Teaching jobs for unqualified teachers

[Enidblyton1]

Does anyone know if it’s possible to start work in a school (state or private?) as an unqualified teacher? Where does one find out about such opportunities?

I’m in my early 40s, looking for career change from senior management city finance role. Currently taking career break so available immediately. 1st class Oxbridge degree, plus recent MA in arts subject. Maths grade A alevel. No previous teaching experience except tutoring maths and French at KS3 level. I think I’m an ideal candidate for teaching and happy to leap straight into zoom lessons if somewhere is willing to take me without teaching qualifications.

Can anyone advise? Many thanks

Secondary or primary? If you are able to teach French, there are a number of companies providing PPA cover to primaries providing ‘specialists’ to cover subjects such as MFL, art, IT etc. All lessons and planning provided but you are expected to stand on your own two feet from day one. I worked for one of these companies and they openly state in their advertising that QTS isn’t required (they pay considerably more if you have it) but, for many reasons, I don’t recommend them. However, if primary is of interest, it is a way into schools.

Although there is a shortage of teachers in more and more subjects at secondary and despite the fact that academies can employ non-qualified staff, I can’t think I’ve seen schools advertise this fact. I have personally only seen non-qualified staff in teaching roles where staff are known to the schools (TA/cover supervisor). If you believe you can teach maths, that might be your way in but you might have a hard slog getting a head to take you seriously without experience. I would say volunteer in school but not possible in the current situation. You need to develop some understanding on how schools work, exam requirements, and pedagogy.

Why don’t you want to train properly?
You could look for a cover supervisor role I don’t think they usually require qts.

Thanks @Watchingbehindmyhands. Really helpful. Ideally I’d like to teach upper KS2 Y5/6 because I’m an all rounder - equally happy with maths, English, humanities, French and science. Though if there are far more opportunities in secondary schools, I could potentially do QTs training in maths or geography based on my degree.

@CuckooCuckooClock I DO want to train properly. I’m asking if it’s possible to train on the job and get into classrooms this term. Anecdotally I hear of teacher shortages and I’m keen not to waste time. If I have to wait until September to start a PGCE I wouldn’t be eligible for a paid teaching role until potentially September 2022. That seems a long time to wait if I have valuable skills to offer and schools are desperate for staff. I am struggling to find this information online, hence my question on here - do schools advertise for non QTS and if so, where?

I would doubt that you will find a route to train as a teacher at this point in the academic year, although happy to be corrected.

Schools don't generally advertise specifically for unqualified teachers, and I would be wary of any who did as it would tell me they are more interested in the budget than anything else. You may find posts looking for specialists in eg French to cover across the school but unlikely I would have thought. (Only able to comment on primary here.)

That doesn't mean it's impossible - you could try looking at vacancies and chancing your luck by phoning the schools and asking if you would be considered, selling yourself and especially your experience to date. Academies and free schools are probably more open to this than LA schools.

It may also be worth a letter to the local schools outlining your skills and experience - you may stumble across a school happy to employ you as an unqualified supply teacher to cover PPA for instance, or online lessons subjects that are more specialised eg French. That would put you in a good position to apply for a more formal route into school further down the line.

Good luck.

I think you possibly want the Schools Direct salaried route into teaching or you might be a candidate for Teach First. Both would now be a September start. I can’t see a school, no matter how desperate, being willing to have someone with no training or experience take a full (or even part) online timetable.

Just so you’re aware, the shortage in primary isn’t anywhere near as acute as it is in secondary.

If you want to do secondary maths, there may a requirement that you do a SKE course in maths - have a google, plenty of them around but it is usually a requirement that you have a training place sorted.

You could try registering with some supply agencies as they are usually happy to take anyone willing to stand in front of a secondary class as a cover supervisor. It is more difficult to get primary work as a non-teacher through the agencies but again, not impossible. That all requires schools being open, of course. You could try registering in anticipation and get a DBS processed and onto the update service.

As others have said you are unlikely to pick anything up really quickly. Plenty of teachers are still getting to grips delivering lessons matching the specifications on Teams with 30 students on the call.

The shortages are in Secondary. Maths would be a good shout. There is no shortage of Geog teachers. The problem with languages is that you will have to be able to offer 2 - teaching one to KS4 and the other to KS5.

