Demand for teachers in year groups

[Mynextname]

I'm considering teacher training and I was just wondering are there more applicants for jobs in early years, key stage one or key stage two?

I'd presume there are more jobs available in KS2 because it's more year groups.

I only ever see jobs advertising for upper ks2 in my area so I guess maybe less volunteers for that phase?

The school I teach at doesn't specify a phase when advertising. I did my interview lesson in Year 5 and was offered a job in Year 1. Our head likes teachers confident in all phases and will shuffle us around every year. You could be teaching reception one year and year 6 the next. It keeps us on our toes!

What age are you interested in teaching?

Thanks for the replies. I think I relate to smaller children better. Having said that I think I would enjoy teaching subjects a little bit more in depth too.

I have found lots of information online about there being a need for shortage subjects in secondary but I couldn't find anything about differences in primary. I know my children's school keeps teachers in their usual key stage.

I have one year left of my degree so I would need to apply this coming academic year if I decide to go for it. I just want to make sure there is a good chance of getting a job afterwards.

I did an early years PGCE and have stayed in Reception ever since, no one at our school wants to come to EYFS so the only change has been maternity leaves really. Year 6 is pretty set at my school too, when we recruited our nursery teacher we only had 4 applicants compared to 20 for our KS1 job. Early Years is fantastic, if that’s where your passion lies go for it!

Most schools local to mine advertise for 'primary school teacher' rather than for specific key stages. Most of my teacher friends have taught across the age range. I have taught Y1-Y5 in the last 10 years.

If I were you, I would do the qualification that gives you the most options (so a general primary PGCE rather than EYFS PGCE) that way you can specialise once in a school but will have options to move around.

Just to mention if you do an EYFS PGCE you will do a Ks1 placement too so some people then went on to teach KS1 (as EYFS is just a specialism and you can teach any age). I knew I didn’t want to teach out of infants so was perfect for me. One of the girls on my course is now head of KS2, initially teaching year 2 for her first job then just moved up the school

Depending on where you live, there isn't necessarily an abundance of jobs. I gave up my career to do a PGCE, partly for job security. Only about 40% of my cohort got teaching jobs at the end. I live in a city where there are 3 university churning out new teachers, plus all the in-school routes. The university told us it was 95% because they counted those who signed up with an agency for supply as having a job.

FWIW, I thought I'd be an early years teacher. I absolutely love UKS2!

Thanks for the insight. I think where I live primary teaching is competitive but nothing like say in Scotland, so I have heard. I am in the east of England.

I have experience of working with primary school age children but not in the classroom. Ideally I would get lots of classroom experience first but I am currently exclusively breastfeeding.

We really can't afford for me to do the training with no job at the end of it. I have considered teaching maths at secondary to give me better employment prospects but then I don't feel as suited to this.

I have put so much work into my degree the end is finally insight with one part time year left. I really don't want to mess it all up now by making the wrong decision.

It's obviously not a brilliant time to be trying to get in school experience this coming year, but you'd need to do that anyway to get into a course... You really need to spend some time in different phases to see what suits and I would include secondary in that.

There are around 80 applicants per primary vacancy in my county and 0-1 for secondary maths... Go and check it out ; you might like it!

Thanks, I have experience in wrap around care in a primary school but I imagine teaching in a classroom is very different.

Do places tend to fill up quickly? If I wanted to get more experience I couldn't realistically do this until closer to Christmas when I am breastfeeding less.

Thanks for all the input. I really appreciate it.

This year will be difficult. However, I was offered a PGCE course place with very little in school experience (had worked in foreign language after school club) and asked to complete 2 weeks shadowing in a school before starting the course in the following September.

Are you set on the PGCE route? If finances will be tight have you looked at school based routes where you could be paid whilst you train?

Secondary maths teachers are much more sought after in my region than primary teachers. Have you researched whether there are bursaries etc for maths specialists?

Thanks, that's good to know.

I have looked at various routes. There does seem to be more funding for secondary maths. I would prefer to mostly train in a school.

