Responses of teachers in Scotland to the reintroduction of the practical project in the advanced higher chemistry curriculum

1.1 Practical chemistry education

The laboratory is the “signature pedagogy” of chemistry (Gravelle & Fisher, 2012). Practical chemistry is a core component of the chemistry Higher Education experience, with professional bodies in the UK and the USA both stipulating that a chemistry degree must provide between 300 and 400 h of taught practical experience to gain accreditation (ACS, 2023; RSC, 2024).

To make the best use of those hours, extensive scholarship has been undertaken into the pedagogies and purposes of higher education lab learning, generally advocating for structured approaches that build towards an end goal of students conducting authentic research (Seery et al., 2019). These structures generally ramp up the intensity of problem, discovery, or inquiry-based learning throughout a university degree, but there have been numerous examples of bringing experimental design skills into the secondary chemistry curriculum, early higher education, or by involving school pupils in authentic “citizen science” research (Orosz et al., 2023; Szalay & Tóth, 2016; Sella, 2017; Thomson & Lamie, 2022; Seery et al., 2024; van Rens et al., 2010). Higher education systems therefore generally expect, implicitly or explicitly, that incoming students will bring some degree of practical experience with them from their secondary education, potentially even going beyond recipe-following or expository labs. Absences in this provision not only undermine learning generally, but can amplify existing social inequalities through unequal access to high-quality practical schooling (Caushi et al., 2024).

The link between school and higher practical education was dramatically illustrated when the COVID-19 pandemic imposed a significant disruption to practical education across all sectors and subjects (Betthäuser et al., 2023). Across many subjects and countries, this disruption amplified attainment gaps and social inequality (Golden et al., 2023). The impact on chemistry pupils was pervasive and significant world-wide, and with knock-on effects when those pupils subsequently entered higher education (Beneth & Ukeje, 2021; Cramman et al., 2024; Jiménez Sánchez et al., 2022; Ramadhani et al., 2024).

1.2 Scottish context

Presently, in Scotland, the highest level of Secondary Education chemistry qualification is the Advanced Higher (AH). The qualification sits at SCQF Level 7, aligned with levels 4 & 5 in the England and Wales RQF. Advanced Higher chemistry is not mandatory for progression into chemistry Higher Education in Scotland, but many applicants chose to pursue it as it can ease the transition into university, or qualify for progress directly into the 2nd year of some Scottish chemistry degrees. Advanced Higher sits at the same curriculum level as foundation- or first-year university courses, with a significant aspect of investigative practical experimentation known as the AH project, making up 25 % of the total grade for the qualification (Sneddon & Hill, 2011; SQA, 2021). As the Scottish education system is comparatively small, to the best of the authors knowledge there have been no direct studies into the link between this provision and subsequent higher education practical study.

The national body for the qualification, the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA), took the decision to remove the project from assessment in the 2020–2021 academic year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Projects did not resume until the 2023–24 academic year. The official SQA announcement that project work was to resume came in spring 2023, less than three months before the end of the academic year (SQA, 2023).

1.3 Financial pressures

Secondary teaching is in a time of chronic financial pressure, with 20 % of teachers reporting in a 2019 survey that they spent their own money on classroom supplies at least once a week, and a more recent survey from the Educational Institute of Scotland had nearly 7 in 10 teachers stating they had done so (EIS, 2023; Sellgren, 2019). A recent national survey of secondary science teaching in the UK found that 57 % of teachers in the UK/ROI cited inadequate funding as a major challenge (RSC, 2023). This has had a disproportionately high impact on chemistry in 2023 and 2024, since chemical and consumable costs experienced inflation-linked price rises much higher than general measures of inflation (Burke, 2024).

1.4 Our context

The University of Strathclyde has a long history of supporting the professional development of teachers in Scotland, and as part of this hosts an annual professional development event for secondary chemistry teachers. The event includes a half-day practical session in support of AH projects, consisting of hands-on demonstrations of possible AH project ideas. Every teacher in Scotland is given free access to the entire back-catalogue of projects (48 projects, as of summer 2024). Many project ideas are adapted from chemistry education literature, but we also develop new activities in response to sector pressures, such as the addition of an experiment on the topic of polymers to coincide with an update to the curriculum (Cullen & Scott, 2018).

