how to become a teacher

How tobecome a teacher

How to become a teacher

3

How to becomea teacherTo work as a teacher in England, Wales and Scotland most schools require you tohave Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Oneway of achieving this and become a highlyskilled, reflective teacher is to gain a PGCE(Postgraduate Certificate of Education)which leads to a recommendation for QTS.You can complete a PGCE in Early Years,Primary, Secondary or Further Educationand Training.

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.


5

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 this particular subject / age range?• What personal skills/abilities do you have?• How many days have you spent working in school?• What did you observe during your school experience and what types of work did you undertake in the school?• What did you learn from your school experience, especially in the classroom?• Which age range did you work with?• Have you had any experience outside of the classroom with children or young people?• 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 [email protected] 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.


7

Professional Skills Tests As part of the admissions process, you will be required to sit and pass nationalProfessional Skills Tests in numeracy and literacy. These tests assess the core skills that teachers need to fulfil their professional role in schools, rather than the subjectknowledge needed for teaching. This is to ensure all teachers are competent in numeracyand literacy, regardless of their specialism.

You need to have submitted your application before you can register to sit these tests.Once you have applied to one of our PGCE programmes Edge Hill University offers youthe opportunity to attend as many free support sessions as you need in literacy andnumeracy at the Ormskirk Campus.

• For further information about the literacy support sessions or to book your place, please contact the Access Programmes Team on 01695 657148 or email [email protected].

All candidates who are offered a place will need to have passed both tests before thecourse starts. It is important that you assess when you are ready to sit the tests and don’trush into too many attempts too soon. We recommend, however, that you make at leastone attempt to pass the tests by 30th June 2016. This will help you to assess whetheryou need to attend the support sessions and give you time for extra revision if you don’tpass first time around. Applicants who have passed their tests prior to attending aninterview should bring confirmation of the pass to the interview.

Further support, as well as registration and booking for the Skills Tests is availablethrough the Department of Education website.

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, why you want to teach pupils in your chosen age range, andwhy you have chosen to teach your particular subject.

The format of the interview varies slightly depending on which PGCE programme youhave applied for, but the day may include:

• A presentation/teaching task• An interview• A group task• Written and subject knowledge tasks

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.


9

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 qualified in English, maths or science: this may mean that you do not have a GCSE at a high enough grade in one or more of these subjects and won’t be able to achieve it before the programme begins. It might mean that the qualification you hold in one or more of these subjects is not considered to be the equivalent of a GCSE.

• 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. Youcan find lots of information on our website at edgehill.ac.uk/postgraduate/pgce, orif you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our friendly team,Rachael Farley, Ellie Butcher and Jane Pitt can be contacted at [email protected] on 0808 144 66 44.


11

Edge Hill UniversitySt Helens RoadOrmskirkLancashireL39 4QPUnited Kingdom

edgehill.ac.uk

facebook.com/edgehilluniversity

twitter.com/edgehillt

instagram.com/edgehilluniversityi

f

w

ManchesterLiverpool

Birmingham

London

how to become a teacher

Documents