There is a follow-up article today in the Sydney Morning Herald by
Nicky Phillips and Amy McNeilage entitled, "Student exit from maths
and science to go under microscope".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicky Phillips and Amy McNeilage, Sydney Moring Herald
Many senior school students are abandoning challenging maths and science subjects because they are no longer prerequisites for university courses, says the head of the NSW curriculum authority.
Over the past decade, almost all NSW universities have dropped subject requirements for many degrees.
"Why would you struggle through those very difficult subjects if you don't need them to gain entry to university?" Tom Alegounarias, the president of the NSW Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards, said.
The proportion of Australia's year 12 students studying maths and science has decreased dramatically over the past 20 years, as the Herald reported on Monday.
Mr Alegounarias argued the shrinking proportion of students taking high-level maths and science was also linked to the growing selection of subjects available, as well as the elevated school-leaving age of 17 since 2010.
But Sydney science teacher John Kennedy said it was also clear that many students were turning off science and maths in their early school years.
"We know when they come into year 7 they're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," Mr Kennedy, the head of science at St Andrew's Cathedral School, said.
"But we don't know what happens to them from year 7 to year 10 when they make their decisions for their final-year subjects."
To unravel this trend, Mr Kennedy is embarking on a world-first longitudinal study to understand when, how and why students are less likely to select science and maths courses in their final years of school.
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Interested readers can find the article here :-
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci...07-10rff1.html