Moving from Primary to PGCE tutor/lecturer/ working for teacher training provider

Hi all,

I am not sure if this is the right place to ask this but I was wondering what qualifications and experience you need to convert to teaching at a University on a PGCE course? I'm particularly interested in working with trainee students. What roles are out there?

Thanks in advance

 

I know several people who have done this. Qualifications and experience seem to be the key. Some had PHds and taught in their subject area or something like academic skills in order to get their foot in the door. Others had experience of tutoring and mentoring college staff before moving on to Uni. I know some who are working closely with their subject areas in local unis and I think they are planning to jump ship at a later date.

 

Experience I'd say is most important, Qualifications also, but come second. Many people who become academics don't have a doctorate at the time, but you may be expected to get one at a later date (depending on the university).

The jobs come up sporadically, so part of it is being in the right place at the right time. With applications down though at the moment there doesn't appear to be as much demand for new staff. Keep an eye on your local universities job boards, and also jobs.ac.uk Also try and make contact with someone in a role you're interested in, and find out a bit more about what is actually involved.

Depending on your areas of expertise there may be other academic roles that may be suitable apart from those on PGCE. There are sometimes some odd/interesting roles unique to a university, so keeping an eye out on what is out there may help.

 

I did this - never regretted it. However, you are trading teaching for a different career. Every ed sec interferes every year and you don’t have much job security. You have to completely retrain to be a HE Lecturer in addition to having two different areas of subject specialism -being a teacher and teacher education.
Advice is that you need to be at M level already and they might support you for the PhD. Most certainly be a mentor. The best advice I can give is to contact the local course leader, explain and ask if you can come and shadow on occasion. That networking will help put you in a good place when an opportunity comes up.
I love my job, but you are wading against the tide of Govians who think no one needs teacher education - be prepared to fight for teacher education.

 

Thanks for the very advice guys.

 

* useful lol