In advance of the reintroduction of project work, we anticipated that many teachers and technicians would find it challenging to find time and resources to resume project work. Before and immediately after the widely expected announcement that projects would resume, we laid on additional sessions, providing documentation, ideas, and professional development events. These sessions have their own evaluation process, and we also sought to probe the wider landscape of teachers across Scotland.

2.1 Research questions

With the top-down imposed resumption of AH projects, and the aforementioned changes to the financial landscape since projects previously ran, we sought to investigate the experiences of Scottish teachers delivering AH projects during the 2023–24 academic year. We had two research questions in mind:

1. Has the ability of a school to support AH chemistry project work been impacted by cost, material availability, or health and safety concerns?

2. How have teachers resourced, supported and upskilled themselves to support AH project work?

3.1 Survey distribution

The survey was granted local ethical approval and distributed via Scottish secondary chemistry teacher networks, our own mailing lists, and social media. The recruitment message indicated that the survey was aimed specifically at those who currently teach or support AH chemistry.

The survey ran for two weeks during February 2024, a time window chosen so that almost all teachers were either engaged in supporting projects or had just finished doing so. Waiting until later in the academic cycle also gave teachers the greatest chance of having been able to previously engage with external professional development resources. The survey collected 47 valid responses, which represents approximately 25 % of the schools in Scotland which offer AH chemistry. It may be the case that multiple respondents taught in the same school, but nonetheless, the response rate is a reasonable sampling of AH provision in Scotland.

3.2 Respondent demographics

When asked how many years they had been supporting project work, the median response was 6 years, with a mean of 8.75 (SD 8.9), a broad spread of experience ranging from 0 to 34 years. Notably, nearly 40 % of respondents had less than three years of project experience. This could potentially be a reflection of normal turnover rates, compounded by the COVID-era project hiatus. To preserve participant anonymity, no other demographic data was collected, as governed by local ethical guidelines. Project experience is also not a direct correlation for overall length of career, since anecdotal evidence suggests that Advanced Higher classes tend to be allocated to more experienced teachers overall. Therefore, we can draw no strong inference about how representative the respondents are, when compared to the population of teachers as a whole.

4.1 Constraints on project availability

Teachers were asked how often budgetary constraints impacted their choice of AH project, with 87 % of respondents indicating this happened at least some of the time and 51 % indicating that this happened very often or always (Figure 1, top). This is in line with US-based research into the impact of budget on availability of lab activities (Boesdorfer & Livermore, 2018; Spiegelman, 2018). When then asked a more explicit question about resource availability impacting the choice of available AH projects (Figure 1, middle), 94 % of respondents indicated this happened at least some of the time. With health and safety concerns, responses were more mixed, with only one third of teachers indicating that this always or often had an influence on project delivery (Figure 1, bottom).

Figure 1:

Likert-scale responses to survey questions probing the impact of various factors on the choice or delivery of advanced higher investigations.

Teachers were then asked a series of more detailed questions about the availability of general or specialist equipment and chemicals, with “specialist” explicitly framed as those which supported AH project work. Most (89 %) classrooms had at least one set of basic laboratory equipment, suitable for supporting the early school curriculum (Broad General Education, BGE). There was also good availability of at least access to more specialised equipment (89 %), suitable for aspects of the Higher or Advanced Higher curricula. When prompted, the most frequently cited shortage equipment were quick-fit apparatus, TLC equipment, and colourimeters. Most of these are required by techniques either introduced or expanded at AH level, but may only have been demonstrated previously. For example, many schools may have access to at least one set of quick-fit glassware for demonstrations in lower years.

