Ofsted has set out what it believes are the key principles of good science teaching, after carrying out a research review.

The inspectorate is now planning to look in detail at how science is being taught in schools through its inspections.

It has said it will use its subject deep dives to gather evidence about the quality of education and publish a new report in 2022.

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Through a study of existing research and literature, Ofsted says it has identified a number of principles that contribute to high-quality science education.

Ofsted guidance for high-quality science teaching

These are:

• Planning the science curriculum so that pupils build knowledge of key concepts and the relationships between them over many years. The watchdog says this prevents pupils from seeing science as a list of isolated facts.
• Ensuring that pupils remember the content that has been taught to them over the long term. It says this is important “because building domain-specific knowledge leads to expertise”.
• Explicitly teaching pupils the concepts and procedures needed to work scientifically.
• Starting curriculum planning right from the early years by introducing pupils to wide-ranging vocabulary to describe the natural world.
• Teachers giving clear explanations that build on what pupils already know and explicitly focus pupils’ attention on the content being learned.
• Making sure practical work has a clear purpose, and forms part of a wider teaching sequence, only taking place when pupils have enough prior knowledge to learn from the activity.
• Ensuring that science teachers and technicians have access to regular, high-quality subject-specific CPD. Ofsted says this is especially important given that many science teachers are teaching outside of their subject specialism

Ofsted’s chief inspector, Amanda Spielman, said: “This is the first in a series of subject reviews we will publish over the coming months, which will inform our thinking about what makes a high-quality subject education in schools.

“The science research review was planned before the Covid-19 pandemic began, but its publication is timely. As part of education recovery, schools will need to think carefully about what content to prioritise and how best to teach it.”