School direct v pgce v teach first to be business studies teacher?
I am a second year student studying business and finance and would like to go in to teaching. I have competed a two week observation at two secondary school, have been working in retail for over two years and expected to graduate with a 2.1 from a Russell Group uni.
What is the best method for me to get into teaching???
Can I apply to school direct as I have nearly 3 years part time experience?
How hard is it to get into teaching business via these routes?
What is the best method for me to get into teaching???
Can I apply to school direct as I have nearly 3 years part time experience?
How hard is it to get into teaching business via these routes?
PGCE route involves applying to a uni. Your uni will arrange all your placements and supplement your training. School direct is basically the same as uni led, but the school will organise your placements and will supplement your training on top of uni. Teach First is a bit odd. They do it all. You are paid a salary of around £25k for two years and from what I gather, thrown into the deep end at some of the worst, hardest schools to work at. After two years, you sack of teaching and go to work for Deloitte or KPMG. Teach First isn't really for people who want to be teachers.
Original post by amir976
I am a second year student studying business and finance and would like to go in to teaching. I have competed a two week observation at two secondary school, have been working in retail for over two years and expected to graduate with a 2.1 from a Russell Group uni.
What is the best method for me to get into teaching???
Can I apply to school direct as I have nearly 3 years part time experience?
How hard is it to get into teaching business via these routes?
What is the best method for me to get into teaching???
Can I apply to school direct as I have nearly 3 years part time experience?
How hard is it to get into teaching business via these routes?
All three teaching routes you have mentioned are very different from each other. I'll outline the differences below.
Teach First- this is a 2 year program. You work as a unqualified teacher for the first year whilst studying for a PGCE. In the second year you gain the PGCE and get NQT pay.
Pros
-You get a salary.
-Links to corporate partners.
Cons
-You are quite literally thrown in on the deep end. You are given 5/6 weeks training and then you are expected to teach a whole class. On the other hand, a PGCE university route or Schools Direct would never give you a whole class to teach until they were confident in your ability to handle a class.
-You are placed in really rubbish schools. Well this is the whole goal of Teach First. To improve failing schools. However, failing schools often mean you will have to deal with unsupportive leadership, rubbish resources, and behaviour problems from pupils.
-The recruitment process is much more difficult than other routes into teaching. I attended the AC and found that a lot of the things they were testing us on was completely irrelevant to teaching and more relevant to corporate companies.
Schools Direct. I think the salaried route is more aimed at career changers. I'm not sure if you would qualify for the salaried route as you said you have only worked part time. There is a non salaried version also known as SCITT.
Pros
-You know from the beginning which school you will be working at.
-You get a lot of support. They won't make you teach a class on your first day.
Cons
-You are tied to one school so you don't get to see how different each school is.
But is teach first and school direct available for graduates who want to do this straight after their degrees??
Does teach first provide u with a guaranteed job at the end of it?
Can u choose the school for teach first as I want to stay close to home?
Does teach first provide u with a guaranteed job at the end of it?
Can u choose the school for teach first as I want to stay close to home?
Original post by ByEeek
PGCE route involves applying to a uni. Your uni will arrange all your placements and supplement your training. School direct is basically the same as uni led, but the school will organise your placements and will supplement your training on top of uni. Teach First is a bit odd. They do it all. You are paid a salary of around £25k for two years and from what I gather, thrown into the deep end at some of the worst, hardest schools to work at. After two years, you sack of teaching and go to work for Deloitte or KPMG. Teach First isn't really for people who want to be teachers.
To throw an opinion in the pot (and that's very much what this is... a personal opinion) I would recommend the PGCE route if the logistics work for you, as I feel it gives you a better opportunity to observe and teach in different types of school. Teaching doesn't have a right and wrong way, there are lots of ways you can be a great teacher, but when you do your training in just one school, with some schools you could be forgiven for thinking their way is the only way! To become a good teacher it's vital to see and hear about lots of different ways of doing things, so that you can use that to develop your own teaching style. Obviously, working within the ethos of your school is important and there will always be restrictions, but you do need your own understanding and style as well.
Don't get me wrong, some schools would do a great job of this. And there are other ways that you can get to view other schools who approach things differently. And of course there are many great teachers out there who started off in single school training routes. But with a PGCE it's made very simple for you to get that wide range of experiences (both yourself, and hearing others). It also gives you a good chance to be purely theoretical. Teaching is a full on job, and when you're worrying about targets and Ofsted and lesson planning and a million other things you don't have much time to stand back and really really think about learning, teaching and how it works. Good teachers do this throughout their career, but the time and perspective a PGCE in an academic environment, away from the pressures of school, is invaluable
SCITT courses do offer multiple placements, however, my understanding is that they're from schools within a certain network, so there's no way to ensure you get a variety of experiences (whereas this will be a key aim for PGCE placements). But certainly I'd recommend them over Teach First, for being closer to achieving the things I've already mentioned.
