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‘Science needs an element of change’
SCIENCE teaching needs an elements of change according to one chemistry teacher, after the appointment of the first female as deputy government chemist.
Dr Clare Catley has been head of chemistry at Bedford Modern School since September 2009, but female scientists were a rare breed when she was a student.
She said: “It should not be surprising to hear that I am passionate about chemistry and that, as a woman, promoting my subject to young women is something very close to my heart. So, it was with interest and optimism that I read that Selvarani Elahi has been appointed as the deputy government chemist.
“When I think back to my own education, chemistry was in every way a male dominated subject. There were just two girls studying A Level and, as it turned out, we were the only female chemists for a number of years.
“The two of us, encouraged by our parents and teachers, were determined to study chemistry at degree level, which we duly did. Both of us discovered that we were not quite such a minority at degree level, but were still a minority nonetheless, a pattern which continued in our subsequent careers in research.”
She added: “I am pleased to see that an ever increasing number of Bedford Modern School female students are also choosing to do so. Not only are these young women making the choice at A Level, they are opting to pursue degree courses with a significant chemistry content.
“It is my view that there is now more opportunity than ever for women to address the imbalance in the scientific community; the world is truly their oyster in this respect”
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Weather for Bedford
Monday 28 May 2012
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Temperature: 11 C to 25 C
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