Becoming a teacher

[MaskedKitteh]

I've always wanted to be a teacher.

I have 13 GCSEs and I'm 20 years old, I have no a levels as I left college to have my first son.

How would I go about becoming a teacher from here. Is there anyway to skip the a levels with an access course or anything? Or would I need to take them? How many a levels would I need to be accepted onto a teacher training course?

 

[daneuse27]

Where are you from? The steps and requirements all over are similar, but also region-specific.

 

[MaskedKitteh]

London, England

 

[Dimples81]

As far as I know u would need a levels or equivalent to become teacher, ie some sort of level 3 qualification which u could do in childcare or similar and then progress onto a teacher training degree. Or alternatively do a teaching assistant training course, complete and seek employment in a school and seek teacher training that way gradually. Either way u will probably need a level 3 qualification followed by a degree or equivalent .

 

[mummy2o]

The best way for you to become a teacher would be doing an access course in college for a year, then get your degree. If you want to do primary teaching then get the degree in primary teaching, if its secondary you then need to get your degree in your choice of teaching. Then do a follow on year to get your teaching status. This would probably be the quickest way to be a teaching but keep in mind all of this will take 4-5 years

 

[daneuse27]

I don't know how it works in the UK with becoming a teacher, but one thing I would recommend is as someone else said is looking into a) how long it would take and b) what kind of demand there is for teachers in the UK and in what discipline(s). I can tell you that in Canada, there are WAY too many teachers. I have several friends with teaching degrees who are either jobless or working in a field other than teaching because there was hardly any vacancy. Its too bad because teaching was also something I very much wanted to go into, but I'm very skeptical now because of the situation. The career adviser at the university I graduated from told me that they have enough teachers in our province right now to fill a 10-year gap. That means that even if I went for my teaching diploma now, it could be years before I actually work as a teacher and meanwhile I would only build up more student loans and be broke in the meantime. Just give that stuff a thought before jumping into anything. Good luck

 

[mummy2o]

It depends in field over here. Secondary school maths and science, chemistry and physics are very in demand pretty much all over the world from what I last looked into. But in the UK they are nearly always in demand regardless of type. Primary less so than secondary

 

[daneuse27]

Yeah, its the same over here. You have a better shot if you're teaching math, science or French. You have less chance if you're going in for primary.

 

[nugget80]

At 21 you can do an access course for a year then can do a Bed in primary which is 3 yrs. Demand differs by area but where I am primary school are in more demand than secondary at the moment as many schools are expanding...

 

[Pearls18]

Bare in mind you will need to do a degree and then PGCE to qualify to become a teacher it may be best to do A levels, it will encourage better academic practice and with the competitive world of teaching as it is at the moment I think you will find A levels are more stand out and will better prepare for the academic demands of doing a degree and a postgraduate qualification, others my disagree with me but this has always been my opinion. It will depend on what level of education you choose, but be warned it is very demanding and very competitive.

 

[nugget80]

It is competitive but i got place to do pgce and i don't have a levels. I studied with OU so i would say that won't count against you? If you wanted to teach primary you can do an undergrad degree which Will give qualified teacher status at the end. as said above competition is high for anyteaching course and experience is valuable so get as much as you can. Experience is more than a levels i would say...

 

[Pearls18]

I just mean in terms of doing an academic degree, especially if you are going to go into secondary so not do a teaching degree but history or whatever, but this is purely my opinion no facts to base it whatsoever I've just always thought A levels would better prepare someone for a degree, if it's something more vocational like a straight teaching degree then no I wouldn't think that

 

[PandaPrincess]

Depends on the type of teaching you want to babe. I'm a college lecturer, I started training at 19 and qualified at 21 (I'm now 24). Primary or high school teaching you will need a degree in the subject you wish to teach, you need a relevant level 3 qual to do this, then you will need to complete a PGCE, which is the teaching qualification as well as log over X hours teaching ( not sure on the actual amount) in an unpaid placement. To become a college lecturer you need at least a level 3 qual in what you wish to teach, my area is public services and I LOVE it. You then complete PTLLS, CTLLS and finally DTLLS (you do all of this in one two year course). You need to log 750 hours of teaching experience in the classroom. This can be either voluntary or paid. You can then do an additional qualification called QTS in your own time to become further qualified to teach in high schools, however DTLLS allows you teach from age 14 anyway. If you want any help or advice just PM me. Xx