The teacher is one of the most important variables for maintaining or developing excellence in education. According to many surveys many teachers of high school physics earned their degrees in other fields. This paper deals with preservice and inservice high school physics teacher education. Topics include: (1) what physics teachers are expected to do; (2) physics knowledge background (including physics courses in the undergraduate program and fifth year program); (3) professional skills (including pedagogy, management of a classroom and laboratory, and ways of guiding and motivating students); (4) suggestions for teachers with various backgrounds; (5) suggestions to physics departments in colleges and universities about course offerings; (6) certification; and (7) trends in teacher education. The appendix includes examples of certification requirements from Massachusetts and Wisconsin. (YP)