No problem here! The supply of physics teachers in Scotland

Abstract

The paper discusses the situation in England and Scotland with regard to the supply of well‐qualified physics teachers. The results of two surveys are described, which support the assertion that there is no shortage of such teachers in Scotland. Some of the suggested reasons for the shortage in England are then discussed in the light of this finding. The main conclusion is that there is no shortage of physics teachers in Scotland because the pool of potential physics teachers is larger as a result of more university students taking physics‐based courses. More students take physics courses because more youngsters study physics beyond sixteen, and more youngsters study physics beyond sixteen because they are taught by well‐qualified physics teachers. The cycle is, therefore, self‐perpetuating.

Pupil Attainment in Secondary School Physics: The Case of Nigeria, Including Implications for Teachers and Teacher Educators

“…The implication of the above finding is that students' scores or attainment are likely to be enhanced when taught by teachers with better qualification and with available physics teaching and learning resources adequately utilized to support students' learning. This view is consistent with those of Sparkes (1995), Hedges, Laine & Greenwald (1994a, 1994b, Krueger (2003), Pan, Rudo, Schneider & Smith-Hansen (2003) and OECD (2015) who reported that there was a strong relationship between school resources and students' attainment. For instance, OECD in its report of the 2012 PISA posited that the availability and utilization of teaching and learning resources in schools were found to be associated with students' attainment in many OECD countries (OECD, 2015).…”

Attitudes towards science: A review of the literature and its implications

“…Likewise, Sparkes (1995) makes a cogent case that the reason more pupils study physics in Scotland is because physics teaching is carried out almost exclusively by qualified physics teachers.…”

Who Teaches Physics in Croatian Elementary Schools?

“…Concerns about declining student interest in physics [1][2][3], continuing an education in physics [1,[3][4][5], and professional development in the field [1] raises questions about the general quality and effectiveness of school physics teachers [6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Motivation for learning physics and student achievement in the field depend directly on these teachers.…”

“…The shortage of physics teachers can be defined in various ways. For example, according to Sparkes [11], there are four types of shortages: (i) overt shortage, when there is no teacher available to give a physics class; (ii) hidden shortage (permitted by law), when the physics class is held by a teacher not qualified to teach it; (iii) suppressed shortage when physics is unrepresented in the subject timetable due to a lack of suitable teachers; and (iv) contextual shortage when no (physics-qualified) substitute can be provided for a physics teacher who is absent for health reasons or similar grounds.…”

“…Therefore, in the absence of professional teachers, many students (especially at lower levels of education) are taught physics by nonprofessional teachers from other fields who do not have an adequate degree, certification or training to teach physics [2,26,[38][39][40]. In England, for example, 18% of physics teaching in the 1990s was conducted by teachers who had no higher education in physics [11], and science was taught by teachers who did not have to be physicists [41]. In some U.S. states in the 1960s, many physics teachers, in addition to having a degree in biology, also had degrees in other fields such as business and the arts [20].…”