Hi Margaret

hope this helps- it was quite depressing looking at the list of
modules running here only 3 years ago. However our current
situation was entirely predictable from about 1996. In some ways it
is an achievement to have lasted so long.

Rob

Date sent:              Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:57:48 +0000
Send reply to:          Science and Lifelong Learning <[log in to unmask]>
From:                   Margaret Pilkington <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:                CE science provision questionnaire
To:                     [log in to unmask]

Dear All,
Below is the short CE science provision questionnaire (to provide
information on the state of CE science for my forthcoming book exploring
science teaching in the countryside which is to be published by NIACE).
I have tried to make the questions quick to answer (for example I am not
asking for numbers of students)and hope that you will be able to respond
using what is in your heads rather than having to look up figures.
I would very much appreciate an immediate reply and will keep you posted on
major findings.
With best wishes,
Margaret


The State of CE Science Provision, November 2003
Email questionnaire

Please answer all the questions by adding or deleting as appropriate, and
return to <[log in to unmask]> by beginning of December.

1. Your name: Rob Chapman

2. What is your subject speciality? Earth Sciences/metallurgy
and status?  full-time
faculty.

3. Name of institution: U of Leeds

4. How long have you been involved with CE science provision at this
institution? 13 years

5. Have you or your department undergone reorganisation in the last 3 or 4
years? No
If yes, please give details.

6. If yes, how has this affected your ability to deliver CE science
teaching?

7. If no, Do you expect to be reorganised in the near future?  No
If yes, please give details.

8. Name of department: School Of Continuing Education

9. Is this:
a CE department?  Yes
a mainstream university department?  Yes/No
other?  Please give details.

10. How long have you been in this department? 13 years

11. How many part-time, adult education science courses is your institution
running this year (2003-04)?  Please fill in the table below.

                       Short courses, 5-12 credits      Long courses, 20-36 credits
Open course,
(general interest)
HE Level1               1                               3
HE Level 2
HE Level 3

Please give details of any post-graduate provision.

12. Subjects covered in this year’s provision.  Please delete/add to list.
Astronomy
Geology/Geomorphology
Botanical illustration

13. Is your provision contracting?  Please delete as
appropriate.
Please add any details you have to hand.

Rapid decline from 2000. From 1994- 2000 between 20 and 30
courses per year, about 50% 10 cr, 30% 20 and 20% 30 cr.


14. Why do you think this is happening?

Many reasons:

1. Increase in cost- SCE courses now equivalent price of p/t degree
modules
2. Increase in viable number threshold to 14 students,
(consequence of being a deficit department)
3. Unclear remit- the courses are accreditted, but do not fit into a
broader degree scheme. Students who study out of interest resent
the assessment load, (usually equivalent to science u/g teaching
not arts) , students interested in sustained serious study have no
provision past level 1. Why not? - i. resourcing issues. ii.
duplicationof on campu sprovision, iii. only 1 science staff member
in CE at Leeds so no opportunity to cross fertilize and develop
programmes such as your own BA Landscape studies.
Archaeology is irritatingly and stubbornly fixed in BA mode. (dont
quote me on that bit!)

15. Apart from you, how many other science tutors help to deliver your CE
science programme?
Hourly paid part-time tutors: 4
Fraction-post faculty   0
Full-time faculty         0

16.  Please add any other comments you have about the current state of CE
science provision.

My own feeling is that to fulfill its true potential accreditted science
CE really needs to be regional rather than local. Only this way can
an appropriate audience be aquired. This requires collaboration with
other CE providers, and the disparity of individual practices has
hampered this, together with the demise/ reorganisation of the
most obvious potential partners for us in Leeds. The only way
forward I see now, (assuming a return to the broader science
education remit remains inadmissable as a funded activity) is to
work closely with internal depts in a WP context to to generate
dedicated access routes which double as CE provision. There is
some interest in this at Leeds- depending upon the state of
undergraduate recruitment. Design and delivery are certainly
possible, but whether the market exists is another question. there
are also timetabling issues making CE provision equivalent to u/g
science teaching.




17.  Please indicate whether you would be happy for me to quote comments
from your response in my book.
I am happy for you to quote my comments in your book, Science in the
Countryside.   Yes/.


Thank you very much.

Margaret Pilkington
Centre for Continuing Education
University of Sussex