How do you become a teacher?To work as a teacher in state-maintained schools in England and Wales you need to have professional qualified teacher status (QTS). For further information on teaching in other areas of the United Kingdom please see teaching in Scotland and teaching in Northern Ireland. Teachers in independent schools are not required to have QTS, but most do. To be awarded QTS by the General Teaching Council for England (GTC) you must: - Complete a period of training, such as a one-year professional or postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) course, which recommends you for QTS. This is known as initial teacher training (ITT).
- Complete a period of induction, known as the newly qualified teacher (NQT) year. This is your first year of employment as a teacher in a school. You do not have to start this induction period immediately after your ITT, but you would be expected to complete it within five years.
- Pass QTS Skills Tests in literacy, numeracy and information and communications technology (ICT) by the end of your ITT period (if training in England). These tests can be taken at any of the 50 test centres throughout England, and most students complete them while on their PGCE course.
If you want to work as a teacher with the full range of responsibilities in further education (FE) colleges or sixth form colleges, you need Qualified Teacher, Learning and Skills (QTLS) status or QTS. What age range?First, you have to choose which age range to specialise in. The age ranges are: - early years (3-5 years);
- lower primary (5-7 years);
- upper primary (7-11 years);
- secondary (11-16);
- further education (FE) or post-compulsory education (16+ years).
It is also possible to train in middle years (7-14 or 8-14). Although you can apply for several different age ranges, it can be difficult in your personal statement to be convincing about your motivation for more than one age range. Find out which age range you feel most comfortable with by getting some work experience in a school. Once you have achieved QTS, it is legal for you to teach any age range (unless you train in FE), although it can be difficult to move from one age range to another. Most teachers stay within the age ranges they trained to teach. If you want to change age range once you are qualified, you will need to build up a portfolio of evidence to persuade the head teacher you are competent to teach the age range in question.
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