Does university/college reputation matter?

I finished my a-levels last year and have spent the last year looking for work/thinking about my future and I decided I want to train to become a PE teacher at high school level. However I decided too late to apply for university and as a late applicant, I applied to LJMU and was rejected since my a level courses were unrelated to PE even though I have a lot of non academic qualifications in sport.

Since then I got onto a degree level course at a 6th form college in the same subject however it's a hnd for 2 years followed by a one year top up to degree level.

Since I went to enrol on the course I've had second thoughts about doing it at this college due to reputation of the college and I was wondering if the reputation of the college and the course may damage my chances at going on a PGCE course.

(Since I decided late on I missed open days and the new student day was cancelled, I think I kind of rushed into in)

As well as this I've begun to have concerns over the teaching quality, student life etc so I emailed a tutor at chester university which ran a course I'm interested in to see if I would need any additional qualifications to be considered for the course next year and he said my current qualifications would be fine to apply with and wouldn't prevent me accessing the course next year.

So my problems are:

Should I go to a local 6th form college and do the course this year as a HND and top up, or wait until next year and apply for a real uni?

If I do the course this year will the fact I've done it at a college damage my chance of getting on a PGCE?

If you're not happy with the college but it's the only way to get you on the road to becoming a PE teacher then you could just do the HND for the two years then apply to a Sports degree with the HND, this could get you into year two of the degree at a good university .

PGCE's are incredibly competitive, even for PE. My boyfriend tried to get into one this year however didn't due to not scoring high enough in one of the practical teaching assessments. He is now going to do an MEd in Physical Education, so that could also be an option for you if you didn't get into a PGCE straight after you finish your degree.

What are your A-Levels and Grades? I have another suggestion for you but I need to know your A-Levels to see if its a possible route for you

Thanks for replying, I got a BBC in Graphic Design, Business Studies, and 3D Design respectively and two AS levels both grade D in maths and law

I don't think so, what was your idea?

Stranmillis UC in Belfast (part of Queen's Belfast) offer BEd courses, which fully qualify you to teach in four years.

Although they don't have a specific PE course, they offer T&D and your grades and A-Levels meet the entrance requirements. Although T&D would be your main subject, you have to take another subject from Computer Science or PE (Maths and Science are also offered but only for those with A-Levels in them). So upon graduating you would be fully qualified to teach both T&D and PE. Furthermore they are still showing on their website that there is vacancies for the T&D course.

If you're serious about becoming a teacher, I'd recommend you seriously consider this option

Thanks a lot for your advice I will take a look at it

I would not look at PGCEs out of the country you want to teach because there may be difficulties in not being qualified to teach in that country (if that makes sense). England LAs might not accept a USA PGCE. I studied a BSC in sports science then completed my PGCE. I found that most people who applied didn't have enough teaching/coaching experience and thus limited their knowledge/confidence. I would check out the different coaching courses, www.findacoachingcourse.com or www.sportscoachuk.org are very good, and then use these qualifications to get some coaching/teaching experience. Hope this helps?

Do the USA even do PGCE's?
On another note, it doesn't really matter where you train between England, Northern Ireland and Wales because it's the same school system

I should have said USAs version of PGCEs and yes they are the same system. I was implying that I would not recommend people training in let's say France and then hoping to move into the UKs teaching system.

I would not look at PGCEs out of the country you want to teach because there may be difficulties in not being qualified to teach in that country (if that makes sense). England LAs might not accept a USA PGCE. I studied a BSC in sports science then completed my PGCE. I found that most people who applied didn't have enough teaching/coaching experience and thus limited their knowledge/confidence. I would check out the different coaching courses, www.findacoachingcourse.com or www.sportscoachuk.org are very good, and then use these qualifications to get some coaching/teaching experience. Hope this helps?

Thanks for your help. Out of interest how much of your course was practical and how much coursework/exams were there?

Which one? Degree or PGCE?