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How will I earn enough?

I am starting an English Literature degree in September but am now considering becoming a qualified Ballet teacher as dance is my second biggest passion. In order to do this, I need to study a part time course for two years however I'm not sure how I will support myself after this as Ballet teaching jobs where I live are mostly part time. I would also love to teach English, however I am unable to study both a PGCE and the Ballet course at the same time and I don't really want to add/can't afford another year in education. Any advice?

Thank you :smile:
Original post by Amie_dancer
I am starting an English Literature degree in September but am now considering becoming a qualified Ballet teacher as dance is my second biggest passion. In order to do this, I need to study a part time course for two years however I'm not sure how I will support myself after this as Ballet teaching jobs where I live are mostly part time. I would also love to teach English, however I am unable to study both a PGCE and the Ballet course at the same time and I don't really want to add/can't afford another year in education. Any advice?

Thank you :smile:


Just to clarify - are you still looking to study your English degree before undertaking the ballet teacher training? If so, you could teach English as a private tutor without a teaching qualification. A lot of people tutor in their degree subject as a way to generate extra income. If you're not planning on doing the English degree, I think the only way to generate enough income from being a ballet teacher would be to relocate to a place where a full-time ballet teacher is needed. Either that or offer private lessons/start dance clubs. A lot of being a performer or teacher or performance is creating your own work and being pro-active about advertising your services.
Original post by mscaffrey
Just to clarify - are you still looking to study your English degree before undertaking the ballet teacher training? If so, you could teach English as a private tutor without a teaching qualification. A lot of people tutor in their degree subject as a way to generate extra income. If you're not planning on doing the English degree, I think the only way to generate enough income from being a ballet teacher would be to relocate to a place where a full-time ballet teacher is needed. Either that or offer private lessons/start dance clubs. A lot of being a performer or teacher or performance is creating your own work and being pro-active about advertising your services.


Sorry I wasn't very clear! Yes I am still going to study English before training as a Ballet teacher so that I have something to fall back on :smile: Tutoring is something I've not even thought about- that's such a good idea! So if I offered private tutoring for English for enough hours a week and then taught ballet in the evenings, that should allow me to earn enough income to live right? Thank you so much for your help!
Original post by Amie_dancer
Sorry I wasn't very clear! Yes I am still going to study English before training as a Ballet teacher so that I have something to fall back on :smile: Tutoring is something I've not even thought about- that's such a good idea! So if I offered private tutoring for English for enough hours a week and then taught ballet in the evenings, that should allow me to earn enough income to live right? Thank you so much for your help!


I think so! Especially as people are often willing to pay a good amount for private tutoring. There's also the option of doing a course in something like teaching English as a second language. That doesn't involve doing a full postgraduate degree or anything, it's just a short course that teaches you how to present English as a second language to learners and then you could add that to your list of specialisms just to broaden your market of potential students.

And it's no problem - thank you for your thanks!
Original post by Amie_dancer
Sorry I wasn't very clear! Yes I am still going to study English before training as a Ballet teacher so that I have something to fall back on :smile: Tutoring is something I've not even thought about- that's such a good idea! So if I offered private tutoring for English for enough hours a week and then taught ballet in the evenings, that should allow me to earn enough income to live right? Thank you so much for your help!


I think you'd have to be very prepared that that wouldn't be enough to live on, perhaps to get by if you lived with parents and didn't have many outgoing costs but not to rent and pay bills etc... you'd probably have to find an evening/weekend job as you'd pretty much need to be working full time
Original post by doodle_333
I think you'd have to be very prepared that that wouldn't be enough to live on, perhaps to get by if you lived with parents and didn't have many outgoing costs but not to rent and pay bills etc... you'd probably have to find an evening/weekend job as you'd pretty much need to be working full time


Okay, I think I'm going to have to look at my options. Do you have any idea of how much roughly you need to earn to live? I'm 18 and have no idea about any financial stuff! Would it be worth training for a PGCE and then doing the part time ballet teacher course whilst working full time if I can manage my time well?
Original post by Amie_dancer
Okay, I think I'm going to have to look at my options. Do you have any idea of how much roughly you need to earn to live? I'm 18 and have no idea about any financial stuff! Would it be worth training for a PGCE and then doing the part time ballet teacher course whilst working full time if I can manage my time well?


it really depends on your priorities, the PGCE is a really tough year, if you're not planning on teaching will you have the commitment to follow it through? also, I don't know much about it but I know the NQT year is quite a big thing so I don't know if it would be good to do the PGCE and then not teach immediately after at all

erm, depending where you are... like right now I earn 11k, I probably wouldn't want to earn much less than that, I'm sure I could get away with 8-9k maybe if I was good with my money and lived somewhere less nice! but much less wouldn't leave me with any cushion and I live in a very cheap area, think about your day to day living costs at university... but factor in extra for rent, you're probably looking at more like £500 a month in most places, plus £150-200 maybe in bills every month, cheaper if you stayed in a professional share but you could still have a lot of up front cost, fees and so on can run into four figures
Original post by doodle_333
it really depends on your priorities, the PGCE is a really tough year, if you're not planning on teaching will you have the commitment to follow it through? also, I don't know much about it but I know the NQT year is quite a big thing so I don't know if it would be good to do the PGCE and then not teach immediately after at all

erm, depending where you are... like right now I earn 11k, I probably wouldn't want to earn much less than that, I'm sure I could get away with 8-9k maybe if I was good with my money and lived somewhere less nice! but much less wouldn't leave me with any cushion and I live in a very cheap area, think about your day to day living costs at university... but factor in extra for rent, you're probably looking at more like £500 a month in most places, plus £150-200 maybe in bills every month, cheaper if you stayed in a professional share but you could still have a lot of up front cost, fees and so on can run into four figures


Yeah I've heard that both the PGCE and the NQT year are extremely tough...I guess if I don't teach straight away or am only part time then it maybe wouldn't be worth it.

I think I need to research all of this a bit more, luckily I still have time! I live in Cambridge so I realise that living costs are a lot higher than many other places so I'm going to have to consider this carefully. Thank you so much for your help, it's much appreciated :smile:

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