The drastic shortage of specialist physics teachers in England ( ~ 40%) has been getting worse for most of the last 20 years, largely due to low levels of recruitment.
Happily, as a result of recent changes in policy following years of lobbying by the Institute of Physics, recruitment is now healthy. However, it is still the case that many children up to age 16 are taught physics by non-specialists, usually biologists, and will be for at least the next decade…