Don't get me wrong, some schools would do a great job of this. And there are other ways that you can get to view other schools who approach things differently. And of course there are many great teachers out there who started off in single school training routes. But with a PGCE it's made very simple for you to get that wide range of experiences (both yourself, and hearing others). It also gives you a good chance to be purely theoretical. Teaching is a full on job, and when you're worrying about targets and Ofsted and lesson planning and a million other things you don't have much time to stand back and really really think about learning, teaching and how it works. Good teachers do this throughout their career, but the time and perspective a PGCE in an academic environment, away from the pressures of school, is invaluable
SCITT courses do offer multiple placements, however, my understanding is that they're from schools within a certain network, so there's no way to ensure you get a variety of experiences (whereas this will be a key aim for PGCE placements). But certainly I'd recommend them over Teach First, for being closer to achieving the things I've already mentioned.
I would note everyone I know who went into Teach First left the programme within three months of starting teaching. Admittedly, this is only a group of about 6 people (from one university, for that matter) but, where there's smoke, there's fire...
But why do people leave teach first?
Am i elegible for school direct unsalaried tuition fee role? As I want to do this straight after university. PGCE is my back up as I do not want to pay 9k for the feee and I am not elegible to any bursary as I want to teach business and this subject is not a priority subject so no funding available
Am i elegible for school direct unsalaried tuition fee role? As I want to do this straight after university. PGCE is my back up as I do not want to pay 9k for the feee and I am not elegible to any bursary as I want to teach business and this subject is not a priority subject so no funding available
Original post by artful_lounger
I would note everyone I know who went into Teach First left the programme within three months of starting teaching. Admittedly, this is only a group of about 6 people (from one university, for that matter) but, where there's smoke, there's fire...
Original post by amir976
But why do people leave teach first?
Am i elegible for school direct unsalaried tuition fee role? As I want to do this straight after university. PGCE is my back up as I do not want to pay 9k for the feee and I am not elegible to any bursary as I want to teach business and this subject is not a priority subject so no funding available
Am i elegible for school direct unsalaried tuition fee role? As I want to do this straight after university. PGCE is my back up as I do not want to pay 9k for the feee and I am not elegible to any bursary as I want to teach business and this subject is not a priority subject so no funding available
I've only been in major contact (i.e. more than facebook feed) contact with one of them, but they pretty much echoed the above statements - the point of teach first is that they put them in some of the worst schools, and so the environment was just untenable for them. A lesser reason was they realised they weren't that interested in going into a grad scheme and came back to the uni to do a PhD.
If you're very attached to the idea of teaching, and have great mental/emotional fortitude, it's not a terrible consideration - if you can survive that then you can probably do quite well in a "normal" school. However as noted by some other posters, teach first isn't really for people who want to become teachers - it's a way to get some temporary teaching staff in areas with very low teacher retention, before shipping them off into a grad scheme.
I'm fairly certain there are a number of schemes for you to do a PGCE without paying yourself for it - I would be surprised if there weren't, given the dire state of teacher supply and retention currently. Additionally, teaching is not exactly a popular profession in the UK - unlike in say, France, where it's a civil service job for life with a comfortable salary (and thus is reasonably popular, especially for the agregation to teach in the prepas which isn't an uncommon prelude to a PhD and hence teaching at universities proper, as I understand), the UK format seems to have considerably less stability and worse pay/benefits. So I wouldn't imagine you should have great difficulty in securing funding from one of the previously mentioned schemes if you apply - I imagine competition is lower than might be expected.
This is mainly based on anecdotal evidence and observation of my own and other's experiences as students/teachers. I would also clarify, I do know several who have become teachers through various other processes than teach first, and they all seem to quite enjoy their jobs and have remained in them for at least 3~ years or so (it was the cohort above me), although part of that was presumably the latter stages of training. So, I'm not saying teaching is necessarily awful no matter where you go, but the nature of teach first seems to be put you into the worst of it. You may have more positive experiences in the early stages of your career through another route.
What about school direct?
Am I elegible to do this straight away after uni? I am interested in the non salaried route
Am I elegible to do this straight away after uni? I am interested in the non salaried route
Original post by artful_lounger
I've only been in major contact (i.e. more than facebook feed) contact with one of them, but they pretty much echoed the above statements - the point of teach first is that they put them in some of the worst schools, and so the environment was just untenable for them. A lesser reason was they realised they weren't that interested in going into a grad scheme and came back to the uni to do a PhD.
If you're very attached to the idea of teaching, and have great mental/emotional fortitude, it's not a terrible consideration - if you can survive that then you can probably do quite well in a "normal" school. However as noted by some other posters, teach first isn't really for people who want to become teachers - it's a way to get some temporary teaching staff in areas with very low teacher retention, before shipping them off into a grad scheme.
