Registration and accreditation of expert teachers in the sciences

Friday 5 February 2010, Institute of Physics

About the seminar

The SCORE partnership has concerns on the term specialist and expert teachers in the sciences.  The term has many definitions by different stakeholders and this has resulted in inconsistent data on the number of subject specialist teachers teaching in England and a lack of focus on subject based CPD.  

The seminar brought together the wider science and science education community to consider what it means to be an expert science teacher.  Delegates took part in small discussion groups to consider ways in which stakeholders can measure teacher expertise and how to ensure teachers are supported throughout their careers to reach expert or specialised status. Current accreditation qualifications and awards were also discussed.


Programme

Chair - Professor Peter Main, Director Science and Education, Institute of Physics

Registration of teachers

  • Luke Graham, Recruitment Strategy Executive Directorate for Training, TDA
  • Mark Fieldsend, Registration Operations Manager, GTCE

Measuring teacher expertise in the sciences

Professor Robin Millar, Department of Educational Studies, University of York

Accreditation

  • MTL (Luke Graham, Recruitment Strategy Executive Directorate for Training, TDA)
  • SLC Professional Development Award for Science Teachers (Miranda Stephenson, National Centre Programme Director, NSLC)
  • CSciTeach (Kathryn Thomson, Director Professional Development, ASE and Alisdair Orr, Deputy Registrar, Science Council)