Misalignments: Challenges in Cultivating Science Faculty with Education Specialties in Your Department

Science faculty with education specialties (SFES) are increasingly being hired across the United States. However, little is known about the motivations for SFES hiring or the potential or actual impact of this trend. In the context of a recent national survey of US SFES, we investigated SFES perceptions about these issues. Strikingly, their perceptions about the reasons for hiring SFES were poorly aligned with their perceptions about the potential and actual contributions reported by SFES themselves, and the advice that they extended to beginning SFES was varied. Although the preparation of future teachers and departmental teaching needs were common reasons offered for SFES hiring, the potential and actual contributions of SFES highlighted, instead, their roles as pedagogical resources and as contributors to curricular reform. Misalignments between SFES perceptions about what motivates SFES hiring and their perceptions of their most valuable contributions present challenges for those interested in maximizing the impact of SFES.