A day in the life of a secondary school science teacher Open Access

My PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) was a 1-year course with taught elements at university two teaching practices at different schools and a number of written assignments, the first 3 weeks of a PGCE was taught at university and it was different from anything I had ever done before, essentially cramming the ins and outs of the teaching profession. Once I arrived at my teaching practice school the value of this brief introduction was underlined, despite having spent my formative years at school; it was intriguing to find out how different schools had become compared to my experience as a pupil. A lot of time in this practice was spent observing teaching before teaching increasingly longer sections of a lesson.

At my first school, I was given multiple opportunities. Coordinating the Drugs Awareness as part of the Personal Social Health and Economic education curriculum was a rather surprising deviation but great experience in terms of leading a whole school initiative and taking me out of my comfort zone in the science department. This confirmed to me that my decision to enter the education sector was right for me; it has clear career progression and a multitude of opportunities.

I moved to Tapton School in Sheffield, a large outstanding secondary school with a Sixth Form. I was attracted to this position as the biology department was one of only 12 schools across the country involved in Authentic Biology, a Wellcome Trust-funded project in which school students performed authentic science research in collaboration with universities. I couldn’t believe my luck – here was a chance to conflate both of my passions. However, I was apprehensive of how the students would cope with working at this level.

My main teaching roles are planning and delivering lessons, which are inclusively differentiated for a range of abilities whilst keeping in line with national curriculum exam specifications. Supporting young people to navigate their life and experiences is a fundamental aspect of all teaching roles, and one that I particularly enjoy and thus I have moved into a pastoral role as a Year Leader in the Sixth Form (16-18). With this responsibility, I have reduced teaching hours so that I can manage a year group of 250 students who come to Tapton from across the city; within the Sixth Form, there is an experienced team with members of staff responsible for safeguarding, attendance and student destinations. We work in a close team all with the aim to prepare our young people for the adult world.

A passion for science is essential and what makes this a vocation rather than a job, I always look forward to coming into work. Teachers need to communicate clearly in a range of ways and to a range of audiences, as scientists we have had many years training in this. What we need to adjust to is the level of understanding an engagement from the students and approach this with patience and empathy. You have to be adaptable, be able to think on your feet and reflect on your practice to make changes to your approach at all times. As a teacher, you have a duty of care for young people which requires integrity and a sense of moral purpose. There is a lot of data generated in a school; if your skillset lies in data analysis, then this will be highly valued in a school! I’d like to say you need to be highly organised, but that for me is still an aspirational target! My students will tell you that my classroom mantra is that “Biology teaches itself” and often sometimes it does. My job is to give them the confidence to apply what they already know to new content, and to be engaged in the discovery along the way.

In my time at Tapton school, I have developed a programme of super-curricular science study; the aim is to provide a Sixth Form Education similar to that at university with outstanding teaching, science research and communication of current ideas.

The catalyst for doing such work was the Authentic Biology project with Dr Tim Chico and Professor Matthew Holley, University of Sheffield. Students analysed Affymetrix GeneChip profiles of the blood samples from heart attack patients. The aim was to use in situ RNA hybridisation experiments in zebrafish embryos to identify where any novel genes identified were being expressed, and it worked! This project was a clear demonstration that A-level students could work at and beyond undergraduate level armed only with some rudimentary A-level knowledge.

Our super-curricular science programme now includes: weekly seminars for visiting academics; a student-led journal club; authentic research through a variety of projects predominantly supported by collaborations with research groups in the University of Sheffield, as well as the Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS). Our current research project is to develop yeast as a model organism for motor neuron disease in collaboration with Professor Guillaume Hautbergue at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience and Dr Susan Campbell, Sheffield Hallam University, with funding from a Royal Society partnership grant.

Our students can access a rich diet of science beyond their A-levels; we are culturing a critical mass who not only go on to pursue scientific careers but also transform the very nature of the science lessons we teach, with discourse based around enquiry rather than being examination focused.

There are many challenges in teaching, with workload probably topping the list planning for; monitoring progress of the 400+ individual students you may have in your classes can be daunting; and there will be times in the year when you are incredibly busy. It is these times you prioritise and do what makes the difference; there will be opportunities to catch up later in the year.

Managing students in a way that maintains a safe, respectful and productive learning environment whilst also navigating the sensitivities of students and their families is challenging and requires a careful balance between upholding school policy, ensuring fairness and consistency, and recognising the individual circumstances that may be influencing a student’s behaviour.

Leaving a research career to enter teaching did not mean that I was leaving behind contributing to science for a career, teaching the same science curriculum on a repeating cycle. As a teacher, I still have an important role to play in research science and that is to introduce our young scientists to the scientific method, as well as to make them aware of all of the opportunities in scientific careers. Increasingly science departments have many members of staff with postgraduate research experience, meaning that these departments have a wealth of knowledge in research. Teaching is an intense job with a high workload. It’s not always obvious how you can find time to fit anything extra into your busy day; however, there is a lot of external support to bring that experience to the class support from local universities, as well as the fantastic IRIS and a myriad of funding opportunities.

Getting into teaching is straightforward. Choose your PGCE provider wisely; there are a range of options out there, some of which are university led and some of which are based in schools. It takes time to hone your classroom skills, find your feet and understand what sort of teacher you are. There are many ways to teach and many strategies to adopt in the classroom in terms of teaching and learning, as well as behaviour management. Don’t be hard on yourself; this is a challenging job. Don’t be afraid of trying something new and always making adjustments. It gets easier with time as you gain experience and the trust of the students. Always ask for support from your colleagues and make sure you get to observe as many colleagues teaching as possible. Most of all, always think about the reasons why you’re doing this and have fun.