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.

But teaching isn't a question of standing at the front of the class giving them information to absorb. There's more to it than that and it isn't for everyone. You can have a Phd in Chemistry or whatever and be absolutely brilliant but that won't help in the face of a bunch of teenagers who don't care about it and don't want to do it.

You've never seen anyone suggest that someone who is really good at maths might struggle to explain maths to someone who is bad at it because the person who is really good at it just 'gets it'?

What is a barrier though for mid career people (looking back at the OP) is the expectation of unpaid work plus inflexible placements (mid career people often have responsibilities for children, mortgages etc) with no guarantee of a job at the end.

It's 15 years since I trained but I did the old GTP which did at least mean you were paid while training and I was given some say in where the placements were. Plus the school wanted to keep me hence paying for the training. I think that is still possible but the multiple routes in are v confusing to outsiders.

It's not arrogant to say "these are my skills and requirements, what are your needs and requirements - do they match sufficiently?" Too often in teaching It's all about what the school want, but this is a sellers' market! They need to convince the candidate It's a good investment of their time and money as well as the other way round.

Schools have such a wide range of needs too.

The teacher who's fantastic at getting GCSE students over the pass mark in a core subject, or engage a year 9 in something they're going to drop at the end of the year, isn't necessarily the same person who's going to be able to extend an A-level student working at A* with a practice Oxbridge interview. And it's definitely not the same person who's going to be fab at consoling 4 year old who doesn't want to sit on the carpet and listen. And it might well not the the same person who can manage other adults, whether that be colleagues or parents, or find suitable HE or career pathways or work experience for something specific

We need all these people.

Exactly this.

I work with trainees and ECTs extensively, and have done for nearly twenty years.

The single hardest thing - other than behaviour management - is being able to translate what you know and can do really well for someone who just doesn't "get it".

It doesn't matter how good your subject knowledge is if you can't share it effectively in an age and stage appropriate way.

In my experience of working in private and state sectors in the UK, private schools will try to pay less than the state sector and will pay @unqualified teachers even less. As previous posters have suggested, your friend is better off trying to get a bursary for a STEM subject while she gets her PCGE.

Yes! This is exactly what I was trying to say in my post and is exactly what I found in my experience of working with very academic PGCE students.

It is a very different skill set from someone who has excellent subject knowledge and having excellent subject knowledge does not mean that you are able to break it down well.

What is a barrier though for mid career people (looking back at the OP) is the expectation of unpaid work plus inflexible placements (mid career people often have responsibilities for children, mortgages etc) with no guarantee of a job at the end.

@Needlenardlenoo but what else could be done? I mean, in this specific case there are training bursaries and paid training opportunities available as per pp, but almost all career changers would have to go through unpaid training no matter what they’re changing to. It’s not reasonable to expect to be paid a mid-career rate when you know nothing about the new area of work.

Many secondary teachers do all of this and more .... not forgetting safeguarding SEN and pastoral roles

Teaching KS3/4/5 on one timetable

One of my A-level teachers (state school) had not done PGCE. It was decades ago.

Maths is a vast subject and the PhD might not be relevant to the A-level syllabus.