English teacher - private school

[Starsgalatic]

An English teacher role come up at my children’s independent school. They are open to both qualified teachers and those who have related professional experience- I fall into the latter camp!

It’s a brilliant, inspirational school that my kids thrive at. There are a number of parents who teach having sidestepped from a different area - one of the maths teachers is a parent who came from the financial sector, for example.

There is so much about the role that appeals to me, I have taught adults in the past and loved it. However, I imagine that English teacher roles are extremely competitive/sought after, particularly at a school with a great academic reputation - would I be correct on this?

I’d love to get some insight into this before I apply and/or have the conversation with my children about it! Many thanks.

@stillis - not sure this is entirely helpful. They’re not ‘hiring lots of parents’ - there a few parents on staff who came to teaching later in life after changing their (related) careers.

It’s a school that consistently achieves among the best GCSE/A-level results in the country, so this doesn’t seem to be a problem 😂

Yes it appears acceptable for private schools to have non qualified staff, I found that from reading other threads on MN.

Do you at least have a degree in English ?

@stillis - Not sure what purpose it would serve for me to come on here and lie about that, but feel free to take my word for it (or not) 😊

@OlderGlaswegianLivingInDevon - yes I have an English degree.

I wasn’t intending to start a debate about how different schools operate and teacher’s qualifications - but hoping to get more of a sense of how competitive English teacher roles are? I know there is a huge shortage of teachers in stem subjects, for example…

Yes, independent schools can and do appoint teachers with no formal teaching qualifications - see this ad for an English teacher at the very high-achieving Highgate School in north London, for example.

Worth pointing out, though, that in my experience of teaching in the independent sector, most teachers I've worked with tend to be qualified.

I wouldn't dissuade you from applying, OP, and each school is different, but in the schools I've taught at, I think you would really need to emphasise the skills and qualities and relevant experience that you will bring to the role / the department - given you'll likely be up against those with a formal teaching qualification and school-based teaching experience.

@stillis - because it’s the school my children attend, it needs some careful thought and there’s also a very involved interview process. It’s not a matter of just applying and seeing what happens. If my chances are extremely slim because English teacher roles are highly sought after, I’d rather know at this point.

@CJFJ1 - interesting! Thank you.

From the advert, I'd say apply for it and see what happens!
However, I find it really strange that private schools do this. It's basically saying that teacher training, which is highly valuable and intense, is irrelevant and / or useless. You may have an English lit degree and a passion for your subject. Do you have any knowledge of the national curriculum, lesson planning, marking, schemes of work, special educational needs, including stretching gifted children, differentiating lessons, preparing children for highly important exams...if the answer is no, then why should parents pay for you to be their child's teacher?

@stillis - not sure what your beef is. All sectors have degrees of ‘competition’ when it comes to jobs. My professional background is one that people not working within it probably wouldn’t have any idea how competitive certain roles are - why would they? I can’t imagine getting aggressive with anyone who wanted to know and asked me about it, but this is clearly annoying you so maybe stop engaging with this thread.

@CeciliaMars - that’s not the school in question that I would be applying for, but really appreciate your thoughts. I suppose it is quite dependent on what a particular department needs…

@Starsgalatic Thank you - I think you should apply.

You say you fall in to the latter camp, but this could mean anything. If you've not trained and you're not qualified, there's lots you won't naturally do well, and therefore better than those who have more expertise.

If depends on what your experience is as to whether you stand a chance.

@Hellisemptyallthdevilsarehere - I am not a qualified teacher, but have taught adults quite a lot over my career. Aware this is very different, of course, but I believe I have a lot of transferable skills. That’s highly subjective and I may be wrong, but back to my original question - are English teaching positions - broadly - very sought after? I notice they seem to come up far less than science teaching positions?

Hi OP. I'm an English specialist, and although I have always chosen to work in the state sector a number of my university contemporaries have ended up teaching in major public schools, some drifting in to the sector in their thirties onwards.

English vacancies have traditionally been very competitive, as there has always been a surfeit of English graduates who were not quite sure what they wanted to do. This is gradually changing, as numbers entering A Level and degree drop, and there are certainly fewer new English graduates around. In the state sector, English is slowly but surely becoming a shortage subject, which is not something I ever expected to see. Nevertheless there are still plenty around aged 30+ and you might therefore find that it is still pretty competitive.

I would also add that while it is true that independent schools do not necessarily require candidates to be qualified, my anecdotal observation of the top schools who can afford to be choosy is that they prefer unqualified teachers to have a first degree from a very prestigious university, ideally Oxbridge / St Andrews / Durham etc, and a higher degree. There are a lot of PhDs in the English departments that I have in mind. I have no idea if the school in question is one of them!

It's not two separate issues. The role will be more competitive from your point of view, as you don't have the experience that lots of candidates do.

English teachers are always needed (they're not the type of role that doesn't get replaced when someone leaves) and it's a core subject. Schools like to have a subject specialist where they can (as opposed having someone teach outside their specialism to cover it).

There's not an outright shortage of teachers, but it is going that way. Bursaries for English trainees are lower than science, but 10 years ago weren't given at all. There are nearly 500 English vacancies on TES. Can't say who will apply for your particular school and whether a job there is sought after, but for our last general Teacher of role for an Easter start in an outstanding school, we had 23 applications, shortlisted to 6 candidates teaching, 4 taken through to formal interview. If it has been for Sept or Jan, I expect the field would have been bigger.

@Hellisemptyallthdevilsarehere - very interesting and helpful, thank you.