I'd like to become a primary teacher. What are my options?

[Roxetta]

I'd like to become a primary teacher but I'm very under qualified.

I went through a rough spell at the end of secondary school. I was suffering badly with eating disorders so didn't achieve anything like what I was capable of.

I am Scottish and I have 3 Highers (Maths, English & Music). I'm a 29 year old mother of two. I'm currently a SAHM and would like to start taking steps towards a career that I'd be really interested in.

I'd thought about initially becoming a Teaching Assistant (if I'm lucky enough to be able to find a job doing that) and I wondered if there are ways to go from being a TA to a fully qualified teacher?

I'd be so appreciative of any help and advice.

Many thanks.

You’d need a degree, followed by a PGCE in England. Might be different in Scotland. Working as a TA will give you some idea of what it’s like though.

Get your degree first then go from there! You can’t teach without one.

Just a degree in anything or does it need to be in teaching?

You need to get a degree first. Try posting on the Staff Room board to get more replies.

Also make sure you read some of the posts on there by teachers who want to leave the profession; just so you are fully aware of what you would be signing up for.

www.ucas.com/postgraduate/teacher-training/train-teach-scotland looks like a 4 year teaching course or 1 year post graduate course

You can do a degree just in teaching (BA with QTS), or you can do a degree and then a pgce year afterwards.

You already have a head start! Music and maths are in great demand in primary schools.

I’m in Scotland too and looked in to retraining. You have Higher English so that’s a start you need that. You can either do a teaching degree or any degree plus your PGDE after you’ve finished your degree. For primary your degree can be in anything secondary it needs to be subject specific.
You also need either paid or unpaid work in a school environment. Many schools are delighted to have parents volunteer abdciteill help you get that bit of experience.

In Scotland you can do a 4 year Primary Education degree that puts you straight into teaching. Otherwise it takes 5 years to do your 4 year undergrad degree with the 1 year PGDE. You'd probably need to do an additional Higher at college to meet the entry requirements, but you're best to check with the individual university to see if your existing Highers are ok.

A four year degree is the quickest route, and would be like this one offered by Strathclyde - www.strath.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/primaryeducation/

The route I took was degree (English), volunteer in a primary school/help at youth club, with that experience I then applied for a TA position, worked as a TA for a year, then did the postgrad course.

You have higher maths and english, so that's a good start as you need them for teaching. You could do your BEd (4 year course) rather than degree then postgrad.

I play the piano (fairly well) so that could be beneficial.

Can you do a degree in teaching via the open uni or another distance learning organisation. Kids are young and DH is always away with work. Can't afford to pay childcare at this moment in time.

I should have explained. I'm Scottish but live in England. I only added in the bit about being Scottish to explain me having highers rather than A Levels. Sorry, I hadn't realised that things work differently in Scotland & England when it comes to getting into teaching.

You would have to do several placement teaching blocks in schools though; I’m not sure how that would work with distance learning?

Not that would get you qualified teaching status up here - you spend quite a lot of time on placement. You could be eligible for a student loan, or some sort of bursary to help with childcare costs. It's a lot to think about, so try not to feel overwhelmed. The first thing you'd have to do is get experience working with the age group (e.g. volunteering at your DC's school), and contact universities to find out what they'd need from you to meet their entry requirements (especially as a mature student).

Teaching is very full on, but don't write yourself off before you've even investigated more fully. You will need good support from your DH/family/friends.

Ah sorry, cross posted OP! Have a look at the Open University - they do degrees in primary education studies that you can do flexibly, and don't have strict entry requirements.

Op, you can do a degree in education through the OU but not in teaching as such. Then after your degree you can go down several routes. A PGCE, School Centered Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) and school direct. I believe there is also apprenticeships as well for degree holders.

www.open.ac.uk/courses/qualifications/q94

I did my degree through the OU and I really loved how it fitted around my kids and home life. I studied full time which is not recommended but I found it relatively easy to juggle everything. I have since gone on to do my masters at a local uni and am starting a PhD next year!

Good luck :D

Kids are young and DH is always away with work. Can't afford to pay childcare at this moment in time.

Talk to your DH really openly about what the next five years will be like and come up with a plan now. Placements are incredibly full on, as is the job itself.

A degree in another topic gives you better options at the end, just in case teaching doesn't pan out.

Just to say, it's a hugely stressful career and takes up a lot of your private time too, as well as being rewarding. All my teacher friends seem to have quit now in exhaustion.

You could do an OU degree in another subject and then just a one year PGCE. From what I have heard from friends the PGCE is very intensive so get the degree first and then look at PGCE when the children are older.

You can either do a degree (preferably one of the subjects on the primary curriculum) and then a one year PGCE to get QTS (qualified teacher status).

Or you can do a Bachelor of Education 4 year degree in primary education.

However, teaching is so incredibly tough. It's not really compatible with family life. Having two children- you won't get evenings and weekends to spend freely with your children. (Obviously not every evening/weekend).

And you unfortunately won't be able to pick your children up from school on a regular basis as the work day of a teacher is very long.

(I should add, that I left teaching during my NQT year)

Talk to your DH really openly about what the next five years will be like and come up with a plan now. Placements are incredibly full on, as is the job itself

And the five years after that. Being a teacher goes far beyond the standard school day.

Kids are young and DH is always away with work. Can't afford to pay childcare at this moment in time

This makes me think teaching might not be the role for you at the moment. The only way I can teach is by having a very supportive DH who works flexibly and parents who live locally and will have sick children at a moment’s notice. There is no flexibility in teaching during term time. If your kids are ill (my kids always fall ill in a domino formation so need 2 weeks of an adult looking after one or more of them until they are all ok again!) -you need someone else to look after them (many heads are not sympathetic about absence for child illness and it can trigger disciplinarians), parents evenings throughout the year can be late and you’ll need someone to have your kids after school till 8pm+), snow days-if your school is open but theirs are closed at the last minute, someone needs to have them. Inset days where you have to be in but they are on holiday still are difficult, and attending any of their sports days, plays, family mornings, celebration assemblies etc can be impossible.

If your DH works away, finding childcare for these things can be difficult (late evenings), expensive (additional inset days) and problematic (finding someone willing to actually take your puking children for several days) -just think about how you’ll work that as well.

I honestly don't know how I’d do it without DH working from home and my mum!

You will also need a GCSE in a science subject to teach primary in England.

You can do an OU Early Years degree (not sure of the actual name) then a PGCE if you wanted to teach KS1 and nursery. Or you could study any subject (ideally curriculum related) either via the OU or attending university, then continue onto the PGCE. You'll need at least a 2:2, ideally a 2:1.

You can't do the PGCE via distance learning, but you could get help with childcare through Student Finance, depending on your income. It's a tough course, most quote a 55-60hr week.

In the meantime you could get some classroom experience (and/or youth groups/scouts/after school clubs) then when you're ready to apply for the PGCE you can sit the Professional Skills test.

For more information Google TES, the Professional Skills test, Get into Teaching, Prospects, etc, and read up on your entry requirements and your options as there are many ways to get into teaching now, including the education Degree, PGCE, School Direct and SCITT.

Yes, I don't have any family living in the country either DH is military so friends come & go too. Maybe I should stick with the Teaching Assistant idea and I can always try this again one day once DH has left the Forces. So hard to have a good career. I'm really driven but feel like I always hit a brick wall with anything I want to accomplish