A STEM teacher must have specialised skills and knowledge of the area that they’re teaching. In most circumstances, this will mean they have a degree in the subject, or they will have come from a STEM career.

It’s not enough to be amazing at your specialism; you must also be able to communicate complex ideas to a class who are unfamiliar with the concepts you are teaching. More generally, as a teacher, you need to be a good communicator so that the class will listen to you and respect you.

Teachers need good organisational skills to keep up with classroom demands, such as creating lesson plans, marking work, tracking progress and organising tests and experiments. Especially in STEM, creating organised lesson plans will really benefit students when covering difficult concepts.

All teachers need patience, as they deal with lots of people at once, who are often children. They must be able to keep their cool when students misbehave and explain things patiently when someone doesn’t understand.