Retraining as a teacher - how challenging?

[BlastedPimples]

I mean the actual PGCE / QTS content? I am curious to how intellectually demanding it is. I have a BA and an MSc but those are from 20 years ago now.

I have read many horror stories about the educational environment in the U.K. but I would be looking to train in the U.K. and then move abroad asap.

The academic side isn’t too challenging in itself if you have a degree. It’s balancing it alongside placements that can be tough.

Tbh it was much easier than my bsc - 2 x 5000 word assignments only

What subject age are you interested in? My school trains lots of teachers on the job - it's therefore very practical rather than academic. Secondary. The biggest challenge our trainers seem to face is the huge admin involved in training.

I'm an English literature graduate and have an MSc in marketing.

Secondary school English I suppose.

The OP wants to work abroad. On the job training generally doesn't qualify a teacher to work abroad. Or at least most countries don't accept the qualification.

@saraclara Where have you heard that? Surely if you have QTS and a PGCE at the end of it, it won’t matter which scheme you did? (I trained ‘on the job’ and have never considered it to be a lesser qualification in any way)

I did PGDE in Scotland. It was not remotely intellectually challenging and also not remotely worth it, considering what an absolute shit show that Scottish education has become.

QTS is QTS - doesn't matter the pathway taken to acquire it.

The PGCE isn't academically draining particularly compared with your degree but the placements are. The planning . Delivery then scrutiny afterwards is soul destroying. Its super stressful abc you will be working late into the night

If you have QTS but no PGCE then you can only teach in England.

That’s not necessarily true. I have QTS which I gained with my degree in teaching (a BEd). I don’t have a PGCE. I can teach abroad still. Any undergraduate degree technically means you can teach abroad, it’s just whether you have to do additional training (which you wouldn’t if you have a degree and QTS OR a PGCE).

I did QTS secondary English.

It's just managing your time and for me was quite a few late nights trying to get things finished then up again early in the morning etc. I hadn't worked so hard before!

Sometimes teaching is still like this for me to be honest so it prepared me I suppose.

But I loved it and still do. I find it mostly very rewarding. Every day is different. Working with young people is fab!! I think my PGCE is my proudest achievement. I'm still in teaching 10 years later.

I was meant to add, I wouldn't call it intellectually challenging... it's just the amount of work you have to do and squash into the time period. That's what is hard going.

Ah. I was told only England, but that was opposed to other countries in the U.K. rather than outside the U.K.

On the job QTS via SKITTS etc.

The Assessment Only route does not lead to a PGCE qualification. You don’t need a PGCE qualification to teach in England, although you may find it useful later on if, for example, you want to teach in another country, or go on to complete a master's degree.

https://www.ucas.com/teaching-option/assessment-only-route-qualified-teacher-status-qts#:~:text=The%20Assessment%20Only%20route%20does,to%20complete%20a%20master's%20degree.

I've got 5 weeks left of a SCITT course. I'm 35, divorced mum of 2 (13 and 7).
Go for it.
It's knackering, but completely worth it.

I've done the SCITT route through a scheme near me, with 4 days on placement and 1 day training at the SCITT provider. I've also done the PGCE through distance learning, that the SCITT provider is affiliated with, so what they're are teaching us every week aligns with the modules on the PGCE.

Good luck!!

Yea I'd want PGCE and QTS

I qualified as a teacher when I was 50 so never too late. I used the schools direct route so was predominately in one school for the majority of the academic year with a term at another school as an additional placement.
There were 24 days of university in that and the PGCE students stayed later on university days to complete study for that.
Is this a route you've considered ?

Well I am living abroad just now. Would like to get a role in a school here and do iPGCE and iQTS but I am having difficulty finding a role even as a TA without qualifications. Understandably I guess.

Yes echoing others, it’s not intellectually challenging but it is laborious. You have to put the hours in regardless of how clever you are. The placements are the most difficult part, you don’t really know what you’re doing and managing behaviour in particular. Lots of new ways of working and extra jobs to get used to in a school. It’s pretty relentless.

You need to do your research carefully. Some European countries for example do not accept foreign teaching qualifications without a lot of paperwork (Italy) and others pay really badly (Spain). English teachers are not in the same demand in Anglophone countries.

You may need to do a year in the UK to get QTS.

As for the academics, I did my PGCE 30 years ago at a very prestigious uni, didn’t take the academic side that seriously and was threatened with failing! My teaching got ‘excellent’ but I had to re-do my dissertation. I think it very much depends on where you go.

ECT period is 2 years now to be fully qualified.

I trained a a teacher last academic year. I did the SCITT route which resulted in QTS and also a PGCE.

I already have a masters degree so I didn’t find the content challenging as such (I was awarded a distinction for the PGCE). However, I have never worked so hard in my life as I did last year. As I took the SCITT route, I was a class teacher immediately with all that entails. I also had to juggle the academic work along with the endless reflections/observations/gathering evidence for the teaching standards etc.

It was a very tough year. I’m not exaggerating when I say I literally worked all the time. By the end of my course (which was July because I couldn’t stop being a class teacher until the end of term) I was completely burnt out. I spent the first 10 days of the summer holiday completely wiped out.

But I did it. And I would still recommend the route I took. It was a baptism of fire but I think it made me a better teacher. Plus, my ECT1 year has been a breeze in comparison!

If you have QTS but no PGCE then you can only teach in England.

This is not true ime.

Dd has a BA in teaching, alongside her QTS. She is eligible to work abroad. Some of her university friends are doing so right now.

I have a BEd in teaching, with QTS. I'm also eligible to teach abroad,

We have students who,come to us for training doing PGCE and SCITT schemes, all get QTS and we have had SCITT students take up teaching posts abroad too.

IQTS and iPGCE can be done abroad.

I would look for work in international schools.