National Curriculum Council Consultation Report: Science 1991

Following the establishment of the 1989 National Curriculum (NC) for science, the National Curriculum Council made recommendations to the Secretary of State regarding the revision of Attainments Targets (AT) for science. This document sets out the recommendations for the 1991 NC. The key ideas included:

*A reduction to four ATs (AT1 Scientific investigation; AT2 Life and living processes; AT3 Materials and their properties; AT4 PhysicaI processes). This would apply from Key Stages One to Three, and to both Model A and Model B science at Key Stage Four.

*Model A science and Model B science should be re-titled ‘double’ science and ‘single’ science respectively.

*The weighting for each attainment target should be:
Key Stages One and Two - fifty percent weighting for AT1, with the remaining weight equally shared by ATs 2-4.
Key Stages Three and Four - equal weighting for all four attainment targets ATs 1-4.

*Reporting should be at attainment-target and whole-subject level.

[b] Components [/b]
1. Executive summary of Council's recommendations
2. Introduction
3. Council's advice and recommendations in response to the Secretary of State's letter of 8 May 1991
4. Recommendations for attainment targets and programmes of study
Appendices:
A: The Consultation
B: The Secretary of State's guidance of 8 May 1991
C: Organisations and associations consulted