Retraining as a teacher...how does this work

Deals_2

with a business and language qualification and loads of self employed experience. i have heard that you can also get £6,000 to retrain and teachers get a great pension scheme. any ideas on how to get started .thanks

Conor_3

Firstly, I'd like to point out that you'll be working a 60 hour week once you start teaching, with 25+ of that being unpaid at home and the only time you get to actually have a holiday as long as the kids is in summer because half terms are spent catching up with marking and preparing for the following week. My brother and sister in law are both teachers in their second year and I earn more driving lorries!!! The only good thing about it is the "I'm all right Jack" public sector pension if you survive that long. The thing is that bureaucracy, constant meddling, political correctness and the attitude of the kids puts a lot of teachers off. My brother, for example, has just been told that next year he's got to implement a brand new course at his school as he has a law degree - GCSE Law - and he's been given a whopping £1000 to provide all the resources, including text books, for 45 pupils for the whole year. Welcome to UK education.

If you insist on going down this route, the following site has all the resources you need:
http://www.tda.gov.uk/Recruit.aspx

terryw

Conor wrote: »

Firstly, I'd like to point out that you'll be working a 60 hour week once you start teaching, with 25+ of that being unpaid at home and the only time you get to actually have a holiday as long as the kids is in summer because half terms are spent catching up with marking and preparing for the following week. My brother and sister in law are both teachers in their second year and I earn more driving lorries!!! The only good thing about it is the "I'm all right Jack" public sector pension if you survive that long. The thing is that bureaucracy, constant meddling, political correctness and the attitude of the kids puts a lot of teachers off. My brother, for example, has just been told that next year he's got to implement a brand new course at his school as he has a law degree - GCSE Law - and he's been given a whopping £1000 to provide all the resources, including text books, for 45 pupils for the whole year. Welcome to UK education.

If you insist on going down this route, the following site has all the resources you need:
http://www.tda.gov.uk/Recruit.aspx

Some good advice from Connor above.

I would seriously suggest that you try to do some voluntary work at a school or a youth group before going down the training route. You may quickly find that it is not for you, but in any case this experience will help when applying for jobs or courses.

bw

terryw

duchy

I agree with the "try it out" idea above.
I've worked in high schools and you really do need a vocation to want to teach (not saying you don't have-you just didn't mention it) as teaching is both physically and mentally exhausting at times.
Personally I love it-but can't stand the politics involved.
Don't do it just for the pension or the holidays-it honestly isn't worth it and you'd be miserable.

PinkGrapefruit_2

http://www.tda.gov.uk/Recruit.aspx?ilewa=10000001&WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=Google

There will probably be places still for September, especially if you are interested in secondary, I think the busary is £6000 tax free but I think its £9000 if you do something such as secondary science or maths where they are short of teachers. You will be expected to have some (recent) experience of schools so if you havent try and get the opportunity to volunteer for a week at a local school which should be enough, but people do get turned down for not having had any experience.

dmg24

Deals wrote: »

with a business and language qualification and loads of self employed experience. i have heard that you can also get £6,000 to retrain and teachers get a great pension scheme. any ideas on how to get started .thanks

What level are your qualifications at?

Oldernotwiser

Deals wrote: »

with a business and language qualification and loads of self employed experience. i have heard that you can also get £6,000 to retrain and teachers get a great pension scheme. any ideas on how to get started .thanks

The main point here is whether or not your qualification is a degree. Teaching is an all graduate profession and you can't really consider the retraining aspect of this unless you already have a first degree. In addition to this you'll need GCSE (or equivalent) in English and Maths with an additional Science GCSE for primary teaching. If you could let us know more about your qualifications as well as the age and subject you're thinking of teaching, we'd be able to advise you better.

Conor_3

duchy wrote: »

Personally I love it-but can't stand the politics involved.
.

My Uncle is a music teacher and has been for 30 years. He's just been branded as a trouble maker at his school because when the management informed him they were introducing "Movement to Music", which is apparently the latest trendy thing they've come up with, he didn't jump up and down like those loons running one of those motivational groups going on about how good it was but instead pointed out that it was exactly the same thing they were teaching 20 years ago but with a different name.

It would appear a lot of the new ideas they're coming up with are actually the way many of the people "inventing" them were taught when they were at school but are too stupid to realise it and apparently don't like being told that.

PoppyHoppy

Hi, I've just retrained as an Adult Literacy teacher. I had worked in Homelessness for about 8 years previous and had BA hons in Social Science. My experience as a whole was great. I got a £6k bursary and full student loans...was still a pinch with a mortgage to pay. I got some really good advice from the LearnDirect Helpline. They put me through to a recently qualified teacher who could share her experience with me as well as give me lots of info. Best of luck whatever you decide...

wisbech_lad

A sister is just finishing up retraining. She had relevant degree, and had been working part time as a teaching support assistant (not sure if that is the right term, but basically acting as support to difficult and special needs kids at school)

She's only been able to find 2 1/2 days a week work, now she has graduated - so she'll actually have less cash than when training! Not really the issue though, she wants to teach because she enjoys it, cash is less an issue (mortgage paid off, husband in good employment)

Note that teacher shortages are very area and subject specific. Even though she's a science teacher, she's in an area of the country where teacher's salaries go further than elsewhere, so schools in the area are not short.

But do it because you want to do it, and know your life experience will make you a better teacher than a fresh graduate. Do it for the money, and doubt you will last the course (or even get accepted) It took my sister two years to get admitted...

dr_who_3

The TES has a great forum for 'prospective student teachers' which has a lot of advice regarding applying for courses, merits of different training routes, funding etc. There is also one for 'student teachers' which may give you an insight into the training process etc.
I really would recommend getting plenty of experience with different age groups before you apply so you are sure about the type of teacher you want to be.
Good luck if you do decide to do it