These comments were submitted in support of the open letter at sign.tonysherborne.blog
"When teaching climate change, assessment only requires you to teach the definition and the impacts — however you could teach so much more with the current state of climate change."
— Kirsty Hughes, Director of Science, Paignton Academy
"Far too much content to cover — therefore I leave the practical and real life examples that won't be examined."
— Zoe Davison, Head of Biology, John F Kennedy Catholic School
"The teaching of condensation polymerisation requires detailed, advanced background knowledge. Students currently have to memorise the products totally out of context."
— Philip Burrage, Chemistry Teacher, International School Michel Lucius Luxembourg
"Too many students are unable to experience success in designing and carrying out an open-ended practical investigation into something that interests them."
— Amanda Clegg, School Improvement Consultant, AKC Educational Consultancy
"GCSE assessment often forces me to prioritise exam technique over real scientific reasoning. During a required practical, students wanted to explore why their results were inconsistent, but instead I had to steer them towards memorising the standard evaluation points that match the mark scheme. It felt like the assessment rewarded formulaic responses over curiosity, judgement, and real-world problem-solving."
— Zoe Ellis, Head of Science, West Kirby School and College
"Students are required to rote learn scientific techniques such as gas and food tests. In the real world a method would be supplied if required."
— Valerie Cornish, Science Teacher, Endeavour Academy
"The rush of getting through things has meant that I have not been able to spend time addressing misinformation around vaccinations and viruses such as HIV."
— Samantha Paterson, Science Teacher, John F Kennedy School
"To understand Physics in a real-world context, even more lesson time is required. Instead of time we have more content. More content means curriculum is less engaging as a subject."
— Janelle Prime, Teacher of Science, North Bridge House Senior and Sixth Form
"Real-world skills — practical skills and associated reasoning — are impossible to teach. There is never enough time to adequately analyse or process practical results. It is a constant churn through content. We are always making decisions to cull content — there is just too much."
— Stephen Simkin, Second in Chemistry, King's Academy Binfield
"The battle all of the time is juggling teaching content without teaching much context. We have assessment windows that mean teaching content is sometimes just so that students can sit the assessment in a certain timeframe. What do these assessments actually tell us?"
— Paul Gold, Head of Science, Thames Park
"When teaching photosynthesis there is a great opportunity to do an evaluation exercise comparing the advantages and disadvantages of vertical farming — great for teaching weighing up trade-offs — but due to the content versus teaching time challenge we have to prioritise learning new content as this is what the assessment demands."
— Harvey Eperon, Head of Biology, Langley Park School for Boys
"When teaching about fuels for the future, there simply isn't enough time to appropriately delve into this topic. There are so many areas that need more time, more real-world application, more exploration of circumstance and nuance."*
— Kirsty Duncan, Former Science Teacher, Hundred of Hoo Academy
"Students need to know the relevance of taught topics. Ideally I would have students build simple motors to lift loads, understanding energy stores and electromagnetism — rather than spending a lesson on a ripple tank measuring wave speed in liquids."
— Science teacher
"We start teaching our GCSE courses in Y9 and still hardly have time for students to understand it. Despite being fortunate to have great science labs and great technician support, we hardly do any practical work now at KS4 bar the required practicals."
— Paul Gillam, Head of Biology, Rugby School
"The speed at which we need to go through the curriculum means that we can't focus on climate change, carbon footprint and LCA — all of which are vital for students to understand for their future."
— Nadine Malcolm, Assistant Principal, Cambourne Village College
"The level of content means there is not time to complete full write-ups of practicals. Students prioritise knowledge over writing like a scientist in their revision. The impact is that our Year 12 students are ill-equipped for A-level required practicals."
— Science teacher
"It is becoming increasingly difficult to teach the skills needed and cover the breadth of curriculum. Depth of understanding is compromised and students are not adequately prepared for university and the workforce."
— Margaret Sorenson, Former Head of Science, Sacred Heart College, New Zealand
"Scraping the surface on real-world issues — climate change, the albedo effect, the COVID pandemic." — Daniel Clarke, Science Teacher and Head of 6th Form, North Bridge House Senior Hampstead
"We are drowning in tests. Knowledge tests, Measure Formative Assessments, End of topic tests, minimocks, full mocks - this all means that there is less time to actually ensure that pupils UNDERSTAND the concepts." — Dr David Wilson, Head of Science, Melbourn Village College
"Our students need to know the relevance of taught topics. For example, ideally, I would have liked students to build simple motors and put them to use i.e. lift loads to understand the concept of changes in energy stores, electromagnetism and link to power and household bills — rather than have a lesson on ripple tank and measure wave speed in liquids." — Science teacher
"There are so many! Every time I teach variables, pupils rarely remember how to identify the independent, dependent and control variables." — Sarah Philpott, Teacher and Education Researcher.
