What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a teacher?

What courses or A Levels should I take to become a Primary School Teacher?
I Went to school and then after my GCSEs I did an apprenticeship in Customer service and I've finally decided I want to be a teacher as I was struggling to figure out what I want to do. How can I become a Teacher now? :confused:

Do I go back and take A Levels(If so which ones?) or is there another way? I'm 17 now and 18 in November and I don't know what to do. I also don't think I would be able to go to far and would my mum be able to Get Council Tax credits back?
Any help would be sorely appreciated. :smile:

Reply 1

myrtille

Original post by WannabeA*

Hi,

There are two main routes to becoming a Primary teacher and both of them would involve you doing A-Levels as the next step.

In terms of your A-Levels, having a core National Curriculum subject such as English, Maths or a Science would be good. Something different that could give you an edge as a bit of a specialism like Maths or a Language could be good. But you can more or less choose the subjects that interest you most and that you're good at. I would say make sure you do some academic subjects but one arty one would be fine as creativity is a key part of Primary teaching.

After your A-Levels you can either do:

-a BEd degree which is an undergraduate course leading to QTS (Qualified Teacher Status). This takes 3 years and at the end of it you are a qualified primary teacher. If you're 100% sure you want to go into teaching, this would be the shorter route and means all of your training is geared up towards teaching.

-more or less any undergraduate degree of your choice (should be a National Curriculum subject) followed by a PGCE. This would mean 3 years of studying your subject followed by 1 year of teacher training. If you aren't 100% sure about teaching, or think you might change your mind and want to teach Secondary then this would probably be the route to take.

I don't know how it would work in terms of funding for your A-Levels. Once it comes to university level you'd be in the same situation as anyone else with the same entitlement to loans and bursaries based on your household income.

Don't worry about being a year or two older than others - it's nothing. Loads of people go to university and do their teacher training much later than that. I did my PGCE aged 25 and had coursemates in their 30s and 40s.

Reply 2

Pierson

Do you have any experience working in a school? If not, I recommend doing some volunteering before making any decisions just to make sure that it is the right career for you. You will need some experience before you can apply for a teacher training course too.

If you are sure that it is the right career for you, as myrtille has said, you have two options after college: you can either do a three-year degree in primary teaching or, if you want to keep your options open, you could do a degree in another area and then do your teacher training through a course such as the PGCE. This second option would require studying for four years rather than three, which means a larger student loan than three years of studying, but it would make it easier for you to change careers if you decided to leave primary teaching.

Have a look on the websites of the universities you are interested in applying to and take a look at what they require for their Primary with QTS courses. This will help you choose what to do at college - some universities accept BTEC diplomas and other qualifications so A Levels might not be your only option.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a teacher?

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