INTRODUCTION

  This submission is made on behalf of the Scottish Science Centre Network.

  The submission seeks to document:

—  the history of science centres in Scotland;

—  the impact of the demise of the Big Idea in Irvine;

—  the establishment of the Scottish Science Centre Network; and

—  how the funding of the Network has been of advantage to Scotland in delivering effective science communication.

1.  History of Science Centres in Scotland

  1.1  Satrosphere Science Centre is Scotland's longest established interactive science centre, established in 1988. After 12 successful years as a hands-on centre, Satrosphere Science Centre moved to new premises in 2001, which led to a programme of improvements. With ReDiscover funding and Scottish Executive funding, Satrosphere Science Centre has been able to purchase over 60 new exhibits and revitalise and modernise the whole building. It has a long history of effective relationships with schools. A wide range of science shows and workshops are on offer to Primary and Secondary schools, all of which are linked to the 5-14 National Guidelines. Weekends and holidays offer a mix of science themes for all ages to take part in and enjoy.

  1.2  Our Dynamic Earth is a Discovery Centre and Visitor Attraction which opened to the public in 1999. The centre was at the heart of an urban regeneration for the Holyrood area of Edinburgh. This capital project was funded by the gift of land from Scottish & Newcastle Brewers and British Gas and with monies from the Millennium Commission, City of Edinburgh Council and other donors. The objective was to communicate a better understanding of the workings of planet Earth to the public. Dynamic Earth was a landmark Millennium project. It has built strong links with the University of Edinburgh, the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, the BBS Natural History Unit and NASA along with others concerned with the communication of Earth and environmental science.

  1.3  Dundee science centre, popularly known as Sensation opened to the public on the 1st July 2000. The project received funding from the Millennium Commission, Wellcome Trust, Scottish Enterprise Tayside, Gannochy Trust and Dundee City Council. Since opening the `life-sciences' focused centre has welcomed over 400k visitors with over 60k attending on organised education trips. Sensation views itself as a key community resource for the Tayside region and is committed to promoting a STEM agenda to an increasingly diverse audience. Sensation has built a number of important relationships with national, regional and local organizations including the Scottish Executive, University of Dundee, St Andrews University, University of Abertay, Dundee, Ninewells Hospital Trust and Scottish Crop Research Institute to name just a few. Sensations future plans emphasise science education and teacher CPD.

  1.4  The mission of Glasgow Science Centre is to promote Science and Technology through exciting, thought-provoking and fun experiences aimed at inspiring all to explore and understand the world around them. The purpose designed building gives the capacity for delivery to large public audiences in a stimulating and flexible environment. It is staffed with professional science communicators who bring special skills and experience in engaging the public, school children and the wider community in science. The centre opened in 2001 with funding from the Millennium Commission, Strathclyde European Partnership, Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, Glasgow City Council and the Wellcome Trust. Its main collaborative partners are the Scottish executive, the Scottish Science Centres Network and Scottish Power.

  1.5  The aggregate value of the capital asset represented by the Scottish Science Centres Network is in excess of £130 million. The question that is being addressed in this commentary is how has that asset been utilised.

  1.6  Many of the science centres set up with capital funding from the Millennium Commission were conceived with business plans which contained inherent problems and contradictions. The model whereby centres were assumed to be capable of being sustainable from revenues earned from the operation of the centre was a model untested anywhere in the world. The Gulbenkian Foundation Report, Centres for Curiosity and Imagination, states "just over half of the museums responding to the 1996 Association of Youth Museums survey are more than 50% financially self-sustaining and 11% are more than 90% self-sustaining from earned income". This figure is also equivalent to the experience of science centres across the world. This evidence suggests that science centres can only achieve sustainability with both sufficient revenue to meet operating costs and a surplus that can be applied to refreshment of exhibits and keeping the science up-to-date.

2.  Impact of the demise of the Big Idea in Irvine

  2.1  The Millennium Commission had also funded another science centre in Scotland, on the site of the former Nobel factory just to the north of Irvine in Ayrshire. The Big Idea opened on the 15th April 2000 as an inventor centre stimulating creativity in young people especially.

