30/04/07 Science teachers
CaSE was pleased to attaned a meeting today at the Training &
Development Agency. Dr Hilary Leevers, Assistant Director of CaSE,
commented that “It was extremely useful to consider what measures
would be most effective in increasing the number of physics, chemistry,
and mathematics specialist teachers in our schools. Among other things,
we discussed the importance of making sure that schools have funding
for cover for teachers and support staff engaging in Continuing Professional
Development (CPD) or for teachers taking the new Diploma to become
a specialist in a shortage subject.” CaSE has previously argued
that the Government needs to provide funding to schools ear-marked
for teaching cover so that teachers can engage in CPD.
30/04/07 UK higher education in Europe
CaSE today welcomed MPs' recognition that science and engineering
could be negatively affected by current EU developments in higher
education. Responding to a report from the House of Commons Education
Committee on the Bologna Process, the Director of CaSE, Dr Peter Cotgreave
said, "Following representations from CaSE and many other groups,
the MPs noticed that the largest area of concern about current developments
in the EU was coming from the science community. Unfortuately, their
report does not really go far enough in urging the Government to make
sure that four-year degrees in subjects like physics and chemistry
are classed by the rest of Europe as the high-level qualifications
they really are. The Higher Education Minister says he wants to 'influence
changes' so let's hope he can influence this."
27/04/07 Conservative policy
CaSE today responded to the Conservative Party policy review of science.
Writing in response to the Conservative Taskforce review of science
in society, CaSE says that in terms of attracting young people into
science, the two big problems in schools are the lack of qualified
specialist teachers and the poor quality of careers advice that many
children receive.
read
CaSE's evidence to the review
25/04/07 Science in Scotland
and Wales
CaSE today called on scientists and engineers in Scotland and Wales
to consider the science policies of the parties standing for Government
in those countries. Publishing the reponses of Party Leaders to questions
about Scottish and Welsh science policies, CaSE's Director said "We
asked all the main party leaders three specific questions about that
they would do for science if elected. All of them kindly agreed, and
the collections of responses make interesting reading for anyone interested
in science and engineering who gets to vote in the elections to the
Scottish Parliament or Welsh Assembly." CaSE also published its
own analyses of science policies in the two countries, together with
the suggested policies needed to meet the challenges of the next four
years.
read
the Party Leaders' responses from Scotland
read
the Party Leaders' responses from Wales
read
CaSE's Agenda for science policy in Scotland
read
CaSE's Agenda for science policy in Wales
25/04/07 Peter Cotgreave and Hilary Leevers attended a meeting with
representatives of the Science Council, Engineering & Technology
Board, Royal Astronomical Society, British Computer Society, Royal
Academy of Engineering, Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Biosciences
Federation.
24/04/07 Scientific Community
CaSE was today pleased to be engaging with a wide range of the science
and engineering community. "Part of CaSE's job is make sure we
are in touch with the science and engineering community, so over the
past few days, we've attended a meetings with physics professors,
with senior people in research in the pharmaceutical industry, with
the charity sector and with a wide range people involved in science
education. Tomorrow we will be meeting with people from the engineering
community and various learned societies. CaSE has always prided itself
on being in touch with all parts of the science community from schools
to global companies. It means we can speak with authority when representing
our members to Government."
24/04/07 Caroline Holland met with Prof Ray Hill and other senior
staff at Merck Sharp & Dohme
23/04/07 Caroline Holland met with Dr Chris Parker, Head of Research,
and other senior staff at the Ordnance Survey
23/04/07 Peter Cotgreave attended the launch of More Maths Grads
at Queen Mary University of London
23/04/07 Hilary Leevers and Peter Cotgreave met with Caroline Wallace
of the Biosciences Federation
20/04/07 Peter Cotgreave attended a meeting of the Standing Conference
of Physics Professors
19/04/07 Hilary Leevers and Peter Cotgreave attended a meeting of
the Science Education Media Group
16/04/07 University and school funding
CaSE today called on the Government to stop pretending the UK can have a world-class
education system on the cheap. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, CaSE
points out that skewing university fees in favour of important subjects like
the sciences would be valuable, but would not on its own solve the crisis of
science and engineering education.
The text of the letter is as follows:
Jeff Randall’s suggestion that university fees should be skewed so
that subjects of national importance are given highest priority (Daily Telegraph,
April 13) is eminently sensible. Taxpayers in England spend almost £5
billion each year on teaching students in higher education, but the choice of
where it is spent is left to the whims of 17-year olds rather than any assessment
of what the nation needs or wants.
However, the idea of skewing fees within the current annual cap of £3,000
per student would not solve the problem on its own, for two reasons.
First, the demands on institutions – more students, more research,
working with local businesses, engaging with under-represented social groups
– have risen much faster than the sources of funding. Consequently, universities
are severely underfunded and simply cannot afford to discount their fees. The
UK has to stop pretending it can have a world-class higher education system
on the cheap, and either bring its ambitions into line with what it can afford
or work out who is supposed to pay for all the things that everyone keeps saying
they want universities to do.
Second, as Jeff Randall points out, many young people in the state education
system are not adequately prepared for university courses in important
subjects like the sciences, largely because of a shortage of qualified
teachers. This is illustrated by the stark statistic that a quarter
of secondary schools have no qualified physics teacher at all. This
is not only unfair to the youngsters themselves but is an astonishing
waste of national talent.
13/04/07 Peter Cotgreave attended a Parliamentary reception of the
Institute of Biology
10/04/07 Government science
policy
CaSE today called on the Government and scientific community to ensure
that the UK continues to invest heavily in science for the future.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Dr Ian Gibson MP and Dr Peter
Cotgreave call on scientists to get involved in the political process
to prevent problems like last month's cuts to the science budget and
tell the Government that 'doubling the science budget should not be
the limit of our ambitions'. Merely forming new companies from the
science base is not enough, the article argues. 'Where, for example,
is science and technology in the Olympic strategy?' the authors ask,
'What an opportunity to showcase science in construction, design,
transport, education and facilities for competition - the Olympic
village should be a science city, a real showcase for British science,
British innovation and British companies for the long term'. The article
concludes: It is time for an ambitious vision of what the UK can achieve
through science. Ian Gibson is a member of CaSE's Advisory Council
and Peter Cotgreave is Director of CaSE.
04/04/07 Funding university science
CaSE today called on the Government to take a more realistic
approach to funding university science teaching. In its response to
the Higher Education Funding Council's latest consultation on the
'teaching funding method,' CaSE points out that a fundamental problem
is the basic formula that does not give enough weight to science and
engineering. CaSE also stresses that the latest suggestion about 'efficiency
and excellence' could threaten universities that lead the way in investing
in science. "HEFCE seems to be saying that if universities spend
more than the average on science teaching, they cannot be efficient,
and if they spend less than average, they must doing a bad job,"
said Dr Hilary Leevers, Assistant Director of CaSE, "and that
seems to penalise institutions that invest more heavily than the average
in order to be the best; if we've understood the somewhat vague document
correctly, it's not properly thought through".
01/04/07 Political interest
in science
CaSE today called on the scientific community to maintain its pressure on
Parliament. In an article in Laboratory News, CaSE argues that
the Government has done much for science in the last ten years, but that
there are worrying signs that some ministers may be losing interest in science,
and starting to feel that its problems have already been addressed. The
extra money that has been injected into science has "offered hope of
rejuvenation" the article says, but has only really recovered the position
we should have been in before the savage underfunding of the 1980s and 1990s.
"If we are to sustain interest," the article concludes, "the
scientific and engineering community must ensure that it maintains its pressure
on parliament in the years to come".
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