being a primary school teacher

I went to an open day and they said they would post me some perspectus's and email me about how to become a student. however they have not got back to me yet and i was wondering if any of you had done an eduction course with the OU and how it went and what financial help you got with it.

Reply 1

smoker_dave

Just register yourself on the website: www.open.ac.uk

You can browse the prospectus online, find courses you like the look of and then read reviews of them from students who have done them.

There is a part to the site called "Open Learn" which lets you do some free courses. Really it is just reading some of the OU style of material to see if you get on with it, there are no tests or anything.

There is also a part to the website where you can check your eligibility for financial support. You enter your income and it will tell you how much you can get. I think if you earn below £20,000 then you get a full award which is about £600 per year (a 60 point course usually costs around £600). If you earn over the £20,000 you can still get some knocked off your course fees so definitely apply for it!

If you get registered on a course soon, they are offering students the opportunity to spend a week in a local school. I think it is only secondary schools, but it would still be a good experience if you are looking to go into teaching.

Here is a link to the school experience thing:
http://sa-scheme.open.ac.uk/school-experience.cfm

Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 2

megamuffin

It's prospectuses.

Also, I think you need to go to a proper university to become a teacher, why not do it part-time?

Reply 3

morecambebay

16

megamuffin

It's prospectuses.

Also, I think you need to go to a proper university to become a teacher, why not do it part-time?

Its prospectus...as in singular. And you can definately do teacher training through the open university. Despite what you seem to think, it is a 'proper' university.

Reply 4

Moggs

10

OP, head over to the site and order a prospectus from there. They're pretty quick about those if you want a hard copy. If not as dave said, they host them too.

You can use the elegibility check to see how much financial support you'll get. http://css2.open.ac.uk/fafcalculator/eligibility.aspx

Reply 5

liekay

OP

Thanks guys. I know my spelling aint great too.

I know i can do the course with OU as the tutor at the open day mentioned it but he was useless in terms of giving me any information. He just made me right my email address and answered my questions without any detail.

I think I will get full financial help as I am only working as an Au Pair and get about £500 a month.

And dave thanks for the link I wil have a look at it and hopefully I can get a place.

I find the open.ac.uk site really confusing thats why I went to the open day to try and get information. But I will try and have a look again at the courses online. Ive already been to university for a year before I dropped out so I dont think I will need to do any of those free courses

Thanks anyway. If you come accross any more information I would be greatfull if you pass it on.

Reply 6

Moggs

10

liekay

I find the open.ac.uk site really confusing thats why I went to the open day to try and get information. But I will try and have a look again at the courses online. Ive already been to university for a year before I dropped out so I dont think I will need to do any of those free courses.

Glad I'm not the only one. Opening the site with a search seems really odd. I remember being a bit confused when I got there. It was quite a chore to find information.

Anyway, I'm guessing your starting point would be to pick an undergrade degree from here: http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/index.htm

To me, it would make more sense to open the site with an elaborated version of this page: http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/

Reply 7

raspberryswirl

10

morecambebay

Its prospectus...as in singular. And you can definitely do teacher training through the open university. Despite what you seem to think, it is a 'proper' university.

You can't do primary teacher training through the OU...only secondary. I looked into this before as I am vaguely interested in becoming a teacher :smile:

Reply 8

smoker_dave

liekay

I find the open.ac.uk site really confusing.

Moggs

Glad I'm not the only one.

I think most people feel the same when they first visit the OU site, simply because the sheer amount of information they have on there is overwhelming.

You need to keep going back a few times (like for two weeks / a month) and just explore a little bit at a time. You will soon get used to the format. If you can't get motivated to do this then maybe a distance learning degree is not going to be for you :frown:

Once you’re actually registered on a course it becomes much simpler anyway because all the information you need (study notes, course time table, and exam information) is all on one page

Reply 9

liekay

OP

Thanks for the support. I am still waiting for one of their education tutors to contact me regarding course information. But I am going to have another quick look at the website to see if i can get anymore information.