  2.2  In 2003 The Big Idea went into receivership and closed its doors to the public. It was recognised that what had happened to The Big Idea could also happen to other science centres in Scotland in a "domino" effect. Following on this event the Chief Executive Officers of the remaining Scottish science centres were in discussion with Jim Wallace, then Deputy First Minister and Minister with responsibility for science in the Scottish parliament, concerning future funding options. The demise of the Big Idea was the catalyst for action to protect a sizable Scottish asset as defined in para 1.5 above.

  2.3  During this period the Scottish Science Advisory Committee were deliberating on the future of the Scottish science base and producing reports which took an overview of science in Scotland focusing on specific issues, one of which was the state of science education in Scotland. The committee felt that as museums and art galleries were funded from the public purse, organisations which communicated the science which underpinned the Scottish economy should likewise be the recipient of public money.

  2.4  In June 2004, acknowledging the recommendations of the Scottish Science Advisory Committee, Scottish Ministers decided to initially provide £5.1 million over two years for the four remaining science centres; Satrosphere in Aberdeen, Sensation in Dundee, Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh and the Glasgow Science Centre. As part of the funding package a four year strategy was developed with the Scottish Executive. This is seen as an evolving strategy forming the basis of the development of the roles to be assumed by the science centres as catalysts for science communication.

  2.5  Funding subsequently stabilised over the 2006-07 and 2007-08 periods at £3.7 million. The critical statement is that £3.7 million per year investment is protecting a £130 million investment and delivering science communication to over 700,000 people.

  2.6  It is increasingly apparent that the situation in England has become exactly analogous to that which prevailed in Scotland in early 2000 with many English science centres in a financially precarious position.

3.  The establishment of the Scottish Science Centre Network

  3.1  The funding for the science centres in Scotland was specifically targeted on science centres in the main conurbations of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. An independent report was produced by Jura Consultants that looked at the financial structure of each of the centres and recommended funding packages with a view to working towards minimising revenue funding and maximising funding for refreshment and renewal. The report recognised that a "hub and spoke" model was inappropriate but, in order to maximise the benefits of the funding, the Scottish Science Centre Network was set up to facilitate collaboration.

  3.2  The initial period of the Network was not easy. The four centres were different in size and had developed their own culture and governance. However it was soon recognised that the Network provided opportunities to share expertise and experience while retaining the individual distinctiveness, governance and independence of each individual centre. Collaborative projects have taken place across the Network and between members.

  3.3  The driver in establishing effective collaboration across the Network was a funding package in two parts; firstly revenue funding to plug the gap between income and expenditure and secondly capital funding to develop the infrastructure of each centre and to renew and refresh exhibits. The ReDiscover Fund, set up jointly by the Millennium Commission, the Wellcome Trust and the Wolfson Foundation enabled science centres and museums to bid for funds to renew and refresh exhibits. The funding from the Scottish Executive contributed to the matched funding necessary for a successful bid. Accordingly, this investment provided leverage for significant additional money to be secured by the Scottish Science Centre Network.

4.  How the Network has been of advantage to Scotland in delivering effective science communication

  4.1  The creation of the Network and the associated funding streams has meant that Scotland has a stable network of science centres across Scotland that can work with the SetPoints and other providers to deliver integrated inreach, outreach and continuing professional development for teachers across Scotland. There is now a viable science centre in each of the four main conurbations. This would emphatically not have been the case if funding had not been forthcoming. The Network is therefore integral to the delivery of many aspects of the Science Strategy for Scotland.

  4.2  The Science Strategy for Scotland has five main aspirations:

—  maintaining and connecting the science base.

—  exploiting science to grow the economy and benefit society;

—  improving science education and promoting science careers;

—  promoting awareness and appreciation of science across society; and

—  developing better use of science and scientific advice by government.

  Each of these aspirations is contributed to by parts of the Scottish Science Centres Network. Centres showcase Scottish science to the public, centres highlight how science impacts on communities in Scotland, centres contribute significantly to science education directly, through Continuing Professional Development, through active engagement with the developing A Curriculum for Excellence and in promoting science careers. Their fundamental mission is to promote awareness and appreciation of science across society in an accessible form which also includes to government.

