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What can I teach?

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Original post by l'insegnante
In theory, yes. However it depends of the school you are employed by. They may have enough English teachers and employ you to teach PE and another subject you have carried to A-Level or Personal Development and the like or both.

Have you thought about undergraduate teacher training?

Heres a link to come courses that would lead to QTS without a PGCE

English: http://search.ucas.com/search/providers?CountryCode=&RegionCode=&Lat=&Lng=&Feather=&Vac=4&AvailableIn=2015&Query=English+QTS&ProviderQuery=&AcpId=&Location=&SubjectCode=

PE : http://search.ucas.com/search/providers?CountryCode=&RegionCode=&Lat=&Lng=&Feather=&Vac=4&AvailableIn=2015&Query=physical+education+qts&ProviderQuery=&AcpId=&Location=&SubjectCode=


Okay I see thank you :smile: I am going to check out those links now!
Original post by myrtille
Sorry, but this is nonsense (except the last bit).

When you get QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) you are a qualified teacher. Although during the PGCE you specialise in a specific subject area, you are theoretically qualified to teach anything (although you would struggle to get a job outside your specialist subject). I know someone who is a dance/drama/music specialist, but is currently teaching English most of the time (with a little bit of dance on their timetable). I also work with a DT teacher who teaches some Science on their timetable.

Basically, once you're a qualified teacher, you can teach any subject area that your Head thinks you are able to teach and requires you to do so. The likelihood of this actually happening depends a lot on your school and subject (eg: if your subject doesn't have a lot of timetabled hours, eg: dance, you are more likely to find yourself teaching other subjects to make your timetable up to full time, whereas an English teacher will probably just be needed to teach English).

To the OP:
You need to do a degree in the subject area you plan on teaching, followed by a PGCE (or other teacher training programme) in that subject area. Have a look at what PGCE courses are available and what jobs are advertised on TES - I can't imagine there's that much demand for specialist dance teachers who can't teach any other areas.

A PE/Sports based degree with a focus on dance could be a safer bet - PE teachers often teach dance as part of PE.

If your heart is set on teaching dance, you could always look at options outside of the school system - pursue dance exams through your dancing school and do their teaching qualification. This won't qualify you to teach in schools, but you could run your own dancing school and/or offer extra-curricular clubs in different schools. Running your own business is hard work and unreliable money though.


Thank you so much this is really helpful. I'm thinking that doing a PE degree with QTS would be the best idea so that I can teach dance across key stages 3,4 and possibly 5 :smile:
Original post by Amie_dancer
Thank you so much this is really helpful. I'm thinking that doing a PE degree with QTS would be the best idea so that I can teach dance across key stages 3,4 and possibly 5 :smile:


That sounds like quite a good plan, especially if you're doing dance outside of your studies as well. You are likely to have more opportunities with PE than with just dance.

English/Drama/Performing Arts/Dance would be a different possible direction to go down, depending where your interests lie and what courses are available.

I think it's a case of whether you're more sporty or arty and how academic you are.
Original post by l'insegnante
Why do you assume everyone does a PGCE?

When a person trains to teach whether it be through PGCE, Undergrad or another organisation, they apply for a specific subject or combination of subjects. Therefore once graduation takes place they are qualified to teach those subjects no matter what any employer thinks as they are trained specifically to teach those subjects. Sure an employer can allow them to teach a subject they have not trained in or they can do top up courses giving them the knowledge to teach other subjects. But if someone graduates with a PGCE in English and Drama, in theory as a teacher they may have the opportunity to teach maths however that doesn't mean they are qualified enough to teach it; hence extra courses for teachers. Plus if the person isn't good at Maths they are not qualified to teach it.

Why do you have subsidiary is inverted commas? If your being sarcy, thats what a second subject is called in the Northern Ireland teacher education system so no need to insinuate sarcasm.


I think it might be different in NIreland because I don't know that many people that do subsidary subjects (though some people might do say English w/ drama). You guys are kind of agreeing with each other but arguing for some reason? I think we are all agreed that the likelyhood is teachers will teach the specific subject they trained in and would only teach other subjects that they had enough experience qualifications in. And just because a person isn't good at maths doesn't mean they can't teach it. However, if they aren't good at maths it (a) probably means they won't end up teaching it and (b) means that they probs won't have it beyond gcse so won't teach it to a particularly advanced level
I'm still so torn about what I want to study :/ I thought I was set on doing a 4 year PE degree with QTS but I know I'll miss English a lot and if I do an English degree I'll miss dancing :frown: I just don't want to make the wrong decision and come out of my degree with no job prospects and not having a clue what I really want to do!
what about training as an english teacher, then doing whatever exams are necessary to work as a dance teacher/examiner outside of a school? dance classes and the like.

i dont mean the last bit to sound dismissive, i just dont know how dance exams work.

that way, you're qualified as both, if that makes sense. you'll have QTS as (the more employable option i think) an english teacher, but you'll also be qualified as a dance teacher. you may be able to convince a school to take you on as a dance teacher based on your QTS, or you could offer to teach english, but run dance as a club.
(edited 9 years ago)
I think Jane's suggestion above is an excellent one.

I am a languages teacher, but still attend dance classes at the weekend. Until 2 years ago, I was still teaching one dance class per week as well. I have friends at dancing in a similar position - they teach dance on Saturdays and have another job (admin stuff) in the week.

You wouldn't be able to fit in a lot of dance teaching alongside a teaching job as it's just too much work. But you could continue with your dancing alongside your degree studies (university dance societies are usually student taught and would be a great experience for you) and see if your dance teacher can put you through the teaching exams with your exam board.

Then you would have the option to go into dance teaching (outside of schools) if you wanted to, or just teach English with dance as extra-curricular.
Look at career prospects for both English and PE/Dance. Teach whatever you would feel most confident about teaching. You are obviously passionate about both, though. Within a school, as a PE teacher you would be teaching all aspects of PE, different sports etc not just dance. But as an English teacher you could also do Dance as an extra curricular activity.

Or you could even become a primary school teacher - this gives you an opportunity to teach every aspect of the national curriculum so you aren't limited to one subject.

If you decide not to become a teacher after your undergraduate degree, think which subject will have the best career options too.

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