Any advice on going into teaching!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[sweetheart]

I'd be really grateful if anyone can give me some advice.

I've been thinking for a while about giving up my current career (in finance) and going into teaching - it's something I've always wanted to do but the boredom of my current job has been making me think more and more about the possibility of it now.

I'm doing AAT Technician stage at the moment and when I'm qualified it will be the equivilent of a NVQ level 4 - does this qualify me to go straight into teaching???

Unfortunalty I can't go back to Uni to study becuase my current job pays very well and I have to consider the money element in all this.

I'd be really interested to hear of any other routes into teaching. Not sure what or who I'd like to teach?!?!?!?!?

Any help/ideas would be most appreciated.

There must be some teachers on here somewhere - it's half term!!!!!

my FIL is a qualified accountant who teaches and i can assure you even though its half term he still has to go into work!!!!

not sure about qualifications sorry.........and you may well have had an answer by the time i see him to ask him!

I think all the info you need is on this website (I have been toying with the same idea). It seems to be a graduate profession though.....
here

there are a few of us teachers in here,,,,

also hulababy
fisil
hmb
yorkiegirl
and more
will reply when not holding ds2

I think you need a degree to teach up to 18 year olds (ie primary and secondary).

I don't know whether your professional qualification would be the same- your best bet is to ask at the teachers training college that's local to you.

If it does qualify then you'll have no shortage of work as there's a real shortage of maths teachers.

I personally would never go into teaching again. I find the acceptance of poor behaviour (from the govt down to local level) heartbreaking.

The profession really is in a mess, morale is at an all time low and the lack of suppport for teachers in what is a very difficult job is driving more and more people out.

Hulababy left her teaching job last week because of, amongst other things bad pupil behaviour and lack of support at her school.

The best piece of advice I can give you is to go and shadow some teachers in your area.

you may find yourself better suited to further ed-in which case its a 2 year part time course

as far as I am aware you will have to train, for a B ed, or a PGCE which is a year long course on top of your degree.That's how I did it.You can in some situations apply to be sponsored by a school which will pay you a small salary while you train 'on the job' so to speak for your QTS. But you'll have to abandon your idea of not doing any training/studying, if that was what you were implying/
I have been teaching at secondary school (PT now plus some 6th form college pt) for 12 yrs and have to tel you it is bloody hard work.Personally I enjoy it and am quite well remunerated for various responsibliities, specialist areas etc but you need to consider very carefully where you will end up ( eg where do you live) and whether it is really for you.

and pixiefish
sorry

I now work in a prison, but until last week I was a secondary school teacher for 9 years. PAs Pixiefish says I left for various reasons but it is true that upil behaviour and lack of management support were the main things - but I was at a tough school, in special measures, which didn't help matters.

The Governments teaching website has a list of allt he routes into teaching. Untimately you need to have a Level 4 qualification, a PGCE (or some form of teacher's qualification) and Qualified Teacher's Status (QTS). Colleges, Unis and prison ed (where I am now) all require this; not just schools.

There are various routes - you can do thhe PGCE part time, whilst working - colleges, etc. allow this. In schools you can get onto special places in schools, where you do the training whilst working (RTP?).

Teaching site

I can definitely back up the idea of getting into a school and doing some work shadowing first. Find out what it is like in the classroom, and see what you think. Spend some time reading through website info like the TES site, and the teaching union sites.

Good luck.

Hello
Hulababy seems to have answered all of the practical points about entering teaching. All I can say is though I will always consider myself a teacher I'm glad to be out. I still do it at a primary level (retrained) but for no money so I don't mess up my tax. I loved it while I did it, but that was all before children when I didn't resent giving up weekends and evenings. Don't let me put you off - we need the best people around. I am passionate about education but would rather give my time for free than be tied down for a crappy £18000.

I taught secondary MFL until I had ds. I would say that you need to be sure that this is what you really, really want to do, because without that certainty, there are other jobs which pay that same and do not require the passion and committment that teaching does. I know that teaching is still there as an option when I go back to work, but it would have to be a very special school to get me back in.

Oh heck this is making me nervous now.

Sweetheart I am about to resign from my lucrative IT job (end of maternity leave and no decent job to go back to anyway) and I've applied to do a PGCE. I want to be a secondary ICT teacher.

I spent a week in a local school before half-term and I really enjoyed it. I'd really recommend you do this before making a decision.

Good luck!

FreddieCat, ICT is a 'good' teaching field. Kids mostly want to be behind a PC so they are, in my limited experience doing ICT as a non-specialist in the subject, better behaved. Plus there is a high demand for ICT teachers.

