---
title: "Science education in England"
chunk: 3/14
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_education_in_England"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:21:10.973540+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

==== Red brick universities ====
By the time of the Taunton Report, there were four universities in England (Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, and London), but from the 1880s, a new wave of universities / university colleges completely separate from the original four began to emerge; these universities were called red brick universities. The first of these universities was established in Manchester in 1880 and was called Victoria University. Over the subsequent 80 years, a further 11 universities outside London, Cambridge, Durham, and Oxford were founded, significantly expanding the availability of university (science) education throughout England. All through the 1800s, science was becoming increasingly specialised into the different areas we know today.

=== 1900s ===
The Education Act 1902 led to the higher grade schools (alluded to earlier) and fee-paying schools being absorbed into the legally defined “higher education” (meaning any education that was not elementary (as primary education was known at the time)). Despite science education in higher grade schools and the recommendations of the Taunton Report, as well as the British Association for the Advancement of Science's campaign for a science curriculum, science was still seen as a minor subject by the most prestigious public schools. The problem was that most of these public schools had close relationships with Oxford and Cambridge universities which offered the majority of their scholarships in classics, and so science was regarded in low importance by the prestigious schools. Consequently, science education varied significantly across English schools. Numerous education-related Acts were passed throughout the twentieth century, but the most important in the history of science education in England was the Education Reform Act 1988 (see next subsection). Another act of importance to the development of science education below university level in England was the Education Act 1944. The 1944 Act's contribution was indirect though – it raised the compulsory school age to 15 (but made provisions for it to be raised to 16 at a future date, which happened in 1972 (which is still the case today)). By raising the school leaving age to 16, this formed the basis for creating a nationally organised science curriculum and education in England (see next subsection). However, the Education Act 1944 did not stipulate that science be taught. For university-level science education, two significant developments were the expansion of distance learning science courses and the introduction of the World Wide Web (via the Internet) into the delivery of science teaching (although this has also been adopted below university level).

==== Education Reform Act 1988 ====
This was the most important development in the history of science education in England. It was this Act that established the National Curriculum and made science compulsory across both secondary and primary schools (alongside maths and English). The 1988 Act in effect implemented the recommendation of the Taunton Committee made more than a century earlier. The Act also established the now familiar “key stages”.

=== 2000s ===
The most significant developments to the science curriculum and education in this period to date have been the expansion of the compulsory science content in the National Curriculum and the associated changes to its assessment. Another significant event was the passing of the Education and Skills Act 2008, which raised the education leaving age in England to 18. It is unclear whether this extension of compulsory education will result in more science learners as science is not compulsory after the age of 16—the school leaving age, which the 2008 Act did not alter.

== Compulsory science content and national assessments ==

=== Learning aims ===
Compulsory science content for publicly funded schools (state schools) is provided by the National Curriculum and generally applies to children between the ages of 5 and 16. These eleven years of compulsory education are divided by the state into four key stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, and KS4. Regardless of key stage, the National Curriculum states two overarching aims of science education:

develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
A third aim is common to KS1–3:

are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.
But for KS4, the third aim is more detailed, and there is also a fourth aim:

develop and learn to apply observational, practical, modelling, enquiry, problem-solving skills and mathematical skills, both in the laboratory, in the field and in other environments;
develop their ability to evaluate claims based on science through critical analysis of the methodology, evidence and conclusions, both qualitatively and quantitatively.
The need for mathematical skills is stressed by the National Curriculum across all key stages, but more so at KS3 and KS4.

=== Pedagogical considerations ===
The National Curriculum for science is a spiral curriculum; it is tends to be prescriptive. Because of its spiral nature, this makes its learning essentially constructivist. These points are illustrated in the subsections that follow. In addition, the Science National Curriculum emphasises the need for active learning right from the child's earliest exposure to the curriculum. Research on the value of active learning has been demonstrated and published. Experimentation by the child is underscored in the curriculum accompanied by careful discussion of what was observed. Despite these positive features, it has been argued that evaluating the effectiveness of the National Curriculum on learning is difficult to answer.