Letters - May 2010

Masters for all

Vanessa Kind, Durham

I would like to comment on the editorial in the last issue (Masters of teaching, Educ., Chem., 2010, 47 (3), 34). Overall, I think that making teaching a masters-level profession will help enhance the status of teachers. It would add quality to the profession if all chemistry teachers held masters degrees, preferably with advanced study (ie  a masters dissertation) of an aspect of chemistry teaching. In Scandinavia, for example, all teachers working post-16 are expected to hold a masters degree in the subject they teach - while we can't perhaps go this far, we could reach a position in which chemistry teachers could have masters degrees that feature chemistry and education, which to me would be the ideal. However, I don't think all chemistry teachers should hold the masters in teaching and learning (MTL) because I see this as a more generic masters degree which is offered mainly through an in-school coaching system. Where this is done well with the support of the head teacher, this could be very good but should not be regarded as 'better' than the masters degrees currently available to teachers in many of our best universities.  

It is also worth remembering that some PGCE courses are 'M'-level, and offer masters-level credits already. Many teachers completing such PGCEs have the opportunity to extend their M-level credits into masters degrees by part-time study. I would not want to see these opportunities diminished in place of a 'one size fits all' MTL.