Training to be a Science Teacher in the UK

Dr Kevin WalshHead of Science and Technology

Westminster SchoolLondon

• Anyone wanting to teach in the UK must complete initial teacher training (ITT).

• There are many different types of ITT course – the one you taken depends upon the age group and the subject.

• All courses cover the principles of teaching along with practical experience in the classroom.

There are several different ways of completing the ITT:

1.Alongside a degree2.Straight after a degree3.As a part-time course alongside work 4.As a full-time course.

1. Alongside a degree

Bachelor’s degree in your subject (for example, Physics) with QTS added in: 3 or 4 years

2. Straight after a degree

The PGCE (Post-graduate Certificate in Education): usually for one year.

3. As a part-time course alongside work

Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) – one or two years while working in a school

4. As a full-time course

B.Ed (Bachelor of Education): 3 or 4 years full time university course which includes ITT

The option that is right for the trainee depends on the circumstances.

Whatever the route, you need a degree and qualified teacher status (QTS) to become a teacher: can take between 4 and 6 years.

Teaching is increasingly popular!• 30% more people are training to teach physics than in

2010• New: Physics with mathematics PGCE available –

September 2012 start• Every 6.5 minutes someone applies for postgraduate

teacher training• 19 people apply for postgraduate teacher training

every two hours• Salaries for newly qualified teachers start from £21k–

£27k• Bursaries: You could get £20k tax-free for training

courses starting in 2012

But the real training starts once you are qualified!

INSET

• INSET = “in-service training”• Different organisations:• Institute of Physics (IoP)• Institute of Biology (IoB)• Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)• Association for Science Education (ASE)• And others!

As new science teachers...

• We need to learn how to share our enthusiasm

• We must pass on our knowledge• But most importantly....• We need to teach young people how to be

creative...• And how to learn.

The Wisdom of Teaching

• Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.• Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for

a lifetime.• (Chinese proverb)

• Humans are naturally curious: we want to learn about things.

• Children are the most inquisitive humans.• Children lack experience• They have expectations

The French painter, Paul Gaugin (1848 – 1903)

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

• Children are the most inquisitive humans.• Children lack experience• They have expectations

A science teacher’s job...

We must direct a child’s experience of science and manage their expectations.

“I didn’t expect that...”

Two balls

Ping pong ball

Golf ball

Two balloons!

Two colourless liquids

WHY ??

As science teachers, we must not only try to answer this question, but encourage young people to keep asking it!

Sir Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727)

“If I have seen further than others it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”