What does teaching involve and how can I get into teaching?
There are plenty of government adverts on the television, on the radio, in tabloids etc. looking for new teachers. There will always be a need for teachers, as there will always be minds that need educating. From Early Years right through to Higher and Further education, Nurseries, schools, colleges, universities, all need teachers to strain their students. Even extra-curricular and specialist subjects need teachers for recreational lessons and such like.
Before getting into teaching it is important to know that it is not all classroom teaching… far from it in fact!
Teaching involves careful planning for each lesson that you are going to teach, with advanced planning (schemes of work) for up to a year in advance… that is a year’s worth of lessons! Each lesson will need to take into consideration every class member that you teach, how they learn, how you explain things. It involves you getting to know each class member so well that you can understand if they are unhappy or having a bad day, and as a pastoral figure, it is your duty to rectify this and motivate them so that they do want to learn. Planning is a massive bulk of teaching, and if you think you can leave your work at your job when the 3:15pm bell rings, then think again! There will still be yet more planning and maybe even marking…
Assessment is your way of monitoring the student’s progress. Briefly, assessment is a way of knowing how well your student is doing. It is a way of knowing how well your students have taken in ‘absorbed’ the information that you have given them. Assessment will be an ongoing process and your lesson plans will be adapted to take into account assessment and targets that you have set annually, termly and lesson by lesson. You have to keep on top of assessment so that you are up to date with a student’s progress. Neglecting this role could mean that you miss or fail to see if a student is lacking in a certain area, so it is vital assessment is carried out promptly.
Teaching is not all Doom and Gloom though!! The buzz you get from teaching a class, building up relationships, having students understand and recite back to you what they have learned and understood is amazing. You can make great friendships with the teachers, and teaching a subject that you love (music for me), makes it fun to want to go to work and share that passion and enthusiasm with the rest of the class that you are teaching.
If you are interested in teaching, check out these websites that give you an insight into the routes of how to get into teaching.
https://www.tes.com/news/routes-into-teaching
https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/?gclid=CLKEhZGV0s4CFYQy0wod_yMBOQ
Alternatively,
Chat with experienced teachers such as myself (Andy T), or another experienced teacher on the 1st Note Education forum site. We will be more than happy to help and answer any questions or queries that you may have about teaching or getting into teaching :0)