The straight out of uni job hunt...

[Kernow]

18 minutes ago, davenportram said:

schools direct is a good way in, do you get paid while your doing it?

I've been teaching for three and half school years, four and half if you count my PGCE. I've taught hundreds of kids already, that's hundreds of lives I've had an impact on. It is a noble profession. Its very hard to start with, but worthwhile non the less.

No it's pretty much a 4th year at uni in terms of the same tuition fees. I won't need as much of a loan because I'll be living at home again. I've worked the past 4 summers and I'm pretty good at money so I'm going to buy my very first car 3 years after passing my test and just be prepared to work hard.

I realise it's not a job you should do if you literally just want to earn a bit of money and clock off at 5pm, leaving work at work, but I don't mind that. Are you secondary or primary dav?

[davenportram]

2 minutes ago, Kernow said:

No it's pretty much a 4th year at uni in terms of the same tuition fees. I won't need as much of a loan because I'll be living at home again. I've worked the past 4 summers and I'm pretty good at money so I'm going to buy my very first car 3 years after passing my test and just be prepared to work hard.

I realise it's not a job you should do if you literally just want to earn a bit of money and clock off at 5pm, leaving work at work, but I don't mind that. Are you secondary or primary dav?

secondary. In work at 7am (to beat traffic) leave between 4 - 4:30 and still have work at home (marking and planning) not as much now as when I first started (experience reduces workload). My PGCE was probably the hardest I have ever worked, and a hard time for my family too.

[Duracell]

12 minutes ago, Kernow said:

@Duracell cheers for your comments they were really useful.

As part of my degree we learn about the world of work etc and although degrees aren't 'necessary' for the job, you can only go so far as an employee without one. It doesn't even have to be relevant. For example I know a girl who wants to become a store manager at Tesco and she's studying Criminology. She says you just need "any degree" to go into a management trainee scheme so wanted to do something she found interesting. My criminology degree will have nothing to do with teaching children years reception-6, but it's necessary to have one to get on to the course.

I'm not sure where you live and what the situation would be like but I live in a very rural area. I have 0 experience of working in schools but I emailed & phoned around primary schools in my area to ask about doing some work experience after I finish uni. I'll be done anywhere between a month to six weeks before the end of the school term depending on my exam dates. My old primary school replied within 24 hours saying they'd be delighted to have me. That's one thing that attracts me to teaching. You're going to have an impact on so many people's lives and so many others will impact yours. My old teacher replied knowing exactly who I was, and this was purely by seeing my name. I hadn't spoken to or even seen her since 2006.

Anyway... I applied for a School Direct course with Cornwall SCITT Partnership as its about 90% school based whereas uni courses are obviously more academically based. I have a mate I knew from my first year playing football at uni who was in his 3rd year at the time doing the same course but elsewhere & he loves it. So my offer is conditional based on completing professional skills tests in literacy and numeracy which you have 3 attempts to pass then you have to wait 24 months.

Hopefully that helps a bit. The same mate on the course also spent a year as a Police Officer and he hated it. He told me a lot of things you don't see until you're an actual officer. I'm leaning more towards the teaching thing, so if you're still interested in a few months I should be able to give you a better insight so feel free to ask about anything.

I will definitely still be interested in a few months, so I'll be really interested to hear about it. How did you manage to get a place before you had experience, may I ask?

I'd like to do a School Direct scheme, but I didn't apply this year as I know I can't afford it. I know you can get tuition fees but usually there is still a gap to plug, and with my sister just starting uni, I either have to fund it myself or wait for my parents to be in a position to help, or a bit of both. I'd rather wait and fund it myself, but I don't want to wait forever when I know what I want to do if that makes sense.

I have no doubts you'll be fine in whatever you do, because the fact you're asking for advice is great and you're not just chasing paper. Job satisfaction is so important. So many people chase the big schemes at the big companies, and I'm sure it feels great to post that facebook status telling everyone how happy you are to get onto the PWC Grad Scheme....but will you be so delighted doing that for the rest of your life?*

 

*never had the balls to actually put that on someone's status.

[davenportram]

there is a graduate employment scheme for early years, where you are employed by a school and get a salary while training. Have you looked into that option?

[Kernow]

3 minutes ago, Duracell said:

I will definitely still be interested in a few months, so I'll be really interested to hear about it. How did you manage to get a place before you had experience, may I ask?

I'd like to do a School Direct scheme, but I didn't apply this year as I know I can't afford it. I know you can get tuition fees but usually there is still a gap to plug, and with my sister just starting uni, I either have to fund it myself or wait for my parents to be in a position to help, or a bit of both. I'd rather wait and fund it myself, but I don't want to wait forever when I know what I want to do if that makes sense.

I have no doubts you'll be fine in whatever you do, because the fact you're asking for advice is great and you're not just chasing paper. Job satisfaction is so important. So many people chase the big schemes at the big companies, and I'm sure it feels great to post that facebook status telling everyone how happy you are to get onto the PWC Grad Scheme....but will you be so delighted doing that for the rest of your life?*

 

*never had the balls to actually put that on someone's status.

