The University of Bradford -
Inspirational Science with the BRT

This project is collaboration between the University of Bradford, the Calderdale Education Authority, the Specialist Schools Trust, SETPOINT West Yorkshire and a representative range of sixteen secondary schools in Calderdale. The project focuses on the immediate and long term CPD of teachers and trainee teachers.

The Education Authority is concerned to raise aspirations and achievement in STEM subjects and they are concerned to raise the level of subject knowledge of the school staff and to provide a continuing resource for this difficult area.

The Specialist Schools Trust will lead this programme to develop science knowledge, science pedagogy and support the specialist schools in Calderdale to improve their leadership and management in science.

The University of Bradford and SETPOINT West Yorkshire, will develop the model for them to work together in teacher CPD and SETPOINT is concerned to build a developing relationship between individual Science and Engineering Ambassadors and their allocated schools.

The programme is particularly appropriate at this time with the growing level of concern at the shortage of physics teachers and the concern to provide CPD for many biology specialists who are teaching physics. A similar concern arises in Primary Schools where few class teachers who deliver the National Curriculum have science qualifications beyond GCSE. The education authority is concerned to improve the links between areas of expertise, subject leadership and management across the authority, within schools and within school clusters and pyramids. Its objective is to raise the profile of science in the schools, encouraging governors and heads to be actively involved.

The Bradford Robotic Telescope (BRT) www.telescope.org is an extensive web site resource focused on teacher support for delivering challenging parts of the National Curriculum and illustrating how science works. It is a resource that can be used right across the curriculum. It has had a glowing evaluation funded by the RDA, which showed that the use of the BRT raised pupil achievement and in the opinion of staff and students raised aspirations to continue studying science. Indications from early adopters of the BRT show great enthusiasm for the resource, but concern about the level of IT and subject knowledge required in the classroom.

The SETPOINT Science and Engineering Ambassadors are people with science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills employed in a variety of occupations at all levels. Many are postgraduate and undergraduate students in science areas. They have a general remit to bring their enthusiasm for the subject to young people. This project gives them a school focus, working with pupils and assisting the teachers to deliver the science curriculum. They will provide subject knowledge and IT confidence for teachers at KS3 and KS2 in specified Calderdale Schools.

The project will

• Improve pedagogy for teaching the Earth and beyond using Scientific Enquiry in Key Stage 3 that recognizes and builds on pupils’ experiences and good practice in teaching at Key Stage 2.
• Provide long term and substantial changes to the practice of science teaching in participating schools.
• Enhance pupil enjoyment of science, aspirations and raised science achievement.

The project will trial a CPD delivery programme across a wide range of schools leading through five specialist schools in science, ICT and Maths. The programme will link SETPOINT. Science and Engineering Ambassadors to the schools to build a lasting relationship and complement the SETPOINT Space Circus project and bring an inspirational space programme into every school.

Contact

Dr John Baruch - j.e.f.baruch@Bradford.ac.uk