Where do I start?
Teaching in Schools
Introduction
After going through school it’s easy to assume that we understand the
role of the teacher, but this can be a dangerous assumption! What we
remember from earlier years can often be quite different to the reality
– especially as much of the work was ‘hidden’ from us and done in the
staffroom, at home or in the classroom after hours – and also because
the profession is continuously changing and evolving. For this reason
we strongly urge you to follow up the resources below and investigate
the role of today’s teacher.
There is always a need for teachers but the education sector is very
much affected by political and economic factors, so training and recruitment opportunities can vary greatly and change rapidly. It is important
to understand that, within the UK, education is a responsibility devolved
to the Parliaments and Assemblies of Scotland, N. Ireland and Wales,
which creates national differences: there are variations in terminology,
training routes/qualifications, popularity as a career, conditions of
service, school curricula and current issues facing the profession.
What is common throughout the UK is that anyone considering a
teaching career must:
• have a love of their subject (especially at secondary level)
• have a desire to pass on knowledge and the ability to explain
things clearly
• enjoy working with children
Remember too that there are career opportunities in related fields and
also in areas which require/value some prior teaching experience.
Examples include educational administration, outdoor education,
TEFL, adult education lecturing, educational psychology or museum/
arts education. Browse the green folders in the information centre for
more ideas, and/or visit the Careers service website: www.ed.ac.uk/
careers.
Finding out about…
Online
The Careers Service has comprehensive information about teaching in schools (and the wider Education sector), including routes into
teaching, how to apply for teacher training, and detailed job profiles
that provide up-to-date information about how to get a job in the sector,
salaries and conditions etc: www.ed.ac.uk/careers/occupations.
Choose, Eplore your options > Guide to Occupations > Education >
Teaching in Schools
MyCareerHub Check MyCareerHub for Information Resources, Events
and jobs/voluntary work relating to the education and teaching sector:
www.myed.ed.ac.uk
Information folders (The brackets refer to which Careers Service
office holds them)
• Green folders: (A1) Teaching in Schools (C & KB)
• Yellow folders: Applying to PGCE/PGDE Courses – lots of useful
(C & KB)
information, including writing personal statements
• Orange folders: School of Education – help getting started with (C)
career planning
• Yellow folders: Employment-Based Teacher Training (C) – find out
about ‘on the job’ training in England
Reference books (The brackets refer to which Careers Service office
holds them)
• UK Secondary and Education Directory (C & KB)
• Finding your First Teaching Post (C)
• Education: Alternatives to Teaching (C & KB)
• Newly Qualified Teacher’s Handbook (C & KB)
• The Independent Schools Guide (C)
• The Year of Living Dangerously - A Survival Guide for Probationary
Teachers (C)
• Managing Teacher Stress (C)
• Good Schools Guide - Special Educational Needs (C)
• Into teaching – positive experiences of disabled people (C)
Journals/Newspapers
• Teaching Scotland – magazine produced by the General Teaching
Council for Scotland.
• TESS – (Times Educational Supplement Scotland ) and TESS
Vacancies supplement – a newspaper for the
education/teaching sector, containing articles of professional
interest, news and jobs.
• THE (Times Higher Education) – news for the HE sector.
Takeaway literature (while stocks last!)
• TARGETcourses Teaching – handy guide to get you started with
advice, case studies, details of training and qualifications. Covers all the UK although the main focus is England & Wales.
Getting experience
• In order to apply successfully to a teacher training course of
any kind you will need to demonstrate an interest in teaching, an
awareness of key issues and have some kind of practical
experience of dealing with the age group you wish to teach.
• Two key points to consider are: experience of teaching and
experience of children. If you have both then great, but you
should certainly try and have one!
Lothian Equal Access Partnership for Schools (LEAPS) is
always looking for volunteers to help work with secondary school
pupils from the local area both in schools and at university. This programme provides relevant pre-entry work experience that is highly valued by course providers. See: www.leapsonline.org/ for details.
• The Careers Service runs ‘A day in school’ in Semester 2 at
a local High School – check the Events section of MyCareerHub for details.
• In England & Wales, the Teaching Agency runs the School Experi
ence Programme,which can help you decide if you would suit a career in teaching.
• Arranging your own school experience is getting more difficult as
heads and class teachers are under increasing time pressure and
there may also be legal requirements for a Police Disclosure check. Often approaching your old school/children’s school is a good and easier starting point.
• Remember that experience doesn’t have to be in a classroom
(though clearly this is the ideal) – it could be from working with
children in youth groups, playgroups, Brownies, Scouts,
befriending/mentoring etc. You may have volunteered to teach
literacy classes to adults or run a painting course – it’s all teaching
experience!
• Consider looking for voluntary work in the vacations or during
semester. There is a useful voluntary work section on the Careers
Service website to help you get you started and voluntary positions
are also advertised on MyCareerHub: www.ed.ac.uk/careers
Getting qualified
In order to teach in any state school and most independent schools you
must register with the General Teaching Council for your
particular part of the UK, except in England where the teaching profession is now regulated by the Teaching Agency. Each has slightly different rules, but all require you to have qualified teacher status (QTS)
and, in Scotland, to have a recognised teaching qualification (RTQ).
Because of the national differences in training routes, qualifications
and school curricula, it is a good idea to train in the country you wish to
actually teach in. This is done either through:
1. Studying for a BEd undergraduate degree (3-4 years).
2. A 1-year postgraduate teaching conversion course: PGCE (or
PGDE in Scotland).
