Teaching can be one of the most rewarding professions. Teaching statistics in every phase of education is particularly rewarding as teaching statistical understanding and know-how ensures that the next generation – citizens, parents, voters – have important life skills. As a teacher of statistics you will also be providing your students with employability skills which we know employers in every sector are seeking from new recruits, be they school leavers or graduates.
Statistics is almost always taught as part of mathematics so as a teacher of statistics, you will, almost certainly, be teaching GCSE and/or A level Mathematics. You may also be teaching GSCE Statistics and/or A level Statistics. Or, if you are in one of the small but increasing number of schools which teach the International Baccalaureate (IB), you may be teaching the increased statistics content of this qualification.
The situation is different in Scotland, where nearly all schools follow a different curriculum structure; but there is still some statistics to be taught.
Many other subjects make use of statistics as one of the tools of the trade. Examples are biology, geography, psychology and the wider social sciences and sciences.
General information about school curricula and examinations is available on the websites of the government regulatory authorities for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. There is also a National Curriculum online site for teachers. More detailed information about syllabuses for GCSE and A level examinations is provided by the separate examining boards. The International Baccalaureate Organization maintains its own website.
Schools and colleges rarely, if ever, seek to appoint statisticians as such, though they welcome applications from statisticians for mathematics posts in the maintained or independent sector and in all phases of education.