How Did You Get to be a Good Primary Science Teacher?

Abstract

In initial teacher training and when providing in‐service training for teachers we hope to make a contribution to science education by preparing people to become very good teachers of pupils. Recent Circulars produced by the Department for Education prescribing the content of teacher training courses in England include an explicit assumption that ensuring strong subject knowledge in teachers is the major contributor to good teaching and hence high standards in pupil achievement. This article reports on a small‐scale research project designed to look at the characteristics of good primary science teachers. The question is raised as to how these teachers came to be good teachers of science in the primary school. The findings call into question the efficacy of an approach to initial teacher education that focuses so much on the development of subject knowledge.