Science Should Not Be Taught In Schools Essay

Within the primary education curriculum, science is defined as a compulsory subject. However, recent research, which will be discussed in this paper, suggests that science is often taught ineffectively and schools often do not teach the required two hours a week. This paper will focus on whether science is being taught ineffectively and will look at key issues, such as teacher confidence and the gender gap, as to why this is.

In a recent survey, carried out by Ofsted (2013, pp.6-8) in 91 primary schools, it was found that science was not being taught everyday and was instead being taught through “irregular science days”. In a minority of cases, this resulted in the schools failing to fully cover the science curriculum and/or not tracking the pupils’ progress in order to set “challenging targets for improvement”; it was clear that science was not a priority. The report, however, did comment that, in the …show more content…
Whilst this is changing, the majority of trainee teachers are women, which is problematic in this context as females often reject science. Women being more likely than men to reject science (perhaps due to the subject’s emphasis on “dry facts to be learned”), can negatively affect the teaching of science as the subject can be shied away from. It is suggested that this can be due to a fear of not knowing enough about the subject and/or being asked a question that they do not know the answer to.

The gender gap and bias in science, even at primary level, is one that is heavily discussed and debated. Marsh and Niemtus (2015) presented a variety of methods of engaging and inspiring girls in science lessons; such as, talking about famous women throughout the history of science. Through the research presented, it is debatably explicit that in order for science to be taught effectively in primary schools, we need to be inspiring the teachers