Questions around access to basic or specialist chemicals were framed as whether availability restricted the choice of project work available. With that framing, 89 % of respondents reported having basic chemical access for at least some choices, and 74 % reported at least some choices with specialist chemicals as well. However, only 19 % reported having sufficient speciality chemicals for many project choices, versus 51 % for basic. When prompted, specific shortage chemicals were usually organic reagents, solvents, or analytes such as aspirin or caffeine. Lastly, about two-thirds of respondents reported having access to a local university for advanced sample analysis techniques such as infrared or UV/Vis spectroscopy.

When respondents were asked how they would actually obtain speciality chemicals or equipment for AH projects, the top two answers were, expectedly, through procurement or existing resources. However, 24 respondents (51 % of those surveyed) reported asking pupils to spend their own money and 17 (36 %) reported spending their own money (Table 1). This is a stark finding, confirming previous reports that financial pressures are causing teachers to look beyond school budgets to resource teaching (Burke, 2024; EIS, 2023; RSC, 2023; Sellgren, 2019).

Overall, project availability is highly reliant on purchasing, and constrained by the availability of existing materials and equipment from previous purchases. Bringing this into particularly sharp relief is the use of personal cash from students and teachers. Many projects, even when they rely on only routine equipment, may require the purchase of specific analytes or reagents, particularly when they are commercially available.

4.2 Health and safety considerations

Alongside the previously discussed question probing health and safety considerations impacting on project availability (Figure 1, bottom), we provided a further free-text prompt to elaborate on why they selected that answer. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify a number of themes in the responses (Table 2).

Themes for risk and hazard revolved around practical constraints, with the first theme highlighting the lack of safe spaces to either conduct experiments or leave reactions running. In particular, mixed-use classrooms often forced pupils into non-classroom spaces, such as the technician’s base, which could handle the chemical hazards of the project, but imposed an additional draw on teacher attention and time.

The second main theme highlighted that teachers often took a pragmatic view of hazards and avoided more hazardous project ideas, whether that meant restrictions on the work itself, or on disposal of chemicals afterwards. Rather than concerns about work being intrinsically hazardous, teachers instead focused on the additional complexity introduced by higher-hazard work, and how this was not always reflected in the ability for a pupil to secure a high mark in a project.

Interestingly, all safety themes related to specific reasons for restricting projects, even those derived from teachers who stated that project choice was “rarely” impacted by safety. This could indicate that even teachers who felt they were not overly influenced by hazard/risk were still pre-selecting project topics perceived as “safe”.

4.3 The role of technicians and external training resources

When asked about the involvement of technicians in the delivery of the AH project, keyword analysis showed a wide range of responses, focused on pupil support (Figure SI2). This could be via organising, preparing, and ordering resources for their projects, offering advice with their technical experience and expertise, or teaching pupils to use certain techniques/equipment. A few responses here, and elsewhere, mentioned limitations caused by not having access to technicians. Overall, technician support was seen universally as key to project success, in many cases supporting pupils directly. This mirrors previous research supporting the argument that technicians should take active roles in teaching practical science work, particularly in the final years of schooling (Helliar & Harrison, 2010).

We also asked how people upskilled themselves, with most respondents citing Scotland-specific resources (Table 3). For example, the most prevalent response was SSERC, a Scottish educational charity that delivers in-person continuous professional development (CPD) and online resources relating to science teaching and chemical safety. Similarly, the SQA, the accrediting body responsible for the Advanced Higher curriculum itself, was prevalent (SSERC, 2024; SQA, 2024). Overall, existing CPD is well-explored and well-established, and a key component of enabling teacher support for project work.

4.4 Confidence and overall teacher impressions of AH projects

Teachers were asked to rate their own overall confidence in delivering advanced higher projects. Despite the issues discussed above, teachers still retained a high level of confidence overall, with 79 % reporting feeling very or somewhat confident in conducting AH projects. This was followed up with a further free-text question, for which keyword analysis indicated that confidence was largely due to their own experience, professional background, “understanding standards” (an SQA-led CPD event for AH projects), or having worked as a project marker for the SQA previously (Figure SI1). Overall, this may indicate that while support information is valuable, further provision may not dramatically shift teacher perceptions.

