Policy issues
In Europe, far too many pupils still have little interest in mathematics and science and thus do not choose to follow related careers. Consequently, the needs of the European labour market may not be met – a weak point in our progress towards becoming a highly competitive European Union.
Implementing innovative ways of teaching, such as inquiry-based learning in science and mathematics education, is a key lever
in effecting change to this situation by increasing pupil motivation and interest in these subjects.
Even if educational policies are supportive of inquiry-based learning, they may not actually reflect teachers’ practices.
Indeed, there is strong evidence that, in practice, inquiry-based teaching and learning is not widely implemented in partner
countries or at all levels of education. Traditional transmissive teaching still seems to be widely used in most countries,
even if there are some local differences.
Reasons for the gap between curricula and day-to-day teaching
The reasons for this gap vary from one country to another. They are, however, consistently a mixture of the following,
with different weighting depending on past and present national contexts and cultural backgrounds:
• Lack of initial teacher training/education in inquiry-based learning;
• Initial teacher training/education which does not include use of inquiry-based learning in practice;
• Lack of content knowledge in science and mathematics, which undermines teacher confidence when experimenting with inquiry-based learning;
• Lack of time, as teachers prioritize completion of prescribed curriculum content;
• Overloaded curricula assessed by high-stakes examinations;
• Assessment systems which, in most countries and across all school levels, do not currently reflect the skills, competencies and pupil qualities developed by inquiry-based learning;
• Textbooks and other materials which do not support inquiry-based learning or formulaic use of such materials (‘recipe-book investigations’) leading to continued poor practice;
• The lack of incentives in some countries for teachers to participate in professional development;
• Resistance from pupils, parents or society as a whole as they are not used to inquiry-based learning and the different demands which it makes on learners.
For more details see our International analysis of contexts.
What can be done to overcome this gap?
In order to overcome these problems, cooperation is needed between educators and policy makers at the regional, national and
international levels. The following issues are among those which need to be tackled:
1. Assessment needs to complement inquiry-based learning, and thus assessment should be integrated into inquiry-based learning or should incorporate elements of it.
2. More time needs to be designated for inquiry-based learning in school curricula, as inquiry-based learning is time-consuming when done properly and pupils must have sufficient time to generate their own questions and projects.
3. Curricula must be flexible in order to provide “science for all” as well account for various academic pathways.
4. Adequate models for teacher professional development in inquiry-based learning are needed.
5. Inquiry-based learning should be included in teacher education (pre-service and in-service).
6. There should be incentives for teachers to take part in professional development.