Why do you need a degree to become a teacher? Is there any way around that?

[GloriousTeaParty]

I've got good gcse and A-levels but had a child straight after college and didn't end up going to university. I've done a HND in a subject relevant to my job and established a career in a field which people usually associate with graduates and requires a great deal of writing reports and use of English. I would really like to retrain to become an English teacher but understand that to get into that I have to have a degree, even though the degree could be in a subject which isn't relevant. It seems unfair that someone who studied something completely irrelevant to the job can train to teach the subject but I can't despite having a fairly good background in the subject. I appreciate teacher training qualifications and experience would need to be acquired but not why O must have a degree. Could someone tell me if I have missed a different way in, or is this the case?

I don't understand this separation between teaching and subject knowledge, when it is the subject that is being taught. Teachers themselves seem to promote the distinction, and I have never got it. I say that as someone who has taught frequently outside my training specialist, but always a subject in which I have a sound knowledge. The teaching, the pedagogy, is different in different subjects. Teaching is not class control. Not in any school.

I didn't say you did...

I was saying maybe a law degree would be better for the OP and that with her background she might prefer a law path , perhaps not knowing law is a school subject.

2014newme

What job do you do now op?

Tbh I'd not be happy with someone with as low a level of education as a hnd teaching my child. I do think it's essential to be a graduate.

Are you getting a HND muddled up with something else? It's the equivalent of the 1st two years of a degree. So only a year short of a BA or BSc. I wouldn't called that low level of education.

A hnd is pretty worthless though you never see a job requiring a hnd

It isn't a worthless qualification at all. Quite common in DH's line of work (tech related). It isn't ideal for teaching English.

Sorry I meant for teaching. But perhaps op could do a top Up year and convert it to a degree?

I just don't want to put all that money and time into studying for a degree if there is another way

Someone with this attitude to education should never be allowed within 100 metres of a class room.

It's quite clear you have no idea of the fact that you don't know what you need to learn.

Urgh.