Reply 10

twihard

Hi,

If you want to become a primary school teacher, you will first need a degree and then do a PGCE. It's best to do a degree that is related to education but is not essential (mine is in psychology which is fine).

At the OU specifically they have 4 degree options that are more relevant to teaching here...
Childhood studies:
http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/qualification/b23.htm
If you want to specialise or teach maths:
http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/qualification/b46.htm
If you want to teach physics(secondary):
http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/qualification/b56.htm
Youth Work degree (better for secondary):
http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/qualification/b55.htm

Personally, if you want to be a primary school teacher I would go with Childhood studies. It will usually take you approx 3 years to study this full time and about 6 years part time - although you can spread it out over as many years as you like because you take each module as a separate course, then they are grouped together into the one degree at the end.

Once you have completed your degree you will need to do a PGCE. This is studied for 1 year full time or 2 years part-time.
The OU only do secondary education:
http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/qualification/c71.htm

If you want to do primary for sure, then check out the TDA website for all info on PGCEs or the other post-graduate route which is called a SCITT, this is work-based rather than classroom based (like the PGCE is):http://www.tda.gov.uk/

Oh and by the way, the OU is a 'proper' university - don't listen to those people who don't know how to move with the times. In fact the OU is the ONLY place where you can study to be a teacher flexibly, all other uni's are regid, so if you have a family or other commitments its really difficult elsewhere.

HTH

Reply 11

Ashley-eve

Hi everyone,

I am hopefully starting a BA Hons Open degree in oct with the main focus being priary education also with a language (French). I have previously studied at a campus based uni doing another course but had a career change. I am from Glasgow and I start E111 supporting learning in primary schools and L192 beginners French and I also work as a volunteer classroom helper one day a week. I hope after finishing the open degree to go on to study a PGDE primary at strathclyde or Glasgow. Anyone else studying e111 and l192?

Reply 12

Ashley-eve

Hi everyone

I was told by a good source from the education department at both Glasgow and Strathclyde University's that you can do any degree with the Open University and then do the one year PGDE primary and you'll be qualified. I don't know how it works down south but that's what I was told. So as of October 2010 I will be studying towards a BA Open Degree with honours focusing on childhood/education modules. You can get into the PGDE aslong as you have a Bachelor's Degree and Higher English and Intermediate 2 Mathematics.

And if the OU wasn't a 'proper university' it wouldn't be highly rated and recognised throughout the world.

Reply 13

Bex78

twihard

Hi,

If you want to become a primary school teacher, you will first need a degree and then do a PGCE. It's best to do a degree that is related to education but is not essential (mine is in psychology which is fine).

At the OU specifically they have 4 degree options that are more relevant to teaching here...
Childhood studies:
http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/qualification/b23.htm
If you want to specialise or teach maths:
http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/qualification/b46.htm
If you want to teach physics(secondary):
http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/qualification/b56.htm
Youth Work degree (better for secondary):
http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/qualification/b55.htm

Personally, if you want to be a primary school teacher I would go with Childhood studies. It will usually take you approx 3 years to study this full time and about 6 years part time - although you can spread it out over as many years as you like because you take each module as a separate course, then they are grouped together into the one degree at the end.

I'm really sorry but some of this information is incorrect.
Childhood studies will not be accepted on a PGCE or GTP course.

You have to study for a named degree in a National Curriculum subject, with Maths and Sciences being highly desirable.
I confirmed this by speaking to both the OU and the TDA, and some of the course providers.

Equally the education courses are designed for people already working in education.

I also want to teach, and I've done a lot of research into this.
I was studying for BA hons in English but it wasn't for me. I then began a Childhood course and it was only while I was on the course that I found out a childhood based degree is useless for getting onto teaching courses.

Once you graduate, there are various ways into teaching. The traditional route is to study a PGCE. You can currently study with the OU and choose between 6 subjects. Your degree must match your PGCE subject.
There is the GTP. This is the graduate Training programme where you train in schools.
Or there's the Teach First, but I don't know much about this.

