Become an English teacher without an English degree

I have been working in a school since September, with a view to eventually becoming a teacher.

However, I have a degree in Modern Languages and don't have even an A Level or AS Level in English Lit or Lang.

I have been building on my subject knowledge since October and I truly feel that if I were to become a teacher - I would like to teach English.

I have observed a truly fantastic, award-winning English teacher and she inspires me to become an English teacher.
Furthermore, English was the subject that I myself struggled with the most when I was in secondary school.

I adore languages but I have been teaching French to Year 6 students weekly since September and don't feel that languages are as important or accessible to all students as English is.

Has anyone experience of being accepted onto an English PGCE course without an English degree?

Reply 1

999tigger

Hi sorry not a teacher. It appears if you focus on your reasons and are passionate for teaching, then its not unusual to move across subjects.

Youll be fine for pgce, but individual schools might be picky. It still seems you have a good chance as long as you find he right school who are only interested in your teaching skills.
https://community.tes.com/threads/teaching-english-without-an-english-degree.718089/

have a further look on the tes forums

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 2

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by happy89

You need a degree to contain 50%+ of the subject you are training to teach, so you are going to have to think again, I'm afraid. In addition, when it comes to getting a job, you would not get a position when all other applicants have relevant degrees. You would have a very good chance of getting onto a PGCE as a MFL graduate, since languages are very much a shortage subject. If you trained for that, you might find yourself being allowed to teach a bit of English if there was a shortage within the school, but to be bluntly honest, they would have to be desperate for staff because you simply don't have the qualifications. English is not a shortage subject as MFL is, so you wouldn't be likely to be considered.

Reply 3

Rhythmical

It's probably going to be more than difficult. The simple fact is that you will need a degree in English regardless. Unless a school had a shortage of teachers then you may be able to teach English but this is based on a school's decision to take you in. I know English teachers who teach MFL but not the other way because English requires a specialist degree just like Maths and Science teachers require. You haven't specified whether you'd want to teach primary or secondary school children. The former, may be be accessible depending on training but the latter involves you teaching children GCSEs and A Levels so you will need to have completed a degree in English first. What grade did you get at GCSE English? I am studying both Literature and Language at A Level and I am going to university hopefully to study an English BA and may complete a PGCE as backup although being a teacher isn't my plan.

Reply 4

beautifulbigmacs

You could always do a postgraduate qualification in English (pgcert, pgdip or MA) to get around the problem. A part time pgcert in English is probably available online and could be done part time while you're working.

I'm a big believer in the concept that for the purposes of teaching, there is no reason why a person shouldn't do more education themselves if they don't want to be restricted to just the subject that their undergraduate degree is in.

My undergraduate degree is in drama. I did a masters in food because I wanted to teach this. All pgce courses informed me that this would be suitable (I actually now want to teach evening courses in further education but that's another story).

So yeah, you don't have to be bound by the subject of your undergraduate degree. There are ways around it.

Reply 5

ginger.

Original post by happy89

It's difficult but not impossible. A friend of mine worked at a TA at an academy for two years and she was asked to cover an English teacher who went on maternity leave because the school couldn't find anyone else who was suitable. The school offers teacher training and they encouraged her to train with them because they would have liked to employ her longer term. Her degree is in history.

I would contact several providers and ask them if they would consider you.

Reply 6

999tigger

Not what they were saying on the TES forums. I assume some of those are teachers, well thats what they were saying.

Reply 7

banterboy

just be a modern languages teacher

Reply 8

doodle_333

I doubt you'd have much of a chance. You found the subject hard and don't even have an A level in it so you're not in good stead already. English is also a core subject so it's important to get right. Some people do teach subjects they didn't do their degree in but they will have some academic background in the subject and it is usually an unpopular subject to teach. I think English is also going to be a popular one for teacher training so you're unlikely to beat a load of English grads to get a place. I saw someone say that a friend got on because she worked at the school and proved herself and that might be a possibility as you can prove yourself and your knowledge to your employer but it's certainly going to happen so rarely you can't waste time hoping for it.

Reply 9

chloe07

Just to give an alternate viewpoint, I was accepted onto a secondary English PGCE a few weeks ago and my degree was in psychology. I did English Lit up to A level and also did 20 credits worth of English modules in my first year of uni, but that's it. I've also been working as a TA this year, mostly in English classes, so that probably helped. But I'd say don't give up on it if English is what you're really passionate about teaching. Perhaps try to do some online courses or sit it on some English classes/department meetings at your school to show you're willing to gain experience and learn?

I was worried about the same things as you, and I'm still a bit concerned that people won't hire me after my teacher training because of my degree. But I thought about it a lot and spoke to a lot of people before applying and I think I made the right decision. If you can convince someone to take you on to a teacher training course without a degree in the subject, then who's to say you can't convince an employer as well, especially with good teachers being so in demand?