Revolutionary change

It has been an interesting time for those of us concerned with chemistry education following Ofqual’s announcement that there will be no formal practical assessment in the next generation of science A-levels. This raises no end of alarm bells in my current higher education habitat, but how would I have felt had I still been in the classroom? Would the removal of the assessed component have stopped me from doing practical work? Of course not. In fact, having been released from the shackles of assessment, perhaps I would be more creative in my use of practical work? The main concern for me, however, is that policymakers often fail to anticipate the consequences of this type of decision, and this could be the thin end of a rather large wedge that could really set science teaching back.

David Read provides a guest editorial, exploring this issue's contents.