Is there really a shortage of science teachers? Will I get a job?

[Tweetiecry]

I (40+) am thinking of doing my PGCE with QTS salaried route for 2 years. It will mean UQT pay for 2 years. I have been accepted to the course and we have put some savings away to help us survive. But I am concerned about whether there will be a job for me at the end and if it’s really worth taking the plunge.

it’s Secondary science (biology).

background is I have already left a miserable career that paid well but I’d had enough of and am weighing this up against going into a trainee healthcare position (slightly higher pay and prospects to train up) that doesn’t excite me as much as the thought of teaching biology.

i also recognise I will be approaching 50 by the time I get to the end of training.

can you settle my fears that I will qualify but not be able to get a job. It’s the only thing really holding me back.

thanks!

I’m a secondary HT and in our academy trust, we do tend to find that we get the most vacancies in our science departments - so all depends what part of the country you are from?
In science, skill sets are pretty much transferrable, we find that some science teachers pursue other careers because they can earn more money than in teaching.

Sadly there is a reason that there's a shortage of science teachers. Can you get into a school and see what it's like?

There are lots of science vacancies, especially chem/physics in the region where I am based. The thing that is hard to predict is the school itself. There are lots of teachers leaving the profession at the moment for a variety of different reasons. I'm lucky to work in a fabulous school and we have an incredibly low staff turnover but do have staff vacancies from time to time that we always struggle to recruit for in science. Think very hard about how far geographically you'd be willing to travel for a job and what schools are like locally. Get in and see as many as you can. You'd likely get a job, just might not like the school. I often think i'd take a 'boring' job over teaching; sometimes it's not worth the stress and defintitely not like you see on the adverts the government puts out!

There's less of a shortage in Biology than in Physics and Chemistry, but in most locations there is a crisis in science teacher recruitment.
Spend some time in a school before taking the plunge, preferably shadowing in the science dept.

In science teaching is that there is an oversupply of biology teachers signed up for a PGCE in September, but a massive undersupply of chemistry teachers and a catastrophic undersupply of physics teachers.

Biology is usually well-served and biology teachers find that they are asked to teach rather more chemistry and physics than they would like.

How is your chemistry and physics knowledge? If you can beef it up and apply for chemistry or physics jobs you'll have a far easier time.

I echo this poster: we're crying out for chemists and physicists. You'll get a place on a course regardless, probably, but job-wise, you'll do better if you can teach those to A level standard.

Your specialism in science, I find, rarely matters - most schools will ask you to teach all 3 sciences to at least KS4. I have also now worked in 3 different schools where Chemistry and Physics were well-staffed, but they were short on Biology teachers. That may be, partially, because biologists in general are in demand at the moment across the world due to the huge focus on environmental science.

While @noblegiraffe s graph is important to bear in mind, this is only initial recuitment to PGCE and you will find that many people drop out before their PGCE, let alone their ECT, is complete.

I do absolutely recommend to go and volunteer in a school for a bit and really get a feel for what teachers do on a daily basis.

To answer you general question, though - yes, it is increasingly rare for a school to have a fully-staffed science department and in many cases the criteria for you to get a job in the field will be a) a reasonably clear DBS and b) the ability to breathe.

Thank you, that helps a lot. I do have a goid grounding in chemistry. I hated physics but was ok at it so i could probably pick it up if needed. I’m going to need to refresh my knowledge across the board anyway. I have a clear enhanced DBS and if i’m still breathing at the end if it all it sounds like i might be in with a shot

Recently retrained - got a job really easily am early 50's I love it but echo spend time in schools and in many school be prepared for some challenging behaviour!

Not certain that most schools expect you to teach all 3 to at least ks4 ( surely not teaching A level outside specialism )
I am a bog standard comp teacher, and only teach my specialism for ks4 and 5, in fact in many of the schools i know uptake of A level physics is relatively so poor the physics teachers don’t all have A level everyyear, whereas as a biologist I have a couple of A level groups every year.
might it be better financially to go for a standard pcgce as you should get a bursary, then straight to mainscale teachers pay after that year.
i was a later career changer and have not regretted it at all.

In my school all science teachers teach all 3 up to GCSE. Most have degrees in biology but all are employed as generic science teachers. Lots of science vacancies around; the key is to find a school with good behaviour management systems.

I have weighed up the two and am thinking that by the time I pay tuition fees (even as a loan) it will all even out in the wash. I also think that 2 years of classroom experience doing the salaried pgce would give me more teaching experience and the grounding I need to make me more employable at the end, I also definitely need to brush up my subject knowledge, I’m rusty and want to do my best. I also need a regular income sooner rather than later, we have savings but not a huge amount.

Do you know that the £25k bursary is tax free?

Plenty of vacancies in my current school but there’s a reason for that!
I would opt for the other career option as teaching is pretty horrendous at the moment. There’s a good chance that you’ll experience ageism from kids and management too. Behaviour is generally pretty horrific too. Teaching is largely made up of young teachers who quit after a few years. Definitely volunteer in a school if you can as your expectations might be much different from the reality!

I’m in Wales. The ITE incentive payment is 15k spread over the year with 6k at the end and 3k of it once you’ve been in a permanent post 3 months so we couldn’t survive on it and would have to get full loans to pay the fees etc.