Triple Science over Double Science

[Freeman1]

My eldest in year 9 has just failed his exam to take Triple Science at GCSE level. To say he is disappointed is putting it mildly, no enthusiam for any science now and feels he is a complete failure. I cannot find anything to tell me the disadvantages to future A levels / Uni courses or indeed what the differences are. Is he already at a great disadvantage? Although he has no desire to be a Dr, Rock guitarist (no science req lol) and careers that would require engineering have been mentioned. Please help.

I agree with poisonwoodlife here Viva

There have been many new developments in Science over the past 20 years or so which do make a knowledge of more than one discipline vital. So not only is it important for pupils to study all 3 Sciences at GCSE, future opportunities are also more limited in STEM if only one Science (or Technology or Maths) subject is studied at A level.

For example many A level Chemistry syllabuses (and degree courses) include some Biochemistry so it is useful for some pupils to be studying both Biology and Chemistry at A level. They also include some aspects of Environmental Science which links to Geography and other areas such as thermodynamics, energy and atomic structure with links to Physics.

Hebegebes - Apologies, I have only just seen your question.

I think skylark2 is right in that why would you want to encourage an A/A* student, "who may decide later to aim for sciences or even Oxbridge" to take double science in a mixed ability school just for an easy life. The lessons will be pitched at a slower pace and your clever, unmotivated dc may become bored and even less motivated. If he/she then decides to take sciences for A level then there will be some ground to make up by themselves out of lesson time to catch up with the others.

The problem of squeezing triple science into the same time slot as double science is often resolved by starting the syllabus in year 9 but even this is not ideal and there are reports that lack of lab time leaves students less prepared for carrying out experiments at A level. Of course, if the science teaching for triple science is not good in a particular school then it's likely to be just as bad for double science.

skylark2 - presumably though if your dd's very academic private school only offers double science as an option for GCSE then there would be no problem arranging the A level science curriculum around them as the whole cohort would be in the same boat (and I'm guessing that many of the sixth form classes only have 10-15 girls in them). The only problem would be if one of the girls wanted to go elsewhere for sixth form.

I have found this report by Ofsted:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/maintaining-curiosity-a-survey-into-science-education-in-schools

Of interest: Point 68 - expected levels of progress better for separate sciences.
Point 84 - Better teaching took place in upper ability sets (this is worrying for middle ability sets).
Points 100-102 relate to time allocation for triple science.

Also, the stats from the Joint Council for Qualifications:

www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results show that the percentage of A/A* grades at GCSE is much higher for separate sciences than additional (double) science amongst its members.

If you then look at the AS/A2 stats you will see how popular biology is for girls and how unpopular physics is. Indeed biology is often taken as a third/fourth subject alongside English, History, languages etc. which may have influenced some of the replies on this thread.