There can be no doubt that an EPQ is a vital tool for developing students’ intellectual and creative interests, and for preparing them for life beyond the school walls. EPQ stands for ‘Extended Project Qualification’, a dry title that is technically accurate but captures little of the excitement of doing an EPQ. At Ashbourne College we have had the pleasure of supervising students with a formidable range of topics, from the technology of rocket launchers and aircraft control systems to the history of pi in ancient China. One student even wrote about black feminism in the Southern Gothic of Beyoncé’s album ‘Lemonade’.
The scientific subjects chosen by our EPQ students have allowed students to apply their knowledge in areas that are at the cutting edge of technology. The other topics have provided opportunities to contextualize different areas of culture and intellectual activity. How often do A-Level students think about the historical and social contexts in which mathematicians operate? And yet even mathematical ideas, with all their conceptual purity, do not emerge from the darkness perfect and fully formed.
Most of these projects took the form of written dissertations, usually of about 5000 words. However, there is no reason why an EPQ could not take the form of a performance or film, a piece of art or design or even the organization of an event. EPQs certainly give students an opportunity to pursue interests that the school curriculum ignores but which will usually be directly relevant to the chosen university course or career. They also enable students to develop, and apply, a range of practical, transferrable skills, not least the ability to organize their time.
For all its flexibility, the EPQ requires all students to display appropriate academic rigour. Even when the project consists of an artefact, it still must be accompanied by an analytical written report, though this will be a fraction of the length of a dissertation-based EPQ. Photography can also provide important evidence of a project’s different stages and development, as well as recording the form of the finished product.
When students choose for their EPQs academic subjects that relate in some way to their school curriculum, they are able to delve into a topic far more deeply than their regular courses would allow. Students are encouraged to use primary and secondary sources that go far beyond anything they would come across in the normal syllabus. They may conduct surveys and interviews, fieldwork and experiments in order to make their research, and the experience is quite different from the more exam-orientated syllabuses that occupy most of their school careers.
In any EPQ the process is as important as the end result, and all students have to keep a log clearly documenting the stages in which they chose, planned and developed their project. Students must also, at the end, make a presentation that will encapsulate the whole experience and the conclusions that they have reached. In addition to helping the students to practice a skill that is invaluable in professional life, such activities also help to qualify the A Levels’ focus on written, usually exam-based, assessments.
There is much emphasis in education nowadays on encouraging students to be more self-critical and self-aware in their intellectual activity. In truth, we can all benefit from examining our methods of approaching tasks, solving problems and analyzing texts and sources. The EPQ certainly values this self-reflexive approach, and students generally feel that through undertaking such a project they ‘learn about learning’, as well as gaining some knowledge and understanding of a particular topic.
As well as seeking to cultivate their academic skills, students are also understandably very pragmatic. They know that some universities will recognize an EPQ in the conditional offer that they make to applicants. Even when this is not the case, the EPQ is still widely valued by admission tutors in higher education.
Aside from these considerations, we would always recommend an EPQ to really ambitious sixth-form students for its ability to concentrate the mind. It always helps students to make a stronger UCAS application, above all by sharpening their personal statement. It may also give them material of which they have in-depth knowledge to discuss in any admissions interview to which they are summoned. An EPQ may be demanding, and is perhaps only suitable for the most highly motivated students, but the rewards are clear and substantial.
After all, what other activity will help students to focus more effectively on a topic that extends beyond the school syllabus but is relevant to their university course? And what opportunities the EPQ offers for developing the transferrable skills that universities appreciate in prospective students – the ability to manage time and to prioritize, to show initiative and creativity, and to think ‘outside the box’!
By Christopher Masters, Ashbourne College Admissions Tutor
