beyond the scope of the Enquiry; but we distinguish some characteristics of mathematical achievement in relation to future demands of employment:

(i) Mathematics as a means of communicating quantifiable ideas and information.

(ii) Mathematics as a training for discipline of thought and for logical reasoning.

(iii) Mathematics as a tool in activities arising from the developing needs of engineering, technology, science, organisation, economics, sociology, etc.; the growth of numerical analysis and electronic computation is a powerful example.

(iv) Mathematics as a study itself, where development of new techniques and concepts can have economic consequences akin to those flowing from scientific research and development.

II. We therefore recommend that normally all pupils should study mathematics until they leave school; and that the teaching of mathematics should concern itself not only with training for discipline of thought and for logical reasoning, but also with showing the effect of associating mathematical thinking with one or more of the experimental or engineering sciences, with economics, or with other studies.

[page 90]

The Science Curriculum and its Teaching

181. Science is a blend of experimentation and hypothesis, alternately generating, satisfying and regenerating intellectual curiosity along ever-widening boundaries; it has the capacity to appeal to all, either as a humane activity or as a socially or economically significant one. It is a human activity in the fullest sense. In so far as it is failing to appeal to school children, these qualities are not being transmitted to the pupil, or are being overlaid by the weight of formal exercise and historical accretions.

III. There is an urgent need more rapidly to infuse breadth, humanity, and up-to-dateness into the science curriculum and its teaching.

182. Much has happened in the eight years since the Advisory Council for Scientific Policy (3), commenting on the Crowther Report, said that "school science curricula were in need of a thorough re-examination", were "unimaginative and overloaded with factual material", and that "20 to 25 per cent of the content of the curricula in physics, chemistry and biology could be removed without any harm - and indeed with benefit". The curriculum work of the Nuffield Foundation and the projects and experiments supported by the Schools Council and H.M. Inspectorate, by professional institutions and associations, and by learned societies are beginning to take effect. Science centres have been established to give guidance and advice on equipment. In the primary schools great progress has been made in introducing scientific and mathematical concepts in ways that stimulate and hold enthusiasm and curiosity. Teachers' centres, to help teachers to review the approach and content of their work, are being set up by local education authorities in England and Wales at an encouraging rate, and are increasingly contributing to development work in science and mathematics. But again the emphasis is mainly at the primary level. The scale of the experiments and the impact on the average secondary school pupil in the critical period of choice remains small, and there is need for measures which will rapidly reach the majority of secondary schools in the country.

(3) Annual Report of the Advisory Council on Scientific Policy 1959-60 Cmnd. 1167.

[page 91]

IV. We recommend that the schools and local education authorities should take steps which will ensure that within the next five years the majority of pupils in secondary education should come into early contact with up-to-date, relevant, and attractive teaching of science.

183. The foregoing recommendations are based on a study of the situation in England and Wales. The Chapter on Scotland indicates that these objectives are to some extent met by the more broadly based education provided in Scottish secondary schools. We warmly welcome the specific steps taken recently in Scotland to make the mathematics and science syllabuses more attractive to pupils and more relevant to the needs and interests of higher education and industry.

V. We hope that care will be taken by those responsible for the Scottish educational system to see that recent changes in the examination structure do not cause any serious departure from the traditionally broad base of Scottish education.

184. These developments would place a heavy burden on teachers. As exemplified in Scotland, curriculum reform and in-service training are vitally linked. The need for in-service training, and for up-dating and refresher courses is probably growing faster than the provision, at least in science and mathematics. The need is beginning to be recognised and provision is expanding though we are informed that many of the longer courses are thinly attended. We believe a massive increase in courses and teacher participation is necessary if the aim is to be realised of making science and mathematics, engineering and technology much more attractive to students. There is already a wide variety of courses, short and long, organised by many different bodies; colleges of education and universities can and do make an important contribution and we think there is scope for expanding this, to involve particularly the staff in science and technology. However, further study is needed of the type of courses best suited to the aims we have in mind and of the most effective organisation and mounting of such courses in ways which will help to overcome present difficulties and disincentives. The teacher must often dip into his own pocket to go on a course and in many cases go in his own time. Where the course is not concurrent a replacement must be found. When he returns there is little tangible reward unless the course is on the limited list of those accepted by the Burnham Committee for the £50 salary addition. Despite disincentives many teachers have made these sacrifices. But this willingness cannot be presumed upon.

