Graduate Prospects - 11 June, 2008 - (Page 15)

www.prospects.ac.uk Issue 69 · 11 June 2008 · Fortnightly PROSPECTS GRADUATE 15 POSTGRAD BLOGGER ‘It was far from the detailed examination of my soul that I had suspected’ GRAHAM FOSTER ASSESSES HIS ASSESSMENT WHERE’S TEACHER? SHOVING TO GET BACK INTO SCHOOL CLASSROOMS, PARTICULARLY IN THE ‘SHORTAGE SUBJECTS’. NOT SO FAST BACK TO SCHOOL GRADUATES ARE NO LONGER PUSHING AND Despite a starting salary of over £20,000 and access to all the confiscated whoopee cushions you could wish for, teaching is not the popular option it was a couple of years ago. Not only are certain subject areas looking especially depleted, but overall applications to postgraduate courses in teaching are down across Britain. The drop is 9% on last year in England including a 30% drop for physics and 16% for IT, reports Education Data Services. So, what’s wrong with teaching all of a sudden? ‘My personal feeling is that the main issue is that you have to look at the representation of the profession in the media,’ says Rob Fells, a maths teacher from Bristol who completed his PGCE four years ago. ‘If you watch programmes like Teachers you would expect the kids you’re teaching to be a real handful and for there to be serious incidents on a regular basis. That’s got to put people off. ‘I’m not saying that you don’t get problems, but when I talk to friends who are teachers in a range of schools you find that problems are few and far between and most of them say how much they love the job.’ OFF THE SUBJECT Regardless of whether your subject is in shortage, the possible training routes are the same. In England there is a choice between learning on the job on the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) or taking a PGCE course based at a university. In Scotland only the university course (this time called the PGDE) is available. There are some part-time and distance learning options for courses. Often the first decision for aspiring teachers is whether you want to teach at a primary or secondary level. At primary level you train to teach all national curriculum subjects. Primary teaching remains plentifully supplied with applicants but the intense competition of recent years seems to be easing off. It’s at secondary level (from 11 years onwards) that you need to select one or more subjects to specialise in and where shortages are on the agenda. According to the Training and Development Agency for Schools in England there are nine subjects that are currently being targeted as shortage areas. They are RE, Music, Modern Languages, Design and Technology, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Applied ICT, Applied Science, Science and Maths. SCOTTISH LANGUAGE In Scotland where postgraduate applications have fallen faster than in England, ‘shortage’ is not in the official vocabulary – instead there are priority subjects covering virtually the whole secondary curriculum except History and Biology. In keeping with the more laid-back attitude to the issue in Scotland, students of the priority subjects will get their fees paid but not enjoy the raft of incentives available elsewhere on the British mainland to combat shortages. For instance, English graduates in a shortage subject receive a ‘golden hello’ of either £5,000 or £2,500 (depending on the subject) at the beginning of their second year of teaching as well as a bursary during the PGCE itself. For debt-ridden graduates any money comes in handy, but award-winning science teacher Zoe Bidmead warns that incentives can potentially encourage people into the job for the wrong reasons. SECOND YEAR ‘There are certain people who go into teaching for the golden hellos and for them it’s just a stop-gap job while they think of what they’d really like to do. Those teachers are usually the ones who will struggle a lot in their second year. I think those who are passionate about it are the ones who get on with it, so although the second year is tough I think it separates the wheat from the chaff. ‘The reason it’s so hard is that rather than getting 50% or 70% timetables, you’ve got 100% and your preparation time just disappears – it was hell on earth for me but it makes it so much easier if you’re in a supportive department and in a supportive school.’ Teaching may be now easier to get into, but it doesn’t make it an easy option. If you are a graduate having difficulty finding a career, stop before dashing off an application and ask: ‘Is teaching really for me?’ Andrew Shanahan INFORMATION AND ADVICE www.prospects.ac.uk/findcourses POSTGRAD FUNDING FACTS www.prospects.ac.uk/links/fundstudy LATEST POSTGRAD COURSE OPPORTUNITIES www.prospects.ac.uk/links/latestcourses SEARCH THE POSTGRAD DATABASE SEND YOUR VIEWS, SUGGESTIONS AND COMMENTS editorial@prospects.ac.uk http://www.prospects.ac.uk http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Feature_Articles/Feature_articles_2008/PhD_blog__15/p!emlpfjb http://www.prospects.ac.uk/findcourses http://www.prospects.ac.uk/links/fundstudy http://www.prospects.ac.uk/links/latestcourses

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Graduate Prospects - 11 June, 2008

Editorial: Job Blogs Editorial: One Year Later Propeller Training Editorial: The Experience Gap Aldi Stores Ltd Police Mutual Assurance Society Product Plus International Ltd British Engines Limited Manhattan Associates CFB Fidessa Plc Nebulas Security Abnormal Load Engineering Ltd The Derivatives Consulting Group Majestic Wine Warehouse NDS Ltd Simpson Tyrell Associates University of Northampton K2 Partnering Solutions Kerry Foods Innovex (UK) Ltd Steria Ltd Laser 2000 Editorial: Where's Teacher? Training and Development Agency Brunel University University of Warwick Loughborough University University of Surrey The University of Manchester University of London Careers Service

Graduate Prospects - 11 June, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.