How tobecome a furthereducationteacher

How to become a further education teacher

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How to becomea furthereducationteacherTo work as a further education teacheryou need to demonstrate that you can meetthe Professional Standards for Teachersand Trainers in Education and Training.One way of achieving this is to successfullycomplete a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificateof Education) programme which leads toeligibility for Qualified Teacher Learningand Skills status.

Applications for all PGCE courses must bemade through UCAS Teacher Training(UTT) www.ucas.com.All of our PGCEs are available on a one-year full-time basis but some can alsobe studied flexibly, meaning we can tailor aprogramme to meet your individual needsand take any existing knowledge andexperience into consideration.

How and when to apply The UCAS Teacher Training (UTT) system is expected to open on October 27th 2015 for training courses starting in 2016, and applications can be made right up to thebeginning of the next academic year if an institution still has places. However, manyprogrammes do fill up quickly, so an early application is advisable.

The application system has two processes; Apply 1 and Apply 2.

Apply 1: You can make up to three choices, all submitted at the same time. Your choices aresimultaneously deliberated by your chosen training providers. If successful, you will beinvited to attend an interview or selection day and training providers must decide onyour application within 40 working days.

When you have all of your offers, you have ten working days to respond and accept one offer.

Apply 2: This begins early January, and is for those individuals who haven’t received an offerfrom Apply 1. These are made one at a time, for any route, and you can keep applyinguntil you are offered a place.

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Personal Statement Applications made through UTT will require you to submit:

• A personal statement• Details of your qualifications• Details of your work experience• Referee/s

One of the most important elements of the application is the Personal Statement. Insome respects it is also one of the most difficult to complete as this is where we get aninsight into you, your personality, skills, strengths and suitability for the profession. You only have limited space for your Personal Statement (approximately 48 lines or4000 characters) so it is important that you mention all the key information necessaryto make a good first impression. It’s a good idea to write your Personal Statement in aword processor first, then copy and paste it into your application.

You should open your statement with an effective sentence and end with a briefparagraph as summary. Ensure your grammar and punctuation is correct and redraftyour statement until you’re happy with it. You should also try to answer the followingquestions, particularly those relating to school experience:

• Why do you want to teach?• Why have you chosen this particular course?• Why do you want to teach learners in the further education sector?• What courses in the sector do you see yourself teaching on? • What personal skills/abilities do you have?• Have you spent any time visiting an education setting such as an FE College, 6th Form College or school?• What did you observe during your visit? What have you learnt from this?• Have you had any experience outside of the classroom with children, young people or adults?• Do you have any relevant work history you could include?• Do you have any hobbies or interests you could emphasise?• Do you have a specific career direction in mind?

Show your Personal Statement to your family and friends and be prepared for constructivecriticism. Remember that you are applying for highly competitive programmes of studyso don’t be afraid to sell yourself.

ReferencesYou will need to provide the name and contact details for two referees. If you’re still atuniversity or got your degree within the past five years, one reference must be fromsomeone at your university who can comment on your academic ability and potential. (If you left university more than five years ago, you can choose two referees who knowyou from work, or who can comment on how suitable you are for teaching). The otherreference can be from someone who knows you from work, or who can comment onyour character and your potential as a teacher. If you’re providing a reference from aschool where you have been employed or have done classroom observation, it shouldcome from the Head Teacher. You mustn’t use family members, friends, partners or ex-partners as referees.

We recommend that you ask your chosen referees in advance of submitting yourapplication so that they know to look out for the reference request email. You couldencourage them to add UTTenquiries@ucas.com to their contacts list to ensure that they receive it.

Make sure they understand the deadlines; you will not be able to submit yourapplication until both references are complete.

Once you have sent off your application you will receive an email from UCAS which willcontain your Personal ID and username for the online system ‘Track’, where you canfollow the progress of your application.

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Professional Skills Tests To train as a further education teacher you are not required to sit the nationalProfessional Skills Tests in numeracy and literacy.

These are part of the admissions process for Early Years, Primary and Secondary teacher training. If you were applying for both a PGCE in Secondary Education as wellas a PGCE in Further Education training, you would be required to sit and pass thesetests for the Secondary route.

Interviews Before you can be offered a place on a PGCE programme at Edge Hill University, youwill need to attend an interview. This is your opportunity to shine and show us that youhave the potential to be an outstanding teacher. You need to be prepared to explain whyyou want to be a teacher and why you want to teach in this sector.

The format of the interview will include:

• A presentation outlining how you would deliver a lesson in your subject specialism• A group task• A written reflective task• An interview

If your application is successful and you are invited to interview, you will receive furtherdetails with specific information about what your interview day will include.

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Decisions and RepliesYou will need to keep checking Track on the UCAS site for the outcome of yourapplication. There are several possible outcomes which are outlined below:

• Unconditional offer: you’ve got a firm offer of a place on this programme. You’ll only get this if you have met at least all the academic requirements in full. You may still have to meet some non-academic requirements, like a Disclosure and Barring check.

• Conditional offer: you have an offer of a place on this programme, as long as you meet some conditions. You’ll be told what these conditions are. You may be waiting for the results of your degree or of the professional skills tests. If you meet the conditions of your offer, your place will be confirmed with that training provider.

• Withdraw: if you don’t attend the interview or don’t reply to correspondence, then we will withdraw your application. This means your application won’t be considered further. If you want to be considered again, you’d have to make a fresh application in Apply 2.

• Reject: your application has been unsuccessful.

• Not considered: programme full: this is unlikely to happen since we have to consider applications we receive when our programme is open and you can only apply when it is. However, sometimes there might be a small time gap between you sending your application and it being sent to us via UCAS. It’s possible that a programme could close in that time.

What happens next?You must reply to your offer in UCAS Track. Any verbal or email communication willnot be considered a formal decision. Once you have had a decision from all the trainingproviders you have applied to, you will have 10 working days to respond via Track. Youcan however accept an offer before you’ve heard from all your choices. To do this, youmust withdraw from any providers who have not given a decision. The option to replywill then become available.

If you are offered a place on one of our programmes and you accept the offer, you willthen be sent further information regarding your course.

We appreciate that the UCAS application and interview process can seem daunting,however if you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to contact one of ourfriendly team on pgce@edgehill.ac.uk or 0808 144 66 44.

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