VI. We recommend that financial disincentives for in-service courses be removed; that ways be found to encourage participation in such courses; that financial recognition be made in salary for those successfully completing courses; that more flexible replacement arrangements be developed, such as the use of university staff and postgraduate students, or of scientists from Government research establishments and industry; and attempts be made to carry such courses to the irreplaceable teacher in his school.

[page 92]

In-service courses can not only renew and bring up-to-date the teacher's knowledge and equipment but also provide a means for making widely available the methods and curricula developed by the best teachers. The need is especially great in science and technology where knowledge expands increasingly rapidly. Mass media, for example television and the newspapers, bring new scientific and technological advances quickly to the notice of schoolchildren and may emphasise any lack of modernity in science as presented in the classroom. In-service training is an indispensable part of scientific education and of the teacher's own equipment.

185. Some further improvement in the utilisation of present resources of scientific manpower could come from a more strategic deployment within the schools. We cannot over-emphasise the harm that poor teaching may cause to the younger and uncommitted pupil.

VII. We recommend the provision, on a co-operative basis between schools if necessary, of introductory courses of the highest quality in science and mathematics for younger pupils. We consider that schemes for the reorganisation of secondary education should adopt as an important objective the most effective utilisation of available teaching resources in science.

186. Better utilisation will not do away with the need to recruit more good science and mathematics teachers. We place emphasis on teaching quality rather than academic ability, though we believe they will be found together in many able graduates in science and technology. The better the teacher, in the sense that he nurtures rather than quenches natural curiosity, and the more he encourages his pupils to feel his partners in learning together about man's physical environment, the more he is likely to transmit to them his enthusiasm for the subject, and more of them are likely to opt for science.

VIII. We regard it as a very high priority that positive and strong incentives to recruitment of more graduates of high ability to science teaching should be adopted.

Support and Facilities for Science Teaching

187. Technical supporting staff, equipment and facilities for science, and the developments of educational technology can provide vital backing for the science teacher. If they are lacking, his effectiveness is reduced. Without technical help laboratory experiments may be carried out unconvincingly or not at all or the teacher may have to be his own technician and devote a good deal of his time and energies to the preparation of material, perhaps diminishing thereby esteem for his position among his own pupils and among potential recruits to teaching. Where he has help and good laboratory facilities there is

[page 93]

the possibility of experimental work that conveys something of the real flavour of the practice of science and technology. The developments of educational technology help him to present new material attractively, and may help to improve his teaching methods. They may even release or lead to some redeployment of teachers or teacher time.

188. The evidence we received, while convincing us that the present provision of technical supporting staff is well below what we consider to be desirable, did not enable us to establish what is or should be a norm.

IX. We therefore recommend that further study be made to establish a desirable norm for technician support and that urgent consideration should be given to an increase in the number of technical supporting staff in schools. Advances in educational technology should be fully exploited in the teaching of science and mathematics. Local education authorities should recognise the inevitable additional cost of curriculum reform and should be prepared to finance promising new proposals in science and mathematics.

189. Continuation of present trends will lead to increasing competition between institutions of higher education for the able candidates from the science stream in schools. The present situation is likely to intensify, and candidates in science and technology will have to be recruited rather than selected to an even greater extent than is at present the case. The new quinquennium presents an opportunity for change and experiment both as to the subject and level of G.C.E. A level passes regarded as acceptable for entry, and in the nature of the courses themselves and their attractiveness to students now tending to move away from science.

