I need help in choosing a course

Hi,
My name is Uffaq. I am a mother of two children. I am a qualified teacher from Pakistan and have got three years of experience in teaching in Pakistan. I want to qualify as primary education teacher in UK and get QTS. I applied to open university to know how many credits I have got and they have given me 240 credits equal in BA/BSC designation. UKNarick as equalized my qualifications to UK Bachelors (ordinary) standard.
I need 120 more credits for honours degree.I just wanted to know that which modules should I study to get BA/BSC honours degree. And also should I study BA/BSC honours (open degree) or in specific subject.
Which degree will make my application more acceptable to the trainee providers and which have got the high demand. I wish to start my course in February next year with open university. I am more keen to go for BSC honours rather than BA honours.
I will still apply to different schools this year on the basis of my plan to start my course with open university. Because by next year October my credit points will be 360 when I start my training. So I will definitely take a chance for next year training.
Please guide me at your best. I am eagerly waiting for the reply.
Thanks.

Just to clarify, you are going to study at the Open University to get the credits needed to have a BSc Honours degree yes? You will therefore have an honours degree by October 2014. Do you want to start teacher training in September 2015 then?
What subject is your current qualification in? You might be able to carry on this subject with the OU.

Thanks a lot for reply Shelly. I have got Masters of Education Degree from Pakistan which is equal to Med. Its the highest Qualification in Pakistan required to teach as a primary school teacher.
I sent my documents to Open University to count my credits towards an open degree, not any specific degree. They have given me 240 points equal in BA/BSC designation. So I can choose modules in arts or science whichever I want. But I don't really know which modules I should study to make my application more acceptable for primary school placement and moreover should I do open degree in BA/BSC honours or in specific subject like science, design etc. I need help to decide that which module suites me more, which modules are in high demand and which will increase my chances to be accepted at school for primary education teacher training.
I am a mother of two children and one of them is a special child, so Open University is my only option where I can study and complete my modules and 360 credits. This is the main reason that I want to go for school based route for QTS in future because it will be tough for me to take care of two children and study at university.
I will still take a chance for 2014 placements on the basis of my current academic status because I have got three years experience of Primary School Teaching in Pakistan.
Please advise me about what suites me best. I am eagerly waiting for your reply.
Thanks

I can advise you what the current in demand subjects are but I can't advise you what would suit you to study, as that is something only you can decide. At the moment, there is emphasis on bringing in maths, science and physical education (p.e.) specialists into primary schools. So any modules in those subjects would be good. Any modules with history, English, a modern foreign language, geography, art or anything else on the national curriculum for England would also be good to have.

Thank you for your advice. Basically I was looking at subjects yesterday at open univerdity website and I found bsc honours in design and innovation. I read on internet that design technology is also a core subject.
I am interested in that because in my master I specialized in design (both drafting and compurt aided design) so I want to study course like that.
But open university course name is design snd innovation not design technology. So I am confused whether to choose this course or not.
Will you please give me any suggestions on that and also is there any demand for design technology suject in schools or not.
Can you please advise me on that. I am eagerly waiting for your reply.
Thanks

If you were going to teach in secondary schools then yes, there would be a demand. However, for primary schools there isn't so much. Most primary schools don't have the resources to teach design technology. Although, this doesn't mean that your application will be rejected if you do the design degree, many people go on to teach primary with degrees that don't necessarily relate to the national curriculum.

Thanks for reply again. My basic reason was to get degree in national curriculum subject and when I researched on web I found out that design technology is a national core subject and they prefer applicants with national core subject and I thought that every school include it in its curriculum. That was my only reason to go for that.
I have seen Professional Graduate Certificate in Education(PGCE) in design technology at open university which will lead me to QTS. So I am thinking to go for that if there is high demand for this subject. I believe that I would be able to teach in both primary and secondary schools.
And later on I can do Postgraduate Certificate In Education (PGCE) in primary through school direct route if I want. Because if I have a degree in national curriculum subject then I have got good chances in future to be accepted for teacher training.

Yes it is a national curriculum subject, what I was saying was that it is hard to teach it in primary schools. So yes, do th degree in deeding technology as it is a national curriculum subject.
If you did a PGCE in design technology, this would be qualifying you to teach in secondary schools. The placements you would go on would be entirely in secondary schools and it would be expected that you want to teach in secondary's.
If you want to teach in primary schools I would advise you do the PGCE Primary option. There is no point in you doing two teacher training courses, just do one in the area you want to teach in. So, for you, this would be primary teaching.

Thank you so much for the advise. My problem is that open university don't offer PGCE in primary, It only offers in secondary.
It is offering me do do open degree in BA or BSC honours to complete my credit points. But modules they are offering like (art & humanity, childhood and youth etc) does not have to do any thing with national curriculum subject.
So either I do BA/BSC honours (open degree) and complete my credit points then apply for PGCE primary school based route next year
OR
I do Professional Graduate Certificate in Education in any subject and complete my credit points and then do primary PGCE next year.
In both cases my qualifications will be equal to BA/BSC Honours and my credit points will be 360. The difference between them is that in Professional Graduate Certification in Education they will recommend me for QTS but in BA/BSC Honours (open degree) I will not be recommended for QTS as well as the modules I study are not included in national core subjects so I don't know what will be my chances to be accepted for teacher training course.
That is why I have to decide between these two routes. I don't know any university who gives the opportunity to complete your studies sitting home like open university.

You can't use a PGCE course to get the credits you need to have a full Ba/bsc. A PGCE course is a postgraduate qualification and therefore you need to finish your ba/bsc BEFORE you can do a PGCE. So, to make it clear for you:
You need to get 120 credits from the open university via an open degree to get a full BA/BSc degree. I would choose national curriculum subjects OR subjects relating to children to gain your credits.
Only when you have gained your open degree can you apply for a PGCE. To gain entry to a PGCE you need to have completed the open degree first. You CANNOT gain a PGCE qualification from home. You will need to complete placements at schools to gain this qualification.

Thanks for reply again. The term I used was
PROFESSIONAL GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN EDUCATION(PGCE)
NOT
POSTGRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN EDUCATION(PGCE)
They are entirely different. Professional Graduate Certificate in Education(PGCE) is at Honours level 6 and Postgraduate Certificate in Education(PGCE) is at masters level 7.
People having both degrees are recommended for QTS, one is at Honours level and one is at masters level.

Indeed. However you won't be able to do the professional certificate from home. If it leads to QTS then that means you will need to complete at least one full time placement in a school.

Hi Uffaq. I'm sure Shelly is well aware of the difference between the two.

Normally the level 6 is only awarded to people on a level 7 PGCE course who fail to achieve that level in their assignments. It's sort of a back-up option if it doesn't all go according to plan.

ANYTHING that awards QTS (whether alongside a level 6 professional certificate, or alongside a level 7 postgraduate certificate) is a placement-based route into ITT. You cannot achieve QTS from home.

Shelly's advice is spot on, in my opinion. Complete your BA/BSC credits by taking Open University modules related to the curriculum or to children, then do a PGCE, School Direct or SCITT course to achieve QTS and be qualified to teach.

hi Shelly,
I just wanted to ask you one more question that all the schools are also asking for GCSE grades but I studied in Pakistan so how will I tell them about my grades.

This link will help you with this:
http://ecctis.co.uk/naric/Individuals/Teaching%20in%20the%20UK.aspx