On the other hand, if it was history, or MFL.... you can have a lot of trouble.

I'd say it has everything to do with the school you finally get a job at. The bit that you have no choice in are the schools you get sent for teaching prac, but if they are too awful you've always got the support of your college. When you apply for jobs, research the school madly; ask to visit before the interview date (most good schools will do this) so you can get a feel of the school before you're called for interview. Hang around at the end or beginning of the day and watch the kids moving around the school between lessons and breaktimes. Look to see if there is a staff presence during the these times. Might sound petty but look at the state of the kids' uniforms - how strict is it? - and look at the general repair of the school and the displays. If you take the opportunity to do this before interview you will be able to concentrate on getting the job on the day. and you can always withdraw from an interview part way through the day if you get bad vibes.

A good school will have a strong pastoral system and a very good referral system (what to do with naughty kids). If you've got the support of a good dept and the school management is strong then things will be much better and you will get a chance to teach - and even enjoy! - your subject.

Hulababy's subject was ICT...

....plus you have to have 30 pairs of eyes in your head with some classes- the kids visit inappropriate sites if you turn your back on them (despite having all sorts of filters in place)

alux- MFL and History are optional subjects after year 9 and IME the kids are far better behaved than for the Core subjects which they have no choice of doing (English, Maths, Science and Welsh-in Wales)

I spoke from only my experience. I taught in a rough school smack in the middle of a large council estate and some of the kids I taught ICT to I also taught in MFL(my specialist). In my area, MFL is seen as a waste of time by many parents, therefore their kids. There was a big difference in behaviour & enthusiasm from one subject area to the other.

What Moomin has said is spot on. I found it difficult though measure things like 'strong pastoral system' and 'good departmental support' from looking around and the interview stage as the school is at pains to put its best foot forward. I have had negative experiences in this area too.

Thankfully I currently teach at a school I currently enjoy. If I did not have the support I currently have and the school having the expectations that it does, I would have left teaching already.

PS: MFL is optional on paper. It's an area where the individual school makes its own decisions whether it's compulsory to KS4.

Yes, my subject was ICT. It is true that some children want to do the subject yes. But remeber that ICT is now a compulsary sunject to age 16, and all children SHOULD (they don't all though) have a dedicated ICT lesson every week right through to age 16. ICT is now a core subject, along with Maths, English and Science.

The problem I found is that yes, kids want to be on the computer but they don't necessarily want to learn about ICT and the National Straegy (KS3) or the syllabus (KS4/GCSE) stuff. Same as with all subjects really. Many kids (and sadly still some heads/teachers) think ICT equals playing ont he net, and having constant computer use. This is certainly not he case at all, and with the National Strategy there are several lessons in a topic that involve very little computer based work. Very few marks go on what the kids do on the computer - it all goes for planning before hand, and especially (at higher levels) on their evaluation, and their ability to explain WHY they did things in certain ways, refering to audience/purpose, etc. That is the key challenge with ICT - to get the kids to stop believeing that ICT means they automatically go on a computer.

However, I am not here to scare or frighten off anyone at all. I loved my job at the Derbyshire school. Teaching can be a very rewarding job, regardless of what subject you teach.

Freddiecat - if you want any info about the ICT stuff, please feel free to contact me.

I also have 3 excellent spreadsheet models (suitable to Y7 and SN pupils) - they are very visual versions of some of the national stragety stuff, with sound and animation, based on pizza toppings, feeding zoo animals, and a school disco. They get the idea of what if questioning across really well and are great as an introduction to useing a proper spreadsheet like Excel. I can pass them on to you (or nayone else) if interested. OFSTED loved them

hi, im a single mum and am in my 2nd year of a BA (hons) primary teaching degree. I also work but there are lots of different ways you can get round this, you can do a pgce which takes just under 12 months (providing you have a degree in a curriculum /foundation subject) you get a bursary for this. The government also gives you a bursary if your studying for secondary school age. My degree is part time, although it takes 4 years i actually only go into uni 1 day a week and work from home and study through distance learning when i can. Remember that you have to do lots of school based training though, so you have to be on pretty good terms with your employer to be able to take time off. Itry to take as much time off in leiu as possible so i still get my monthly wage and during easter and summer i make up the extra hours when i would normally be in uni. im not sure how it works for Higher Education/adult training. There are also Teaching assistant qualifications and higher lever teaching assistant ones (which sound great, you get to do the teaching and all the fun stuff with out the planning for sometimes more money!!!!) I hope you find what you are looking for, there are lots of great websites around, try www.teachernet.gov.uk or www.teach.gov.uk, your local universities will also have loads of booklets and stuff, good luck!