Teach Physics internships

“I really enjoyed the chance to teach a lesson, organise a physics careers workshop and a university-life session. It really increased my confidence and has made me feel that I will be a good teacher if I decide to go into teaching. It has also been a really good opportunity to see what teaching is really like and has opened my eyes to some of the challenges teachers face. Overall, I would highly recommend this to anyone even vaguely interested in teaching as it is a very enjoyable and enlightening experience.
Teach Physics intern 2022

Each year, The Ogden Trust offers Teach Physics internships for university students. These internships provide an intensive experience of what teaching physics is like, an important prerequisite for obtaining a PGCE place or other funded route into teaching.

You can download our Teach Physics leaflet for 2023 here.

Applications for 2023 are now closed.

The objectives of the programme are:

• to increase the number of physics graduates going on to teacher training
• to increase the number of physics specialists teaching science in British state schools

Teach Physics internships are aimed at university undergraduate students who are considering a physics teaching career and are open to physics and engineering students. They take place between the end of the university year and the end of the school summer term and are usually for four or five weeks.

The internships are hosted at state schools across England with a reputation for strong physics teaching and a link with The Ogden Trust.

You can learn more about the internships by reading the reflective reports from previous placements which are available as pdfs.

Hosting an intern

If your school is interested in hosting an intern, please email our Programme Officer. You can also download our Teach Physics leaflet for schools (2023) which gives a useful overview of the programme and its requirements. 

The Ogden Trust offers an educational grant to the host school, including £100 per intern towards the science department and to cover Disclosure and Barring Service checks, and the interns receive a training grant based on £300 per completed week. They are required to submit a short reflective report at the end of their placement, and to hold a workshop for pupils on applying for university.

You can download an information pack for host schools here (2023) which includes an overview of the programme and requirements.

If you host an intern at your school, the process is managed through our online grant management system. You can download our guide to this process here.

Our Teach Physics report (October 2020), summarises some of the key programme outcomes and can be downloaded from our publications and research page.