ADVICE FOR STUDENTS CONSIDERING TEACHING AS A CAREER

Teaching as a Career

Don’t be misled by the regular reports in the media about teacher shortages into thinking that teaching is easy to get into. The demanding job of teaching requires the right person and both schools and teacher training institutions will select carefully.

There may once have been a time when teacher training was seen by many students as a way of spending a further year as a student with no intention of teaching as a career but this is no longer the case – teacher training providers will look hard for evidence of your motivation and commitment. This is best demonstrated by experience of working with children and a knowledge of educational issues.

Qualifying as a teacher

There are different ways to qualify as a teacher: most graduates follow the traditional one-year, full-time Postgraduate Certificate in Education course but there are also part-time and flexible courses and employment-based routes.

The Graduate and Registered Teacher Programmes allow you to work as a teacher and train at the same time. The Graduate Teacher Programme is for graduates aged 24 or above; the Registered Teacher Programme is for HND diplomates and other people with 2 years of higher education who may complete a degree while training.

Full details are on the Training & Development Agency for Schools (TDA) website www.tda.gov.uk/recruit.aspx under Types of Training

You are not required to have a PGCE to teach in independent schools, but it is increasingly preferred.

Insights into Teaching

‘It’s only by gaining experience of teaching and the world of education that you can rationally decide whether teaching gives you the ‘buzz’ that will make all the hard work worth it. I would strongly advise any prospective applicant to build up a meaningful and broad portfolio of experience of school life before applying. This ideally should involve: inner city teaching v rural, secondary v primary, special needs, extra-curricular activities, pastoral (e.g. counselling) and the administrative and management side of teaching.’’

It is also essential to have relevant experience to use in your PGCE applications. Without recent experience of schools (seeing teaching from the teacher’s point of view!) and involvement with children and/or young people in the relevant age range, your application is unlikely to be able to demonstrate the required motivation and knowledge of teaching.

An excellent way of getting this experience is through volunteering in a local school: see the Kent Union website for information on these opportunities www.kentunionvolunteering.co.uk

The TDA website www.tda.gov.uk lists a variety of ways of gaining an insight into teaching, including “taster courses” (three-day courses which include one day in a school and provide information and advice on the various routes into teaching - these are only for underrepresented groups e.g. secondary shortage subjects, males wanting primary, ethnic minority and disabled candidates) and the Open Schools Programme, which can arrange observational placements in one of 500 schools across the country. For more information on this programme see www.tda.gov.uk/Home/Recruit/experienceteaching.aspx or call the Teaching Information Line: 0845 6000 991.

The Student Associates Scheme provides an opportunity for current undergraduate and postgraduate students to gain some experience of life in secondary schools as an adult in their chosen subject department. Through a framework of structured activities it enables students to explore teaching as a career without any obligation to proceed further. See the TDA website (Experience Teaching) or Canterbury Christ Church University www.canterbury.ac.uk which runs this scheme locally.

You can also get work-shadowing experience through the Careers Network , which puts current students in touch with past Kent graduates for informal careers advice. Alternatively, you may wish to get in touch directly with your own old school or with anybody you know who works in teaching.

Other ways of gaining experience – during term-time, vacations or after graduation – could include:

Our Work Experience links www.kent.ac.uk/careers/vacwork.htm#links will give ideas for organisations that can offer these various types of work experience.

In addition to gaining practical work experience, you should take steps to keep abreast of current issues in education, such as new initiatives, controversies or reports. Reading the Times Educational Supplement www.tes.co.uk or the Education Guardian on a regular basis is the best way to do this at national level, but also check local newspapers and the websites of education authorities, schools and teacher training providers in the locality where you want to train and/or teach in order to become aware of local issues.

Applying

Competition is strong for places on all primary-level courses and for secondary-level courses in Humanities subjects. You should ideally apply in September or early October of your final year, even though there is no official closing date for most secondary PGCE courses (the closing date for primary courses is 1st December). Different PGCE courses have different success rates for getting jobs after completion. For example at Cambridge 90% of secondary trainees were in schools six months after completing the course, whereas some other courses had much lower percentages entering teaching after completion.

The AGCAS booklet “Applying for a PGCE”, available in the Careers Information Room is a mine of information about the different routes into teaching, funding and entry requirements, as well as tips on choosing a course, completing the GTTR application and going for interview.

Entry requirements

Your degree should be in an area related to a mainstream National Curriculum subject, although this is often interpreted flexibly: a Politics degree, for example, can be relevant to History as well as to Citizenship while Psychology includes elements of Maths and Science as well as the relevance of modules such as child development (a teaching qualification, while no longer essential for Psychology graduates aiming to become educational psychologists, would still be useful preparation for a career in this field). If you have any doubts about the relevance of your degree to the course of your choice, check with PGCE admissions staff.

