Teaching & Education
Within the education sector there are plenty of alternatives to teaching - no matter where your talents and preferences lie, there are opportunities for everyone.
Roles within the sector include:
Getting into teaching
Teaching is a rewarding career – no two days are ever the same and the chance to play a key role in a young person’s life is an immense privilege.
In Central Bedfordshire we have a huge range of schools, from tiny village schools with fewer than 100 pupils, to upper schools with over 1,500 students. As the local population expands, our schools are going through a period of growth, which opens up opportunities for teachers at all stages in their career. However, qualifying as a teacher enables you to work throughout the UK, and some qualifications allow you to work overseas too.
There are many routes into teaching. Some are based around a traditional undergraduate degree course, some routes are post-graduate, and others are designed for people already working in a school and looking to move into teaching. Every route is open to people of all ages – more and more people are switching to teaching after a career in a completely different field.
The government understands that working your way through the different options can be a bit overwhelming, so they have set up a website to guide you through the choices, and where you can also access telephone support from a specially trained adviser.
The process of fully qualifying as a teacher is in two stages. To teach the primary or secondary age range, you will need Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Once you have QTS and have secured your first job, you are then a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) and you have a period of induction – this is a time in which you have slightly more time out of the classroom to allow you continue to develop your skills and benefit from continuing professional development (CPD) and advice and feedback from a mentor.
Case studies
There are lots of ways into teaching. Debbie became a teacher after working as a manager in accounting before deciding on a career change.
You can read her story by clicking on the image.
Watch Rebecca’s journey from dinner lady and playground assistant to headteacher.
Useful websites
Local vacancies
Pathways
Entry requirements - Teaching
For any teacher training course, you will need:
grade 4 (C) or above in English and maths GCSEs
grade 4 (C) or above in GCSE science if you want to teach primary
to pass numeracy and literacy professional skills tests (these are taken online and there are practice tests available as well as support to prepare for them)
confirm you have the health and physical capacity to start training.
a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate if you will be teaching students under 18 (this can usually be organised via your training provider).
Undergraduate route
You can study for a degree (usually a BA or a BEd) and gain QTS at the end of your course. As well as attending lectures, in each year of your course you will complete a professional placement in a school. Over the three years of your degree, you’ll gain experience of teaching in different types of school and in each you’ll be mentored by an experienced teacher. The amount of teaching you do in your placement gradually increases so that by the end of your third year you are ready to become an NQT. This route is open for those looking to teach primary age children, or PE in secondary/upper schools.
The undergraduate option is also open to people who are already working in a school – perhaps as a learning support assistant. There are a wide variety of foundation and degree courses available on a part-time basis which lead to a degree, eg in educational practice or early years studies. On the basis of your degree and your work experience in school you can then follow an ‘assessment only’ route to QTS.
In Central Bedfordshire we are very lucky to have an excellent local university from which many of our teachers (and headteachers!) have graduated. The University of Bedfordshire offers a wide variety of courses.
Post-graduate routes
If you already have a degree, there are a variety of options open. Some will simply lead to you gaining QTS, others will award a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) and QTS. PGCE with qualified teacher status (QTS) allows you to teach in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It’s also recognised internationally. Many PGCE courses include credits that count toward a Masters degree.
UCAS has useful information on post-graduate options and can help you make sense of terms like ‘School Direct’, ‘SCITT’ and ‘Teach First’.
Most post-graduate routes involve you in being based in school for most of the week, with either a day a week or after school sessions being run by your training provider to help you develop your understanding of the theory and practice of teaching and help you prepare for the assessed elements of your course. Some PGCEs are organised around blocks of time, most in school placements, but with lectures on professional skills and subject study in uni.
Your development as a teacher will be supported by an experienced mentor and your involvement in teaching will build up over the year. Typically, you might expect to be teaching about 30% of a full timetable by Christmas, rising to 80% by the end of the year. As well as being assessed on your teaching – obviously with lots of support at the start – you will be expected to reflect on your own practice and complete written assignments.
Some post-graduate training places are salaried: you will be employed by your main placement school and paid as an unqualified teacher. You are released for training and to undertake a short placement in a different school. Generally, the expectation of the amount of teaching you carry out will be higher on a salaried route.
Non-salaried routes usually qualify for student loan finance, and for some subjects there are bursaries available.
Local training schools
The University of Bedfordshire runs many post-graduate education programmes leading to QTS and our main local school-led training providers are:
BEST
The Acorn Teaching School
Redborne TSA
Chiltern Teaching School Alliance
Other careers in the education sector
There are many pathways into other careers including the traditional academic routes.
Local further and higher education providers and courses:
Apprenticeships - Apprenticeships combine practical training in a job with study. Find out more here. To search for and become an apprentice, start here.
Traineeship - Traineeships are designed help young people who want to get an apprenticeship or job but don’t yet have appropriate skills or experience. More information can be found here.
Higher Education
University of Bedfordshire
University of Northampton
The Open University