MA Education vs PGCE vs MA History?

Have you had any experience in school? Get some school experience before you make a decision on what you would like to do. Yes people moan about teaching but it’s not all doom and gloom.

Thanks for your reply. I have some school experience lined up next week. But to be honest even if I loved it, I wouldn't be able to justify 7.30am-7pm days and long hours on weekends for the rest of my career. Are you a teacher?

Actually I've just found a website gem.org.uk which is exactly what I want to get into and had a look at what degree the people in the Career Case Studies did. One mentioned a Museum and Galleries Education course at UCL which looks really good.

Hi there,

I really want to be a teacher but I've heard how stressful the hours and workload can be in the UK (forums on TES/TSR and have also spoken to teachers I know in person). I have never heard so many people so adamantly and actively discourage people from entering a field before. This aspect is really putting me off and if it is as bad as it sounds I am not ready to put my mental and physical health at risk. Anyway this isn't the point of my post!

Now I'm considering jobs related to education that aren't being a teacher e.g. education department in the heritage and cultural sector (museums/botanical gardens in particular). If I'm unable to get into the education department (which is ideal), I would be very very happy working in other departments in a museum e.g. curator, art handler etc as well.

My question is which degree would help open doors to education AND other departments of public institutions? I say 'AND' because doing something education related is my ideal job but just after a quick search these jobs seem very few and far between. Therefore would doing a History masters (or even Art History/Museum Studies?) give me more options in the museum, even if not specifically education related? That being said, I know museum jobs in general are very competitive anyway.

Sorry if this post seems quite scatty, I had my heart set on teaching. It has been the only career that I really felt I had a passion for but in the current climate of the UK education sector I really don't think I would be able to hack it. Now I'm trying to find out what I want to do for the rest of my life and if I want to start a degree this September I need to get my application in very soon.

EDIT: Forgot to add that I have just completed a BA in Architecture. Also if there's a better place to post this please tell me and I'll post there and delete here thanks