open university : becoming a teacher

[LittleCheese]

Im 21 and had my DD in january 2007, I have no formal qualifications other than GCSE's but would really like to become a primary school teacher. I realise I will need a degree for this, but as I work part time Im not sure I could fit even a part time degree at a traditional university in at the moment. However I do have free evenings and some time at the weekend spare therefore I was thinking of a distance learning degree. Does any one know if the Open University Degrees have as higher standing with employers as a traditional university and whether it would be likely to get on to a pgce course upon completing an open university degree. Any advice welcome

will watch this with interest as this is also my intention (starting the foundation level this sept and a refresher course in june.) as I understand it you can do the pgce after the OU course, and it has no bearing on getting a teaching job.

Open University degrees have the same standing as any other degrees, and yes, you would be able to do a PGCE upon completion of an OU degree.
Obviously you would need to be free during the day to do a PGCE as much of it is classroom based. Also, to get onto a PGCE you'll need to have significant experience of working with children, preferably classroom based but if you worked with a Youth Club or out of hours school club that would put you in good stead too.

thanks badhair, we are currently about to move house however when we are settled i am planning on applying for a classroom assistant roll in order to get my classroom experience at the same time as studying for my degree

OU degrees have the same standing as any other UK university degree (and are held in high regard by most, if not all employers)

Most primary school teachers that I know have BEd degrees, I'm not sure if the OU does something equivalent.

Something to think about post degree is that the OU run PCCE courses (not for primary, only secondary, I think) and I did mine with them! You still have to do a similar amount of teaching practice, but it allows you to do the academic study in your own time. You can complete in anything from 1-3 years.

You will need to have GCSE (or equivalent) qualifications in english , maths and science for secondary (regardless of what you want to teach), nit sure what the requirements are for primary

OH, and if you work as a classroom assistant you may well get credit towrads your PGCE if you do it with the OU, that way you could complete faster

I have a colleague assessed by Ofted as outstanding who did an OU course after her youngest was born, then a one year PGCE. If thinking primary you might want to choose your degree course with care - thinking of the core subject requirements.

I'm not about the absence of ALevels though?

sure

There are access-type courses you can do with the OU which would get you up to speed for the degree, without needing A levels.

you will need to make sure that the access courses will be accepted as a GCSE equivalent.

I once taught in night school and one poor woman was having to re-sit her Biology GCSE as she didn't have a sceince gcse and she needed on e to train as an RE teacher!

I am thinking of doing maths which i hope will be ok for primary and looking on the OU website I dont need A lvels to go straight on to it

i have 11 gcse at A or B so should be ok I think

It is quite a long haul if you do it part time. I'm doing a psychology course, which I will finish this October. I have to do the equivalent of two years full time, which has taken 4 years. Which is fine for me as it was to keep me occupied until dd started school. Adding on the starter courses and the PGCE it will be a good few years until you qualify.

Which all sound a bit negative, but I have found the OU really good for fitting around other commitments. They have a good website and you will find contact details for your regional centre who can give you more guidance.

Ah. You're way ahead of me

No problems there.

If you are thinking of doing a maths degree it might be worthwhile you thinking about secondary maths treaching as there are huge shorteges, and you get all sorts of 'Golden hellos' and other bribes incentives.

Not many such shortages in primary tbh

God yes. They'd bite your hand off in secondary

this will take you through the different options

I have thought about secondary I think I just remember too vividly how some of the people I went to school with acted towards teachers and at the moment that really puts me off, however like you say it will be a while before I would be fully qualified so id be a little older then and maybe not so much of a scardy cat

Go and see what your local school is like.

I teach in secondary and I love it.

True you can have crap days, but that is true of most jobs!

Most af the kids are great

and if you love your subject secondary is the place to be IMHO

I couldn't cope with teaching all the different subjects in primary

MB - what incentives are they giving at the mo?

LC - do you not need the 120 points to do the OU degree? ( is why i'm doing the 2 foundation levels first this year) but if there's no need will go into the degree.

Taken from the Government site

'What is a golden hello?
Golden hellos are taxable, one-off payments made at the start of your second year of teaching, after you successfully complete your induction period and subject to eligibility criteria.

Subject you train in and go on to teach Golden hello amount
Mathematics £5,000
Science £5,000
Applied science £5,000
Information and communications technology (ICT) £2,500
Applied ICT £2,500
Design and technology £2,500
Modern languages £2,500
Music £2,500
Religious education £2,500
Any other subjects £0

From 1 August 2008, trainees starting secondary postgraduate English, dance and drama ITT courses will not be eligible to receive a golden hello.'

dtm which ou degree are you thinking of doing? i think the year i have registered for is a level 1 qualification but counts towards the degree as well,

Mb after reading that I might be a maths teacher hehe

maths at secondary school level.

If you know your stuff, then Maths at secondary level is a great one to do.

Apart from all the bungs grants that come your way, not much of the Maths curriculum changes compared to other subjects, which keeps down the prep load, and a fair bit of the marking needs to be done then and there in class. Also because of the shortage of teachers, it's pretty easy to find a job and easier to get promoted within dept as well.

dtm from the looks of the website depending on your confidence with maths and knowledge of it you can start with either open mathematics m120 or using mathematics m121. M121 also counts towards your degree as far as i can see. Are you planning on starting this in septemeber? if we were doing the same course at the same time it would be great from my point of view to get some support

yes LC well I was going to go for the combined 121 & 120. and doing the Y160 I think it is in june (is one of the short courses) as I didn't want to go in cold as it were. Have always been good with figures thou, and prior to DS was training for my CAT (accounting qualification), but have decided that I don't actually like doing the accounts and don't want to work in an office again, but would like to do something with numbers still. would be good to be study buddies thou