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Could teaching be the career choice for you?

Recently the value of the teaching profession has been recognised as many parents struggled to home school their children through the pandemic lockdown. Teaching can be a rewarding and well-paid career choice and can lead to quite rapid career progression if taking on extra responsibility is not a problem but how easy is it to train as a teacher?

If you decide that it is the career path for you, you will need to have a relevant degree or be working towards one. Some primary school teachers choose a B Ed degree as within the course a higher percentage of time is spent on teaching skills than on subject knowledge. If, however you are considering a career as a secondary teacher a deeper subject knowledge will be required and so many decide on a BA or BSc or even a one-year PGCE degree after obtaining a degree in their particular subject. You will need to have at least GCSEs in English, Mathematics and Science to be able to begin a teacher training course however some universities offer the chance to gain these whilst on the course.

You will be given the opportunity during the course to work in schools on teaching practice. This is a worthwhile way of finding out if you like working in school and to see for yourself the roles and responsibilities that teachers have.