Open AccessThe effects of Covid-19 on student transition from school to university in STEM subjects
Author(s) -
Daniel Cottle
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
new directions in the teaching of physical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2051-3615
pISSN - 1740-9888
DOI - 10.29311/ndtps.v0i16.3847
Subject(s) - covid-19 , curriculum , medical education , psychological resilience , psychology , affect (linguistics) , mathematics education , transition (genetics) , medicine , pedagogy , social psychology , chemistry , virology , disease , biochemistry , communication , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , gene
Covid‑19 restrictions affected most of the post‑16 learning experience of the students who will begin university courses in STEM in the UK in autumn 2021. Ongoing disruption to learning culminated in the cancellation of normal A-level examinations which were replaced with teacher assessments. Informal discussion with secondary school teaching colleagues reveals some possible consequences for the students’ transition to degree level study in STEM subjects. The main suggestion is that, despite the resilience that students have shown both academically and socially, there have been significant omissions from the normally studied curriculum that may affect their progress on degree courses in STEM including: lack of experimental practice and skills, lack of specific subject knowledge and lack of experience of assessment.