advice about doing a degree please

[NeoIsSexy]

Hello. I have just completed an Access to health/higher education course. I initially started Access so I could go on and train to become a Nurse however, I have totally gone off the idea of nursing and think I would be better suited teaching - preferably secondary school.

The problem is I have no idea what to do a degree in. I have been doing a bit of research and apparantly there is a shortage of Maths, IT, RE, science and English teachers. Too be honest I definately don't fancy maths or science (not my strongest subjects).

Can anyone recommend a subject I could do a degree in? I like English and RE I also like IT but don't think I am clever enough to do a degree in computers although I am sure any degree is difficult. I am thinking of doing an open university degree rather than go to University as its a bit awkward with 2 young kids.

I don't know which direction to go. Any advice please.

Can you start off doing a mix of courses with the OU and see what catches your interest? If you're thinking about spending the rest of your working life teaching a subject you need to have a lot of enthusiasm for it!

OU is good as its flexible but its hard work staying motivated on your own. Why don't you have a look on their website though as there are hundreds of different courses on there and also guides as to what courses you need for certain qualifications. Lots of degress are modular these days so that you can do more than one subject.

I'm surprised there is a shortage of English teachers tbh.
Are you sure you really want to be a teacher?
I think it helps if you are passionate about a subject that you are going to be teaching. Also to do an OU degree you are going to be studying the same subject for the best part of 4 to 6 years.
have you considered primary school teaching?
As for RE are you religious? You don't need to be to study the subject but I think you do if you are going to teach it, esp in a faith school

Thanks.

LucyJones - Primary school teaching is even harder to get into as there is no shortage of primary teachers. I fancy secondary school teaching as I imagine it would be very challenging working with teenagers and I like a challenge .

Potter around the OU website and see what takes your fancy. I am planning on teaching English and am currently studying English Language with OU which I find fascinating, much more interesting than English Lit which I got sick of studying after A' level!

All the PGCE courses I've looked at want half your degree in the subject you want to teach so you could just do half English and half something else that catches your fancy. I am doing a slightly unorthodox English Lang. and Photography degree (will be transferring photog. points over to OU from the Open College of the Arts) so then I get the sensible option with something just for the fun of it. Plus I could always teach photography as well I suppose!

You dont need to be religious to teach RE - in fact it helps if you are not, tbh. I havea couple of Christian friend who had trouble getting into teaching college to do RE - both took 2 attempts - both had experience of working with kids with Scripture Union and thought this might have been why - both got in and are now fab RE techers.

I'm doing a theology degree - my second undergrad degree, adn I am a secondary school teacher as well (Geography). Teaching is very challenging and it takes up a lot more time than the hours in school , especially at first and the PGCE year is awful - you just have no time for anything. You have to really love your subject in order to teach it authentically and have children appreciate you - all the good teachers I know love their subject, from Maths - Geography - Biology etc etc. Tbh I dont kow anyne who said 'oooh, I fancy being a teacher, now, what subject should I teach' - everyone I know said something like 'i LOVE Geography, wouldn't it be great to pass on my knowledge and enthusiasm and influence young minds for the better'

For now, I would study what you love. Something you really really want to study. Then, if you want to teach it later, go ahead. I know it isa good idea to have an idea of what you want to do at the end of it but you changed your mind during the access course, so who knows what you might think by the end of 6 years at the OU. I went to Uni saying I would NEVER be a teacher. I went into it after graduating, taught for 7 years, took time out to be a SAHM and am now an undergrad in a totally different discipline, considering further study in theology and would consider going into lecturing. And I'm only in my mid 30's.

Neo, don't be put off by this from the previous post:

"'i LOVE Geography, wouldn't it be great to pass on my knowledge and enthusiasm and influence young minds for the better' "

I know a number of teachers who just wanted to teach and enjoyed working with teenagers and while some went with the subjects they loved, others went with the subject they were best at, or, in the case of mature students, the subjects they had access to. It's not going to diminish your ability as a future teacher if you're not gaga about the subject. Of course everyone has their theory on what teachers should think like and be like. Don't be dissuaded by those who think it must be an exalted calling.

Plus, sometimes you don't know what you're going to love. I never thought I would love English language/linguistics as much as I do. I took it because I was curious. I also took it because English gives me the most variety of teaching opportunities as I'm quite interested in teaching English as a second language... or in schools... or abroad.

Thanks Cascara. I thought the previous poster was a bit rude tbh. Not everyone LOVES maths, geography etc, like you said some teach what they are strongest at.

Good luck with everything.

Neo, i sort agree with Harrisey but i realise its not quite that black and white! If it is the challenge of woring with teenagers you wanr there are thousands of other careers to choose from, other than just teaching: Careers guidence, outreach projects even things like probation work and charity work.

The best thing to do a degree in is something you love, or do a combined programme where you can do modules in all different things, then decide what you want to do career wise. Like it has been said, a OU degree could take 4 or 5 years by then you decide you HATE teenagers!

My last FWIW advice!: connections will give advice to people over 19 (they just dont always advertise this) Go and talk to them and see what they say. They know all about uni's and what jobs need what. Good luck.

