Primary education PGCE

I plan on doing a primary education PGCE after completing an undergraducate nursing course (BSc). Will nursing be acceptable since it's quite vocational? Thank you

I plan on doing a primary education PGCE after completing an undergraducate nursing course (BSc). Will nursing be acceptable since it's quite vocational? Thank you

Why do you want to do a nursing degree if you want to be a teacher? The nursing degree is incredibly intensive with shift work, long hours and physical and emotional stress. I would never recommend it to anyone who does not fully intend to work as a nurse. It is also, as you seem to be aware, not a great foundation for teaching. Could you explain your thought process with this?

Hi there

Adviser Rosy here from the National Careers Service, it’s great that you are thinking about going into Primary Teaching!

In many cases you may need to have studied a curriculum subject to degree level, however some universities and teaching partnerships may accept the experience from your degree coupled with strong A-Levels in a curriculum subject.

You can find out more about this from the get into teaching website and they also have a contact us section to ask your questions more directly:
https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/

You could also create the strongest possible application by getting tips from our expert, friendly advisers. They could offer information about structuring your personal statement to ensure you can write about your experience and qualifications in the most positive way possible. You can call, email, text or webchat form this website:
https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/contact-us/home

Our service is open now until 10pm but normal working hours are every day 8am to 10pm.

I hope this helps and good luck!

Rosy

I am unsure as to what I want to do in the future so I figured it would keep more options open if I did a degree and followed it up with a PGCE, so that I could have 2 potential career paths I could go down. From your description of nursing I suppose it definitely isn't for me lol. Instead of nursing I'm also considering midwifery, other healthcare/human biology degrees, and Japanese. Would that be better?

Unfortunately it's hard to keep your options open. I think maybe you need to take some time out to work out what it is you want from your career. All healthcare degrees require work experience and/or volunteering so it would be a good idea to try and get some to try and work out what you like. Japanese is, of course, totally different.

So if I were to do BA Japanese would that be more appropriate for a PGCE? Also is there a PGCE that'll allow me to teach in both secondary and primary, or is it best to become a teacher via an undergraduate course if I want to be able to do both?

Hi @YasudaSayo.

It would be extremely difficult to aim to teach from primary to secondary. You may wish to consider looking in to this in greater detail. Teaching can vary from school to school and therefore it would make sense for you to focus on either Primary or Secondary. Secondary teaching is more subject focused and you would be teaching what would be considered to be your specialism. Primary teaching would be teaching the foundations and getting students ready to learn and develop in studies.

I would suggest taking your time and researching, understanding what you want to do. I would also suggest getting some work experience in the classroom, this will allow you to see what route you want to take in to teaching. I would also suggest attending open days, this will allow you to speak to current students to see what they think of teaching courses, and may also help with your decision of the route you wish to take.

We also have some excellent case study examples here at Derby. Shelly Coupland, Sophie Deacon and Kim Franklin would be good case studies for you to read to see what there thoughts and feelings are about teaching.

Try to take your time and remember to complete your research.

If you have any questions, let us know and we will try to answer them.

Callum