Leading professional bodies for chemistry and physics have criticised the Welsh Governments changes to science GCSEs in Wales. They said the changes would “damage the economy” and disadvantage young people.
The new Welsh GCSEs, introduced to align with the new curriculum, were unveiled today after lengthy consultation. They will be learned from 2025 and sat from 2007. See more details of all the changes here.
The The Royal Society of Chemistry and Institute of Physics were particularly critical of the choice that schools and pupils will be offered between taking a double GCSE qualification in all three sciences of a single GCSE in all three. They urged the Welsh Government and exam regulator Qualifications Wales to have the same qualification for all pupils.
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From 2025 pupils will no longer study and take three separate science GCSEs. Instead pupils will be able to take either a double or a single science award incorporating chemistry, physics and biology. If they take the double award, there will be three separate marks for physics, biology and chemistry given as part of the overall grade.
Now the regulator has added a single tier, which it expects to be taken by a tiny proportion of students. But the Institute of Physics and Royal Society of Chemistry have criticised that option saying they cannot support it and it goes against their advice.
Laura Daly, an education specialist at the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: “This is a real missed opportunity to bring in the exciting, inclusive changes we worked on together earlier in the process. Every learner should have the same access to one high-quality GCSE science qualification - this is what QW previously indicated they’d do. But now they’ve added another option that has no clear audience and no route to further study.
“This means some schools might opt to only offer the limited option - learners at those schools have a future in science taken away from them before they’ve had the chance to make the decision themselves.
“We are pleased that Qualifications Wales heard our calls to take some of the best features from the outgoing triple science course and incorporate them into the new qualification. This includes separate subject sub-reporting as part of the learner’s final grade, so that learners can clearly understand their areas of strength and make informed decisions about post-16 study.
“Ultimately, this is about equality. Qualifications Wales decision means the least advantaged children in Wales will continue to suffer most. With the current STEM skills crisis, the last thing Wales needs is to shrink the future talent pool by continuing to exclude people with an unfair two-tier science education.”
The Royal Society urged the regulator to “return to their original proposal” for a double award with three marks within one, which it described as “far-sighted, evidence-based and created in consultation with the education community”.
The Institute of Physics, the professional and learned society for physics in the UK and Ireland, said the single tier science GCSE could damage Wales’ economy and it could not support it. A spokesperson said the plan would “entrench inequality”.
“Introducing a single award GCSE in the Sciences without consultation risks closing down opportunity for young people in Wales and damaging the Welsh economy. It risks entrenching inequality with a two-tier system, and fatally undermining what could otherwise be a progressive and positive reform.
“We call on the Welsh Government to withdraw the single award GCSE, at least until expert stakeholders are fully consulted, to ensure that Wales’s new GCSEs provide every child in Wales with equal access to a high quality of education in the sciences.”
The Institute of Physics said every child in Wales should have equal access to a high-quality education in the sciences, to prepare them for future careers and to develop critical thinking skills.
“The existing two-tier GCSE system in the sciences has entrenched inequality. Therefore, the learned societies have supported the proposal that all secondary pupils should follow the same route through the Sciences at GCSE, leading to a double award qualification. This new qualification will enable all students to benefit from a broad grounding in physics, chemistry and biology and the interdisciplinary links between them.
“We note with disappointment that a new single award GCSE in the Sciences has been introduced at this late stage and without consultation. It has been made clear to us that such a qualification would not equip a pupil to progress to further study in the sciences, and as such, could potentially close down a young person’s opportunities to pursue a wide range of careers at a time when our society and economy require greater scientific literacy than ever before.
“We are unable to support the proposals if it is part of a new two-tier offering. We urge the Welsh Government and Qualifications Wales to return to their original proposal of a single route through the sciences at Key Stage 4, and retract the single award proposal, at least until it can be consulted upon appropriately.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “STEM continues to be a priority in our new curriculum. We are pleased there is clear support for the sciences to move to a double, integrated award for over 90% of learners. The single award is intended to offer a small proportion of learners the opportunity to access the sciences at GCSE level and progress successfully on to a range of post-16 STEM pathways.
"We anticipate that the learned societies will be engaged closely on the development of the specifications for these.”
A spokesperson for Qualifications Wales said the changes follow four years of engagement and consultation with a broad range of stakeholders including learners, teachers, subject experts and learned societies. It said decisions were informed by the feedback we received to our consultation in 2022.
The regulator said in a statement: "The new Double Award GCSE in The Sciences will be taken by a significant majority of learners, giving them a strong grounding in the scientific disciplines with a focus on bringing the sciences together to tackle real-world challenges. The new Single Award GCSE will offer an alternative route for a small number of learners who could benefit from studying a smaller range of content at a pace that’s right for them.
"We will continue to work closely with our key stakeholders, including learned societies, as we progress these reforms to support the ambitions of the Curriculum for Wales.”