"The ludicrous answers in exams about wind turbines being noisy or unreliable. If we could go into battery storage and much cheaper renewables we could give a more realistic picture of options available." — Becky Parker, Physics Teacher, Project Earth
"Where you have to say the exam board wants you to know this for the mark — teaching about Ebola in Edexcel when students are more concerned about Covid or meningitis outbreaks. We are too focused on ensuring they understand a disease which is least likely to affect them. Students feel like we don't have the skill to inform them about their potential experiences." — Leanna Roberts, Biology Teacher, The Royal Grammar School High Wycombe
"The push to drill pointless recall facts which don't support wider scientific understanding — average speed of walking, driving etc — takes time that should be spent teaching critical thinking skills and problem solving." — Lindsay Harrington, Science Teacher, Pudsey Grammar School
"My students often ask questions related to Science but not relevant to the rigid curriculum. I would like to help them explore their curiosity but I can't — I need to enable them to jump through the hoops for GCSE." — Jo-anne Atkinson, Leading Practitioner, Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College
"Practical skills or content knowledge is the first decision I have to make when planning my lessons. With so much content to cover, students often have to make do with a quick demo rather than being given the time to investigate for themselves. Students no longer have the skills they used to have when the curriculum was less dense." — Science teacher
"I lead curriculum across the trust so while I don't teach Science I do see the impact the issues raised here have on the teaching of Science. The end result is an overemphasis on getting through the content at the expense of real world application." — Steve Hall, Director of Curriculum, LiFE Multi-Academy Trust
"There is no need for students to design any experiments or to properly evaluate results." — Science teacher
"Ploughing through the unnecessary overload of content causes learners to miss opportunities to really use their real world scientific skills. We have a greater focus on exam skills instead of learner understanding." — Dawn Sutton, Director of Science, Dudley Academies Trust
"When teaching electricity you can only go into surface depth because you have a lot of content and equations to cover. To give a real conceptual understanding of electricity you need more time than allocated."
— Kirsty Hughes, Director of Science, Paignton Academy
"One student asked why spring coming earlier matters. I would love to have time to address this fully as a fuller understanding would help shape their future life choices. However, I had to give only a very brief explanation which was in no way effective in helping them understand the big picture. This scenario plays out regularly."
— Science teacher
"Triple chemistry students do formation of polyester and polyamide — something not covered until Year 13 A level. They have no opportunity for any depth of understanding in the organic syllabus as it covers a very wide field to a very superficial level."
— Kerry Tomlinson, Chemistry Teacher, Canon Slade
"Far too much content to cover — therefore I leave the extra examples and depth that won't be examined."
— Zoe Davison, Head of Biology, John F Kennedy Catholic School
"Year on year, examiners' reports show that students are not being taught how to construct and interpret graphs — a key skill for adult life."
— Amanda Clegg, School Improvement Consultant, AKC Educational Consultancy
"I taught photosynthesis and respiration in the same week because the curriculum required us to cover both quickly. Students memorised the equations but didn't really understand the relationship between the two processes. When I asked why plants also respire, many said plants only photosynthesise, or that respiration only happens at night."
— Zoe Ellis, Head of Science, West Kirby School and College
"Unless students have time to develop an in-depth understanding of ionic bonding, they struggle to understand or engage with a large portion of the subsequent curriculum. This means they develop a strong dislike or phobia of chemistry as they perceive it as 'too hard'."
— Valerie Cornish, Science Teacher, Endeavour Academy
"Too often, we simply have to go through the remaining specification at pace in the last few weeks before exams."
— Science teacher
"We have to start teaching content in Y9 just to get through all of combined science. You do not have time to go over content to make sure they actually understand it — you teach one lesson on it and move on even if they do not get it. Ecology content is always last, meaning it is rushed — students are not able to grasp the importance of reducing pollution in the world around us."
— Samantha Paterson, Science Teacher, John F Kennedy School
"The topics we need to cover in physics require more time for students to think — much of the content is so abstract. Students with lower abilities especially struggle to access the content."
— Janelle Prime, Teacher of Science, North Bridge House Senior and Sixth Form
"We feel compelled to teach sheer volumes of factual material for fear of accountability. I wish we could narrow this down and really focus on core principles — and have time to build the thinking skills required for answering specific types of problem."
— Stephen Simkin, Second in Chemistry, King's Academy Binfield
"Curriculum overload is a central feature of A levels. Students still struggle with the central dogma of DNA to protein to phenotype. This limits their ability to understand who they are, how they fit into the biological world, and what life actually is."
— Rachel van de Merwe, Programme Director Natural Sciences, East Kent Colleges Group
"The 'Using Resources' topic just uses up curriculum time because it's so shallow that there seems no point in covering it."
— Nicole Taylor, School Improvement Lead, Roseland MAT
"We have a teaching time of 4 hours available to teach photosynthesis — a complex process which underpins many other processes — so this can only be done to a surface level, resulting in a lack of depth of understanding."
— Harvey Eperon, Head of Biology, Langley Park School for Boys
"Students going through puberty have questions about their bodies and want to understand hormones more. We did not really have time to explore this in depth and in a way that they will remember."
— Kirsty Duncan, Former Science Teacher, Hundred of Hoo Academy
"Curriculum overload means that when students miss just one lesson they will probably miss a fundamental concept that there isn't time to repeat. In Year 10, students often miss 6 lessons or more over the year for trips, careers meetings and enrichment."
