Research: in the field : Primary problems

7 June 1997

Parents want more science and technology taught in
Australian primary schools but less than 10 per cent of staff have a specialist
interest in either subject and less than one hour a week is spent teaching the
subjects in most schools, a study by the Australian Science, Technology and
Engineering Council has found. ASTEC, the government’s main scientific advisory
body, based its report on input from 50 school principals, 150 primary school
teachers, more than 360 students and more than 100 parents. The report,
Foundations for Australia’s Future: Science and Technology in Primary
Schools, was released last week. Parents ranked science and technology
behind English and mathematics as the most important subjects. About 70 per cent
of principals agreed that science and technology were under represented in the
primary school classroom. Lack of teacher confidence and lack of resources were
cited as the two main reasons for the dearth of science teaching.