When the A level reforms were initiated, Michael Gove spoke several times about engaging HEIs and making a qualification that was ‘fit for purpose’; in effect, suggesting that HEIs should approve of the A level qualification and hold it in high regard. In this stage of the interview views of the A level in Physics were explored from the perspective of two
university lecturers who had taken in students for several years. What did they consider to be the problems that needed to be improved or solved through the reform of A levels?
The chief criticism of the A level process was not to do with content, but “the skills that students come to HE with”. The key aspects that were focussed on were not necessarily
41While considering barriers within Physics education, [K] expressed an issue that was not relevant to this
thesis but was pertinent when considering gender issues across the field as a whole. [K]’s experiences were that trying to maintain a suitable work-life balance was a significant issue for women in Physics, mainly due to the CRF and having to produce research.
specific skills, but more generally “Literacy and numeracy at a degree level. Almost all of the physics courses now have to teach the required mathematics from the basic principles up.” While this is reported in other subjects previously mentioned, Doctors [K] and [M] note that this has the effect of reducing the amount of physics content that can be taught in some modules. Although it is the nature of physics degree courses to contain modules on
mathematics both pure and applied, the timetabling of some modules is something that can cause unforeseen problems. [M] teaches a first-year physics unit that required an
integration technique that is not covered on A level courses, and is therefore included in a first-year mathematics module. Unfortunately, the Mathematics department had placed it in the module at a point after it was required and so a lecture had to be spent going through the concept, and ultimately one of the physics topics dropped from the module in order for it to fit. The mathematical ability required of students was felt to be poorly understood by the government who had increased the percentage of mathematics, but not the complexity or techniques, leading to [K] describing the changes to A level physics over the past decade as a “dumbing down”. The feeling was that A level students should be required to do more complicated mathematical analyses because “If students can’t do maths then they’re probably not going to be a very good physicist”. What was notable to both [K] and [M] was how issues regarding general literacy, noted to be lacking in many physics students at university, formed no aspect of the reforms at all.
[K] described further limiting factors in “Computer programming, essay-based questions, and the ability of students to get up and talk about Physics” and both interviewees noted that the students lacked confidence in devising their own approaches to problems:
[M] “They’re sometimes plucking the scientific method out of thin air because it’s not something that they’ve been exposed to.”
This aspect of university physics lab work was seen by [M] as something that could be utilised in A level physics classes currently: “Honesty can be tough in coursework but students are often following set instructions like a recipe and can’t manufacture their own procedures for themselves”. He was pleased to see that the introduction of the required practicals was a move towards students keeping a lab diary and thinking about processes,
but was concerned that it was not entirely free because of the involvement of the teacher in the process. The new A level practical work does require students to carry out an element that involves data logging or graph work using a computer but nothing akin to the computer programming that was mentioned, yet when Y10 students attend university outreach sessions they often show that they are capable of, and enjoy, writing programs. “Talking about Physics”is, however, more challenging, and would involve a different direction than that taken by the government if included as a requirement of the A level course. At a classroom level this is at the discretion of the teacher, however the removal of school involvement in the assessment of practical science within schools as part of the A level coursework showed that the DfE did not have faith in individual schools or teachers to run classroom-based assessments that contributed towards a student’s grade honestly and fairly.
As the interviews moved towards questions that related specifically to the educational reforms themselves, [K] had a question for me. She asked what my opinion was on whether the A level specification had been “made simpler to make it more accessible to non-
specialist teachers?” While this is not something that I believe is the case, it is interesting to consider how HE physics educators may be curious about whether FE has enough qualified physicists to teach physics, and that the field of physics teaching may ultimately have to change because of this.