Jesus that post was awful!!!
'If it is the challenge of woring with teenagers you wanr'

was meant to say

If it is the challenge of working with teenagers that you want

its connextions not connections (i think!)

and MAY hate teenagers!!

I didnt mean to be rude - but in my experience the best teachers out there are the ones who are not only strong in their subject but who are passionate about it.
Also the best teachers I have come over LOVE teaching - its nt somthing you can be half hearted about.

Sorry again if I came over rude, I really didnt intend that.

Must be said ,that if I were religious, the last thing I'd want to do is teach RE. At my school it was rather like explaining oral sex to the Taliban.

IT degrees aren't that hard, sadly, they were once, my firm has a policy of not looking at people whose education stops at BSc CompSci.

I think it's a bit early to say "do X".
As others have suggested, it ought to be something you like. There's a lot of work ahead.

Also, your graduation is at least 3 and possibly 5 years away. The market for various skills will have changed a bit by then.

You need to factor in a plan "B". It's possible that you decide teaching isn't for you, or that there aren't many good jobs for your speciality near you.

That makes an RE related degree a slightly more risky option. It's not seen by employers as an impressive degree, and isn't directly useful in any job.

Nowhere is it written that you must do a single pure subject, I didn't.

Every subject has its up sides and its down sides and I think you are very wise to be considering the subject you want to end up teaching before you do your degree. Is it possible for you to get experience in some schools? Maybe just some observation of different subjects and how they teach?

You will find that different subjects have different methodologies and I think it would be worthwhile considering this as part of your decison making process. For example, RE teaching (which I do!) involves a lot of class discussions. I know some teachers who love it, and others who hate the whole holding debates thing (usually scientists lol!). Would you like to do that? If not, RE would not be a wise choice!

The benefits of teaching RE are that the lessons are often very interactive, you have slightly more freedom than in other subjects (as there is no national curriculum) and you only (usually) have to put with students for an hour a week (unless its an exam class), so if its a nightmare class, you don't have them for too long! However, the downsides are that RE is often not taken seriously by students or parents. Often well meaning but ill informed parents try to dismiss the subject when they haven't really got one iota of what the subject is about and they make judgements on the subject based on what they did 30 years ago - and the subject has undergone a lot of change in just the last 10 years I have been teaching it, let alone the last 30! This can rub off on students and you sometimes hear them saying 'why do we have to do this, my mum says its a waste of time?' and things like that, which can get a bit draining after a while.

But there are downsides to other subjects too - for example, I remember discussing the pros and cons of RE / English teaching with a friend, and her biggest grievance was that if she had a difficult class, then she saw them 4 times a week, and that could be very hard going, particularly if they didn't like quiet reading!

See if you can talk to teachers, or even observe! There are times when I wish that I had thought more about what subject I wanted to teach when I was at uni - I just wanted to teach and didn't care what, now 10 years down the line, I do somewhat regret that.

Finally, if you do decide to go in for RE teaching, then don't do an RE degree. I would say that either a theology or a philosophy degree would be more respected if you wanted to take on 'A' level teaching. Certainly, when I have been involved in the interviewing process in the past, Theology degrees have been more preferable as they are considered to be more academic.
HTH

P.S. Forgot to say to 3 things....

1. Don't foget that you wil be studying the subject for the next 3 years, but teaching it for the next 30! And believe me, teaching it is very different to studying it!

2. You are right in that there is a huge shortage of RE teachers. Both times I have been on mat leave, they have been unable to get a replacement for me, you can't seem to get RE teachers for love nor money these days!

3. But one thing that does concern me is the long term prospects of this job. I can forsee a time when RE is scrapped off the curriculum, and if that happens.....? I don't think it will happen yet a while, after all, it has been included in the pre U, but I still do not think that in the long term subject security is that great.

The RE teacher shortage was an issue even when I went up in the early 1980s. Anyone got an idea why ?

I think there are lots of issues that compound the problem. In my experience... these are some of the things I have found...

• Students discouraged from studying RS at A level, as parents do not percieve it to be a valid subject. Therefore less students take it for a degree, and then when they do become teachers they teach that subject instead of RS.

• RE / theology degrees are not seen as cool. When you say that is what you're studying, people say why??? or what use is that? Very discouraging after a while!

• RS can be in a bit of a viscous circle at some schools. It can be taught by non specialists, for whom the subject is not their first love, and so they do not inspire the students to take it up. Further, because this subject is so often badly taught, that students play up and misbhave in class, and students think why would I want to teach RE? No-one does any work...?

• Not many courses and the subject often attract pgce students who do it for the wrong reasons. They leave uni with their degree and think what do I do with it now? And then go into teaching because they see it as an easy option... they never last long.

*Career progression is harder in RE... The depts are often small, one man shows so it is hard to climb the management ladder. Career minded teachers often start to teach other subjects too or go down the pastoral route (or did in the past), which then decreases the amount of time they teach RE.

That said, three of my students went off to do RE degrees last year with the aim of being RE teachers! So there are still some out there!