How many science teachers teach only their specialism? So far from my experience, and also identified by the DfE 2016 report on impact of specialist and non-specialist teaching, the general answer is that hours taught by ‘specialists’ increase the further through the key stages students progress.
Beyond this the DfE report is difficult to use from a science perspective as ‘general science’ classifications do not allow for a clear interpretation of the biology/chemistry/physics split and therefore do not allow us to understand whether the high proportion of ‘specialists’ in science are teaching within their specific field or not.
The evidence from the DfE suggests that the level of ‘specialist’ teaching has no impact on outcomes in science, however this is likely to be influenced by the inability to measure the number of teachers delivering outside their scientific field. Is it possible that there is considerable non-specialist teaching which is therefore causing this outcome?
Anecdotally, many teachers talk about teaching all sciences at KS3 and then becoming more specialist at KS4/5; and often talk of how being a non-specialist teacher makes developing student knowledge, understanding and skills in science considerably more challenging, when they themselves lack confidence in the subject material. Niki Kaiser has been conducting her own research along similar themes and exploring the ‘confidence factor’ between specialists and non-specialists. Initially it looks like it does exist and also has a impact on fundamental subject knowledge (threshold concepts) of the non-specialist v. specialist. The final outcomes of this study are something I look forward to reading in more depth.
My hypothesis when thinking about these ideas is that the one of the key factors influencing student progression in science is the subject knowledge and confidence of primary and secondary school teachers teaching outside of specialism. If this aspect of early science education could be addressed to create more ‘specialists’, perhaps through targeted CPD, then we may be able to overcome the misconceptions and knowledge gaps that seem to be manifest among students well into GCSE and A Level studies.
For sure, this is not a new thought, and is clearly one that has been considered by others (you only have to do a simple internet search, or ask another professional, and ancedotal evidence and detailed studies are plentiful) but still there remains a theme of very little consideration for science teaching before secondary school; and even in secondary school it is KS4 which most often has the greatest focus. We as teachers spend much of our time at KS4 trying to undo, reconstruct or build from the beginning again on concepts that could very easily be secured earlier had the initial teaching not introduced such a wide variety of misconceptions.
The exciting focus on curriculum design more recently brings much of this thinking to the fore, and conversations about the role of KS3 in preparing students for GCSE is a more common talking point; whether it is discussing ‘a 5 year curriculum’, or ‘mapping the curriculum’, or understanding the ‘learning journey’. All of these ideas emphasise the importance of KS3 and as a result the importance of teacher subject knowledge and opportunity to specialise.
Over the coming weeks and months I aim to explore my ideas further, especially the ideas of what misconceptions exist in primary and KS3 science; and how specialist v. non-specialist teaching influence the existence of these misconceptions in the understanding of science for students.
Educating Melon 
Hi. This is a really interesting post. And (as you could probably guess) is around things I’m thinking about a lot. I’d love to chat to you, if you wanted to get in contact. I understand if you don’t want to or are too busy, but if you get a moment, my email address should come up with this comment. If not, let me know
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