Do subject specialist teachers matter?

By 2014-04-09T20:33:00

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What role does subject knowledge play in how 'good' a teacher is? Does it matter whether a chemistry teacher has a chemistry degree?

How do you describe yourself as a Chemist and what defines this? For many people this is relatively simple, academic credentials and research interests provide the definition; degree subjects, final year project dissertations, higher degree and PhD topics all narrow the description from scientist, to chemist, to synthetic organic chemist in my case. How about as an educator? Does your academic ‘label’ matter when you spend a proportion, or indeed all of your time, nurturing the next generation of scientists?

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