Forgive me for asking - How to become a teacher - Mature?

[jellyjelly]

I am thinking about becoming a Teacher and would to love the way into it. Not sure if primary, or secondary or what my favourite subject to teach would be.

I am a single parent who can not give up work even for say a yr because of my committments. I can take my time in doing this but dont knw where to start. Evenings over time are fine.

I do not currently have a degree but will be hoping to do a NVQ 3 in Childcare coupled with my exsisting childcare knowledge i could have this in 6 months time.

I have thought about doing an access course but not sure if this will help or could be a waste of time. I wont be on here much today but any thought would be helpful on how I can put this plan into action.

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Roisin can give you better details of what cover supervisors do.

Our school posts vacancies on the school website and also advertises them in the local press. I've seen other local schools do the same.

Cover Supervisor roles are quite new and do vary from school to school, but this is the situation in my school:

I am based in the English and MFL Departments (my degree is in German). For up to 15 hrs a week (average 13) I cover classes when the teachers are absent - planned absences (courses and meetings) and illness. I am allowed to cover 3-5 days staff absence. Usually staff will set work (that can be delivered by a non-specialist and doesn't require "teaching"), but sometimes I have to sort out the cover work as well. I am first on call for cover in my departments, but can be asked to cover across the school - and over two years I have had classes in every single classroom in the school.

The remainder of my time is given to supporting my departments. I do some classroom support and team teaching. I am responsible for displays throughout the departments, minute-taking at meetings, and misc dept admin. I also adminster the two European trips for the MFL department, including taking all the payments, and liaising with parents. I also cover the isolation unit whilst the supervisor has a lunchbreak once a week. I run two extra-curric reading groups, and help with a P4C Club.

Some schools do not give their CS these admin/support roles, but they do more cover than we do.

Some Unions and teachers don't approve of CS at all, but the fact of the matter is most schools cannot afford to pay supply rates for qualified supply teachers to cover short-term absences. In our school CS have been a great success, and are popular with all departments and nearly all staff - including those that were sceptical at first. Most departments are highly supportive and protective of their CS.

For planned absences most staff in my dept will request in advance that I cover their lessons rather than a supply, because they know the students will (mostly) behave and get their work done

I also join in the general staff ethos of the school, with corridor duties, staff meetings, INSET and so on - and being up at 3 am because we've got O#**#D in this week and I can't sleep

All vacancies in state schools should be advertised on the LEA website, and in the local rag.

We have good CS like you Roisin, and we also request specific people.

It is a huge relief for a teacher to know that the class will be taken by a professional! That way upi are secure that the work will be done.

Good CW are worth their weight in gold, and not paid anything like their worth

Btw MB do you know how many hrs cover do your CS do? and whether they have a maximum limit?

County are revising/standardising job descriptions, and are trying to make the CS role virtually solely cover (= boring), to increase our hours (on same pay) and make our jobs TTO paid!

Ho hum

If it all goes through my effective hourly pay (for hours worked not counting hols iyswim) would go down about 37%! I don't think it's going to happen, but if it does several people in my position would leave.

I don't know, I'll have to ask them.

Lots of ours have crossed over from the TA side of the school, so my feeling is that either the pay is a tad better(though still too low IYSWIM), or the hours a little more flexable.

Their work load does seem very variable, with the worst times being around exam time. But the school also buys in exam supervisors for the GCSE 'push'

I can't overstate how great it is to work with good CS. Makes my life soooooooo much easier.

Whether OU is an option does depend on subject though- RE isn't currently available (which is a shame as I will have a long commute each day, its either Carmarthen for me, or Bristol which is closer but I could be assigned any school from here to Birmingham )

Jellyjelly, your plan sounds good: take your time and do something you enjoy and you are likely to make a sound decision for your future career.

Good that you have got English & maths equivalencies, but don't forget science. It used to be the case that an institution could exercise discretion regarding a "mature" applicant's science GCSE, but since the age discrimination law, there is no such leeway. Possibly most universities would have asked for it anyway. The great benefit of doing (or re-doing) your GCSE's (or equivs) at a later stage is that you actually remember the content of them when you enter ITT (Initial Teacher Training)! My maths A-level was a long time ago!

Talk to your local institutions to get a feel for what quals and experience they prefer so you can build up a good base from this point onwards. At our SCITT (school-based primary training), we expected all applicants to have at least 10 days of recent mainstream primary experience although obviously regarded a range of other experiences as relevant and valuable.

Like another poster has said, it's worth getting into schools and finding out about the pressures of teaching as we have lost a lot of mature trainees who struggle to manage the work/life balance. Best of luck.

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Very rewarding, but not for the faint of heart!

Students have a horrid habit of thinking of cover lessons as 'free' lessons.

CS have to be very good at classroom management. Which is why good ones are worth their weight in gold.

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It depends what you find most intersting.

As a TA you will do lots of 1 to 1, and small group work, most often with children with SEN. Some of these children may have a dx ot Aspergers, ADHD, behavioural /emotional issues, or may have specific learning issues like Dyslexia.

CS are taking the whole class.

Many of our CS were originaly TAs (some are also trained teachers btw).

It depends when you see as your strengths.

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