Question for teachers

[dinny]

If you have a degree, is it another year to do a PGCE?

[roisin]

Yes a year to do PGCE in the subject of your degree. If you need to convert there are some two-year courses; e.g. Maths for non-Maths graduates.

[supplyteacher]

Yes. Your degree needs to be something like 70% related to the subject you want to teach. The course runs from October to July, so not quite a year.

[Pixiefish]

sept to early july normally. Very heavy course

[PanicPants]

Yes it is, if you want to do primary then it doesn't matter what subject your degree is in. If it's secondary it needs to be related to your subject.

[Littlefish]

If you don't want to do a PGCE there is another course where you basically train in the school (I think there might be a bit of time in college). I think it's called the graduate teacher scheme. A friend is doing it at the moment and is really enjoying it. It only takes a year, but I think that you get paid a bit for doing it as you are teaching part time.

This same friend managed to negotiate that she did 4 days a week, rather than 5, but spread the whole course over 4 terms as she had a 1 year old child.

[fob]

are you in england or scotland dinny?

[dinny]

Thanks, everyone. I'm in England (Surrey). I've got a BA in English and philosophy and MA in philosophy. Could I teach English at secondary with just a PGCE?

Though kind of lean more towards primary (less scary)...

Any websites I should check out? Do you get a grant or have to fund yourself?

[PanicPants]

Yes the Graduate teaching scheme is much much more school based than a PGCE. You need to have spent quite a bit of time in the classroom before you start.

One of our governors did this last year in my class for half her time and the other time she had to spend in a different school.

[roisin]

What do you want to do Dinny? A friend of mine teaches philosophy A level, and went in on an unconventional route. She started teaching as an Unqualified Teacher, which is a lower rate of pay; then after several years of doing it she got her QTS by jumping through a few hoops.

[fob]

we don't have the graduate teaching scheme in scotland, so we all have to do the pgce, if we already hold a degree in the subject. it is intensive as pixiefish says and you are pretty much skint for a year.
imo i think the graduate teaching scheme is more attractive, purely because it's much more 'hands-on' iyswim.

[Peachyclair]

depending on your subject you might get a bursary- I will probably get 6K as mine is a shortage subject
and as such I only need 50% relevance (but will ahve 100%)

[Peachyclair]

English isn't shortage but you might get a Uni to let you onto RE with Philosophy (its part of my RE and philosophy degree)

[dinny]

blimey, wonder if A-level teaching is the way to go... hadn't really considered it. not sure why.

[Pixiefish]

English is a shortage subject in some places though

[Blandmum]

Yes I did this a few years ago. If you do it with the OU you can take between 1-3 years. You still get the normal grant. You can also do GTP which is a year on the job training with a 50% timetable

[Pixiefish]

A level in school is accompanied by teaching int he lower school. In tertiaty colleges it tends to be something that you move to after a few years teaching unless you teach in a technical college (pay is much poorer in tech college)

[supplyteacher]

An English degree is enough to get you on a PGCE course to train to become and English teacher.

I live in Surrey and did my PGCE at Reading University. There are lots of places convenient for Surrey residents though.