UK faces desperate shortage of science and maths teachers

More than 100,000 secondary school pupils will be taught maths and science by teachers untrained in the subjects because of a chronic shortage of new recruits, education experts will warn today.

They predict the shortfall in expertise will discourage sixth-formers from studying the disciplines – which have been identified by the Education Secretary Michael Gove as “national strategic priorities” – at A-level.

Research by Professor John Howson of Oxford Brookes University and DataforEducation, which specialises in analysing recruitment trends, has revealed that up to 30 per cent of maths places on PGCE teacher training courses due to start in September remain unfilled, potentially leaving schools 700 recruits short next year. There is a similar problem with physics, where courses have attracted 386 fewer recruits than in 2012, while other key subject areas such as modern foreign languages and English are in a similar position.

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