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The UK's official graduate careers website
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If you love children and want to inspire young minds, become a Montessori teacher.
Montessori is the world’s largest education movement with 600+ UK Montessori schools and 22,000 worldwide. Study the Early Childhood course part time at Montessori Centre International. Home study also available.
Jobs in education are usually well advertised and there is no real hidden job market.
The main national sources for general vacancies are:
Vacancies in schools and FE colleges are also advertised in the local press and by local authorities (LAs). See the Directory of Local Councils for links.
For university vacancies, see also:
Jobs are advertised all year round, but schools and colleges aim to appoint teaching staff at the beginning of the academic year, so the best time to look for vacancies is April to August.
Find out more about job application advice.
To teach in a state school in England and Wales or to gain a place on a postgraduate teacher training course, you must have a degree and there are additional specific educational requirements. (Requirements for Scotland and Northern Ireland are similar.) Experience of working with children, good communication skills, planning skills, professionalism and organisational skills are essential. It is important to have enthusiasm for learners and for your subject. Full details of entry requirements are available from teaching and education and the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA)
For FE lecturing, a degree is not essential (although most new staff have one), but you must have relevant experience and produce evidence of teaching skills.
For HE lecturing, a postgraduate degree is usually essential and a PhD is increasingly required, together with relevant experience for vocational/professional courses.
Requirements for non-teaching/lecturing posts vary widely but are broadly in line with those for similar jobs in other sectors. It may be useful to have experience of working with students or children, as appropriate to the post, as well as experience in your specific field of work.
Work experience, either voluntary or paid, is crucial for teaching posts in schools, and the more experience you have, the better. Work experience in schools is ideal, and opportunities range from a week's work-shadowing to working as a teaching assistant. Government schemes give access to classroom experience. Details are available from the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA). Working in summer camps or helping to run sports activities for children also provides beneficial experience. Try to get experience of different age groups to help you decide which age group you want to work with.
Work experience that shows you have the qualities and skills required for teaching is also very desirable for FE and HE lecturing, as well as professional experience for particular subjects, and research skills and experience for university posts.
For graduates, the normal route into teaching in schools is a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), unless you have a BEd or BA that is recognised as an initial teacher training course. There are also school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) schemes and graduate or registered teacher programmes (GTP and RTP) for staff employed by schools as unqualified teachers. Scotland and Northern Ireland have slightly different training systems. Details are available from:
It is now mandatory in England and Wales for FE lecturers to gain Qualified Teacher Learning & Skills (QTLS) status through full-time or part-time in-service study. There is a similar requirement in Scotland.
For HE lecturers, a relevant postgraduate degree is essential. Training in teaching is not usually required before entry, although many HEIs provide in-service training, which is often compulsory.
For non-teaching posts, postgraduate qualifications and/or professional training may be essential or advantageous, depending on the role.
Teachers and lecturers are encouraged and often obliged to take part in continuing professional development (CPD).
Teachers may progress into specialist curriculum or pastoral roles, such as coordinating subject or special needs provision, or into leadership roles with management responsibility, such as head of department, head of year, deputy head or head teacher.
Outside the classroom, there are managerial positions in local education authorities, educational consultancy and The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted), quality inspections.
Similar opportunities for progression exist in FE and HE, including promotion to senior lecturer or professor, and leadership and management roles, as well as subject specialisation and research.
In non-teaching roles, progression generally follows a similar pattern to that in other sectors.
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