I'm fairly certain there are a number of schemes for you to do a PGCE without paying yourself for it - I would be surprised if there weren't, given the dire state of teacher supply and retention currently. Additionally, teaching is not exactly a popular profession in the UK - unlike in say, France, where it's a civil service job for life with a comfortable salary (and thus is reasonably popular, especially for the agregation to teach in the prepas which isn't an uncommon prelude to a PhD and hence teaching at universities proper, as I understand), the UK format seems to have considerably less stability and worse pay/benefits. So I wouldn't imagine you should have great difficulty in securing funding from one of the previously mentioned schemes if you apply - I imagine competition is lower than might be expected.
This is mainly based on anecdotal evidence and observation of my own and other's experiences as students/teachers. I would also clarify, I do know several who have become teachers through various other processes than teach first, and they all seem to quite enjoy their jobs and have remained in them for at least 3~ years or so (it was the cohort above me), although part of that was presumably the latter stages of training. So, I'm not saying teaching is necessarily awful no matter where you go, but the nature of teach first seems to be put you into the worst of it. You may have more positive experiences in the early stages of your career through another route.
If you're very attached to the idea of teaching, and have great mental/emotional fortitude, it's not a terrible consideration - if you can survive that then you can probably do quite well in a "normal" school. However as noted by some other posters, teach first isn't really for people who want to become teachers - it's a way to get some temporary teaching staff in areas with very low teacher retention, before shipping them off into a grad scheme.
I'm fairly certain there are a number of schemes for you to do a PGCE without paying yourself for it - I would be surprised if there weren't, given the dire state of teacher supply and retention currently. Additionally, teaching is not exactly a popular profession in the UK - unlike in say, France, where it's a civil service job for life with a comfortable salary (and thus is reasonably popular, especially for the agregation to teach in the prepas which isn't an uncommon prelude to a PhD and hence teaching at universities proper, as I understand), the UK format seems to have considerably less stability and worse pay/benefits. So I wouldn't imagine you should have great difficulty in securing funding from one of the previously mentioned schemes if you apply - I imagine competition is lower than might be expected.
This is mainly based on anecdotal evidence and observation of my own and other's experiences as students/teachers. I would also clarify, I do know several who have become teachers through various other processes than teach first, and they all seem to quite enjoy their jobs and have remained in them for at least 3~ years or so (it was the cohort above me), although part of that was presumably the latter stages of training. So, I'm not saying teaching is necessarily awful no matter where you go, but the nature of teach first seems to be put you into the worst of it. You may have more positive experiences in the early stages of your career through another route.
Original post by amir976
But is teach first and school direct available for graduates who want to do this straight after their degrees??
Does teach first provide u with a guaranteed job at the end of it?
Can u choose the school for teach first as I want to stay close to home?
Does teach first provide u with a guaranteed job at the end of it?
Can u choose the school for teach first as I want to stay close to home?
There are few providers that allow the certainty of where you will be working. If you apply for a school direct place, you will certainly be in the alliance, but you may end up elsewhere for your second placement. The general acceptance in my school / uni was that you should be prepared to travel for up to 90 minutes.
I think Teach First are likely to be the same. The only chap from Teach First I came across said that apart from his 6 week induction, he had received almost no training or support. By comparison, I had weekly CPD sessions on top of School Direct sessions and uni sessions.
Just to throw in an alternate TeachFirst perspective, I'm currently in my second year of the programme and absolutely loving it. Felt extremely supported during the first year but also enjoyed my independence and getting to teach straight away and feel like a trusted member of staff. This year I don't need as much support but I still have half-termly phone calls to check up on me, as well as classroom visits if I request them. I have always wanted to be a teacher and will continue this career for the rest of my life.
Original post by amir976
But why do people leave teach first?
Am i elegible for school direct unsalaried tuition fee role? As I want to do this straight after university. PGCE is my back up as I do not want to pay 9k for the feee and I am not elegible to any bursary as I want to teach business and this subject is not a priority subject so no funding available
Am i elegible for school direct unsalaried tuition fee role? As I want to do this straight after university. PGCE is my back up as I do not want to pay 9k for the feee and I am not elegible to any bursary as I want to teach business and this subject is not a priority subject so no funding available
Just so you're aware - unsalaried Schools Direct has the same fees as PGCE courses, so around £9250. However, you'd qualify for a full student loan and maintenance loan, which you'd pay back in the same way as your undergraduate debt. Effectively, there's no upfront cost, you'd just be paying back your existing student loan for longer as it'd be larger.
Original post by amir976
What about school direct?
Am I elegible to do this straight away after uni? I am interested in the non salaried route
Am I elegible to do this straight away after uni? I am interested in the non salaried route
no idea - I don't know anyone that did that :/
I thought tuition fees for school direct unsalaried routes are paid for??
Original post by amir976
I thought tuition fees for school direct unsalaried routes are paid for??
Nope, unsalaried is the same as paying fees unfortunately! However, as you'll get a full loan (and loans are wiped after 30 years anyway) it won't make much of a difference to your existing undergraduate debt.
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