ROUTES INTO TEACHING

ROUTES INTO TEACHING

The teaching profession welcomes both young graduates and mature entrants and there are a wide range of routes into ITT. Whatever route you take to achieve QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) you will be offered all the support you need to achieve the high standards expected of a professional teacher.

Routes into teaching include:

Undergraduate
Postgraduate
Flexible Postgraduate
Employment Based

Undergraduate
To enter undergraduate study you will generally need to have at least two A-Levels or equivalent. Then usually a choice of BA, BSc or BEd degree courses. A BEd usually takes four years and the BA or BSc three. For more details about undergraduate routes, you can contact UCAS on 01242 227 788 or www.ucas.ac.uk, or www.canteach.gov.uk

If you do not have the required entry qualifications for an Undergraduate Course of Study, you may consider an Access Course. You can ask at your local Further Education College about Access Courses to help you apply for University or ITT entry. Wirral Metropolitan College offers Access Courses and A-levels, visit the website at: www.wmc.ac.uk. Check with the college to make sure it fulfils the English and mathematics requirement if you don't already have these GCSEs or equivalents. Visit Birkenhead 6th Form College's website at: www.bsfc.ac.uk.

Postgraduate
It usually takes a year to complete a postgraduate ITT programme and to achieve QTS although you may be able to extend or shorten the length of your training to suit your particular needs and circumstances. Generally you'll spend at least 18 weeks of the year in school if you are pursuing primary school teaching, or 24 weeks for secondary. In either case, you'll be trained by school-based and higher education tutors.

Usually secondary teachers specialise in teaching the subject they have been studying at university, but you can opt to take a short intensive subject support course prior to the start of ITT to acquire the additional subject knowledge you need. Some ITT providers take the view that your degree contains enough subject based knowledge for you to make the switch and take you on this basis. A few offer full-time ITT over two years to give you time to study additional subjects - usually secondary subjects such as design and technology, mathematics, modern foreign languages and science.

SCITT
You can train in a school full-time via the School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) route. This offers full-time school based training through which you acquire skills and knowledge in a classroom environment. The training is run by the schools, sometimes with input from higher education institutions and LEAs. For more information about SCITT in the Wirral area, contact the Recruitment Strategy Manager on 0151 666 4439, the GTTR on 01242 544 788 or the TTA website on www.canteach.gov.uk.

Flexible Postgraduate
Some ITT providers offer flexible postgraduate training programmes, designed to meet your individual needs and circumstances and take into account your previous experience. For example you may need to fit your training around a full time job over a number of years, or have trained abroad or taught in higher education, of an independent school and have teaching experience without holding QTS. In these stages you may skip the earlier stages of training and move straight on to the final assessment phase of the programme. This is also available to trainee teachers to switch from full-time to part-time study or vice-versa, to accommodate lifestyle changes. The flexible Postgraduate Certificate of Education is designed around your needs. Training is organised in modules with programmes starting and finishing at different times of the year. You can train in the evenings or weekends, or via distance learning so that you can attend to your job or family commitments.

Employment Based
The GRTP (Graduate and Registered Teacher Programmes) enable schools to employ people who are not qualified to teach and train through an individual training programme leading to QTS. The benefit for you is that you can qualify as a teacher while you work. The GRTP suit people who want to change to a teaching career and earn a living while they train. There are two types of programme - the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) and the Registered Teacher Programme (RTP).
Further information on GTP.

After you are awarded QTS, you'll be supported by an Induction Tutor and other teaching colleagues for a three term induction period. Here you will consolidate and build on what you have learned in ITT. Continuing Professional Development will be a feature of your teaching life. In teaching there is a lot of learning to look forward to.

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