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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Primary School Teacher .....

10 replies

mummyofteens · 22/10/2010 16:00

In order to become a Primary School Teacher, is it better to do a Primary Education Degree or to do an English, History or some other subject degree and then a PGCE? I look forward to hearing your opinions :)

OP posts:
Simbacat · 22/10/2010 16:05

How old are you?

Not being rude!!,,

What qualifications/ experience do you already have?

mummyofteens · 22/10/2010 22:51

Hi, thanks for the reply, let me explain that its not advice for me but for a young lady about to apply to go to university.

I just wonder that doing a Primary Education degree could be a little limiting as I am not completely sure that the young lady is 'primary school teacher material' and that by doing say an english degree, it would leave other options open?

OP posts:
Simbacat · 22/10/2010 22:56

Ok. It doesn't matter at all if you are young.

It can be quite hard to get on a pgce and you may need a 2.1 ( and this is very likely in the future).

It is usually easier to get on an education degree than a straight English course- and you often need lower grades ( that varies a bit by uni)

If they are academic I would probably do a relevant 1st degree and then a pgce.

Feenie · 22/10/2010 23:05

That's HE, though, not FE. Have we even got an HE board, though? Confused

OmicronPersei8 · 22/10/2010 23:55

I did a B.Ed as my undergraduate degree - in the face of advice from my school not to I was bloodyminded adamant at the time that I wanted to teach. By the time I got the end of the course I realised that the academic subject side of things was not as fulfilling as I'd have liked, so I did an MA before starting my teaching career.

I didn't really have a proper uni experience as I went to teacher training college which was mostly female, and there were lots of early nights etc as we worked pretty hard.

Although I value the experience I gained of teaching and the level of my knowledge around teaching and learning, with hindsight I think it would have been better to do a degree then a PGCE. You are more likely to meet a wider mix of people and broaden your horizons before knuckling down and training to be a teacher.

Teaching is hard work, it is fatiguing to go from full-time education straight into teacher training and then straight into teaching. Better to have a few years with no classrooms in sight, I think. And of course if she changes her mind, she will have more flexibility to go in other directions at the end of a subject degree.

My views are coloured by being a SAHM now - I used to only think of it in terms of my professional development, but now I see it in terms of my personal development. And I have also known many excellent teachers who did PGCEs - they go into it with more focus and self-awareness, IMO.

mummyofteens · 23/10/2010 15:33

thank you for your replies :)

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pintyblud · 23/10/2010 15:43

It is much easier to get into uni to do a primary education degree. If the young person has the grades to do an english or history degree then that's what I would recommend. If she also made sure she worked with children at various points throughout her degree, she would be setting herself up nicely for getting on a pgce course which is not such an easy task.

frakkinstein · 23/10/2010 15:46

I would say degree plus PGCE. You can always move from primary to secondary if you have a subject degree and you don't like primary and you can leave teaching more easily.

That said a degree in education with QTS is theoretically a better preparation for teaching as you gain much more experience...

Feenie · 23/10/2010 19:14

You can do a degree in an academic subject plus Primary Education with QTS - I did English Lit and Primary Education.

mummyofteens · 24/10/2010 14:42

Thank you for replies/advice :)

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