Finally cracked and am going to do my PGCE! Help?

[CockneySparra]

I have been fannying around trying to avoid this for years

Have taught without a qualification on and off for years - as a sessional tutor in prisons and a visiting lecturer and LSA in FE colleges.

Trained as a careers advisor a couple of years ago, but cannot find work in this area (since they axed Connexions in my area, grrr). Have been doing a bit of voluntary work as a careers advisor in a local secondary school, on top of my 'day job' in a prison, and have been told by just about every body (Head, Ofstd inspector, various teachers) that I am a 'natural' and would 'make a fantastic teacher'. Have been pondering it for months and have decided to take the plunge.

So, I am going to do it. I am! But I have questions.

I do not have a maths GCSE and need to find out the quickest way to do this. Nobody seems to know where or how I would go about doing this pronto. It has to be the GCSE and not an 'equivalent', btw.

I am torn between the subject I should specialise in. I loved English at school, I am a trained journalist (and practiced for some years), I have an A at English A level. However, my degree is in a Humantiies subject, and I think I would prefer to teach Citizenship. But is this limiting myself? is English a better subject to have employment-wise?

Oh, and I'm assuming I won't be able to get my maths GCSE in time to apply for Sept 2011, so will be looking at enrolling for Sept 2012. When should I get my application in, and what can I do in the mean time to make my application really amazing, as am applying to the IOE, so will be tough competition.

ta!

So many more questions, but these are the first few. Suggestions gratefully received.

I think you can opt for a Maths test at GCSE standard instead at IOE. Contact them and ask. Also if you think you can get up to standard in time you can apply to do the GCSE this summer - I think the application deadline is sometime in ~April/May for summer exam June 2010. You might get a conditional offer.

If I were you I would phone the admissions people at IOE and ask about all this and also about the subject you want to teach. I haven't got a PGCE but I think friends have said that the have to register and major and a minor specialism - so maybe you could register for English and Citizenship?

so0rry - I meant June 2011

Firstly, get yourself onto the TES forum!

Thinking about subject specialism, the best people to ask are probably the IOE or possibly the TDA (govt body for teacher training).

I am a primary teacher but from what I can gather the advantages and disadvantages of teaching different subjects at Secondary are:

English - huge marking workload (do not underestimate this), you will see the same class several times a week so cannot repeat the same lesson for different class groups, core subject so lots of pressure for results BUT probably quite employable.

Citizenship - lower marking load and you can repeat lessons for different classes, but your subject area will be seen as lower priority by the school and jobs may be harder to come by. You may end up being the only trained specialist coordinating other non-specialist teachers eg. planning lessons for others to deliver. You will see more pupils so many more report slips to complete.

Thanks for your responses, both.

crystalglasses - I think I will ring up the IOE and get some clarification. Good plan.

Thanks for your insights, BranchingOut.

Have registered with the TES forums but a bit quiet over there at the moment (probably all marking! ).

bump

Speak to the IOE or anywhere else recruiting for PGCE and I'm sure they'll tell you all about how best to get your maths GCSE.

If you have contact with a current school then they may be able to enter you with their summer GCSE cohort (I think you can just pay the exam fee). I know that a TA at one of the schools I trained in did that. She also got a few of us maths teachers to help her with past papers etc!

I would say to train in a subject you have real passion for. It's so much easier to inspire students if you geniunely have passion for that subject yourself. Also, once you are qualified you can teach any subject anyway - assuming a head will let you - so you could train in ENglish and swap to doing more CItizenship further down the line.

Most PGCE courses will ask you to do 2 weeks observing before applying or starting so why not get into school and observe some different subject lessons and see if one or the other grabs you more. You can talk to the teachers and also senior staff too about their take on things long-term career wise if that's something that interests you. Just a warning tho that IME subject specific staff seem to think their subject is the best whatever so you might not get too much help from them!

Hope it all works out.

P.S. I've just finished my PGCE with the Open University. It was great but v hard work. In fact I should be writing up my final essays right now instead of reading these forums......

Thanks, Digger.

I'll contact a few of he local schools re: sitting my Maths GCSE in the summer.

Interesting re: Citizenshop and the new national curriculum. Food for thought!