Help me please Teachers!

[BachAtTheMoon]

I am currently volunteering in my local primary school and doing some shifts as a TA and harbor a ambition to be a Teacher.

I have the correct GCSE's but got no further. I really regret not working harder in A-levels (dropped out ) but would like to take a degree in English.

Can someone explain the Career path to me please?

am not a teacher, but afaik you need to get a degree and then do a PGCE.... i am not sure if you can do any of it consecutively though to save time?

Secondary you need a degree then a PGCE. Primary you can either do the same or do a Bachelor of Education degree.

I think that you may be able to do a university access course which will enable you to then go on to do a 3 year teaching degree

Incidentally, you might be able to do an access course instead of the A levels before the degree part, you need to enquire at some local unis. Where in the country are you?

I'd like to go into Primary Education at the foundation level. I'm a bit worried that I might have missed the boat?

Why don't you contact the Open University about a degree in education? You don't need A levels to start a degree with them and you can study education. OU degrees can be done in three years or longer, depending on the number of modules you take in one go..

here's the link:
www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/education/index.htm

Look on this website for all the info on getting into teacher training:

www.tda.gov.uk/

As has been said, you may be able to do an access course but actually getting a job in primary is very competitive and this may disadvantage you later, unless you have lots of relevant experience that can balance weaker academic record. Look on the website and then ring the course leader of the uni you would like to go to - see what they say.

Here's another useful OU link:

www3.open.ac.uk/study/atoz/recognition-leaflets/Becoming_a_teacher.pdf

I started a second degree with the OU and totally rate their courses

You should be able to do a foundation course (sometimes called an access course) then there are a number of routes either a degree followed by a PGCE or a Primary BEd which includes QTS. If you have a professional qualification it may be acceptable in lieu of a degree .Good Luck

I'm currently halfway through a maths degree with the OU and I love it. It takes aaaages but means I can still be a SAHM (so you could presumably keep doing your work at the school - that'll be several years of experience under your belt!) and I love it.

It's actually called 'mathematics and its learning' degree so this year I get to work with key stage 2 children. Really exciting :)

I've heard it's best to do a degree in a core subject so English is a great choice!

I'd recommend a degree course in primary ed rather just any degree then a PGCE. When I was in teaching, all the people who'd done the PGCE route struggled for years once they were teaching, as imo it's not nearly good enough training for the things you'll be getting to grips with. (I did a primary teaching degree in Oz, so very different to a PGCE.)

Where's your nearest uni? Or contact the OY. Also, do you have any newly qualifieds in your school? Have a chat to them, courses have changed a lot in recent years. It's all very well looking at courses, but how well the various ones prepare you for the job varies.

or you could do a degree and gtp which is classroom based, and you get a (small) salary while you train

What an odd post. Does the tutoring make all your writing full of explanations marks?

My dh had no qualifications. He did an access course then a degree then a pgce.

Aren't the new gov trying to make all training more school based. My son has a graduate trainee and Im not v keen. He has had 2 different Trainee teachers in 3 terms. The qualified teacher is only there for the mornings and they are in at the deep end with the class in the afternoons. The have days out at uni which means a host of different teachers. The school also set for maths so he has another teacher then. They also have loads of specialist teachers to cover various ppa times. It's like he's at secondary school at 7
. No wonder he has made no progress so far this year!

Sorry I didn't come back to the thread! It was on my hidden list for some reason!

I see a comment has been deleted, I probably don't want to know what it said!

Assuming that it has something to do with my lack of qualification, but that certainly does not make me unintelligent, just unmotivated when I was at school!

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and links, I am going to book an appointment with a careers advisor at the job centre to see which path best suits my situation.

Don't worry BachattheMoon, it was a random posting from a wierdo, nothing personal, there are similar deletions all over the place!