It is well known that a shortage of specialist physics teachers exists in many countries around the world. Of particular interest to the EPS is the situation in Europe, but actually it is not easy to find out exactly what is happening in individual countries. Science at school is treated as a homogeneous subject and there is little or no sub-division into the different fields. For example, in the UK the STEM Centre at York (STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) exists to provide support for teaching in STEM subjects, but on looking through the website I found it difficult to identify anything that related specifically to physics.

The shortage of teachers is not necessarily restricted to the sciences. Teaching as a profession is no longer seen as attractive, partly because of low pay but also because of the perception that it has slipped in social status. A recent report from the EU[1] , intriguingly titled, “Why boys do not want to be teachers”, contains some depressing statistics. An overwhelming 81%  of teachers in the EU feel that teaching is not valued in society, which might explain why a third of teachers work in schools ‘ with a shortage of qualified staff’. The word ‘qualified’ was not explained further and in the same paragraph mention was made of the shortage of teachers for students with special needs. However, it could also refer to those without a first degree in the subject they teach as well as, perhaps, those who do not have a teaching qualification.

Whatever the precise meaning, it points to some serious issues in the teaching profession.  Around 36% of all teachers in the EU are aged 50 or over while only 7% are under the age of 30. Moreover, 72% of teachers are female. This last statistic is devastating for physics. Although much has been achieved in recent years in improving the gender balance, physics is still very much male dominated. In the UK, for example, the proportion of female undergraduates is around 23%, give or take, so it would appear that whilst the teaching profession itself is facing a serious challenge, a low proportion of female graduates combined with a range of alternative, but attractive career options would suggest that physics is particularly hard hit when it comes to recruiting and retaining teachers.

The Physics Education Division (PED) recently launched a short survey[2] (8 questions) intended to gain a deeper insight into the situation. Individual members of the PED are physicists around Europe with a self-declared interest in education and are therefore well placed to comment. Just over 51% of the respondents to date teach in a university and a similar number are either teachers or involved in teacher education. Academics will know whether teacher shortages are affecting undergraduates entering university whilst teachers and teacher educators can comment meaningfully on the impact of teacher shortages on physics lessons at school.

The survey is not intended to be a definitive piece of research. Quite possibly, we will never arrive at a true picture without surveying the majority of schools in Europe, which is clearly a huge, probably impossible undertaking. However, we can get a better understanding than we currently have of what is happening in different countries in Europe. At the time of writing, 78 people from 25 different countries have completed the survey. This means that in some cases, only one or two people from a given country have commented, but that still represents a valid view. The overwhelming opinion of the respondents is that a serious problem exists. It is not a universal opinion, as illustrated in the figure below. Sixty respondents (81%) believe there is a shortage of specialist teachers in their country with 11% holding the opposite view (A). Of these 60, some 87% believe that physics is being taught by non-specialists with 57% believing that fewer physics classes are being taught (B) and 65% believe that this is affecting the quality of undergraduates entering university (C).

The next step is to contact those who have indicated a willingness to contribute further. This survey is only the start of the process of gaining a better understanding of the issues and the PED will be following up the responses to gain a deeper insight into the situation in particularly badly affected countries. The survey is available until 16:20 BST on the 29^th July (see footnote 2)  if you would like to add your view.

Figure 1: The questions corresponding to the responses are indicated above the figures