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Urgent reinvestment is needed in science education research to adequately prepare children for complex future challenges, such as climate change, public health crises, or rapid technological developments, according to a new report.
The call comes in a report aimed at Government and education stakeholders, co-authored by Leigh Hoath, Professor of Science Education at Leeds Trinity University, alongside Dr Stuart Bevins, Principal Research Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University, and developed with a group of science education researchers from organisations across the UK.
The experts are warning that a recent decrease in sustained research funding risks leaving schools and teachers without the up-to-date expertise and professional support needed to ensure classroom practice and curriculum content reflect our rapidly changing world.
The report argues that science education has never been more important, as young people are being asked to navigate issues including artificial intelligence, climate change, public health, misinformation, and rapid technological change.
Yet the resource needed to sustain the up-to-date research base essential to understanding how science is taught and learned is becoming increasingly limited.
The authors point to the withdrawal of Wellcome Trust funding for science education research in 2021 and reductions in Department for Education funding for STEM learning as examples of a longer-term decrease in investment. They also highlight a 47% reduction in Government funding for the professional development of science teachers in 2025, which is likely to aggravate the existing crisis of recruitment and retention of science teachers affecting schools across the country.
Professor Hoath said: “Science education research provides the evidence we need to understand what works in classrooms, how pupils learn science, and how teachers can be supported to respond to a rapidly changing world.
“At a time when there are ambitious plans for science education, artificial intelligence, and technological development, it is concerning that the capacity to generate the evidence needed to support those ambitions is declining.
“Reinvestment in science education research is ultimately an investment in teachers, schools, and young people. Without it, we risk becoming stuck in ineffective cycles of reform, without developing the knowledge needed to make lasting improvements.”
The authors emphasise that science education research provides the evidence base for decisions about curriculum, assessment, teaching, and professional development, all of which shape how science is taught and therefore how it will be perceived and understood by future generations.
Dr Bevins added: "Science education matters enormously, not only for developing the scientists and innovators of the future, but for enabling every young person to understand and critically engage with the world around them. Yet at precisely the time when we are asking more of science education, the research and professional infrastructure needed to support it is being eroded.
"If we want ambitious curriculum reform to translate into meaningful and equitable change in classrooms, we need to reinvest in the evidence, expertise and partnerships that make that change possible."
The report calls for policymakers to recognise science education research as a strategic priority, to re-establish sustainable funding, protect and enhance professional development for science teachers, and embed science education within policy and curriculum reform.