Just under a third of educators (30 per cent) working in schools in England with a higher proportion of free school meals (FSM) eligibility expect to be able to offer all three sciences to students, according to a survey of 2,000 UK science teachers. The findings of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 2026 Science Teaching Survey highlight concerns that students face a two-tier system in science education, as a significantly higher proportion of teachers in areas of low FSM eligibility (50 per cent) expect to be able to deliver universal access to GCSE triple science.
The government is currently considering introducing a triple science entitlement in England, following recommendations from the curriculum and assessment review. The proposed entitlement would mean any student who wishes to study GCSE biology, chemistry and physics as three separate qualifications should have the opportunity to do so. However, the RSC’s survey of science teachers points to significant challenges in delivering that ambition consistently across schools. Teachers highlighted concerns around staffing, specialist teacher availability, and resources as barriers to the provision of all three sciences. More than one in five schools surveyed (22 per cent) said they would need additional chemistry teachers if triple science were to be offered to all students, while more than half (57 per cent) of respondents in mainstream schools in England said practical lessons are underfunded.
Laura Daly, the RSC’s education policy programme manager commented: ‘We acknowledge the Government’s intention to try to ensure opportunity in the sciences is available to all. However, schools need the staffing, funding and specialist expertise required to make those opportunities a reality. Without addressing the barriers schools face, there is a risk that existing inequalities in access and opportunity could persist or even widen.’
Also commenting, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said: ‘While the idea of a triple science entitlement is welcome in principle, these findings underline the scale of the challenge the government will face in ensuring schools have the teachers, resources and facilities needed. While recruitment to teacher training in STEM subjects improved last year, the number of secondary pupils on roll has increased significantly in recent years. To truly improve teacher availability in the sciences and across the curriculum, this improvement must be sustained.’
The findings of the RSC’s survey were revealed in the same week that the Education Policy Institute (EPI) released new analysis suggesting that retraining serving teachers is a more cost-effective route to increasing the number of physics teachers than raising trainee bursaries. The analysis, which was commissioned by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, shows that each additional year of specialist physics teaching costs the government around £5,200 if delivered by retraining a serving teacher, compared with around £41,000 if delivered by increasing the physics bursary by £1,000.
Long-term recruitment deficits have left many schools reliant on non-specialists, particularly schools in disadvantaged areas. In the most disadvantaged schools outside London, fewer than one in five physics teachers holds a relevant degree – i.e. a degree in physics or a closely related subject. As part of its study, the EPI evaluated past and current teacher retraining programmes, including the subject knowledge for physics teaching programme (SKPT), which retrains teachers in physics up to key stage 4. The government’s Every Child Achieving and Thriving white paper set out plans to recruit 6,500 additional teachers. Its response to the curriculum and assessment review emphasised strengthening maths provision and tackling ongoing teacher shortages in physics, including through the SKPT.
The EPI point to international evidence of retraining being used at scale to address shortages: Ireland reduced ‘out-of-field’ (where teachers are assigned to teach subjects without adequate qualifications, certification or specialisation) maths teaching from 48 per
cent in 2009 to 25 per cent in 2018 through a single funded retraining programme. They are calling on the government to fund at least one specialist retraining programme that trains serving teachers to A-level (Key Stage 5) depth in physics. The researchers say that under most plausible assumptions, such a programme would produce specialist teaching more cheaply than a further bursary increase. The current level of the Physics postgraduate teacher training bursary is £29,000.