Looking for help with teaching courses

Hello,

I'm hoping to take a position teaching within a sixth form, I have been offered an conditional offer but I currently don't have a teaching background.
Within the offer I have to achieve a level 4 minimum teaching qualification and QTS within 6 months of starting the position (although someone else I spoke to said I have 1 year).
I will be working the job everyday so ideally an online course would be best.

I've spent lots of time looking online at courses and feel like I want to do a PGCE/PGDE however all the online ones I've looked at don't come with QTS.

I was wondering if anyone knows of any online courses which have QTS and are an level 5 or can offer any advice on what I should do I'd be truly grateful.

I've contacted get into teaching but because of Easter and my current working hours I won't be able so speak with anyone for a couple of weeks.

Reply 1

SarcAndSpark

20

Getting QTS in six months will be very tricky. If you're looking at online options for getting a PGCE, I imagine they are covering the academic side only, not the practice side- which is the bit that leads you to get recommended for QTS. The PGCE on its own doesn't automatically give you QTS, and a full PGCE course will take a year to complete. You won't be able to get QTS through an online course- it doesn't work that way!

I imagine the school are expecting you to aim for QTS via the assessment only route. There's more info here:
https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-options/teacher-training-routes/specialist-training-options/assessment-only
but this isn't usually intended for people who have only been teaching for six months. It's usually intended for experienced teachers who don't have QTS for some reason.

I would contact the school again and ask them to confirm their conditions, and ask them if they've had other people be successful in getting QTS this way when they aren't an experienced teacher.

Teaching, even sixth form, without any real training, will be tricky. Is there a reason you don't want to go down the traditional PGCE/ITT routes? You can do courses that are solely aimed at post-16 teaching if you wanted to.

Reply 2

Cr345

OP

2

It will be teaching Animal Care, which is my background. I have previously done small educational displays but not full on teaching.
I'm not really sure what the traditional route is, do you mean attending a university?
The reason why I wouldn't be able to attend a university is because in this position I'd be working (teaching) every week day so I wouldn't have a spare day to go to a uni and because of my location the unis offering the teaching courses are an hour away.

I think I'll contact the school again for further clarification because as you said 6 months is a small amount of time to complete a course. Thank you for clearing up the QTS and for the extra info on assessment only.

Original post by SarcAndSpark

Teaching, even sixth form, without any real training, will be tricky. Is there a reason you don't want to go down the traditional PGCE/ITT routes? You can do courses that are solely aimed at post-16 teaching if you wanted to.

Reply 3

SarcAndSpark

20

Original post by Cr345

It will be teaching Animal Care, which is my background. I have previously done small educational displays but not full on teaching.
I'm not really sure what the traditional route is, do you mean attending a university?
The reason why I wouldn't be able to attend a university is because in this position I'd be working (teaching) every week day so I wouldn't have a spare day to go to a uni and because of my location the unis offering the teaching courses are an hour away.

I think I'll contact the school again for further clarification because as you said 6 months is a small amount of time to complete a course. Thank you for clearing up the QTS and for the extra info on assessment only.

Yes, by the traditional route I mean doing an ITT course through a university or another scheme- these are usually full time, so yes, you won't be able to work and do one.

If you're planning to teach 16+ in a vocational subject, QTS isn't a (legal) requirement. AFAIK it wouldn't be possible for an online/distance learning course to offer QTS - but hopefully your future employer has a route in mind.

Long term, it might make more sense to take a year out and study for a post compulsory PGCE or similar.

Looking for help with teaching courses

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