There is good advice about routes and timings in the other posts

OP - I think you're underestimating how difficult teaching is. It's virtually impossible to teach well without training. And I'm definitely a much better teacher than I was when I started out 16 years ago. You wouldn't expect to just rock up in theatre and be able to perform an operation, even if there are shortages of surgeons, or, if you had no computer programming experience, just get a job with an IT company and start programming - it's the same with teaching.

I know you probably think you know how to teach, but believe me, you have no idea. Head teachers know this, hence why, even in academies, they only take on qualified teachers.

Even people on PGCE courses and NQTs often drown in the job and end up leaving - and they are basically thrown in at the deep end, but at least it's not on a full timetable.

Teaching is so, so hard, and the hours are silly for the first few years, until all your lessons are planned, and you can reuse them. And very often syllabi change, or you have to step up and teach a different subject/year group, then the planning starts from scratch again. The kids can be complete shits some days, bullying by management in some schools is shocking. I've seen many a teacher sobbing in the staffroom due to both those factors.

I'm not trying to put you off teaching altogether, because there are lots of pros to the job, but believe me, it is not easy, and you need training, or you'll end up having a breakdown.

Thanks so much everyone, you’ve pretty much confirmed what I suspected - that I’ll probably have to wait until September. But I’ll try ringing a few schools just in case.

Thanks @astuz I’m know you mean well, but I find your response slightly depressing! The best secondary school teacher I had was only 23 years old. She was a compete natural and it was her first post as NQT. Some of the worst teachers I had were older and had been teaching for years. Experience doesn’t equal inspiring. Though, I absolutely agree with you that teaching is a skill like any other and should improve with experience. Please don’t think I’m trying to belittle the skill of teaching. My corporate roles have involved a lot of teaching - explaining complicated theories in simple terms to colleagues. I have many transferable skills for teaching children - it can hardly be compared to becoming a surgeon which requires many years of medical training. Don’t worry, I’m under no illusion how tough it is. I can immediately think of 4 people who became teachers in their 30s and 40s. Two gave up within a year or so, the other two are thriving as secondary science teachers. I can see it depends both on the person and the school.

Sorry, didn't mean it to sound so depressing - there are lots of pros to teaching, hence why I'm still doing it, and obviously you don't need as much training to be a teacher as to be a surgeon, I just used that example to make the point that you do need some training.

I found your post interesting, because I was also a career changer and like you, I also didn't want to faff about having to do a year of training with no pay, especially when I was offering a shortage subject. I'd even taught for 2 years abroad as an unqualified teacher, but, no one would take me on without QTS, and, by God, I am so glad no one did offer me a post before I trained. I felt like I'd been hit by a train when I started my PGCE, and I was only on a half timetable at most - the workloads were so high, with constant scrutiny, and a lot of poor behaviour to deal with - I had no experience of any of that when I worked abroad.

You will struggle to teach in a primary without QTS as they don’t advertise. It’s not impossible though, as I know an unqualified primary school teacher who doesn’t even have GCSES (she teaches in an academy). Such is the state of education they often take on anyone with a pulse. She started off as a TA. Arse licked and is now a “teacher”.

Good luck with your new venture, the fact you have an oxbridge degree doesn’t mean anything though, neither does teaching concepts to adult colleagues. You may be good, you may not.

Best of luck.

Experience doesn’t equal inspiring.

Nor does inspiring equal good teaching.

I think you sound like your explanation skills are there. You will need to learn how to plan, differentiate, behaviour manage amongst many other skills. Experience in a school in the summer term will be useful and probably eye opening for you.

What do you actually know about primary pedagogy that makes you think you could swan in and be 'inspiring' in your first term, totally untrained, without even having been inside a classroom before?

You know, do you, how to teach the children in that room that will be EAL, have complex SEND, the children with SEMH and severely challenging behaviour? You know how to hold a room together with children that can't read at all alongside children who can do decent critical analysis of articles in the Times? You know how to teach all of the test content and technique to get the required results out of them whilst ALSO ticking all of Ofsted's quality of education boxes?

How do you know all that?

I would never in a million years employ somebody who thought they should just get going instead of 'wasting time' training.

Thanks all. I think I’ll have to try and get some unpaid work experience during the summer term and try to find a place with in-school training from September.

@reefedsail your comments are extremely obnoxious! You have completely misunderstood my posts.

I’m asking if it’s possible to train on the job and get into classrooms this term. Anecdotally I hear of teacher shortages and I’m keen not to waste time. If I have to wait until September to start a PGCE I wouldn’t be eligible for a paid teaching role until potentially September 2022. That seems a long time to wait if I have valuable skills to offer and schools are desperate for staff.

