Teaching in secondary

[Madforever]

What is it like teaching in secondary. I am primary teacher looking to move into Secondary possibly SME/Citizenship.

You'd need to offer a curriculum subject.

Why do you want the change?

Yeh no school will be able to employ someone just to teach SME and Citizenship. What was your degree in op?

Thank you. That's what I thought, but a job came up teaching SME incorporating RS and Citizenship and I have an interview Wednesday. Making the change because I have always loved discussing issues and wanted more of an intellectual challenge.
What is secondary like in terms of staff community? And behaviour?

FE rather than secondary is great (depending on the college). What is your degree in?

Behaviour and staff wellbeing depend hugely on the school. The staff body will be much bigger so bonding tends to be in department which might be harder with citizenship.

Just as a heads up, no matter how engaging Citizenship might sound, it is one of the pockets of poor behaviour quite often in schools because the kids tend not to value it. You'll get a feel for that at interview, perhaps.

Absolutely every part of the job can differ from school to school. I regularly meet up with teachers from other schools for meetings and training days. I’m always amazed how different some schools are.

Make sure you understand the KS3 and KS4 curriculum for the subjects - what is needed at GCSE. Prove that you understand the what’s needed or how to go about finding out (have you done any online CPD for example?)?

RE in particular has changed a lot in the last few years; make sure you know about worldviews and how that is taught.

they might ask you about challenges facing citizenship and RE.

are you a specialist in either of those subjects? What’s your degree in?

Read the ofsted review of each subject. Make sure you can answer questions about assessment, recording and reporting. Literacy, monitoring progress, behaviour management.

Schools are very individual, some are fabulous - some are a shitting nightmare. I say this after almost 30 years of experience in secondary teaching.

I absolutely agree that RE/PSHE/Citizenship lessons tend to be hard work behaviour wise, because kids don't value them. I'd also be interested in what your degree is in.

I say this, because as a HoD and senior leader I recently had a lady apply for a secondary teaching post, whose sole experience had been at KS1 - but she 'fancied a change'. As I'm looking for someone capable of teaching GCSE and A level I wasn't interested in taking her application further, but I see you have an interview.

I don't think I could teach primary, and I'd be wondering how someone primary trained was going to cope with a tough Y9 class maybe.

Thank you very much. Really helpful. Politics/sociology degree. And have led RSHE at primary.

@WateryDoom makes a really good point. I’m an RE specialist and although work as a classroom teacher now have been head of RE and of Humanities in my time. I wouldn’t have considered your application. The fact that you’ve got an interview suggests that the school is struggling to recruit and that would make me wary.

i will temper that with the idea that there is a massive recruitment crisis at the moment in all subjects, and RE is no better. Maybe you’re an RE specialist with an absolutely knock it out of the park application form.

I will also say that I have worked in a school in special measures, stayed there for years and loved it, so this is by no means a post saying that you shouldn’t want to work in tougher schools. But make sure you are going in with your eyes open.

It's fine. Choose a good school. You can tell straight away on interview day. Re is fine as a subject and the gov are pushing pshe so lots of opportunities and new HoD type positions appearing. Plus mh lead stuff. You'll love it if you get in a good school. Not ofsted good, just a nice school.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-review-series-religious-education

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/citizenship-consolidated-a-survey-of-citizenship-in-schools

read these as a good place to start!

Thank you so much

What age group is FE usually and what qualifications? Thanks

You need to have a degree in the specialist subject and experience of teaching that at GCSE /a level of they have a 6th form.

I'm addition the behaviour at secondary and the pressure of exams drove me out

It's not a job for the feint hearted

Yes yes but not in an academy or fe. Or anywhere really. Op is a primary teacher she has some sort of degree. She can redo a sen 11-18 pace or convert. Or use her degree maybe in theology or English whatever.

No exams in pshe. Re is fine to gcse. Behaviour, yes well.choose a good school, check ofsted report, call and see how quick they answer, ask the reception person about staff turnover, look on Facebook and local media. Check pan vs student numbers. Use the gov compare schools wensite to see results for carious cohorts. Visit you can tell. Yse the school improvement plan and ofsted points in interviews. Talk to parents or your kids friends, sure op knows parents as a primary teacher. If you taught year 6 and transition big up ks3. Schools might love someone who wants yr7 and 8, lots of secondary want a level or gcse classes. We are desperate for good teachers and op wants a change.

16-19 but its shit. Terrible behaviour. Money is not teaching scales. Honestly check out tes, Kent teach or the equivalent for your county. Do it now and any roles they'll be desperate to fill as we are past may half term. If you can start Sept excellent!

Pol and soc can be taught at gcse and a level and there is a massive shortage of specialists for that subject. You get history teachers on pol and geography on soc.

Also lots of soc specialists are actually re and not that great. Believe in yourself op! Go for grammar schools if you like intellectual rigour, or top performance if not in a grammar area. It's behaviour management makes teaching hard not Subject teaching if you are academic.
Also your lead experience matches mh lead roles and pshe which is an area the gov is heavily funding.

I'd say search for subjects
Pshe
Social Sciences
Politics
Sociology
Health and social care?
Head of key stage 3
Head of year 7

You never know. I've known slt come straight in from primary, and senco and Head of Yr 7 roles.

Thank you all. Doing some research now on what you've said.

Hullo! Size of school makes an enormous difference. I've moved from a small school with around 300 students, where all staff knew each other and we had one staff room. Am now in a school of almost 2000 students and barely know anyone outside my department.

RE could be lovely. It's compulsory, obviously, but I think worth seeing whether students have a GCSE in it- often in Year 10. This can make a difference to how it is valued by students.

PSHCE can be an absolute nightmare. You might get lumbered teaching the one subject without any clear structure or exam in it. Students do not usually have a positive attitude. It's organised very well in my current school but, in my opinion, this has almost exposed how weird it is. You have to squeeze in every random thought a politician has had for the last 30 years or so, when somebody has said 'oh this should be taught in schools'. So you get lessons incorporating 'British values' which also get students thinking about body piercings and financial stability. There's too much to cover, it's definitely random, and students often resent it.

Erm....good luck!

A lot of kids are very negative about citizenship and RS. Some kids are hostile towards new ideas or see the subjects as pointless. You'll need to be aware of this and consider ways of engaging disaffected teenagers in your subject.