London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

A three-year project aimed at engaging young people from one of the most deprived parts of London with science has been hailed as a huge success, and has also led to a marked improvement in GCSE science results.

'It's Our Science, Our Society, Our Health', was funded by the Wellcome Trust as a collaborative project between academics from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and students from three state schools in the east London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. The project has transformed the attitudes and aspirations of those involved, and offers a promising new model for engaging young people who might otherwise not consider a career in science.

At a national level, interest in science among the young still continues to decline, and trends indicate that disadvantaged young people are particularly affected, with few entering biomedical sciences.

With this in mind, Carolyn Stephens, Senior Lecturer in Health and Environment at LSHTM, recruited a cohort of thirty one young people from Barking and Dagenham with the aim of supporting them in undertaking their own science and research projects, and to inspire them to want to learn more. The young people were at a crucial stage in their development: they were about to take decisions about whether to join the workforce or move on to continue in post-GCSE education.

The project began with a week-long summer school examining critical science issues, and giving the pupils a chance to develop and present their own ideas. The young people designed their own studies of health problems of both local and international relevance, including asthma and tuberculosis in the UK, and malaria, access to vaccines, and the impact of global warming on disease patterns worldwide.

The project also had a wholly unexpected outcome, in that it had a noticeable effect on the pupils' achievements in their GCSE science studies. An initial analysis of the findings reveals that 73% of the pupils participating in the project achieved at least one grade higher in GCSE science than would have been expected on the basis of their performance in national tests in year 9. 50% of this group achieved two grades higher than expected. And 88% of the group who sat double-award science achieved an A*-C grade, compared to a national average of roughly 55%.

Dr Stephens comments: "The feedback we have had from the young people is tremendous and we were surprised by the diversity and appeal of the public health topics they chose to work on. We had expected them to focus on public health topics relevant to their own daily lives in Britain. Many chose areas of international public health, such as malaria prevention and access to vaccines in less developed countries, demonstrating a maturity of understanding about global health priorities. "This is where children need health research the most", explained one of the young people."

The Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Sir Andrew Haines, is a convert to the need for scientists to devote time to engaging with the next generation of scientists, and ensuring that the new recruits reflect the diversity of our society as far as possible. He says: "Initially, I was healthily sceptical as to whether this would be a success or not. But every year, I become more and more convinced that we should be doing this kind of public engagement with young people who might otherwise never consider a career in scientific research."

Dr Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust comments: "I am delighted to see that this project has had such a tremendous impact on the lives and aspirations of these young people. It shows the important role that can be played by scientists working in universities or industry who are prepared to share their skills and enthusiasm with schools. This approach could be extremely valuable to recruit and inspire the next generation of science students, who will have key roles to play throughout society."

Councillor Jeanne Alexander, Executive Member for Children's Services, said: "We were honoured to be invited to take part in this three year project which has had a huge impact on the lives of those students who took part as well as contributing to a significant improvement in their GCSE science results. We know that traditionally science has not always been the most popular subject among our students and a project like this has both inspired and engaged young people who would not have necessarily thought about a career in a health or science-related field."

Barking and Dagenham has, historically, been a poor achieving area in terms of education. However, with the help of this project and other initiatives run by London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, the area has now become one of the fastest improving education authorities in the country as more young people living there gaining excellent qualifications and entry to universities.