The Separate Worlds of Science and Science Teaching, According to Potential Science Teachers

ABSTRACT In the context of severe and worsening science teacher shortages in many countries and a body of literature reliant on retrospective accounts from those already teaching science, this paper explores the views and assumptions held about school science teaching by potential future science teachers. Using a theoretical lens informed by the concept of ‘figured worlds’, this paper presents analyses of qualitative data collected in the UK and Canada via longitudinal and life history methods to examine what science majors assume to be true about science teaching, and what influences shape these assumptions. Analyses demonstrate that the world of science teaching is distinct, and even isolated, from the world of science according to potential future science teachers. These data evidence contrasting epistemologies between the worlds of science teaching and science, and indicate that those who have worked to conduct their identities in line with science may struggle to develop identities within, or towards, the figured world of science teaching. We end this paper with a discussion of the implications of these findings in relation to ongoing science teacher shortages.