The future of practical science lessons

Plug the skills gap or risk leaking future talent

Imagine starting your teaching career by spending months away from the classroom. That's what many of the 2019/20 and 2020/21 cohorts of trainee and first year teachers have experienced.

A Royal Society of Chemistry survey was conducted in the UK in April 2021. Of all respondents, 179 were trainee chemistry teachers and 80 were first year chemistry teachers. Their responses provided new insights into the impact of COVID-19 on teacher training which are cause for concern.

In our report, The future of practical science lessons, we sound the alarm on the potential long-term impact of the lost learning opportunities that trainee and first year teachers have experienced. It has ramifications not only for the teachers and their teaching, but for school students, undergraduates and the economy, if we don’t bridge the skills gap for this group of teachers.

Our action plan

We believe that funding focused on practical skills development, either directly given to schools or to training providers, is essential to bridge this skills gap. So we're calling on governments to plug the skills gap in early career science teachers as a result of the disruption caused to training because of COVID-19 restrictions, by providing up to £7m funding to address immediate needs for CPD focused on practical teaching.*

As the largest non-governmental supporter of chemistry education, we are committing our own resources to develop a tailored package of support for early career science teachers and trainees to improve their skills and confidence. This includes:

• a new microsite that includes relevant articles, videos and resources for these teachers
• access to live sessions on teaching practical chemistry
• free access to relevant CPD opportunities

These will be important additions to our extensive bank of resources that are already available on our education website.

Help share the report

Please download and share TGreen shoots: A sustainable chemistry curriculum for a sustainable planet report within your own networks.

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* Funding of up to £6 million for England and £1 million to cover Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These figures have been calculated with the assumption that schools may need funds for external CPD courses and/or to provide experienced staff as well as early career sciences teachers further non-contact time in addition to that announced by the Department for Education in England on 21 June 2021.