The 2023 Science Teacher Survey outcomes

Eliza Blair, Education Executive, Royal Society of Chemistry’s Research and Evidence Department

The second Science Teaching Survey, led by the Royal Society of Chemistry and supported by the Institute of Physics and the Royal Society of Biology, has laid bare the challenges faced by science teachers and technicians. In this blog I’ll share a summary of the outcomes as presented at the OCR science spring forum.

Headline findings

Over 2,900 educators across the UK and Ireland filled in our survey, which asked educators to share their thoughts on their profession. Here are the headline findings: 

1. Challenges faced by teachers are amplified in areas of high socio-economic deprivation. 
2. Underfunding is having a negative impact on science teaching and learning.
3. Understaffing exacerbates pressure on teachers, particularly in socio-economically deprived areas. 
4. Only a minority of teachers have sufficient subject-specific professional development. 
5. Teachers recommend curriculum changes to make chemistry more relevant and accessible. 

You can read more about the 2023 survey’s results on the Royal Society of Chemistry website. 

In the survey we asked respondents to self-identify their subject specialism and to give their reasons for this. The most selected reason for chemistry specialists and physics specialists was ‘Experience teaching the subject’ (85% and 88% respectively). For biology specialists, the most selected reason was ‘An undergraduate degree in the subject’ (84%). For the teachers who were identified as physics specialists only 59% mentioned that they have an undergraduate degree in the subject. 

The survey also asked teachers how confident they were teaching each of the sciences from KS3 to KS5. As expected, non-specialists were least confident at teaching outside of their specialism when compared to specialist teachers, and the levels of confidence decreased as we moved from KS3 through to KS5.

Challenges in areas of high-socioeconomic deprivation

Respondents across the sciences highlighted a crisis in staffing, which was particularly acute in areas of the UK with a high proportion of students receiving free school meals (FSM). Of these, 48% reported understaffing in higher FSM schools compared to 32% in other schools. 

Professor Gill Reid, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry said: 

“Every young person in the UK deserves a world class chemistry education so that we have the talent, skills and inspiration needed for our future workforce. For years we have been trying to engage and empower students from less advantaged backgrounds who believe STEM ‘isn’t for people like them’.” 

“We celebrate the contribution chemists from disadvantaged backgrounds make in the sciences, but this survey gives us evidence from teachers that they are doing so against the odds. This is unfair, and we urge the government to start by addressing the recruitment and retention crisis in science teaching – we can’t just rely on the goodwill of teachers forever.” 

The challenges faced by teachers in schools with high free school meals (FSM) compared to other schools were disproportionate. 

The challenges included:

• Limited student literacy (reported as a challenge in 75% of FSM schools vs 50% in other schools) 
• Limited student numeracy (reported as a challenge in 69% of FSM schools vs 48% in other schools) 
• Poor student attendance (reported as a challenge in 73% of FSM schools vs 47% in other schools). 

Professor Reid added: 

“We also need to reassess curricula, so every child gets an inclusive, forward-looking and inspiring chemistry education. An accessible STEM curriculum would ensure that literacy and numeracy are not barriers that disproportionately affect certain students, while updating with applied content such as tackling global sustainability challenges will engage more students. Teachers are also telling us that the chemistry curriculum has far too much content – meaning that student groups with more absences don’t have a chance to catch up.”

Access to subject-specific professional development

Funding was also cited as an issue affecting the professional development of teachers. In fact, 61% of respondents teaching chemistry stated they had received no subject-specific professional development (SSPD) in the last academic year and pointed to barriers of costs to attend courses or to fund cover teachers.  

Teachers are also expected to attend SSPD in their own time which can be a barrier as well. In England 47% of early career teachers, who should be prioritised for SSPD, said they have not received any at all.

Stay connected

Have your say and fill in the 2024 Science Teaching Survey. 

If you have any questions, you can email us at science@ocr.org.uk, call on 01223 553998 or message us on X (formerly Twitter) @OCR_Science. You can also sign up to subject updates to receive information about resources and support.

About the author

Eliza is an Education Executive at the Royal Society of Chemistry, working in the Research and Evidence department. Her role includes gathering of data to support the teaching community, largely through the annual Science Teaching Survey. Before this, she was a secondary school science teacher. Eliza has a strong interest in education policy and completed a master’s in public policy, where a focus of her research was the impact of socioeconomic status on the outcomes of learners in the UK.

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