Course work has always been an easy way to cheat at schools.

It seems to me that coursework is much closer in nature to actually working in the real world, certainly compared to exams. One just needs to be mindful when setting these projects (and marking them) of the potential for cheating.

I posted a reply but looks like it never went through. I did science A-levels and the practicals were eminently useful in solidifying theory. I recall creating biological catalytic beads (basically enzymes stuck to the surface of agar balls), making toluene, and creating a circuit on a breadboard in Biology, Chemistry and Physics respectively. It was an easier way to boost your marks but obviously some people did struggle. IMO it really needs to be part of the course as it reinforces the knowledge and shows practical application. Otherwise it'll drop by the wayside.

I had a chemistry practical at A levels - I had to make soap
Also I had a biology practical, measuring a skull and checking what type of humanoid it was.
Those were fun and easy points to get.

I couldn't disagree more, Jon - IME, it varies vastly from job to job.

For instance, most days for me in IT/Logistics are actually like one continuous examination. I'll grant you that, with access to search engines, it's more like an open-book exam but still - I am expected to already know everything I need for the job at hand or to be able to work it out rapidly. There's no sense of "it's not due for another eight weeks and besides, I don't know what Newton-Raphson is yet".

If I wanted to do coursework, I'd be a Project Manager (shudder).

On a different subject, but pertinent here, my dad was a woodwork/metalwork teacher. During the 1980s and 1990s, his school was slowly stripped of the workshops to make way for more modern forms of teaching the subject. He said that it would be possible to pass exams in his subject without ever going near a workshop. He managed to keep the workshops running at his school, but I know it was a fight.

I seem to recall A level biology requiring practical skills tested - we had dissection and drawing tests, as well as the usual written exams. I really think that if you are taking a subject where you need to be able to not only theorise but carry out practical tasks, that all areas should be tested.

Oh - on an interesting note. I had a conversation with the head of model making at my university once. He wanted to know if I was any relation to a certain local teacher. I said I was. It turns out that he knew that if a student came from my dad’s school that they would know how to use the equipment well and safely, and while everyone had to do the mandatory “how to use a lathe and other dangerous machinery” course, they really didn’t need it. That course was there because 99% of intake really had little practical experience with such equipment.

I know that science and maths are the focus of such comments, but similar problems extend into many others subjects.