Is it possible to become a biology teacher without teaching chemistry and physics?

Im asking this question because the majority of high schools in my area (north west) don't have individual science teachers for the 3 specific subjects... (biology, chemistry and physics)

They seem to have one teacher who teaches all subjects.

I wanted to do a biology degree and become a teacher who strictly teaches biology.

Is this possible?

Reply 1

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by Ashleylaw

Im asking this question because the majority of high schools in my area (north west) don't have individual science teachers for the 3 specific subjects... (biology, chemistry and physics)

They seem to have one teacher who teaches all subjects.

I wanted to do a biology degree and become a teacher who strictly teaches biology.

Is this possible?

I think you're more or less looking at sixth form or college level teaching then.

Whilst it's possible for a teacher to teach only one of the sciences, it's commonplace for secondary school teachers to teach at least 2 subjects (I have never seen teachers at any of my schools growing up teaching less than 2). This doesn't mean the second subject needs to be a science i.e. you can teach PE, maths, music, etc.
I think the public schools do this due ot budgetary reasons. You can try to look into teaching at private schools and see if they fare any better, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Reply 2

Ashleylaw

OP

8

Original post by MindMax2000

I think you're more or less looking at sixth form or college level teaching then.

Whilst it's possible for a teacher to teach only one of the sciences, it's commonplace for secondary school teachers to teach at least 2 subjects (I have never seen teachers at any of my schools growing up teaching less than 2). This doesn't mean the second subject needs to be a science i.e. you can teach PE, maths, music, etc.
I think the public schools do this due ot budgetary reasons. You can try to look into teaching at private schools and see if they fare any better, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

I wasn't aware that most teachers also teach a second subject. (I mean, i understand they sometimes may have to cover a class if another teacher is off etc) but i wouldn't necessarily consider that as 'teaching' the subject etc.. (as opposed to just covering a class)

From what I was aware, whatever subject you got your degree in, you can teach. (Example; History, Georgraphy, Maths, RE, PE, Art, Music etc)

But like I said, for science, it seems like most teachers have to teach all 3 subjects, regardless of what their degree is (Biology, Chemistry or Physics)

Reply 3

Sorcerer's Storm

20

I guess it depends. In sixth form it’s pretty much the norm for one teacher to teach one subject, so you’d have no issues teaching straight biology there.

As someone on here already said, it’s much more common for a teacher to teach multiple subjects in secondary school but this isn’t the case in all schools. I went to a private secondary school and we had separate teachers for all 3 sciences, the biology teacher didn’t have to teach chemistry and physics or vice versa. I don’t know if the school being private had anything to do with this distinction but I guess you would just have to do a lot of research into a school you’re applying to. And during the interview they should make it clear to you whether teaching other sciences will be one of your duties. And if it is then you can just discard that school and apply to another one.

Reply 4

Interea

19

Adding to the above, at my school science teachers taught all sciences for key stage 3, but only one for GCSE and A level, so they weren't required to teach a particularly high level in their non-main sciences. (I presume this was because less distinction is drawn between the sciences at that point, we just had "science" on our timetable and rotated through topics as per the science NC.) That might be a set-up that works for you, since the time spent teaching other sciences is minimal, as is the level of knowledge required.

If you look through biology teacher job listings, you'll see a lot of them are "teacher of science" roles, but some are more specific (https://teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/biology-teacher-jobs). Many of the more specific ones seem to follow the set-up described above. You'd just have to make sure to read job descriptions careful to find the type of structure you're looking for.

Is it possible to become a biology teacher without teaching chemistry and physics?

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