So we risk running out of physics teachers (page 14) - and this time it’s serious. It has suffered the biggest decline of school sciences. To take it at university you need maths and maths teachers are in short supply too.
Physics gets a bad press for being too hard but it doesn’t have to be; the sheer body of knowledge involved is at the heart of the problem. Perhaps if we taught less but better in school and made it relevant to learners’ lives we would keep them on board longer. If that means university foundation years for physics students, so be it. If our society needs physicists so desperately, the Government can use taxpayers’ money to pay their tuition fees for the extra year.