The Open University is very much a real university, as the poster I have quoted says.
It takes hard work and dedication but it's also flexible as in you can choose when and where you study.
Of course there are deadlines, but it's a very satisfying way of leaning and you don't come out thousands of pounds in debt either.

If you have an interest in any specific subject, I'd be more than happy to help you get to grips with the website. But once you get going you'll find it easy enough to navigate.

Reply 14

Foster88

2

Bex78

I'm really sorry but some of this information is incorrect.
Childhood studies will not be accepted on a PGCE or GTP course.

You have to study for a named degree in a National Curriculum subject, with Maths and Sciences being highly desirable.
I confirmed this by speaking to both the OU and the TDA, and some of the course providers.

Equally the education courses are designed for people already working in education.

I also want to teach, and I've done a lot of research into this.
I was studying for BA hons in English but it wasn't for me. I then began a Childhood course and it was only while I was on the course that I found out a childhood based degree is useless for getting onto teaching courses.

Once you graduate, there are various ways into teaching. The traditional route is to study a PGCE. You can currently study with the OU and choose between 6 subjects. Your degree must match your PGCE subject.
There is the GTP. This is the graduate Training programme where you train in schools.
Or there's the Teach First, but I don't know much about this.

The Open University is very much a real university, as the poster I have quoted says.
It takes hard work and dedication but it's also flexible as in you can choose when and where you study.
Of course there are deadlines, but it's a very satisfying way of leaning and you don't come out thousands of pounds in debt either.

If you have an interest in any specific subject, I'd be more than happy to help you get to grips with the website. But once you get going you'll find it easy enough to navigate.

Just quickly browsing and saw your post I was wondering how could you get into teaching using the open university. Having an open degree would not work ? It would have to be a named degree in a named subject ?

Reply 15

Bex78

You can get in to the teaching programs with Open University degrees, and they can be open degrees but they have to have content from the National Curriculum. It is possible that you can enhance your subject knowledge post degree, if your degree doesn't closely relate to the curriculum, but everyone I spoke to said they would prefer a curriculum based degree.

What qualifications do you need?

You must have a UK undergraduate degree or a recognised equivalent qualification. Find out if your qualifications are equivalent to UK qualifications through UK NARIC. If your degree subject does not link closely to the subject you intend to teach, you may improve your ability to gain a place on an ITT programme by following a subject knowledge enhancement course.

You also need a standard equivalent to at least a grade C in GCSE English language and mathematics. If you want to teach primary or key stage 2/3 (ages 7-14), you must also have achieved a standard equivalent to a grade C in a GCSE science subject.

http://www.tda.gov.uk/Recruit/thetrainingprocess/typesofcourse/postgraduate/pgce.aspx
You have to be able to demonstrate subject knowledge.
If you want to teach KS3 and 4, you need to have your degree in the subject you wish to teach.

Post graduate primary training programs are highly competitive and it's better to have a degree which demonstrates strong subject knowledge.
It's not so much the name of the degree, but what is in it.
Even in Primary schools they have heads of department.

For me, I want to teach science. The OU are currently changing all their named degrees in Science. EG Life Sciences is biology, but they are withdrawing that in 2014.
Most people new to Science study will be studying for Natural Sciences, however, because there are so many modules, you can tailor your degree. So I will be able to pick courses from the life sciences discipline.
The content of my degree would be just as acceptable as if I had studied at a brick uni for a degree in Biology, but the name of it would be different.

With that degree I would then go on to study either PGCE secondary Science, Primary, or go and do the graduate training programme which is where you basically train on the job.

As I found out a few years ago, it's best to get as much advise as you can before choosing your subjects. I spoke to the OU, the TDA and a couple of course providers.

Reply 16

Niishe1234

Has anyone on here completed their degree and an actual teacher now.As it was suggested I should do it as a top up for my final year.Before I do so, I would like to have some feedback Thanks.

Reply 17

username1339858_

16

Original post

by Niishe1234

Has anyone on here completed their degree and an actual teacher now.As it was suggested I should do it as a top up for my final year.Before I do so, I would like to have some feedback Thanks.

Maybe you should make your own thread. You'd be more likely to get a response...

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