If I was to do the post compulsory PGCE, as opposed to the secondary PGCE How would it effect my job prospects

Question

If I was to do the post compulsory PGCE, as opposed to the secondary PGCE How would it effect my job prospects
I found out a couple of days ago that I failed to gain entry in to Edge Hill, I have also applied to St. Martin's at Lancaster, but as Imy profile hasn't changed much since my interview at Edge Hill Idon't hold out much hope.
Despite this, yesterday I found out that they run a post-compulsaory PGCE at my local college, if I decide to take this route instead, how would it effect my job prospects in the future? Is it harder to get into colleges teaching history? How hard would it be to get into teaching at secondary level and woud I need to try and enroll on to the PGCE secondary after completing the post compulsory?

Answer 1

I also decided to teacher in Further Education rather than primary or secondary Education and have found the experience very rewarding so far! Your question covers a few issues, so I shall break it down into the following steps:

1. The PGCE (post-compulsory) currently allows you to teach ANY subject to anyone over 14 as long as they are in a college NOT a school because it currently doesn't lead to qualified teaching status (QTS) BUT...

2. If you were teaching 6th form (year 12 and 13) students many schools would take you on anyway. You do NOT need to take a secondary PGCE after a post-compulsory one BUT if you apply for a permanent position with a secondary school, they will ask you to get QTS during your 1st year working with them. You should also be aware that because you don't have QTS, you may be paid as an unqualified lecturer if you work in a secondary school unless you are prepared to get QTS.

3. Your job prospects depend on where you live and where you want to work! If you want to teach History in a college in London, for example your prospects are good, as History like Psychology is a fairly popular subject, so your job prospects are good. For secondary school prospects, see point 2. You should also note that secondary school teachers are paid more than FE teachers but if like myself you feel uncomfortable with the idea of disciplining younger students, the FE environment is better, even if the rate of pay is lower!

3. If you have failed to get into Edge Hill and doubt your chances of getting into other teacher training providers, you might want to consider the option of doing the PGCE at your local college, if the provider is approved by the institute for learning (formerly known as FENTO-further Education Network of National Training Organisations). This means that your teacher training provider will teach you how to teach at the standards approved by the Dfes. The Dfes has also just introduced guidelines for FE teaching. Very soon, we'll also have to achieve QTLS (equivalent to QTS) and register with the institute for learning. Check this out before enrolling!

4. Personally, I think that enrolling for a PGCE post-compulsory is easier than enrolling for a secondary PGCE, because for a post-compulsory course, you just pick out the college you want to study at from the list of approved providers, whereas with a secondary PGCE, you have to apply through the Graduate Teacher Training Registary (GTTR). However, secondary school teachers who disagree can feel free to correct me on this point.

I hope that this information helps! For further details about what I've said, check out the following websites:

http://www.tda.gov.uk/

The teacher training registry for details about teaching in schools.

www.teachernet.gov.uk

Website containing useful information for all teachers

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/furthereducation/

Details about the latest requirements for teaching in FE

http://www.lifelonglearninguk.org/currentactivity/itt/itt_faqs.html

Further information about teaching in FE on the lifelong learning UK website (formerly FENTO)

Answer 2

as long as you have a level, you will be waiting to bypass immediately directly to the %. I already had a FAETC so purely had to do one 3 hundred and sixty 5 days of the %.. This have been given me a job as an FE lecturer. earnings is from 24 to 38K. in case you have correct Masters you would be in the direction of the right end. The %. itself is merely somewhat cake!