I know I feel comfortable with younger children and I naturally tend to relate to them better. Maybe this is where I really do need experience in different classrooms with older children and teenagers though. Perhaps it might seem less daunting once I am there.

Get some classroom experience before applying for anything! Small groups of mixed age children are different to large groups you need to educate.

I'm secondary maths and love it. I would not do it for a bursary if my heart wasn't in it. It's tough during training and NQT years. Even beyond then it can be tricky.

When I did my teacher training most people were surprised I wasn't doing primary as I had lots of experience with EY and KS1 children through helping with clubs and things. But I wanted to teach my subject and did some experience days in a secondary and loved it. I fully recommend trying to get a few days in a secondary school, you might find it is right for you.

Thank you all. You are all right. It is just impossible to know until I have some experience. Even if it means I have to apply late this year or wait an extra year at least I won't be making the wrong decision.

I certainly don't want to pick an age group based on funding because it's a career I have to be happy in everyday for hopefully the rest of my career life. Equally I do need to know there are jobs available at the end of it. Getting into schools and speaking to teachers in the local area will perhaps give me more insight.

Also in the new term look for how many jobs come up on TES in your area for primary. This will give you some idea of how likely you are to get a job.

The demand for teachers does vary a bit both geographically and in terms of age range.

I am a secondary Science teacher in an opportunity area. When we advertise for Science/Maths teachers in our school, we are sometimes lucky to get any suitable applicants. This is in a good school as well! On the other side of that, friends who teach in local primary schools can get 20/30 applicants for a post.

I would say though, do what you are passionate about as that passion will shine through on placement and in interviews. Perhaps try to get a few days in secondary and primary school before applying to see what you prefer. It really does depend on the person.

I absolutely love secondary teaching and you couldn't get me teaching primary for all the tea in China Similarly, my primary teaching friends love primary and wouldn't want to do secondary. I chose secondary because I wanted to teach my subject and I like working with slightly older children. I like Y7/8 and the enthusiasm they have but I also love my Y11/6th form groups when I can see them becoming young adults who can have conversations, develop opinions etc.

I do think that no matter what age group, children are so much fun to work with

OP - I second what someone up thread said - go and spend some time across all key stages, including secondary. I am secondary trained because I fell into a job abroad teaching secondary when I finished my degree, later did some youth work and worked with vulnerable young people in the community. It never occurred to me to consider training in primary. My first teaching job took me into feeder primary schools for about a day a week and I loved it. I couldn't believe how much fun it was and how much I got out of it professionally. After some soul-searching, I left secondary to go on supply to try and gain some primary experience. I never quite managed it - I did do some work in a number of primary schools and even managed a couple of PPA contracts in my specialism but I never managed to succeed in even getting an interview for a permanent post so eventually ended up in a private school where I teach my specialism from nursery through to 'A' level and it has been a good compromise for me. Overall, my favourite year is year 2 and I would give anything to be in a year 2 class permanently! It is not something I could have anticipated when I started teaching so I do really recommend spending time across the key stages to get a feel for it because it really might surprise you where you feel you fit best.

Some interesting experiences you have all shared.

I have kept an eye on teaching jobs coming up locally. There always seems to be a lot of primary jobs and not many secondary. Although, the local training provider websites only suggest a local shortage of secondary maths/science. Perhaps the amount of applicants could explain this though?

I feel I could teach maths but I am not incredibly in love with it as a subject. I prefer the social sciences which aren't funded and would probably have the same issues around getting a job at the end like primary.

I'm really looking forward to getting some experience in some different key stages now.

What is your degree? Subject knowledge is vital to be a decent maths teacher so you'd need something relatively mathsy.

Maths and science are shortages (pretty much) countrywide. Different areas have different needs, some areas need most secondary subjects.

I have studied psychology and maths for my degree. More of my degree is in psychology than maths though. I do prefer psychology.

There are courses you can do to up your maths knowledge if you think it wouldn't be enough for secondary - google 'SKE maths' and see what comes up. They pay bursaries for them (or they used to anyway) but you do have to do them prior to training rather than after (as they charge a fortune after).

I will have a look into those. There are so many options. I guess that's a good thing though.