  This article describes an undergraduate physics module at a university in
England that places year 3 student physicists in secondary school classrooms
for a semester. This is done as a way of introducing them to the occupation of
secondary physics teaching using a realistic job preview approach. The module
helps the undergraduate students develop their communication and professional
skills and supports the physics learning of pupils in the schools where they
are placed. The perceptions of the participating students toward secondary
school physics teaching are then investigated. Two themes emerged from this
research: The difficulty of explaining physics concepts to children and the
need to make school physics enjoyable.
