Science getting the once over now

Report from Ofqual

These latest changes to secondary school science follow an Ofqual report that was critical of the way standards had fallen.

Ofqual made exam boards take immediate action after finding there was "clearly a cause for concern" in science GCSEs.

Among the criticisms of the current content, the Royal Society of Chemistry said entire exam papers contained no maths and some questions no science.

It said a new, more independent regulator with more clout was needed to prevent standards from such "dumbing down".

The assistant director of the lobby group the Campaign for Science and Engineering (Case), Dr Hilary Leevers, said: "Awarding bodies compete for custom among schools, and the schools, in turn, compete in the league tables, so there has been a driving down of standards.

We agree, we all use functional maths every day and it should be part of all curriculum. Jonathan Wells of www.guroo.info leaders in developing functional skills resources for the 14-19 curriculum.