190. Even though the nature of the sixth form is changing, the strongest external force on the sixth form curriculum is still, in our view, the university entrance requirements. Some revision of these requirements will be necessary over the next few years to allow university faculties of science and technology to draw candidates more widely from the sixth form outside the specialist science stream. But, more importantly, if a broad span of study in the sixth form is to become generally accepted there will ultimately have to be drastic revision of the entry requirements. Indeed we see here an opportunity for universities to help the schools in achieving objectives that all agree to be desirable.

X. We therefore recommend that universities should reconsider their entry requirements with a view to encouraging a broad span of studies in the sixth forms of schools and to increasing the flow of candidates in science, engineering and technology.

[page 94]

achievement. The implications for the aims and nature of university courses in science and technology as they are now planned will need to be considered, but it is perhaps not widely appreciated that we are already providing for a proportion of students to stay at university for from 5 to 7 years. In some subjects, chemistry for example, we are already moving towards the situation where the Ph.D. is the professional qualification pursued by nearly half of those attaining a first degree. In many disciplines the Ph.D. is now the international 'passport' for which some degree of compatibility is recognised.

192. We are unwilling to accept that no time can be saved from existing courses by attention to the problems of presentation and revision which we have discussed in Chapters VI and VII. We recognise that if a degree course in science or technology took much longer than in other subjects this would act as a discouragement. We believe that what we want to see accomplished can and should in general be done within the existing time limits.

193.

XI. We recommend that universities should consider further a range of courses designed to attract into science, engineering and technology able students who are not already committed to these fields of study, but who are otherwise qualified to benefit from 'ab initio' courses in these subjects at university level.

Advice and Guidance on Careers

194. Much is said and written to guide the pupil in school in the choice of his subjects and career. Counselling services are available in a great many schools through careers masters and the Youth Employment Service and its officers, in addition to books, pamphlets and talks provided by employers. The only comment we would offer on these formalised channels relates to the need to convince young people that an increasingly important route to managerial posts in a technological society is a training in the engineering or experimental sciences followed by industrial experience and subsequent post-experience study in economics and business studies. The growth of economics in popularity among the most able students points to a ready response to this message.

195. By way of contrast, too little attention has been paid to informal systems of careers guidance. Much publicity could usefully be re-directed towards parents. The image of science too often found in the school is hardly more likely to attract than that propagated by the mass media, where science ranges from the erudite and incomprehensible to a source of malevolent power. Far too little attention is paid to these sources of information and to the 'grapevine' in the schools and colleges in shaping the decisions of the young.

[page 95]

XII. The reputation of the good employer is the most enduring career guidance system of all: employers must recognise their high responsibility for ensuring that careers in science, engineering and technology are satisfying and therefore attractive to young people.

Manpower Planning and Statistics

197. Ten years at least have elapsed between the decisions, conscious or unconscious, of school children that gave rise to the movement away from science, and our present diagnosis. When we started on our Enquiry three years ago we were faced with an absence of information and statistics on which to establish what was happening. Through the work of the Department of Education and Science and of the Scottish Education Department this information has been provided; we hope that this work will continue to consolidate and extend our analysis. There is a need for close and continuing understanding of trends in schools and in the sixth forms and their implications for manpower policy as a whole. This argument extends beyond scientific manpower policy because the sixth forms are sources of supply for all the professions as well as for the increasingly wide range of other jobs being filled by graduates. Educationalists need to know the national picture, not just the partial view; employers must be alerted to the changing characteristics and motivation of students becoming available for employment. Those concerned with policy must be able to see the overall patterns of flow and the interactions arising within the system, as well as the longer term effects on the economy through changes in supply. The Working Group on Migration has already drawn attention to the international aspects.

198. Conversely there are changes within employment of qualified manpower, in the levels of skill required, the rate of obsolescence of knowledge, and the rate of technological change, that have implications for the educational preparation of engineers, technologists and scientists.

XIII. We therefore recommend:

(i) There should be continuing arrangements for the review of trends in subject specialisation in the schools and their implications for qualified manpower;

(ii) Research aimed at a deeper insight into the factors bearing on career choice and selection in the context of formal education should be continued;

(iii) The statistics of education should be further developed to display the flow of pupils through all educational routes into employment, and to allow new trends to be quickly recognised.

