Children denied chance to study science and languages

Half of schools in parts of the country are failing to offer children the chance to study science, study finds

Schools in deprived neighbourhoods are denying young people the chance to study subjects deemed “too difficult” like sciences and languages in a bid to massage exam results, a think tank has found.

Research by the Royal Society of Arts found that up to half of schools in some parts of the country are not offering pupils the chance to study triple science at GCSE level, while others are failing to offer the chance to study languages.

Charlotte Alldritt, director of public services at the RSA, said: “Denying young people access to subjects such as triple science sends out a terrible message. It says that if you’re young and poor, we expect you to fail.

“Rather than dumbing down our curriculum to achieve better grades, school leaders should be aiming to improve the standard of their teaching so that all children have the chance of going onto the academic or training courses they want and getting the best jobs available. This is about building our skills base so that we increase productivity, encourage investment and let our communities thrive.”

Research by the RSA found that half of schools in North East Lancashire do not offer triple science GCSEs, with more than a third of schools failing to offer the subjects in Kingston upon Hull, Newcastle, Slough in Berkshire and Knowsley in Cheshire. By contrast in Sussex and Cumbria every school offers a GCSE in the three sciences.

In Middlesbrough and Barnsley just one in four children study a foreign language at GCSE level, compared to two thirds of pupils in Kingston upon Thames in southwest London.

The report by the RSA warns that the growing number of academy schools could exacerbate the problem.

Roger Taylor, who conducted the analysis for the RSA, said: ““These data clearly show that children’s educational opportunities are defined by where they live. They show that in some parts of Britain, opportunities are restricted because all the schools within a neighbourhood have decided not to offer more challenging subjects.

“We can see that the curriculum taught to children in poorer parts of Britain is significantly different to that taught in wealthier areas.

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