3. Employment-based teaching schemes in England (and some
times Wales) including:
• School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) - similar in many
ways to a PGCE but run by consortia of schools rather than
universities/colleges. These courses allow students to learn ‘on the job’ in a school. They generall y last one year, and QTS is awarded on completion. Some, but not all, also award the PGCE, so it is vital to check the terms of the individual courses. Funding varies
according to subject, and some graduates with 3 years or more work experience may qualify for a salaried course.
• School Direct – this programme allows schools to recruit and train
their own staff. Bursaries may be available for recent graduates, while those with at least 3 years work experience can be paid on the
unqualified teacher scale during training. www.education.gov.uk/
get-into-teaching/teacher-training-options/school-based-training
• Teach First - this programme offers graduates 2 years teacher training combined with leadership development in challenging schools. This course alos awards the PGCE, and the opportunity to work towards a Masters in Education, before moving on to a
leadership role in education or the world of business. The Civil Service Fast Stream and a number of other leading employers allow deferred entry to their management programmes for graduates who want to do Teach First. www.teachfirst.org.uk.
• Researchers in Schools - this 2 year programme, based in London, offers PhDs a well-paid and exclusive route into teaching.
Researchers can return to academia after completing the pro gramme. www.researchersinschools.org
Application times & dates
For graduate conversion courses at universities and colleges…
• ITT applications for courses in England & Wales are made
through the UCAS Teacher Training system. The opening dates for
applications varies year-to-year but is usually around late October.
Keep an eye on the website for up-to-date news. There is no closing
date for courses and your application will be considered as long as
there are vacancies. You should, however, aim to apply early in the
application cycle to give yourself the best chance of obtaining a place particularly for more competitive courses such as primary teaching, and
for ‘non-shortage’ subjects such as history.
www.ucas.com/how-it-all-works/teacher-training
• ITT applications for courses in Scotland are made through the main UCAS system, and follow the same opening and closing dates (open 15 September, close 15 January) www.ucas.com
• For courses in Northern Ireland candidates apply direct to the
institutions. Deadlines are generally in November or December. There is a list of course providers and links on the Target postgrad website :
http://targetpostgrad.com/study-areas/teaching/training-teachnorthern-ireland
For ‘on the job’ training…
• Applications for SCITT courses and School Direct programmes are also made via the UCAS Teacher Training system.
SCITT courses are under the name of the SCITT school, and
School Direct are under the name of the school leading the training.
• Teach First - applications open in June, to start the following year. Places fill up quickly for the popular subjects. Apply via Teach First website.
• Researchers in Schools - applications are made online via the RIS website. This is a new programme (2014) so opening and
closing dates are not yet firmly established and will be subject to change. There may be more than one application cycle in a year.
Applications to begin training in September 2015 are open until
Friday 5th December.
Considerations
• Who would you like to teach? Children at primary school or
secondary school – and even within these categories there are
possibilities to specialise – upper or lower primary, teaching
Highers/’A’-Levels or not.
• What would you like to teach? Does your degree (and school
qualifications) allow you to teach your chosen subject? (There can
be variations between teacher training providers, so check!) Does
the broadness of primary teaching appeal, or the specialism of
secondary? Might the discipline of older pupils be an issue for you,
or would you find it difficult to teach a mixed-ability primary class?
Is your subject competitive (e.g. history) or a shortage subject
(e.g. physics)?
• Where would you like to teach? The location may influence your
choice of training provider and even style of training (some employ
ment-based training programmes in England may not be sufficient for registration in Scotland or N. Ireland). You may wish to teach
overseas, in which case check how your proposed teaching
qualification is viewed by the governments of other countries,
and also how much experience is required – you may have to teach
for 2-3 years in the UK before being considered as having enough
experience. See the links at: www.ed.ac.uk/careers/occupations,
choose Education, then Teaching Internationally.
• Type of school? Schools can be state or independent,
denominational or secular, single-sex or mixed, selective or
comprehensive – consider your own beliefs and philosophies as
you will have to be comfortable in your chosen setting.
• Language? Not all UK schools teach in English! In Wales and
parts of Scotland they may be bi-lingual (or even non-English
speaking). Some schools in large urban areas may also cater for
minority ethnic languages so having Welsh, Gaelic or Urdu could
be a real advantage!
• Money - different funding arrangements now apply in each of the
UK regions for teacher training – particularly in England and Wales
where incentives, based on degree class and subject, may be
offered. Alongside issues of training costs/incentives however are those of teaching salaries and the cost of living and housing in your
chosen area.
• Experience - if you have little/no experience you will need to
balance the merits of an early application with delaying in order to
have time to gain some experience – speak to a Careers Consultant if you are unsure.
Oct 2014
© The University of Edinburgh Careers Service
The Careers Service aims to be accessible to all users. If you require
support to access any of our events or facilities, please let us know.
We are happy to make this publication available in an alternative format.
Please phone 0131 650 4670 or email careers@ed.ac.uk to alert us to
your needs.
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland,
with registration number SC005336
• job adverts
• insider information on employers
and interviews
• exclusive information resources
• booking for appointments and
events
• features you can personalise
• access anywhere, any time
www.ed.ac.uk/careers
You can access MyCareerHub via the
Careers Service website and log in using
your EASE/MyEd username and password.