I'm not entirely sure how I got offered a place without experience to be honest. I did some research before applying and I saw that most PGCE/QTS courses want you to have at least 2 weeks of classroom experience before starting. So I inquired to local primary schools and once I had been offered some experience this summer I applied and included it on my personal statement in the UCAS application. That's why I said I'm not sure what the situation is like where you live. They told me that the SCITT Partnership usually has about 35 students on it a year, and that's for the western half of Cornwall. Maybe had I applied in a denser area with a higher number of applicants I may not have got in. I talked about having experience lined up in the interview and they were fine with it. I actually had been offered a place on the scheme before I made it back home. I think the interview lesson and experience is purely just to see how you handle it and so that you get a very brief idea of if it's the sort of environment for you. 

[Duracell]

30 minutes ago, Kernow said:

I'm not entirely sure how I got offered a place without experience to be honest. I did some research before applying and I saw that most PGCE/QTS courses want you to have at least 2 weeks of classroom experience before starting. So I inquired to local primary schools and once I had been offered some experience this summer I applied and included it on my personal statement in the UCAS application. That's why I said I'm not sure what the situation is like where you live. They told me that the SCITT Partnership usually has about 35 students on it a year, and that's for the western half of Cornwall. Maybe had I applied in a denser area with a higher number of applicants I may not have got in. I talked about having experience lined up in the interview and they were fine with it. I actually had been offered a place on the scheme before I made it back home. I think the interview lesson and experience is purely just to see how you handle it and so that you get a very brief idea of if it's the sort of environment for you. 

I reckon they were impressed with your application then, and the fact you're still at uni while applying is probably why they didn't mind about the experience.

I live in Kettering, and Northampton Uni is quite good for PGCE courses and the country has always encouraged schools to be involved in SCITT Partnerships, so it's quite saturated. But to be honest, I'm pretty bored with living here now and I'd like to move away, probably to the East Midlands. I'd need a lot of experience to get on there.

Hope it works out for you mate. We need good male teachers in that area of the country. 

[davenportram]

2 minutes ago, Duracell said:

I reckon they were impressed with your application then, and the fact you're still at uni while applying is probably why they didn't mind about the experience.

I live in Kettering, and Northampton Uni is quite good for PGCE courses and the country has always encouraged schools to be involved in SCITT Partnerships, so it's quite saturated. But to be honest, I'm pretty bored with living here now and I'd like to move away, probably to the East Midlands. I'd need a lot of experience to get on there.

Hope it works out for you mate. We need good male teachers in that area of the country. 

I had no experience and got on notinghams, and most of my course were straight from uni with minimal experience if any. You will be ahead of the game with your working, in school and abroad experience.

[Kernow]

7 minutes ago, Duracell said:

I reckon they were impressed with your application then, and the fact you're still at uni while applying is probably why they didn't mind about the experience.

I live in Kettering, and Northampton Uni is quite good for PGCE courses and the country has always encouraged schools to be involved in SCITT Partnerships, so it's quite saturated. But to be honest, I'm pretty bored with living here now and I'd like to move away, probably to the East Midlands. I'd need a lot of experience to get on there.

Hope it works out for you mate. We need good male teachers in that area of the country. 

Thanks, you too. Like I said I expect I'll go for this so by the end of 2016 I should have a much better idea of what it entails but then again posters like davenportram have already done it so they could give you more valuable advice. I'm doing my training down here but then obviously you can take it anywhere. The fact that we're male will give us an advantage because primary schools need to provide more male role models to the children. In this day and age a lot of children may not even have a father figure at home. Seeing as up to the age of 11 you're unlikely to have many other social interactions with adults other than at school, it is important that children without a father figure do have someone to 'look up to' if that's the right way to put it.

It sounds like you have the right idea though. If you're doing regular volunteering in schools and have a 2.1 degree then you shouldn't have any problems being accepted on to the course.

[Duracell]

3 minutes ago, Kernow said:

Thanks, you too. Like I said I expect I'll go for this so by the end of 2016 I should have a much better idea of what it entails but then again posters like davenportram have already done it so they could give you more valuable advice. I'm doing my training down here but then obviously you can take it anywhere. The fact that we're male will give us an advantage because primary schools need to provide more male role models to the children. In this day and age a lot of children may not even have a father figure at home. Seeing as up to the age of 11 you're unlikely to have many other social interactions with adults other than at school, it is important that children without a father figure do have someone to 'look up to' if that's the right way to put it.

It sounds like you have the right idea though. If you're doing regular volunteering in schools and have a 2.1 degree then you shouldn't have any problems being accepted on to the course.

Absolutely, and I think that's part of why I want to teach primary over secondary. Half the kids in my reception class still call me Mrs Chandler, because they've never come across the term "Mr" before. Opened my eyes to how little adult male interaction many of them have.

[ketteringram]

20 hours ago, Duracell said:

Absolutely, and I think that's part of why I want to teach primary over secondary. Half the kids in my reception class still call me Mrs Chandler, because they've never come across the term "Mr" before. Opened my eyes to how little adult male interaction many of them have.

Are you already teaching now Duracell? If so, I guess you are probably surrounded by help and experience, but Mrs KR is an experienced primary school teacher. So if you've any questions, let us know! 

[Mostyn6]

20 hours ago, Duracell said:

Absolutely, and I think that's part of why I want to teach primary over secondary. Half the kids in my reception class still call me Mrs Chandler, because they've never come across the term "Mr" before. Opened my eyes to how little adult male interaction many of them have.

they seen your Anne Robinson getup?