AIBU to teach myself A-Levels and then become a maths teacher?

[amammabear]

For background, I have studied A-levels, and had some university education, however, not in this field. At primary school, I was very gifted in Maths, to such an extent that at age 8 I was studying at a secondary school level. However, when I changed primary schools, they refused to stream and put me back at the same level as all the other 8 year olds- at this point I simply switched off to maths. I never made a fuss about it, I simply didn't put in any effort. I'll put some more background in a comment or this will be a very long post!

I'm now seriously considering training to be a maths teacher- but of course I have no relevant qualifications beyond GCSE. It doesn't seem possible to do any kind of access to this without a maths A-level (although if anyone knows a way- please do tell me!) and trying to find places to study it online seem to charge huge amounts, so I'm considering teaching myself- but I haven't a clue where to start with material etc.

Am I expecting too much? What if I'm no longer as capable as I was? How on earth will I manage the study? argh...

Before you commit to teaching you should definately spend some time in a secondary school - ideally one that is not outstanding or an independent. Enjoying maths is very different to planning and delivering lessons to mixed ability 11 - 16 year olds with a range fo challenging behaviour. Some schools won't let you near A level classes until you have proven yourself.
You might also get a shock if you do a degree in maths. My partner is a research mathematician at one the best universities for maths nationally and globally and he teaches some modules/supervises PhD candidates. He tells me that they get lots of so called 'gifted' students with strings of A*s who just can't cope with undergraduate level maths. His area is pure math/knot theory which is one of the hardest topics but he says its not just his topics.
Good luck.

Looking at it, the MST124 quiz could also be done by someone with just GCSE I reckon, so OU with no Maths A level seems reasonable.

If you are a Maths graduate in many, many schools you will certainly be let near A level classes because you will be one of very few!

If you are a Maths graduate in many, many schools you will certainly be let near A level classes because you will be one of very few!

Agreed! I'm a physics graduate but have also taught maths a level.

I think YANBU at all, it sounds like a plan - go for it! quite a lot of weird / funny maths / teaching snobbery on this thread

Rather than necessarily being a general teacher (as I know I couldn't do a full time job in any profession at all)

How are you planning on qualifying? The chances of you being able to do your training and nqt year (remember you have to teach for a year / the equivalent to completely qualify) part time, whilst not impossible, is very unlikely.

What I do pick up from your posts OP is a regret that you dropped a subject you were good at i.e. Maths after GCSE rather than the fact that you have a particular desire to teach.
Helping your own dcs with homework is very different to teaching other people's children and you may even find that you reach a limit where you aren't really able to help them much anyway (that is even if they ask you to help them). Even with A level Maths myself, I wasn't that great at explaining GCSE Maths to my dd. It wasn't able to understand the question and get the right answer myself, but more that I wasn't able to explain where she was going wrong and what she needed to do to improve.
I would try either completing your (old) degree or doing a new one in Maths and then take it from there. As others have said there are options with Maths degrees other than teaching and some are more family friendly as well.

PGCEs tend to be full time. I would, and have, employed NQTs in PT timetables. It takes longer to get QTS. As I said, Maths teachers can afford, up to a point, to haggle over these things.

as I know I couldn't do a full time job in any profession at all

Then you don't want a part time teaching job. I'm a part time teacher (just over 3 days a week equivalent) and I work about 40 hours a week which is (more thank) full time hours.
You'd have to be very part time to actually get part time hours, and you wouldn't be able to train on that few hours.

Speaking from experience I would recommend you find a tutor or course. A level maths is not an easy subject to teach yourself particularly if you haven't studied any Maths for a while. You would need to get an A or A* which would require a deeper understanding that you are just not going to get from a text book. The syllabus is also just about to change making things even more complicated!

You are also unlikely to get a job in a good secondary school without a Maths or Maths related degree.