We need physicists and so A-level teachers know how important it is to give the next generation of aspiring physicists and engineers the best chance of getting into uni. Thomas and Robin are thrilled to welcome Will Pope (@PopeDoes) to talk about all things UCAS. What is our role as teachers, what is the right way to write the reference and how does the reference get used down the line?

Will’s Head of 6th Form, Sarah, kindly talked us through the reference do’s and don’ts. Key take-aways:

Dr Caroline Shenton-Taylor is an admissions tutor for physics at the University of Surrey. She gave us the lowdown on the reference. In short, it matters: universities do use the reference and so it’s worth doing well. Universities like to hear about the physics skills the student has developed, so talk about their practical and problem-solving prowess, their strengths in maths and any programming skills they might have.

Note that the UCAS reference procedure changes for 2024 entry, and Will recommends some PD time is set aside to help 6th form tutors familiarise and practise the new regime.

Alex, a former student of Thomas, agrees: he talked about 3 skills he would recommend:

With grateful thanks to Will, Sarah Butler, Dr Caroline Shenton-Taylor and Alex Sawyer.

Links

Please share ideas or successes – or indeed questions by messaging us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/physicstp.bsky.social .  You can also message us via our website contact form on every page of the web site at  the.physicsteachingpodcast.com, or email using the address given in the podcast (if we remember). We are moving away from X but can be found there as @physicstp.

• Season 7: Physics Is Our Business by Miracles of Modern Science.

The music is used under the Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License