More than 1/3 of the teachers of chemistry in Years 7 – 10 in Australia have neither studied our discipline beyond first-year tertiary level, nor do they have a teaching qualification in chemistry1. This is a growing problem2. It is especially prevalent in regional, remote and low SES schools, and results in tens of thousands of students each year who are not adequately building foundational laboratory skills or conceptual understandings or the interest and enthusiasm that is needed for their retention and success in chemistry at senior secondary and tertiary level.
This is a report on a new initiative from the Chemistry Education Association, to understand and engage with this problem by developing tailored professional learning, a series of specially designed lab activities and coaching and support structures for these “out of field” teachers. All of these are designed to be needs-based, on-demand and scalable. We will summarise our work to investigate teachers’ needs and outline our proposed approach to curriculum; methods of teaching and learning; and methods for establishing ongoing support for the educators.