[page 96]

199. The Report has drawn attention to the need for further work on a number of topics, in particular;

• The effective use and deployment of existing teaching resources for science including the developments in educational technology, and the facilities available in schools should be the subject of further study (paragraphs 76, 80 and 81.)
• There should be further study of the growth of science and technology in schools and higher education in other countries, particularly in France (paragraph 125).
• The interaction of secondary school curricula and university entrance requirements in England and Wales should be periodically re-examined (paragraph 142).

A. Sources

B. Definitions

C. Statistical Evidence on School Pupils and Examinations: England and Wales

D. Chronology of the Swing: England and Wales

E. Evidence on Academic Quality

F. Statistical Evidence on the Teaching Environment: England and Wales

G. Evidence from the Royal Statistical Society - University of Essex Enquiry

[page 98]

1. Statistics of Education 1965 and earlier years. H.M.S.O.

(a) School Leavers Surveys.
(b) Pupils on Sixth Form Courses.
(c) General Certificate of Education Examination Results.

3. Report on the 1965 Triennial Manpower Survey of Engineers, Technologists, Scientists and Technical Supporting Staff. H.M.S.O. Cmnd. 3103.

4. U.G.C. Returns 1962-63 to 1966-67. H.M.S.O.

5. Universities Central Council on Admissions

(a) Third Report and Supplement.
(b) Fourth Report and Supplement.

7. Occupational Choice, by J. R. Butler, to be published by H.M.S.O.

8. Changes in Subject Choices at School and University. Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, at the University of London, by Celia Mary Phillips, May 1967. To be published shortly by the Unit for Economic and Statistical Studies on Higher Education.

9. Special analysis of G.C.E. examination results by Northern Universities Joint Matriculation Board.

10. Survey of technicians in schools by The Association for Science Education.

[page 99]

I. SCHOOLS

A. England and Wales

(a) G.C.E. Examination Statistics (1)

(1) G.C.E. examinations are also taken by pupils from other parts of the UK and those who took examinations for the home certificate at overseas centres.

[page 100]

General paper or General studies is not included in any subject group.

(b) Pupils on A level courses in the sixth form

Returns from the schools show pupils by year of course, divided into three groups, which we refer to as:

Science Group:

Pupils following courses in:
Mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, geology, biology, technical drawing.

Pupils following courses in:
English literature, modern languages, classical languages, geography, history, ancient history, English economic history, economics, British constitution, religious knowledge, logic, archaeology, domestic subjects, accounting and bookkeeping, music, art, craft.

Group in which pupils follow courses in subjects from each of the previous groups.

[page 101]

(c) School Leavers: based on a 10 per cent sample

(i) Old Classification: 1960-61 to 1964-65

Science:

Biology, botany, chemistry, geology, mathematical subjects, physics, zoology.

Economics, English literature, geography, history subjects (including British constitution) languages (modern and classical).

All other subjects including art, general studies, music, practical subjects, religious knowledge, technical drawing.

Arts specialists are leavers with at least one A level pass in subjects in the arts group (as defined above) and, possibly, passes in the 'other subjects' group but with no A level passes in the science group.

Science-cum-arts pupils are leavers with A level passes in both the science and arts groups of subjects and, possibly, passes in the 'other subjects' group.

Others are leavers with A level passes only in the 'other subjects' group (as defined above).

This classification has been used in Tables 6, 7 in the text, Tables 42, 43, 44 and 45 in Annex C; and Table 51 in Annex E.

(ii) New Classification: 1964-65 and 1965-66

Science:

Biology, botany, building construction, chemistry, geology, mathematical subjects, metalwork, physics, technical drawing, woodwork, zoology.

British constitution, economics, English economic history, geography, vocational subjects (domestic and commercial).

Ancient history, art, craft, English literature, history, languages (classical and modern), music, religious knowledge.

