Primary teacher training

[breward]

DD is very academic. She is likely to get 4 excellent A levels. She has her heart set on becoming a primary school teacher by doing a 3 year teacher training degree with QTS.

Are some institutions better than others? I see Homerton College Cambridge no longer offers teaching degrees with QTS, only (subject) plus Education degrees. This degree requires a PGCE to qualify as a teacher and another year and 9K in tuition fees.

Have any mums got DD/DS's doing BA/BSc with QTS degrees at the moment?
Or any Head teachers: Which univs / colleges would you recommend that have produced great primary teachers?

Bishop Grosseteste Lincoln and York St John have produced some of the finest primary school teachers I have ever worked with. Well worth looking at those two. They are excellent for primary education

Canterbury Christ Church is very good for teaching.

UCL Institute of Education is well regarded. I'm currently doing a masters there and the teaching is generally excellent

I am amazed by the grades these colleges expect at A level. Back in my day it was 2 Es, now some want ABB!!

Bishop Grosseteste used to produce amazing teachers. I am glad it still has an excellent reputation.

She would really be better off doing a degree then a PGCE.

Why Iguana ?

From an employment pov - does she know where she wants to work? A LOT of NQTs employed in schools I've worked in, have been students who have done placements in those schools - Primary schools can pick the cream from the teaching pracs they do, they know that the person can 'cut it' rather than just being good at interview.

Hmmm, I wouldn't recommend anyone go into teaching at the moment- it's a horrendous mess about to implode!

Have you looked at the staffroom board here or on the TES forums?

Hmmm, I wouldn't recommend anyone go into teaching at the moment- it's a horrendous mess about to implode!

I agree .

The workload for primary teaching has become unsustainable long term if you want any kind of work/life balance. I think the only way for teaching to be a viable long term career is to be SLT by early 30s (and therefore out of the classroom).

I think Iguana's advice to do a degree and then a PGCE is sound.

From an employment pov - does she know where she wants to work? A LOT of NQTs employed in schools I've worked in, have been students who have done placements in those schools - Primary schools can pick the cream from the teaching pracs they do, they know that the person can 'cut it' rather than just being good at interview*

In our area, the cream of students can pick an choose the schools they want to work in. I was listening to 2 students talking about their criteria for accepting a position as an NQT eg "check out the school's Marking and Feedback Policy - you don't want to work somewhere that has a ridiculous policy..." etc etc

If she wants my advice, and definitely knows she wants to teach primary, I would do a 3 year teaching degree as it gives 3 years of training rather than 9 months doing a PGCE. I would also suggest that she looks at the private sector, especially in today's teaching climate.

Interestingly, Reading University are only asking for BBC for Primary Ed and maths with QTS. A lot lower than some of the traditional teacher training colleges.

Like your daughter, I 'definitely' knew I wanted to teach primary from the age of 7 and I never considered another career. I have been doing it for 15 years and now hate every second. I'm resigning.

I'm very glad my parents suggested I did a degree first and then a PGCE as it seems to be providing me with a much better springboard to other careers.

The drop out rates in teaching are horrendous.

The training on the PGCE is enough. You learn most in your first and second years on the job.

She needs a back up plan if she starts to hate it, like How says above. Additionally, a specialism can be more attractive to independent schools, which gives her another route, or indeed secondary or tuition or even writing text books or all manner of things. A BEd is limiting.

At my rather academic girls' grammar, we were told that a B Ed, or whatever it's now called, was traditionally what you did if you didn't have the qualifications to get on a 'proper' degree. The entry levels were low. My school would have been horrified that someone heading for 4 good A levels was applying for one.

People can do a Teach First/schools direct type qualification now? Where you have v basic training and then get given a class straight away-I think probably 3 years to train is unnecessary. As the previous poster said-you learn in your first year or two.

Don't do teach first

I agree re Teach First but I reckon a 9 month PGCE is more than ample training.

If she is determined to go straight into teaching I think IoE would be the strongest option.

I agree re degree then PGCE. I was a definite teacher from about the age of 13, trained with a full teaching degree (as opposed to subject plus PGCE) and decided I didn't want to teach. Ended up up shit creek really as degree is really only good if you want to be a teacher so I then started a job at school leaver level despite being a graduate in a totally different field.

My advice would be to do a non-education-related degree, and then work as a teaching assistant in a primary school for a year to see if this is really the right avenue for her. I'd then recommend school-based training as the most effective route into teaching, if she then decides it really is what she has set her heart on. The added maturity (i.e. being slightly older at that point) will be a benefit for her in the classroom.

Absolutely agree with CharltonLido's post.
Teaching is an absolute mess right now. I'd strongly advise any bright child of mine to steer well clear and choose a career (possibly in and around education if still interested) that won't treat them like dogshit.

If her prime motivation is liking kids, wanting to help them learn and seeing that 'spark'... then yeah, there's very little of that these days. However, if she loves data analysis, evidence provision of everything and fielding complaints from management, parents, the media and anyone else who thinks they know the job, then crack on.