Teaching

retired_navy0614 · 10-09-2007, 07:37 PM

If you're unsure what level you want to teach at, get in touch with a local school and a local college and ask if you can volunteer to do a fortnight in each. That should help you make your mind up.

retired_navy0614 · 10-09-2007, 07:46 PM

Quote:

So in the summer I worked for 4 weeks with 5-12 and really enjoyed it. This got me thinking about going into teaching, which I had never previously thought about.

Some background information. I am 20 and about to complete a BSc in Information Management at Manchester Met this summer. Probably looking at a 2:1. I have all the basic GCSEs but my A-levels aren't great. I have A-Levels in Computing and General Studies and AS-Levels in English Language and Law. Basically the course involves mapping the flow of information within an organisation, information and knowledge auditing, human resources management, financial management, organisational structure, databases, management of information systems, information integrity, new technologies, how best to; collect, retrieve, store, manage, delete information and the reduction of erroneous and duplicate data and so on.

I'm not sure whether I want to teach in primary, secondary, or FE, which makes things a bit more complicated. Although I am leaning to wards secondary at the moment.

What is the best way of becoming a teacher? Is it best to do the PCGE once I complete my degree? If I do this, what subjects would I be able to teacher in secondary score? ICT? Business maybe?

What about the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP). As far as I understand this, this scheme allows you to train on the job and get paid as a teacher's assistant. Likewise with the PGCE, what subjects would I be able to teach?

Financial questions: Would I receive the financial bursary of £9,000? I understand that it's dependent on subject?

Would the government pay off my university loans, or is that only for 'core' subject teachers like English, Maths and Science?

I could of course look into teaching at a FE college whilst doing a part-time masters. And then there's always the option of teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) in France/Canada or even the Czech Republic. I speak decent French and I know basic Czech having worked out there on a placement this summer. I would, of course, spend 3 months in the country before my placement started so that I could get up to speed with the country's language.

So yeah, it's a bit of a mind-field and I'm feeling a bit lost, so any help you can give to me would be great. I have been to several career fairs and have a meeting with the careers office coming up. I am also attending a teaching seminar in Manchester on Thursday, where current teachers will be there to answer my questions, but in the meantime, you guys will do!

1. A-Levels don't matter once you've done a degree. Just lie to your students.
2. There is an obsession with qualifiactions, so a PGCE may be best. Depends on the type of PGCE what you do, there's a post-compulsory (i.e. FE) one and a secondary one, although I hear they're to basically be merged as at the momet, you can teach in a FE despite solely working/training in secondary, but not vice-versa. The PGCE at PC is not subject specific, so I just have a generic teaching degree, although I quantify that by saying it's in History and Politics. At secondary, you will (I think) have, say, an ICT PGCE but at the end of the day it's likely you may be asked to diversify and teach another, related subject.
3. I looked into the GTP, but I got the impression it's aimed more at people with plenty of experience (not neccessarily teaching) and don't/can't go back to Uni rather than graduates. Subject wise it'd be what you could feasibly teach (in their mind.) So subjects related to your degree.
4. Financial, last time I checked it was maths/eng/sci/languages subjects. Don't think ICT/Business would qualify for the bursary. Which is a slag. Post-graduate teacher training is eligible however for a student loan of up to 6k, plus there is a seperate loan available to pay the fees. So essentially you'd get 6k towards your living costs. The Government would not pay off your uni loans, I think at best that's the aforementioned core subjects...you won't get a "golden hello" either (few thousand quid after a year of teaching)
5. Part-time - you don't need qualifactions to teach in FE, but I doubt they'd employ you tbh. You don't have experience, teaching or anything else, and only a a bachelors degree. If you even got through to the interview stage, you'd have to be very impressive/they desperate. And FE funding has been cut recently so there's a lot of people going for a smaller amount of jobs.
6. TEFL is a sexy option, especially if you develop your lanaguage skills to become pretty fluent. Looks good on a CV, and they may even keep you on full-time afterwards.

retired_tripaige · 10-10-2007, 10:36 AM

Thanks guys. Any more advice always welcome.

retired_ks reddy · 10-10-2007, 10:40 AM

Join the army you ****ing pooftah?

retired_therob · 10-10-2007, 10:41 AM

Advice? Don't do it. This is based on the experience of my best friend who is trapped in a job he hates. For him it seemed a great idea. They pay you to do the PGCE and then his school gave him a 'golden handshake' of 4 grand or something too. ANd to go from a student to earning £20k+ is pretty appealing.

However, he hates his job now. He gets no support from his employers. The workload is insane (forget the idea of having time off at half term, Christmas, Easter etc - there's always work to mark and set). He has very few options in terms of moving up the salary ladder - except to stay there for decades. In general, he is miserable.

retired_tripaige · 10-10-2007, 10:52 AM

Haha, cheers for that Bert. Made me laugh.

And thanks for that msteuk. Basically that's what I'm scared of happening. I'll probably ring around and see if I can do some voluntry work. I know it won't tell me whether in three years time I'll hate the job, but it'll at least give me an idea.

retired_nafrally · 10-10-2007, 11:07 AM

Matt, I think you should aim for a primary school post. The thing with secondary schools is, it can tough having the respect of kids who are only a few years younger than you.
If your heart is set on secondary though, you should go for it.

retired_nini59 · 10-10-2007, 11:54 AM

a point I forgot, if you're going for primary PGCE I think it's supposed to be much easier for guys than girls as there's so few of them, so you might not need all the qualifications they are asking for.

retired_slk55 · 10-10-2007, 11:57 AM

clean shirt

retired_tripaige · 10-10-2007, 12:05 PM

don't hate me, I'm not the borough!

Teaching

Grab a beer, sit back and relax.

Teaching