You must have GCSE (or equivalent qualifications) in Maths, English and a science subject before starting a PGCE. Some course providers will allow candidates without a GCSE to take an entrance exam in the subject.

If you haven't got a science GCSE (needed for primary teacer training) then you can do a 1 year (Late Sept. - May) OCN GCSE Equivalent Science Course at Canterbury College instead.. Contact name is Rosie O'Hara, Co-ordinator of Access, Canterbury College, New Dover Road, Canterbury Kent CT1 3AJ, Tel 01227811243

What makes a good teacher?

“No-one forgets a good teacher”, according to a past TTA recruitment campaign, but what is it that makes a good teacher? Here are two summaries of the essential skills and personal qualities for you to assess whether you have what it takes:

A good teacher is:

- and has a sense of humour!

‘Teaching is a demanding career, physically, emotionally and intellectually. It calls for energy, dedication, patience and enthusiasm. You must have enthusiasm for your subject, and, far more important, you must be able to form a relationship with and control the class. Class management skills are essential. You also need to be able to think on your feet. This is not a nine-to-five job. There will be a lot of preparation and marking to do in the evenings and week-ends. There are also exams to prepare, invigilate and mark. All this calls for good time management, self-discipline, administration and organisational skills as well as good supervisory and leadership skills.’

Money!

Teachers are better paid than people often imagine. The starting salary for a newly-qualified teacher is just over £20000; over £24000 in Inner London. New teachers of shortage subjects such as mathematics, science, modern languages and religious education may receive a further “golden hello” of £4000 at the start of their second year of teaching.

From September 2006, PGCE students in England will be eligible for a non-means tested grant of £1,200 and to apply for an additional means-tested grant of £1,500 . They are also, unlike other postgraduate students, still eligible for student loans. In addition, eligible postgraduate trainee teachers are entitled to a tax-free bursary while they train, the value of which will depend on where you train, the subject you are training to teach, and when you start your course. Further details of funding are available on the Dept for Children Schools and Families website www.dfes.gov.uk/studentsupport

Teaching pupils with special educational needs

It is not possible to train and work as a special needs teacher from the outset (although Special Needs is offered as a subsidiary subject on the PGCE courses at Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol and Oxford universities and there is a special educational needs element to all initial teacher training courses). The usual pattern is to gain a general teaching qualification and experience and then develop a career in SEN teaching through in-service training.

PROFILE: Teacher - Special Needs

INVOLVES: A generic or specialist teacher in a school with responsibility for the special needs provision within that school. Special needs covers a range of learning difficulties & behavioural problems, sometimes resulting from physical or mental disabilities, including dyslexia & autism. Tasks include: Setting up the group. Co-ordinating & managing multi-disciplinary team. Teaching children. Record keeping. Liaison with parents, schools & educational services.
EMPLOYERS: Schools/Education Authorities. Some charities e.g. RNIB, Caldecott Foundation, Camphill Schools
RELATED JOBS: mainstream teaching, social work, youth & community work, art therapist, drama therapist, occupational therapist, educational psychologist.
SATISFACTIONS: Children's progression, teamwork. A larger role within the school than simply classroom teacher. Often one-to-one teaching situations.
NEGATIVES: Training hard to come by. Resources often limited.
SKILLS: written & spoken communication, leading, organising, listening, and cooperating.
ADVANCEMENT: Mainstream basic grade teacher - to management or special needs posts - deputy & headship
DEGREE: Must study for a PGCE - there are no specific courses for Special Needs. You choose the subject (for Secondary) or age range (for Primary) & then obtain in-service training once employed. No specific degree subject is required, although psychology & related subjects might be useful.
VACANCY SOURCES: Times Educational Supplement, Guardian (Tuesday), Local Education Authority vacancies.
TIPS: Must work as a normal school teacher - often Primary, before entering special needs work.

Finding out more

Talk to a Careers Adviser – either book an appointment or drop in for a “quick query” (See www.kent.ac.uk/careers/dutyca.htm for details). We can advise on your career options and help you to make effective applications and to prepare for interview.

 

And now you may want to return to our Teaching Careers Links www.kent.ac.uk/careers/siteach.htm where you will find many more sources of information and advice.

Jargon buster

Like every other profession, teaching and teacher training have their own vocabulary. Here are some of the most commonly-used acronyms you will come across:

A comprehensive jargon buster can be found on the TES (Times Educational Supplement!) website www.tes.co.uk

Last updated: June 2009