Science Group:

Science specialists.

Social science specialists, arts specialists, social science-cum-arts pupils.

Science-cum-social science pupils, science-cum-arts pupils, science-cum-social science-cum-arts pupils.

General studies has not affected the group in which a leaver has been classified e.g. a leaver with four A levels, three being science and the other general studies, has been classified as a science specialist. Leavers with only one A level in general studies have been classified in the social science group.

[page 102]

(d) Curriculum Survey: based on a sample (see paragraph 62)

Science:

Mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, botany, zoology, general science, physics with chemistry, astronomy and meteorology.

Technical drawing, metalwork and woodwork are the main subjects, building is the only other subject on which any substantial amount of teaching time is spent (16,000 minutes out of a total of 1,000,000 in the group).

Geography, economics, commerce, shorthand and typing, social studies, British constitution and law.

English, Welsh, modern languages and classical studies.

History and religious instruction.

(e) Subjects studied in school

Science group:

Mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, biology and any combination of these leading to a presentation in science, e.g. chemistry and zoology.

English Languages:

Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Gaelic.

History, geography, modern studies.

Combination of any two of: accounting, commercial arithmetic and statistics, economic organisation and shorthand and typing.

Dress and design, anatomy, physiology and health; home management, metalwork, building drawing, engineering drawing.

Art, music, agriculture.

Education:

Education

Medicine and dentistry
Pharmacy, Pharmacology
Ancillary health subjects

Aeronautical engineering
Chemical engineering and technology
Civil engineering
Electrical engineering
Mechanical engineering

[page 103]

Production engineering
Mining
Metal technologies
General and other engineering subjects
Surveying

Other technologies and applied sciences

Agriculture
Agricultural biology
Agricultural chemistry
Forestry
Veterinary science

Biology
Biochemistry
Chemistry
Mathematics
Physics

Geology
Other environmental sciences
Mathematics with physics
Other combinations of physical sciences
Combinations of biological with physical sciences

Economics
Geography
Accountancy
Business studies
Government and public administration

Law
Psychology
Sociology
Social anthropology
Combinations within group

Architecture
Home, hotel and institutional management
Other professional and vocational subjects

English
Welsh and other Celtic languages and studies
French language and studies
German language and studies
Spanish language and studies

[page 104]

Other Western European languages and studies
French with German
Russian language and studies
Other Central and Eastern European languages and studies
Classical studies

Chinese and Chinese area studies
Oriental, Asian and African languages and studies
Other languages, literature and area studies
Other combinations within group

History
Archaeology
Philosophy
Theology
Arts general

Art and design
Drama
Music

Science

Agriculture:

Biology:

Chemistry:

[page 105]

Geology:

Mathematics:

Physics:

General Science and other sciences:

Engineering and Technology

Chemical Engineering:

Civil and Structural Engineering:

Electrical Engineering:

Mechanical Engineering:

Metallurgy:

Mining Engineering:

Other Engineering:

[page 106]

Other Technologies:

Symbols

The following symbols have been used throughout the Report:
. not applicable
. . not available
- nil or negligible.

[page 107]

In studying trends in the sixth form (1), it was thought desirable to see them in relation to the total population of the relevant age group. Pupils entering the sixth form are of varying ages, the majority being aged 15, 16 or 17 in the January of their first year in the sixth form. Because of the fluctuations in the size of these age groups over recent years, it has been necessary to estimate a potential population from which the first year of the sixth form can be drawn. The potential population has been taken as a weighted average of the total child populations aged 15, 16 and 17 in the January of any year. Since entry to the sixth form is usually dependent upon success in the G.C.E. O level examinations, the weights have been based upon the age distribution in recent years of those attempting G.C.E. O level examinations who are still aged 17 or under by the January following their examinations. The estimates so calculated (Table 31 below) show that the estimated potential population reached a maximum of 795 thousands in 1963-64, remained high in 1964-65 and is now declining to a value of 655 thousands in 1968-69 which is expected to remain constant up to 1970-71.

[page 108]