1 in 5 teachers lack awareness of essential skills for chemical science careers
The UK chemistry sector is a dynamic landscape that is predicted to grow over the next decade. But employers are struggling to find workers with the right skills.
As we’ve reported before, teachers have told us that the curriculum needs to change to make chemistry more relevant and accessible, and to address the excessive levels of content. It is also important for chemistry education to be aligned with the demands of employers and the UK economy. Science educators can contextualise their lessons with chemistry-related careers and equip students with the skills needed for today’s job market.
In the 2024 Science Teaching Survey, we asked chemistry teachers of KS5, A-level, and Highers/Advanced Highers how aware they were of the skills that chemical sciences employers expect from prospective scientists:
- 15% of you reported being fully aware
- 20% reported being unaware.
To understand the reasons for this, we did some follow-up focus groups, where teachers reflected that knowledge of chemical science careers often comes from personal experiences, such as industry professionals transitioning into teaching.
Chemistry Specialists vs Non-specialists. In the survey respondents were invited to select their specialism(s).
Experienced teachers report less awareness of skills
As teachers become more experienced, we see a decline in the levels of those who are fully aware of the skills expected from employers in the chemical sciences industry.
Linking the curriculum to the real world
Following the 2024 survey, we did some further research with respondents where we explored early findings from the RSC’s Future Workforce and Education Pathways project.
For teachers who consider themselves chemistry non-specialists, relating curriculum content to jobs in the chemical sciences presents a real challenge.
We’ve got a lot of people who are nominally biologists who are being asked to teach chemistry. [What] tends to happen is we all get shunted one to the left; you get the proper biologists teaching chemistry; you get the chemists teaching physics; the physicists being chanted into the maths department, and then any combination of psychologists, PE people, food scientists coming in and cobbling together some biology. So, the sort of the link from personal experience to industry isn't there.
Top trends shaping the future chemistry workforce
A reformed science curriculum must align with the needs of the chemistry sector, the UK economy and wider society. Chemistry-using jobs are changing due to a combination of technological, economic, environmental, and societal factors:
- technological leaps in AI, machine learning, and digital tools are reshaping the way work is done.
- the transition to a green economy is driving a critical need for green skills, which are in short supply.
- interdisciplinary skills are in demand because societal challenges like climate change and sustainability are too complex for any single discipline to address.
