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A Generic Job Description
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Qualifications
All applicants for teaching jobs in the UK must have a teaching
qualification. There are two types of teaching qualification which
are acceptable. A candidate may have a degree in Education and this
degree course must have included teaching practice assignments in
schools. Alternatively an applicant can have a university degree
in a specialist subject, for example, Mathemeatics, Spanish, Geography,
Biology, Art, to name but a few, but in this case they must also
have post graduate teaching qualification which must have included
some teaching practice assignments in schools.
There are many different types of teaching job in the UK and each
individual job will have its own unique circumstances, demands and
opportunities. There are some categories which are described below
and these categories include most of the different types of teaching
jobs that exist here.
Most teaching jobs are either in primary schools or secondary schools.
These two categories of schools are defined by the age range of
the children who attend them. Primary schools teach children from
the age of three years old in the nursery up to the age of eleven,
secondary schools teach children from the age of eleven to the age
of sixteen and sometimes eighteen years old. Not all secondary schools
teach children over the age of sixteen and there are some colleges
which specialise in teaching sixteen to eighteen year olds. Secondary
education ends at the age of eighteen. Higher level education at
universities and colleges of further education is outside the scope
of this job description.
All teaching jobs fall into either the public sector or the private
sector. The public sector of education is funded by the state and
is free to all the children who attend. The public sector provides
the great majority of education in the UK. There is also a private
sector within the educational establishment. The private sector
is funded by the families of the children who attend these schools.
Some parents, who have enough, money choose to keep their children
out of the state system and pay for them to attend private schools.
This is done for various reasons but it is usually the case that
the parents believe that their children will receive a better education
at a private school, or simply that they will mix with other children
who also come from more affluent families. The private sector is
only a small part of the UK education system but it is large enough
to be significant.
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Teaching in Primary Schools
Boys and girls attend classes together in all primary schools. There
are some secondary schools that are only attended by either boys
or girls. This never happens in state funded primary schools. The
principal feature of primary education is that the teacher takes
one class of children all the time throughout the school year. The
teacher is usually with the class all day and will teach a variety
of subjects at a basic level. The most important teaching activities
are teaching the children to read and write, teaching elementary
mathematics, art and some history, geography, science, religious
studies and personal and health education. There are often specialist
teachers to teach subjects such as music and sports, although any
teachers who wanted to work as primary school teachers and had these
specialist skills would be considered to be very valuable members
of the school staff. Modern languages are being introduced into
primary schools more and more and are going to become part of the
primary school curriculum.
Teachers can often find working in a primary school to be very
rewarding because they get to know the children very well. