Society needs people to become interested in Chemistry so that we can all enjoy the benefits that the science has to offer, be they manufactured goods, medicines or fuels.
On the one hand, a teacher has to convey the exciting challenges that the modern chemist faces and the importance of continued discovery for the quality of our lives.
On the other hand, the necessary precision of description and breadth of understanding has to be put in place, requiring the teacher to provide a level of know-how beyond that required for many other subjects.
This new course helps you rise to the challenge by providing a powerful combination of a full honours MChem Chemistry degree with a teacher training component that will earn you the equivalent of a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Secondary).
It has been designed to attract professional accreditation from the Royal Society of Chemistry and the General Teaching Council for Scotland. As such, it will be the most advanced combined qualification for intending teachers of chemistry in the UK.
The University of Strathclyde has long recognised the very important role that teachers of chemistry play in training and motivating their pupils towards vital social professions.
Apart from encouraging pupils to pursue chemistry or applications of chemistry at university or in industry, courses such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, forensic science, chemical engineering, and numerous biological sciences all require applicants to have a good grasp of the subject.
To do justice to this increasing breadth of chemistry-related career interest from pupils and to innovate how the subject is taught in the classroom, it is now essential that the knowledge of teachers should be reaching the same level as the best UK chemistry graduates.
Our course is 5 years in duration (4 years for entrants with 3 appropriate A-levels or 3 Advanced Highers).
Years 1 to 3 are spent in the Department of Pure & Applied Chemistry at Strathclyde with students on our classic MChem Chemistry course, covering all the important areas of this science.
Year 4 is concerned with teacher training via our Faculty of Education, including teaching practise in schools.
The final year is a return to the Chemistry Department to complete chemistry learning to Master of Chemistry level.
Uniquely, the research projects for final year MChem Chemistry with Teaching students can be concerned with educational approaches to chemistry, such as the development of practical experiments for use in schools, or practical demonstrations within universities that school groups can visit.
Having completed their teacher training at this stage, students on the course will be acutely aware of the challenges facing chemistry teachers and thus will have a special insight into enhancing current educational practice. They may also be able to visit schools and interact with pupils as part of their project work.
For details of the chemistry syllabus, please see the description for our MChem Chemistry (UCAS Code F103).
The real value of the dual professional accreditation is that graduates of this course can choose between careers in secondary education or the chemical industry - they will be professionally qualified for both.
It is also likely that graduates could move between school and industry, or vice versa, at a later stage of their careers, creating a new type of educational dynamic in which advances in chemistry teaching become closely linked to advances in the commercial and social applications of chemistry.