Becoming a further education lecturer/tutor?

Question

I'll be graduating in July with a degree in Law and it is my desire to enter teaching. From what I can understand tutors at further education level all have professional experience in their field and have moved on into teaching, completing their teaching qualifications whilst teaching. I'm not interested in working in the legal profession as I enjoy the academic level of law and not the professional aspect to it. Therefore to compete in the field I've decided an LLM (Master of Law) will give me the advantage over those who have professional experience where I have none. However I need to work for a year so I can afford my Masters, which I intend to take in September 2009.

Looking for a job its hard to identify where I would be employable in the education sector given my qualifications.

Could you please advise me as to what jobs would suit me in the education sector for the year i'll be working before taking my Masters?

Answer 1

To become a lecturer in FE you have to complete a PGCE or PGDE.  Both of these can be completed when you are in post (You have to complete within two years of being employed).  There is no reason why you could not start doing some teaching immediately,  Lots of colleges will be looking for graduates to cover part time hours.  You could also consider student support or mentoring - both of these would give you classroom experience, which will be important once you have finished your masters.  Good luck, hope this helps :)

Answer 2

a busy lawyer's office, where you study cases and prepare briefs, should groom you well for the lecturing career ahead! in the briefs you prepare, take pains to do a lot of research in-puts, studying theory related to the cases as well as case law (precedents), and, opinions of jurists and qualified and experienced commentators in the field! and, make your own notes as well: and, find time for journalistic work, if possible getting published! that kind of hard work, purposeful effort, will be rewarded in due course, when you do LLM (you will do very well in the PG course!), and later when you teach (i admire your clear aim, clear thinking: you will certainly do well!)! Good luck! (read John Grisham, with an open mind: also PerryMason, and, Henry Cecil! learn to relax well, too!)