"Gordon Couger" wrote in message
news:3e9f2a38_1@newsfeed...

"Michael Saunby" wrote in message
...

"Oz" wrote in message
...

The (UK) Economist 19/4/3 P25

Qualifications of teachers teaching in UK percent:

Physics Chemistry Biology
Without degree 75 50 40
Without "A" level 30 15 25

Truly mind-boggling .....
...

It would not surprise me greatly to hear that for those employed
outside
education the figures are the inverse -

e.g. Physics: 25% without degree, Biology 60% without degree. You
actually find something like this in universities, e.g. in physics
departments few if any of the technicians will have a physics degree
whereas in biology nearly all will have. Schools are just another
employment sector that soaks up surplus graduates, and there are more
surplus biology graduates than physics graduates.

The without A level figure for Physics could be misleading as I would
expect most will have an A level in maths, similarly the biology
teachers
will probably have an A level in chemistry.

There are very few jobs for some one with B.A. in physics. It is a real
shame. IMO all engineers should have the equivalent of a B.A. in physic
in
order to understand what they do.


I expect many they have. They certainly have applied maths to a level that
matches BA in maths. When I was at Leeds the engineers tended to thrash the
maths undergraduates in the maths papers that the courses shared. Though
at the time the entry requirements for engineering were a couple of points
higher than for maths, so the grades were most likely a reflection of A
level grades. Though for myself I always found knowing how, and why,
something is used made it easier to learn.

As for employment for physics graduates, well I've always been surrounded
by them so I'd never really given much thought to where else they might
work. Certainly maths, physics and engineering were always favoured by
employers for the more challenging work in IT over computer science
graduates and the various business related IT courses - 'cos they can do
maths.

Michael Saunby