Becoming a teacher with no degree

ViolaLass

Who?_me? wrote: »

In the current jobs market for teaching, every little piece of paper will count towards getting you an interview. Interviewers are looking for the slightest reason to remove someone from the 100s that will apply for one job. In the past, may be not vital or even a requirement, but if a history teacher wants a job, they need to have a history degree. Infact, the OU will want a transcript of your degree cert to show you have over 50% of your degree in the subject you want to teach.

You have a fair point. I was thinking about it more from an 'ability to teach' point of view, rather than in terms of getting the job. The previous poster had opined that one couldn't teach secondary properly without a degree in the same subject.

That said I'm in a shortage subject - 5 applied for my job, 2 were interviewed (including me) and I won against someone with a 1st in maths.

thegirlintheattic

I think some people are confusing degrees and QTS on here. The government has, since 2012, made QTS optional in ALL schools.

For the academic subjects I'd think it would be very hard for someone not educated in degree level in their subject to teach A Level or some GCSEs. Not impossible but hard.

alyth

this is a very interesting thread. I went to uni aged 40 specifically to get my degree so I could teach abroad - in China. One exam to go and I (hopefully) will be there. I never considered the fact that I could teach in Britain, as my degree is history. However, I would hope that if I were at school then the teacher teaching had a degree in that subject. Also however, I did my access course (to gain highers, similar to A levels in England) before I went to uni, and thinking back, I could have been taught by someone without a degree because all the lecturer had to do was follow the curriculum, which was laid out for him, and I guess google/wiki for any extra information. One of my first year history classes (at uni) was taken entirely from wiki, down to the last word!

claire16c

alyth wrote: »

this is a very interesting thread. I went to uni aged 40 specifically to get my degree so I could teach abroad - in China. One exam to go and I (hopefully) will be there. I never considered the fact that I could teach in Britain, as my degree is history. However, I would hope that if I were at school then the teacher teaching had a degree in that subject. Also however, I did my access course (to gain highers, similar to A levels in England) before I went to uni, and thinking back, I could have been taught by someone without a degree because all the lecturer had to do was follow the curriculum, which was laid out for him, and I guess google/wiki for any extra information. One of my first year history classes (at uni) was taken entirely from wiki, down to the last word!

That's terrible! Very poor teaching standards. We were always told at uni Wikipedia quotes were not allowed. And that was for our work not the lecturer's!

alyth

claire16c wrote: »

That's terrible! Very poor teaching standards. We were always told at uni Wikipedia quotes were not allowed. And that was for our work not the lecturer's!

quite - I was, as you do, googling the essay question in the vain hope that something that would come up - and the module was a very obscure one on miliary history, not just Bismark or Thirty Years War. I occasionally use Wiki as a starting ground to understand the basics of something. As I say this was a first year specialised module... so the educational system, and having spent four years in it as 40 year old student is not what it's cracked up to be. Unfortunately if you are 18 then you are less cyncical!

elisebutt65

claire16c wrote: »

That's terrible! Very poor teaching standards. We were always told at uni Wikipedia quotes were not allowed. And that was for our work not the lecturer's!

When I was teaching degree level, I sometimes used to add made up stuff to Wiki, to demonstrate to the students who then used it as real research in their assignments. Wicked me!