To teach or not to teach?

[Littleme2023]

I currently work in a school in a support role.

I only have GCSE’s as formal qualifications, all good grades A-C. I’m in my late 30’s with 4 children all in primary school.

I really want to teach, it was always my dream but life got in the way and I never did it. I’ve been working in the school for a year now and really think teaching is something I want to do. I have seen the positives and negatives too it but I feel it will be a good choice for me and I can’t see another job that would work better for me and my family.

I’m just not sure how to get into it, the school I work in offers training and another TA is about to start in September but I can’t wrap my head around how I get started. All my research shows I need a bachelors degree and QTS but I can’t work out how I will juggle my kids, home life, my sanity, sleeping, studying and a bit of a social life 😂 Am I being completely deluded?

I’d love to hear from teachers and get some advice/pointers.

I don’t want to speak to my colleagues until I’ve got a clearer idea of the route I want to take and whether I’m 100% on my decision.

Brilliant advise thank you ❤️

I was looking at OU and funnily enough those are the two subjects I am drawn too.

I think my problem is there are so many options 🙈 if someone just said right you have to do A, B and C then you can be a teacher it’d be much easier. But the options are A-Z if you see what I mean.

I think I may do the HTLA course this year, I can do it remotely and still work while I train and maybe spend some more time talking to my colleagues and seeing what support my employers will offer. Then have a plan in place to start September 2024 ❤️

*advice

Back to the OU website I go lol. This is a good idea, maybe dip my toes in the water before making a huge commitment.

I wondered if you could work at your own pace with the OU? I read at a great speed and have a good memory. I learn really quickly - always have. I struggle being on training courses and having to work at the slower persons speed because I’ve usually worked it out, finished the question sheet before lost people. I prefer the thought of going at my own speed if you see what I mean.

Sorry OP I couldn’t help myself.

You are already working in a school so that gives you an advantage compared to someone who has no school experience. I’m not sure of the different routes without A levels but don’t worry about your age, 43 is not old.

There’s lots of new ways of becoming a teacher opening up. Take a look at this UCAS page https://www.ucas.com/teaching-in-the-uk
My school has started training teachers via the apprenticeship scheme which might be suitable for you, however I’d suggest it works best for someone with loads of classroom experience. Perhaps, as someone has suggested, get the HLTA first, then got for the teacher training.
Teacher training is very hard, make sure you’re resilient but a good support network around you. In my experience it’s a rollercoaster of highs and lows and having friends, family & colleagues to catch me on the lows was the only way I got through it.
Good luck, it is worth it in the end.
Also if it takes until you’re 43 it doesn’t matter as education is a life long journey.

My school has started training teachers via the apprenticeship scheme which might be suitable for you

You still need a degree to do a teaching apprenticeship - it's a postgraduate scheme.

OU degrees are split into modules, most of which are online now and books are not provided. Some of the modules will show all of the content and you can work through it as you see fit, others show a month at a time. However online tutorials for the assignments are needed plus research etc so you won't be able to get very far ahead.

You mention being a quick learner but you don't have A levels or above, the type of study and skills required for HE learning are very different to secondary school courses. The OU offer free courses on Open Learn, the Understanding autism one would be helpful in your role as a TA and these courses show a snippet of the type of content available on the paid for courses and the skills you will require.
Coursera and Udemy also offer free courses from various universities.

I found that the OU degree difficulty pretty much worked like this.
OU module 1 = GCSE level
OU module 2 = GCSE/Alevel
OU module 3= Year 1 brick uni
OU module 4= Year 2 brick uni
OU module 5 & 6= Year 3 brick uni.
It's worth knowing that you only have to pass year one and two, your marks are not taken into account for your final grade/classification

I have done understanding autism and an adhd course whilst working with the school plus a few others during inset days. Not sure if they’ll be the same ones you’re referring too. I didn’t find them particularly challenging but do of course appreciate that a degree will be a far jump from anything I have ever done before. I have gained qualifications in previous jobs but none which would “count” towards anything to do with education.

I have just signed up to the OU and am going to do a few of the free courses before school starts back up in September. There’s a really good variety on there.

