Communities of secondary science teachers: a systematic review

Many parts of the western world are struggling with a teacher shortage, which is particularly severe in some teaching areas including science. Part of a potential solution to this shortage is reducing teacher attrition rates, especially among early career teachers. At the same time, a need has been identified to drive larger numbers of students towards studying science. This creates an environment whereby teachers are required to teach science either out of field, or out of science specialisation. The community in which teachers operate has been identified as critical to both increasing teacher satisfaction and driving effective professional development. At the same time, the emergence of social media provides an avenue for teachers to effectively communicate and collaborate. This systematic review, therefore, aims to summarise the research on communities of in-service secondary science teachers since 2010, corresponding to the significant adoption of social media. It shows that whilst significant research has been done across a range of different community structures, there exists a lack of rigorous distinction between these different styles. There is also a research gap surrounding the use of social media, as well as the use of communities to support out of specialisation science teachers.