The State of Primary Science in the UK (2025)
A sector report to provide an updated picture of teaching and leadership in primary science across the four UK nations.
The State of Primary Science in the UK (2025) is a sector report conducted by ImpactEd Group and commissioned by PSTT with The Ogden Trust and SEERIH (The University of Manchester), with support from the Comino Foundation. It builds on the Wellcome Trust’s 2017 baseline to provide an updated picture of teaching and leadership in primary science across the four UK nations.
It is encouraging that primary science provision and science leadership is making positive progress and the report reinforces the value and impact of science leadership, but the decrease in CPD participation and the decline in confidence in teaching science needs to be addressed.
Given the broad requirements of primary teaching, the low percentage of teachers with science (in particular physics) A-level/Advanced Higher qualifications, is perhaps not surprising but more must be done to support teachers to build their subject knowledge and pedagogy.
Confident teachers are crucial in developing young learners to believe they can be scientists. It is essential that teachers can access professional development that is feasible to implement in the classroom and that school leadership enable science to flourish.
Professional development and a school-wide commitment to science teaching underpin the recommendations in this report, which resonate with our own strategy and our commitment to developing the confidence and competence of teachers teaching physics out of field. We need to work across the sector to best support teachers so they can deliver purposeful, practical primary science.
Starting in 2026/27, we are developing a series of national CPD Improving Primary Physics conferences for KS2 teachers, which will provide hands-on professional development so teachers can confidently deliver the primary physics content. We will be adding to our online primary curriculum resources over the next 18 months as part of our provision to support primary physics. Sign up to our newsletter for the latest news and opportunities.
Download the reportÂ
The report (together with summaries of the key findings and recommendations) can be downloaded from The Primary Science Teaching Trust.
Published: 8 October 2025