AIBU to think getting into teaching should be easier?

[LavenderFields7]

My friend has a PhD in stem, is trying to get into teaching A-levels at local school but everywhere wants PGCE. AIBU to think it’s ridiculous to want someone so qualified to have to study another year, fork out £10,000 and work unpaid for a year? She has a Level 3 teaching qualification and has taught uni level students.

If your friend wants to teach science or maths there is a £30000 bursary

100 replies telling you that it's not ridiculous to expect someone to be a qualified teacher to work as a teacher, @LavenderFields7. Any comment?

One other thing that has irritated me, Is her desire to cherry-pick classes and only teacher A level.

She wants to swan into a school with no proper teacher qualifications and pick and choose her classes.

Presumably the lesser teachers will have to teach Hooke's Law to badly behaved, difficult year 7s whilst she (she has a PhD don't ya know) gets the best behaved most motivated kids in the school.

Sorry, it just doesn't - and shouldn't - work that way.

I think this is particularly true of maths. A brilliant mathematician can struggle to see why pupils don't understand concepts they find obvious. To teach well they need to understand why student's misconceptions are happening.

Not saying there are not those who slip through the net.

I also have two friends who had lots of experience and decent jobs that they'd had since graduating. Both tried their hand at training to be a teacher. Both said no not for me. Both hard workers.
It is not piss easy!

My friend wasn't a particularly gifted mathematician but did have a degree in it.

He completed his PGCE but didn't teach maths post GCSE because he knew his limitations.

He was and is, a great maths teacher till GCSE and head of year.

And know how to break the concepts down into easy steps, using the CPA approach to make the learning accessible.

Exactly. You have to learn how children learn maths. I'm better at teaching maths because I'm not good at it as a subject. I've had to learn to break the steps of learning into tiny, concrete steps in a way that the learner can access it, and seeing through the eyes of child who finds abstract concepts tricky to follow, is how I get my students to understand.

It is very true of maths and stem subjects. I've known a few people come into schools with Phds in such subjects but struggled through their training year as they do not understand that them teaching something does not equate to pupils actually learning it. They often found it hard to teach the concepts in simple steps as it wasn't something they found challenging.

OP, most schools won't let teachers just teach A-level year groups. The majority of schools wouldn't even have the pupil numbers doing those subjects at that level to hire a teacher just for them. She clearly needs to experience a training year to understand the reality of how a school actually functions. Luckily of she is in STEM she will most likely qualify for a bursary.

No formal teaching qualification - and this is why the quality of teaching in universities is so variable.

I would strongly urge your friend to approach organisations like Teach First who love STEM graduates. Two year programme, class room based with affiliation to a university to study for a PGDE, so one up from a PGCE. Paid as TA in 1st year and 1st year qualified in 2 year. All uni fees paid. Option for heavily subsidised masters post qualification.

In my day, science grads didn't have to pay to do their PGCE and got paid to do it. Is it not this way anymore?

This is so true. My father was an electronic engineer and obviously maths came very naturally to him. One of my sisters struggled with maths and I remember her once asking for help with her O level maths homework. He tried to explain but she still didn’t get it. I have never forgotten his words, which were ”How can you not understand? It’s so simple!”

He would have been a useless teacher!

I have a PhD and a PGCE. YABVU. Being academically intelligent is not the same as being a capable teacher. Of course your friend should do the PGCE.

And yes, there should be a decent bursary for a science PGCE.

Totally agree with this.
And as I said, I have a PhD, but I know plenty of others with PhDs who can’t teach for toffee.

Totally agree with this.
And as I said, I have a PhD, but I know plenty of others with PhDs who can’t teach for toffee.

Totally agree with this.
And as I said, I have a PhD, but I know plenty of others with PhDs who can’t teach for toffee.

I'm training as an apprentice right now and earning a decent wage as an unqualified teacher and I do my PGCE in my spare time (only have an 80% contract).

With a bursary as well, an apprentice role is eminently accessible. Your friend must get some classroom experience first though in order to truly understand teaching.

I've only got and undergrad degree, but I'd have no idea how to teach that subject to children! I'm clueless as to their age-related expectstions and capabilities, I'd definitely want and need training.

Making something relatable and being able to break it down for people who don't have a natural bent towards that subject is a real skill, especially when it's something that comes naturally to you.

An independent might be the way to go

She's literally unqualified to teach until she has a teaching qualification. Not difficult to understand really.

What do they want to teach? They can get an untaxed bursary for the year that, depending on the subject, works out more than the early career teachers are being paid. Also, you can’t just teach A Levels in a school, they will need to work in an FE college or similar.

Holding a PhD does not mean they are able to teach. And a level 3 ta qualification doesn't qualify you to teach A levels.

If your friend doesn't want to do the PGCE there are other ways to gains QTS status. Some schools run the SCITT scheme and others run GTP that awards QTS status. Or look into private schools.

FE colleges sometimes take a cert Ed but not usually for mainstream curriculum like A levels, usually more on the vocational style courses

Shocking.

I had a similar experience of trying to be a doctor. I applied at lots of surgeries and explained that I've watched a lot of Grey's Anatomy, but they all said I needed to be a "qualified doctor." Why would I spend 5 years and thousands of pounds just in order to be qualified at the job I want to do? I'm not having much luck as an airline pilot either.

Academies and private schools may take her or train in the job might be options. Pgce was largely a waste of time.