Science teacher recruitment and retention is becoming increasingly challenging. The ASE have put in place the Science Teacher SOS support booklet for teachers who are thinking of leaving and the ASE RISE (Retention Initiative for Science Education) to help heads of science focus on retaining their department is now in its second year, with increasing uptake.

Among the many factors that affect science teacher retention, one aspect that consistently arises from our survey data is the nature of the relationship between science departments and school senior leadership. For example, the difference between the answers to these two questions:

• I would recommend working in this science department to other teachers: 92%
• I would recommend working in this school to other teachers: 61%

These figures are supported by written comments that indicate that science teachers often feel misunderstood by their senior managers.

This is an under-researched area and so we have funding from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation to conduct short interviews with Headteachers and senior leaders who line-manage (or have line-managed) science departments to get their perspectives on managing science departments. The wider benefits will be that this study will inform further, more defined, questions to be explored in quantitative studies dealing with this issue.

The focus of this study is to capture the perspectives, both positive and less so, of senior leaders on the management of science departments. The overarching aim is to develop resources for schools to use that will support both senior leaders and science leaders in building positive working relationships and to inform policymakers of best practice.

We are calling on ASE members to ask their Headteacher or Senior Leader to take part anomalously in an interview with the ASE RISE researcher Dr Andy Chandler-Grevatt, from the University of Brighton. They can contact Andy directly to express interest at a.chandlergrevatt@brighton.ac.uk who will send them the details for taking part, or click the button below for more details...

December 2023 update: The results of this work are now available. Senior Leader Perspectives on Managing Science Departments [download here] is a report by Dr Andrew Chandler-Grevatt, University of Brighton, for the ASE. We’ll be discussing the recommendations to see how we can further support science teachers, departments and schools.