I don't think I have. Good luck anyway.

@reefedsail

Spot on. It’s arrogant to think you can just swan into teaching and get cracking with no training just because you have an oxbridge degree. I’m sorry OP but you sound like a career changing stereotype. Will you be pleased to be told what to do by teachers nearly half your age? The mature ones who do well come into teaching with humility, not all guns blazing.

@Enidblyton1 I really wouldn't think you're in a position to be calling anyone else obnoxious.

I read you'd OP earlier and felt the same way about a number of things you said, but gave you the benefit of the doubt, thinking perhaps you'd just come across badly.

No previous teaching experience except... I think I’m an ideal candidate for teaching

How arrogant. You've been told you're not necessarily an ideal candidate, because you're not, based on what you've shared you have achieved and are capable of.

Don't judge teachers who've actually done their time, and comment on 'jumping into zoom lessons' as if there's no particular skill involved in doing it well. It's actually not just a requirement to have QTS to teaxh most places, it's necessary to observe and make formal judgements on other teachers.

Anyway, as you've been told (and clearly didn't like) you're unlikely to find somewhere willing to take [you] without teaching qualifications.

I will just declare that I also have an Oxbridge degree , but in 20 years I have never thought I was bestowing a favour on anyone by becoming a teacher.

Oh gosh! I’m so sorry! I really didn’t mean to offend any teachers - and obviously I have. I just thought @reefedsail comment was unfair. I promise if you met me in real life I’m not at all arrogant. I’m actually crying right now because I feel like such a failure.
I had a brilliant (but not particularly enjoyable) city career which I’ve let slip over the past few years because I went part time when my children were little. I absolutely love children and learning, and I really just want to be useful.
My confidence is at an all time low and I wish I’d never posted this thread.

Thank you to those posters who answered my questions kindly - I really appreciate it.

Enidblyton1

Thanks all. I think I’ll have to try and get some unpaid work experience during the summer term and try to find a place with in-school training from September.

@Woolff @reefedsail @SeldomFollowedIt
I don’t know what was arrogant about the above statement? I have listened to the advice on here and humbly accepted it.

Enid I mean this kindly but if this thread has upset you, please work on your resilience before starting teacher training. It can feel very brutal having someone judge you on your teaching ability.

It sounds like you have a plan re experience and starting training. One thing I would recommend is using the in school experience to decided exactly which phase and subject you want to teach. Primary and secondary are very different beasts, and the pedagogy of different subjects at secondary is important.

Get your application going for September 2021 and look for a salaried place like School Direct (or something similar, these schemes change names on a daily basis, it seems). There is a severe teacher shortage, particularly in maths and the sciences.
We need enthusiastic people like you to join the profession - quite a few of us are on our knees at the moment with all the pandemic chaos and pressure and maybe not quite as friendly and welcoming as we should be to people who want to join our ranks. Go for it!

Agreed. I don’t think we have been brutal, just honest and if you are serious about being a teacher you will need to work on your resilience. Teachers gets observed and criticised constantly. You need a thick skin.

You need to get experience in both primary/secondary before you can make your mind up. I’ve worked in both and they are so very different. I work in primary now as I was sick of the awful behaviour in secondary.

I think you’re in for a monumental culture shock from working in senior management in the city.
You will need to come down a peg or ten.

Thanks for the optimism @PenOrPencil. I will go for it!

Part of me really wishes I had trained as a teacher 20 years ago and that’s probably why I’m feeling so upset by some of the comments on here. Someone earlier spoke about career change stereotype. Are some teachers very against people training later in life? I have no problem working for someone younger than me. And I’m not interested in teaching for the high salary . My Mum was a teacher, as was my Grandmother and an Aunt (sadly they are all dead now, but they all had positive experiences of teaching). So there’s no guarantee I’ll be a good teacher, but it does run in the family and I’m extremely keen and surely that’s a good starting place?!

There can be some career changers who think they are going to be incredibly successful teachers and can't cope when they aren't. Ime behaviour management and subject knowledge are the two main issues. Coming from a successful career into an environment where you are the "newbie" is hard for some people to adjust to. Humility and being proactive to feedback is key.

If you're keen and want to do it then go for it! Right now teachers really are knackered and there is a lot of anti teacher sentiment coupled with the general public thinking our job is easy. Put your post into that context and it's easy to see why some of the replies are a little direct.