A dire shortage
A new report, published by the Institute of Physics (IoP), calls for action on the dire shortage of around 3,500 specialist physics teachers in England.
Research by the IoP has found that a quarter of all state schools in England have no specialist physics teachers at all. This is resulting in many students not studying the subject at A level and missing out on the rewarding career paths physics provides.
The new report, The physics teacher shortage and addressing it through the 3Rs: Retention, Recruitment and Retraining (England), shows that 70% of A level physics students come from only 30% of the schools.
Students from lower socioeconomic status areas are most directly impacted as it’s their schools that are the least likely to have specialist staff in role.
With physics-powered industries on the rise, the lack of teachers has led to a lack of students and a huge skills shortage in the workforce. The IoP estimates that this is costing the UK economy £1.5bn a year.
The IoP is now calling on the government to invest £120m over 10 years to address the shortage once and for all. Their plan is to retain, recruit and retrain the next generation of physics teachers.
Tom Grinyer, CEO of the Institute of Physics, explains: “This report paints a worrying picture of an education system struggling to find and keep the physics teachers we need. That means hundreds of thousands of young people being taught physics by non-specialists.
"Despite the often-heroic efforts of teachers having to work in unfamiliar subjects, inevitably many of those students are missing out. Research shows that pupils without access to a specialist physics teacher are much less likely to choose to study the subject at A level.
"If we fail to tackle this challenge, then we are failing to nurture the scientists and innovators of tomorrow - with serious consequences for our society and economy.
"There is however cause for optimism. By putting in place a 10 year plan to retain, recruit and retrain the physics teachers schools desperately need, the government could transform the scientific education of a whole generation of young people. And it needs an investment of just £12m per year. "
The key recommendations of the report include:
- improving retention through measures to reduce workload and provide better support for early and mid-career teachers
- strengthening recruitment through national programmes and incentives (including for teacher training providers and the schools that are needed to provide placements)
- to help established teachers of the other sciences acquire an additional specialism in physics by turbocharging retraining provision
- making teaching more professional and rewarding by fixing the broader foundations that underpin a thriving teaching workforce, including reforming school accountability
By putting in place a ten-year plan to retain, recruit and retrain the physics teachers schools desperately need, the government could transform the scientific education of a whole generation of young people.
— Tom Grinyer, CEO of the Institute of Physics
