1 In 6 Secondary Schools In England Offers No A-Level Physics

The education woes in the UK continues with the Royal Society condemning the A-Levels at "not fit for purpose". This follows reports on the drop of the number of students studying math and sciences at the A-Levels and the number of science/math degrees awarded.

Of last year’s 300,000 graduates, just 10,000 studied chemistry, physics, biology or maths, according to the Royal Society.

The celebrated research institution also said that one in six secondary schools had not entered a single candidate for A-level physics.

It said the A-level system was unfit for purpose and should be scrapped in favour of European-style baccalaureates.

It is disheartening to see that this problem, which had been recognized for many years already, doesn't seem to be handled and tackled appropriately. Here in the US, there are clearly politicians who distrust science, put very little importance to science, or simply ignores science. Some of them are put into position to determine science policies and funding. So one should expect that support for science to have some impact. Do we know the root cause for such a disarray in the UK/England, beyond just the tough economic times?

Zz.