Risk assessments

Whether the teacher is running an investigation or doing a demonstration, it is important that the teacher is familiar with the practical activity and should therefore practise anything unfamiliar in advance. This will ensure that teachers will feel competent and confident in their expectations of what will happen, it also ensures that they manage all the risks that might arise. All schools expect teachers to conduct a risk assessment prior to doing practical work. Even if the practical work is carried out regularly at the school, it is the teachers� responsibility to ensure that they have conducted their own assessment. This is not to reduce the amount of practical work being done in schools; it should lead to a greater range and variety of practical work encountered by students, all of which are managed safely.

The Consortium of Local Education Authorities for the Provision of Science Services (CLEAPSS) will give guidance and advice to school science departments when they are introducing new practical work (delivering triple science section). It can also be useful for the students to build an awareness of safety by carrying out their own risk assessments.

Ideas for practical work come from:

• websites and publications provided by professional bodies, such as the Institute of Physics and the Association of Science Education
• published resources
• continuing professional development courses such as those provided by the national network of Science Learning Centres and its Resource Bank, which can be found on the portal www.sciencelearningcentres.org.uk and other websites such as those listed in the resources section.

In all cases, new ideas should be tested before use with students, and the teacher must conduct a risk assessment for his or her own working environment. When unsure about an activity�s safeness, CLEAPSS should be approached for advice. Specific physics topics in this website lists many sources that relate to physics teaching.