  4.3  The framework for the Network's activity in support of this strategy is embedded within the Scottish Science Centres Network Strategy, a document produced through dialogue between the individual science centres and the Scottish Executive. This defines a framework for activity over the four year period from 2005 to 2007 and covers influence on:

—  Science Curriculum 3-18.

—  Links with Further and Higher Education Institutions.

—  Links with Industry.

—  Encouraging science as a career.

  4.4  Funding has allowed the Scottish Science Centres Network to extend and strengthen the learning opportunities available to complement the school curriculum. At a time when the Scottish science curriculum is under review and there is extensive work to introduce A Curriculum for Excellence focusing on enabling all young people to become: successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors, the role of the science centres in supporting teachers in the delivery of strands of that curriculum is becoming even more important.

  4.5  The government agenda to create a scientifically literate Society is seen as starting with children as young as pre-school and extending throughout a lifetime. In this context the integration of formal science learning in schools with the informal learning that takes place in the science centres of the Network are fundamental to the delivery of that agenda.

  4.6  As a network, a successful bid was submitted for upgrading the education facilities across all four science centres. This involved introduction of common technologies such as white boards and voting pads enabling learning resources to be shared. There has also been a sharing in training and regular opportunities to share good practice. An education forum provides an opportunity for common concerns to be shared.

  4.7  Scotland now has a quality assured mechanism for the delivery of science communication. The Scottish Executive funded Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education to visit and to comment on the quality of learning, both formal and informal in each science centre giving guidance on how improvements can be made. The Network has just completed the second of such inspections and the report will be published on the 21 June 2007.

  4.8  The centres within the Scottish Science Centres Network were successful in obtaining funding from the ReDiscover Fund, a fund set up jointly between the Millennium Commission, the Wellcome Trust and the Wolfson Foundation to provide refreshment funding for science and discovery centres and museums. The funding from the Scottish Executive was paramount in providing the matched funding necessary for successful bids, thus enhancing the collective activity in science communication in Scotland.

  4.9  The Scottish Science Centres Network strategy document also encourages greater interaction with Higher Education Institutions. This dovetails with programmes in the Scottish universities to provide a much more comprehensive training in communication skills as part of the PhD training programmes. Centres within the Network are using these links to provide opportunities to put these skills into action and to share the awareness of contemporary science with staff of the science centres.

  4.10  Funding from the Scottish Executive has stimulated greater collaboration initially between the funded science centres but increasingly with others who are also engaged in science communication. The Scottish Science Centre Network strategy provides a strategic framework to define future areas of activity which are at the same time in keeping with the mission of individual science centres and with the objectives of the Scottish Executive.

5.  Summary of conclusions and key points

  5.1  Scottish Executive funding has provided a sustainable network through which initiatives as contained in the Scottish Science Strategy can be delivered. Without such funding, many of the Scottish science centres would be in a much less comfortable position and some might be no longer in existence.

  5.2  Funding has allowed the Scottish Science Centre Network to be a magnet for science engagement across Scotland shifting the thinking of individual centres towards more effective delivery of their mission.

  5.3  Funding has also facilitated the development of new exhibitions and the refreshment of others in keeping with developments in scientific thinking.

  5.4  The Strategy has provided a framework for the development of relationships with other organisations including the Higher Education Institutions, Careers Scotland, other science communication organisations and, to a lesser but increasing degree, industry.

  5.5  The development of the educational packages across the Network in support of A Curriculum for Excellence has been made possible with funding from the Scottish Executive.

  5.6  The relationship with the Scottish Executive has enabled a quality assessment to be made throughout the Scottish Science Centre Network providing a hallmark of excellence across the network.

6.  Recommendations

  6.1  The Scottish Science Centre Network is a model for effective delivery of government policies in science engagement within a private sector setting. It is a partnership between the Scottish Executive and four separate charitable trusts which is unique in the world and which is benefiting both government and the science centre sector. It is a model that may be applicable to other areas and in the UK context, to the English regions and is to be commended to the Select Committee.

  6.2  The Select Committee may benefit from the opportunity to take oral evidence in Scotland and see how the Scottish Science Centres Network operates first hand.

June 2007