THE CHALLENGES FACED BY SCIENCE TEACHERS WHEN TEACHING OUTSIDE THEIR SPECIFIC SCIENCE SPECIALISM - Volume 6 - Issue 4 - 2013 Abstract and Key Words

Oct 15, 2026

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Several studies examine novice and experienced teachers teaching science within and beyond their subject specialism. This paper reviews such work and explains challenges in secondary science teaching, teacher self-confidence, and the way limited subject matter knowledge restricts pedagogical content knowledge. Teachers face difficulties in planning lessons, designing activities and analogies, answering learners’ questions, running laboratory work, and connecting scientific concepts to everyday life. Researchers also document strategies used to cope.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

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Introduction

Challenges faced by teachers when teaching outside their subject specialism

Volume 6, Number 4, 2013 THE CHALLENGES FACED BY SCIENCE TEACHERS WHEN TEACHING OUTSIDE THEIR SPECIFIC SCIENCE SPECIALISM Doreen Mizzi Abstract: Several research studies have been conducted with novice and experienced teachers when teaching within and outside their subject specialism. This paper aims to review a number of these studies and highlights key points concerning the teaching of different science subjects at secondary level and teachers’ level of self-confidence. Teachers face considerable challenges when teaching outside their area of expertise. These challenges are mainly due to limited subject matter knowledge (SMK) in a particular science area. This will also influence the development of the teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) which is crucial in lesson preparation and in the way science teaching is conducted. Teachers have also developed a number of strategies to deal with such challenges. Key words: teaching outside science specialism, self-confidence, pedagogical content knowledge, subject matter knowledge. 1. Introduction Science teachers can teach different science subjects at secondary level. These teachers would usually have specialised in one particular area at University level. Therefore in many cases they will be teaching within their area of expertise or outside their subject specialism, meaning that one has not studied this subject at degree or at pre-university Advanced level. Teaching outside area of expertise offers considerable challenges and teachers express concern and apprehension when dealing this situation. Teachers’ lack of confidence when teaching topics outside their area of expertise is manifested in different ways such as when preparing lesson plans, choosing or devising activities and analogies to aid students’ learning, answering students’ questions, setting up laboratory experiments, linking and applying various concepts and principles to everyday life situations, generating students’interest and passion for the science area. This article reviews various research studies conducted amongst novice and experiences teachers when teaching within and outside their area of expertise. 2. Challenges faced by teachers when teaching outside their subject specialism Teachers teaching outside their area of specialism face considerable challenges in lesson preparation and science teaching. First of all these teachers need to understand the structure and nature of the discipline and learn unfamiliar content knowledge, which is known as subject matter knowledge. Secondly, they need to transform the content knowledge into suitable activities, analogies, demonstrations or simulations and adapt them to the different students’ abilities to help them learn, what is described by Shulman (1986, 1987) as pedagogical content knowledge. This review sets out to outline the challenges faced by science teachers when teaching outside their area of expertise and explore the strategies used by teachers in dealing with such situations. Inadequate background in the subject knowledge is one of the main factors that contributes to such challenges and will have an impact on the development of the teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge as well as on the teachers’self-confidence and attitudes when teaching topics outside their area of expertise. The teachers’ knowledge base strongly influences all aspects of teaching like preparation, planning and decision making regarding the choice of content to be learnt (De Jong, Veal, & Van Driel, 2002) . The knowledge base for teaching is made up of seven categories, which include subject matter knowledge (SMK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), curricular knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of the learners and their characteristics, knowledge of educational contexts and knowledge of educational purposes (Shulman, 1987) . According to Shulman (1986, 1987) SMK is based on two main areas: the organisation of concepts, facts, principles a

FAQs

Why do science teachers face challenges when teaching outside their specialism?

They often have limited subject matter knowledge in that specific science area, which reduces confidence and affects lesson preparation and instruction.

What role does pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) play?

PCK helps teachers transform subject knowledge into suitable activities, demonstrations, analogies, and explanations tailored to learners’ abilities.

How is teachers’ subject matter knowledge (SMK) related to effective teaching?

A strong SMK is a prerequisite, but research suggests it is not sufficient by itself for good teaching, since deep learning requires additional competencies like PCK.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Putri