— Emma Benton, Science Teacher, Manor Drive Secondary Academy
"Only one? The sheer quantity of work to cover in the curriculum is outrageous. Even the best students struggle with this. It is so sad to not be able to go further in depth with many topics."
— Daniel Clarke, Science Teacher and Head of 6th Form, North Bridge House Senior Hampstead
"Teaching of new content continues up to the Easter holiday of Year 11 — very different compared to other subjects. Concepts are revisited rarely and there is little time to fully revise."
— Science teacher
"Filament bulbs are still included but students never see one and its significance is lost on them. We forge ahead to learn a pile of abstract facts that are really only useful if going on to A level."
— Science teacher
"We start teaching our GCSE courses in Y9 and still hardly have time for students to understand it."
— Paul Gillam, Head of Biology, Rugby School
"Teaching a topic per one-hour lesson in order to race through the specification does not allow time for deep understanding."
— Maria Mazevet, Science Teacher, British School Alzira
"To fit in with the Year11 mock in February, we have to teach the Haber Process very early, as we haven't finished the course by then. This disrupts the normal sequence of lessons, that helps to confuse the pupils." — Dr David Wilson, Head of Science, Melbourn Village College
"Many of my students have very limited exposure to science outside school. A few weeks ago we were studying the impact of humans on our environment — something I feel is critical for citizens of the future. One student asked why spring coming earlier matters. I would love to have time to address this fully as a fuller understanding of this area would help shape their future life choices. However, I had to give only a very brief explanation which was in no way effective in helping them understand the big picture. This scenario plays out regularly." — Science teacher
"I have 2-3 examples. Aqueous electrolysis is quite advanced for many students. Amphoteric oxides are not necessary at this stage. The ion tests are good for practical work, as long as the information is given — which it currently is. It is ridiculous for students to memorise them for the multiple choice exam or the structured question paper." — Science teacher
"The syllabi are too great for the time we have in lessons. Too often, we simply have to go through the remaining specification at pace in the last few weeks before exams." — Science teacher
"Content of curriculum means that concepts are revisited rarely. There is little time to fully revise. Teaching of new content continues up to the Easter holiday of Year 11 — very different compared to other subjects in the school." — Science teacher
"Ripple Tank is a required practical but most teachers run this as a demo. In Chemistry, the idea of learning about fuel cells seems very ambitious — it remains very abstract and students end up doing rote learning, which is not the intention." — Science teacher
"Fleming's Left Hand Rule — unless they've understood induced magnetism, they really struggle." — Sarah Philpott, Teacher and Education Researcher, St Simon Stock Catholic School
"Radioactivity — you talk about beta decay being electrons from the nucleus but don't have time to fully explain why a neutron turns into a proton. Yet you say electrons aren't in the nucleus" — Becky Parker, Physics Teacher, Project Earth
"Often in Biology, experiments don't work how we expect because biological organisms behave in an uncontrolled way. Students think they've failed rather than appreciating anomalous results. This doesn't make them critical thinkers — they just see it as a tick box exercise: 'do we need to remember the method for the exam?'" — Leanna Roberts, Biology Teacher, The Royal Grammar School High Wycombe
"Every single topic and concept is virtually only mentioned once, with never really any time to go into greater depth. For example, I explain the definition of Composites in 1 minute and move on, instead of taking 1-2 lessons making and testing reinforced concrete. Also, students who miss a lesson could miss out on very niche knowledge like the Electrolysis of Aluminium Oxide, which is then tested for around 8 marks on their Year 11 exam paper.'" — Science teacher
"Teaching the numerous interlaced concepts in chemistry is so intense that lower and middle set groups simply give up trying to understand the 'why' behind ideas like electrolysis and bonding. They consider it purely to be yet more facts to recall. Performance at A Level chemistry has become significantly more stilted as there is so much unteaching needed to build basic concepts that should be secure by post-16.'" — Lindsay Harrington, Science Teacher, Pudsey Grammar School
"The Science curriculum is a mile wide and an inch deep. Every lesson there is different content to cover. A GCSE question could be 12 marks on one line in the specification — and that's a specification that is 198 pages long. It's all about superficial understanding of a vast amount, rather than in-depth understanding of a few key concepts'" — Jo-anne Atkinson, Leading Practitioner, Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College
"Every day I have to decide whether to teach the topic to a level they understand or gloss over to deliver the whole content. I can no longer make lessons interesting enough for students to want to follow a science-based career as there just isn't time.'" — Science teacher
"In one extreme example a school briefly stopped using science experiments in KS3 due to time constraints. It went back on this when it saw the negative impact this had on understanding." — Steve Hall, Director of Curriculum, LiFE Multi-Academy Trust
"Each lesson has a topic in order to get through everything, so there is no time for consolidation" — Science teacher
"There is too much content currently on the curriculum and some of the chemistry can be questioned as to whether it is chemistry at all. Learners are struggling to fully understand the core concepts and transfer them across topics." — Dawn Sutton, Director of Science, Dudley Academies Trust