BUILDING work has begun on an £11 million flagship centre to improve the way science is taught in British schools, which will be based at the University of York.

The National Science Learning Centre will be at the heart of a £50 million network of nine regional Science Learning Centres, set up by the Department for Education and Skills and the Wellcome Trust to bring back excitement and enthusiasm for the subject.

They will offer the country's 50,000 science teachers and technicians high-quality, subject-based professional development, with residential and day-courses covering all aspects of the subject.

The national centre is a joint venture between the White Rose universities of York, Leeds, Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam, whose academics will be instrumental in offering teaching and expertise.

It will house a resource centre, a multi-purpose laboratory, computer and video suites, teaching rooms, and offer extensive online resources.

Professor John Holman, Salters Professor of Chemical Education at York, will head the centre. He has 25 years of practical experience of teaching at secondary school level and directs the Science Curriculum Centre.

"Science is very fast-moving and teachers who graduated just five years ago will have very out-of-date science knowledge," he said.

It was an "enormous" coup for York to be chosen to house the national centre, said Professor Holman, who led the White Rose Consortium bid.

"It was the strength of the university but also York itself that secured it. It has excellent transport links and it is a city people want to come to.

"It is good for tourism because every teacher who comes here and has a good experience will potentially pass that on and tell their pupils about the benefits the university has to offer."

The centre's role in inspiring children about science is seen as vital to the development of the British economy and regional development agency Yorkshire Forward has made a £1 million contribution towards running costs.

The hi-tech building, which showcases sustainable building features, is expected to be ready by next autumn and will employ about 25 staff, with the first of the regional centres opening their doors next month. It will play a key role in the Government's aim to make British science education the best in the world.

Updated: 10:23 Monday, October 04, 2004