I want to become a primary school teacher, where do i start?

Question

I'm nearly 21 and havn't done much with my life yet. I left school with bad GCSE results and went into full time work at a pub. Fell pregnant and now i stay at home looking after our little one while my boyfriend pays the morgage. I hate the fact im not earning. Now we have our second child on the way and i'm ready to further my career (well when the baby is born). I've wanted to become a primary school teacher for a fews years, but i've not done anything about it. I just dont know where to start, retake my GCSE's i guess? Help please, or an idea of something else i might like to do?

Answer 1

Go to your local FE college and get on an access course.  I loved mine.  Then I did a 4 year BA Hons QTS degree course and voila!

Answer 2

Unless your first degree is a Bachelor of Education (BEd) or BA/BSc with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) or a graduate programme (England and Wales only) leading to QTS is essential to teach in the maintained/local authority sector. In Scotland, the PGCE is known as the PGDE (Professional Graduate Diploma in Education). PGCEs/PGDEs are available at many universities and colleges of higher education. In England and Wales, PGCEs and/or QTS can also be achieved through the School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) programme, which is offered by consortia of schools.

Some graduates gain QTS through the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) in England and Wales. This is an employment-based scheme for which you normally need considerable professional or classroom experience. In most cases, candidates will only be accepted if they have found a school willing to offer them employment.

Entry without a degree is not possible, although in England and Wales, candidates who have completed two years of higher education successfully may train through the Registered Teacher Programme (RTP), an extremely intensive two-year programme combining classroom work and the completion of a degree which confers QTS. There are relatively few places available and trainees are normally already employed by the school in which they intend to train, for example as a teaching assistant. Independent schools can employ teachers without QTS, however in practice this is uncommon.

Although primary teacher training is open to all degree subjects, a degree in a curriculum subject area, e.g. English, science, history, mathematics, increases your chances. Some disciplines, e.g. sociology, media studies, psychology, are scrutinised closely for relevance to the curriculum. In such cases, the applicant's pre-university education may also be taken into account. Ordinary degrees are acceptable but the majority of successful applicants to PGCE courses do have an honours degree. Applications for PGCE courses are made through the GTTR (Graduate Teacher Training Registry) in the autumn before you wish to commence training. Competition for places is high and early application is advised.

Although other equivalent qualifications may be considered, entry requirements include:

In England and Wales: GCSE (A-C) or equivalent in English, maths and science.

Scotland: SCE Higher (A-C) in English. SCE Standard Grade (one or two) in maths.

Satisfactory health and criminal record checks

Answer 3

you need 5 gcse's including maths, english and science . . .

you will need to attend university . . . and achieve a degree (usually 3 years) . . . and to gte into university . . . essentially you will need 3 A levels approxiamtely 2 years but can be done at a time to suit you by getting those home learning courses. . . can be quite expensive

after your degree you will need to a PGCE at certain unis depending on the course for 1 year in your chosen course to teach and then after that you will be a teacher!!

Answer 4

It sounds as though you have a lot of steps to achieve before you can become a teacher. I think you should initially aim to become a teaching assistant so that you can really appreciate what it is like to work in a school. With your education record even this may not be easy. It might only be possible to make a start as a voluntary (ie unpaid) helper but if you really want to be a teacher in the long-term then this might be the way to start.

The first thing you need is to sort out if it actually is the job for you. Then, step-by-step, you have to gain the qualifications. There's no easy way.

Answer 5

you can go to college study a course there and gets some grades that are needed, also you could try a part time teachers assistantto start off with.