Teacher Training Help! What do I go for???

I’ve been thinking about doing teacher training for a while now and have seriously started looking into routes to go down. I graduated 3 years ago and have been in employment since in a small tech company. When I started looking I thought that the salaried school direct route would be my best and only option because I already have a mortgage and bills which need to be paid. When I spoke with Get Into Teaching they said this should be ok and I’d still be able to go down the salaried route. However, when I got my teacher advisor appointed he said it’s very unlikely that I could get into a salaried route because I have no previous teaching experience (such as Teaching Assistants) which is what they’re really aimed for and that its a bit of false advertisement.

I then started to see what options I had and I’m SO CONFUSED!

The ONLY way I could do teacher training and afford my car, mortgage, bills etc is through working part time. I’ve read so much about PGCE taking 80 hours of the week so no chance of doing part time work as this was my next option as I wanted something where I could ease in but don’t want to suffocate my self with work and then more work.

The next option was unsalaried school direct with QTS ONLY without any PGCE as I thought this could potentially be less work but is that true?? Would I be able to do QTS only and still have a part time job?? Are there ANY other options out there where I can support myself financially and get teaching qualification (the student loan, my savings and reducing spend will not cover me for the whole course so I need to work...)

I heard about Teach First and after reading about them... might not be good for me as I need to ease my way in.

One more thing... how the hell do I get classroom experience during a pandemic!! I have non so far as schools have been closed and no visitors allowed since lock down began in March and I need this to strength my application for teacher training.

Reply 1

MadMathsMum

If you are serious about teaching perhaps the best way in a this point would be to secure a role as a TA at a school. This will be a paid role (albeit on lower salary) and should put you in an improved position to apply for Schools Direct place for Autumn 2021. Some growing schools (ie new academies/ free schools) that are getting a new year group each year, may actively seek to plan for their future new teachers in this way - my school did!
This will also give you an insight into teaching and an opportunity to see if you like working in a school - before you invest in teacher training!
You can learn a huge amount being a TA - and mostly without full on class teacher responsibility.

Reply 2

Gab0611

Original post by MadMathsMum

Thank you for the advise - I have looked at TA roles in the area and they are mainly only paid on term time and the salary they get won’t cover my expenses :frown:

Reply 3

idril93

What is the subject you want to teach? There are bursaries for PGCE interns and, until 2020 (2021 bursaries haven't been announced yet), you could get up to 26k-28k if you want to be a science teacher.

Reply 4

Moana92

Original post by Gab0611

Thank you for the advise - I have looked at TA roles in the area and they are mainly only paid on term time and the salary they get won’t cover my expenses :frown:

As a TA you'd only be there till 4pm at the latest, so you could get an evening and weekend job with it? I know that it sounds like a lot, but it would be necessary just to cover expenses for this year to help you get to the next stage

Reply 5

Moana92

Also, becuase you have a house could you rent a room out for income?

Reply 6

Gab0611

Original post by idril93

I’m keen to teach Primary (general) so no bursary there. I have recently worked out my finances and will be going down the PGCE route and live from my savings and will see if I can get a part time job before the course starts to cover anything else off as I know how intense the course will be!