Career Options - Jobs in Teaching
Have you ever dreamed of inspiring young people? If you feel that you have something to offer the younger generation why not think about training to become a teacher?
Teachers are employed from a variety of backgrounds and with a wealth of academic and life skills. There are several ways to get into teaching.
First, you should decide on what you would like to teach. You can do this by looking at your hobbies and interests, and also your academic qualifications. Most prospective teachers need to have a GCSE (or equivalent) in maths and English, as well as science if they were born after 1980. If you don’t have these qualifications there might be opportunity to train for them.
The traditional route is to go to university and train for a PGCE qualification or BA in Education. Both of these will take around four years and are combined with teaching practice in a variety of schools. After this you’ll be able to teach at primary or secondary level depending on which discipline you studied.
Graduates who wish to take a PGCE can receive a special grant to help towards costs of this qualification.
Another route into teaching is to participate in the GTP. This stands for Graduate Teaching Programme and it is open to graduates who haven’t already obtained a teaching qualification. If you’re ambitious and keen to gain teaching experience right from the beginning, a GTP is good introduction to teaching for the very serious.
GTP schemes give you the qualification, on the job training and also a range of additional skills such as classroom management training. Plus, you’ll get paid a salary of around £12,000 – which may be variable depending on your academic and life experience.