Sandy Wilkinson is School Teacher Fellow at the University of Birmingham.

In September 2007 I was sent to the chemistry department at the University of Birmingham, as part of the RSC's Teacher Fellowship scheme, with the view to help bridge the gap between school and university chemistry courses. I am aware that I am in a unique and privileged position: to be able to see the challenges and opportunities that students face at either side of the school-university interface.

This secondment has allowed me to raise the awareness of my host department to pressing issues and developments within secondary education. Examples include curriculum matters, such as A-level content, students' learning styles and preferences, as well as transitional issues. One beneficial outcome has been my close involvement in the preparation of Year 1 physical chemistry courses.

A very rewarding part of the scheme has been working with other Teacher Fellows. Our regular meetings have been very productive and have lead to some very useful collaborative projects. We hope these will widely benefit both sixth form colleges and university departments. I believe that a Teacher Fellow can make a significant, sustainable impact on all chemistry departments' drive to improve and maintain recruitment and retention of high quality students, who will go on to become tomorrow's chemists.

The benefit of the scheme to me as a teacher has been enormous. Working closely with students and academics has forced me to think about teaching chemistry at a much more fundamental level than I was able to as an A-level teacher. When I return to my school I will be much more aware of how to prepare students to switch to the more independent style of learning encountered in universities.

I sincerely hope that the RSC can secure funding for this scheme to be continued in future years.