Lastly, teachers were asked an entirely open-ended question: “do you have any other thoughts or comments around advanced higher projects?” The responses contained seven identified themes with several sub-themes (Table 4).

The first and most prevalent theme related to lack of pupil experience. Pupils taking AH during this survey had never sat a practical project before at any level, whereas normally they would have received three consecutive projects at three curriculum levels, culminating in AH projects. Projects were reintroduced in the same year for all three curriculum levels, and the teachers being surveyed were in the process of supporting these pupils in their first ever project experience, so it’s not surprising that lack of experience was a concern.

The second main theme related to the process of project selection. Teachers with experience tended to pre-select a few projects, which cut down on the intended freedom that pupils are meant to get in exploring their own lines of interest. More experienced teachers also tend to propose simpler, easier projects which are believed to yield a high mark.

The third main theme related to teachers overall finding the AH project valuable, believing it to encourage independent working and prepare pupils for further work or education.

The fourth and fifth main themes focused on time and resourcing constraints. When small numbers of pupils chose AH chemistry, teachers felt the course was undervalued and given inadequate teaching time, forcing teachers and pupils to sacrifice study or non-contact time as a result. Resourcing was well-explored by the rest of the survey and consequently teachers here only flagged some specific issues with inaccurate equipment, and with specialist reagents only being commercially available in large quantities leading to wastage. Several teachers noted that their local authorities already ran chemical or equipment sharing services, and wished to see this more widespread.

The final theme focused on perceived inequalities between settings. Different council areas were felt to have different budgetary landscapes, and rural settings often had much smaller teaching teams, scattered pupils, and limited or no easy access to university support.

Overall, respondents universally felt that projects were valuable, but came with financial, logistical and practical challenges that could disproportionately impact pupils in poorer or more remote areas, a worrying finding when considering previous research on “educational debt” discrimination and its transmission through to Higher Education (Caushi et al., 2024).

6.1 Recommendations for practitioners

As the key change studied – the reintroduction of the AH chemistry project – was an external imposed change, recommendations for teachers and technicians are necessarily limited. However, we did identify many examples of good practice from respondents. Specifically, CPD, technician colleagues, and local authority and university networks all enabled greater confidence and ease in teachers and it may be reasonable that any teacher who is required to deliver project work should explore these avenues.

6.2 Recommendations for professional bodies

A significant factor that clearly emerged from the current research was the valuable role of technicians in supporting AH projects and beyond. However, although there are some professional development opportunities for teachers, there are currently very limited opportunities for technician-specific development. In the UK, there has been a recent drive to better recognise the valuable role of technicians through the Technician Commitment, however this is focused on higher education and research rather than schools or colleges (The Technician Commitment, 2024; Vere, 2022, 2024). Schools, councils, sector bodies, and other interested organisations should give consideration to the valuable role of technicians in supporting pupil project work, and the wider science curriculum, and consider implementing technician-specific CPD.

The survey findings also raised a number of possibilities for future improvements in how projects are resourced or run. However, any changes to the wider landscape would need to be enacted at the level of national government, or other government-influenced institutions such as the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) or Education Scotland. The SQA is due to restructure into a new body, Qualifications Scotland, and the observations in this work should be considered by this new body as part of any future curriculum or resourcing review of Advanced Higher chemistry, or science project work more generally.

6.3 Future research

Lastly, the findings raised a number of new research areas:

1. If schools are often relying on local authority or university networks to deliver the AH curriculum, does this introduce further inequality to rural or remote schools?

2. Are AH qualifications valued in schools, and do teachers have an adequate allocation of time to deliver them, and are they appropriately resourced with space or money?

3. Beyond project work, do current school budgets allow for the proper financing of chemistry qualifications? It could be valuable to identify minimum equipment requirements, lifetimes, and associated costs.

4. Do teachers feel confident enough in the safety aspects of AH project work, or project work in general, and are they supported with enough subject-specific professional development?

5. If teachers and pupils are spending out of pocket to support core teaching activities, what effect does this have on the education of those from low socio-economic backgrounds?