Mixed news on efforts to remedy shortages of science teachers

Initiatives to encourage more UK graduates to train as physics teachers are paying off but doubts have been raised about the quality of some science teachers entering the school system.

Figures compiled by the Training and Development Agency for Schools show that 864 people are training to become physics specialists this year, an increase of 30 per cent on the number in 2010. So recruitment of trainee physics teachers is at its highest level since at least 1979 when the records were first published.