Thank you for your clarification on the speed at which I could do the degree. I don’t think my family could afford for me to leave work to study full time so I would have to do it in the 6 years it would take with the part time option. I didn’t plan on whizzing through it in 18 months lol but even being able to read at my own speed and take information in at my own pace rather than in a group environment would work better for me.

Lots to think about from all the feedback. It’s given me a better perspective.

Thank you ❤️

It sounds like OU might work well for you, if you are quick and independent in your learning. The materials are provided (books/online depending on module) and you work through them at your own pace. The (online) tutorials are supplementary; they can be very useful, but if you've already got the hang of everything in that section, you might not need them. There are also forums, so there's somewhere to ask questions or discuss what you're working on - you're not totally alone. You also have a tutor for each module, who gives copious feedback on your assignments, and you can email them with questions.

You can't just speed through modules and finish them when you want - each module has a timetable, and although you can get ahead of that and submit assignments early, you won't get them back until after the deadline, and there are occasionally collaborative activities which need to be done in a particular week. If you do two modules in a year, that's usually both at the same time, rather than one after the other. A lot of level 1 modules can be started in either October or February (lasting until June/September). That can be very useful if you're not sure how time will pan out - if you start one module in October, and find you're getting well ahead of the timetable, then you could consider starting the next in February and overlapping them. After level 1 they're pretty much all October-starts.

Final enrolment date is 7th of September for starting in October, but there's always February if you miss that.

That's why people go into education to learn because they don't know how to do something. Everyone has to start somewhere 🤷🏻

I recently work in a support role in a school and I'm doing my degree one day a week. My maintenance loan tops up the day's wage I lose by going to uni on that day. I have this year and next year left to do my degree (in children's workforce/children and families) and then I can go onto the teaching course. It's a long slog but it will be worth it in the end. Universities often take on adult learners with experience even if they don't have the A levels. Hope this helps.

You will definitely need a degree to be able to go into teacher training , there is no way around this ( as far as I know , someone may come along and say different but I’m 99% certain you need a degree no matter what ) .

It doesn’t have to be that expensive , you will get a student loan that comes out of your salary depending on what you earn.

I don’t know what qualifications you would need for the degree - you may already have an advantage because of your job now and I’m assuming you have qualifications for that role anyway.

I am a primary school teacher and I did not do a teaching degree, I did a childhood, family and education studies degree .Then I did a PGCE , I am assuming the teacher training you will do within a school is equivalent to that.

I think you are making a good choice to not do a specific teacher training degree so that you have options . Teaching is most certainly going to be different to what you think . There is so much going on behind the scenes of actual teaching and teachers do not stop working once the children go home, there is so much work !

Have you thought about having a go at being a cover supervisor? That’s pretty much teaching , but not being paid to scale . Admittedly you won’t see every aspect of teaching but you’ll get to have a go at having responsibility for the whole class and planning lessons

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. I have very recently decided that I will be doing the HTLA course, my school is desperate for them and there is plenty of cover to be had - at least a day or two a week they are getting a substitute in to cover. Even cover PPA etc, I think it will give me the balance I’m looking for.

I really think I would love teaching but my youngest is still only 4 and I have 3 others so I’m frightened of biting off more than I can chew. I still have 30 years of working to go so if I do the HTLA, then that will give me a better overview of I do decide to proceed with it when my children are that bit older.

but I doubt your children would still be at primary school by the time you have trained as a teacher? You are looking at potentially 10 years plus part time study if you do a level 3 course followed by a degree while working.

I would suggest going the TA --> HLTA route, you don't need all those qualifications, and still get to work in a classroom. Also, once you are familiar with how the curriculum works, you could apply to private tuition centres, and teach small groups in the evening to top up the pay?

I'm starting my teacher training in September and have just been through the application process. I went to a few online open evenings for teacher training colleges and they were very clear that you would not get accepted without a degree. That was for both primary and secondary levels.

I'll be 49 by the time I'm qualified. If you started now, you could do a degree part time, followed by your teacher training, and you'd be qualified at a younger age than me. I think I have in the past seen the option of doing a specific degree in primary education combined with teacher training for primary. I can't remember any more about it unfortunately, I'm doing secondary so I didn't pay it much attention.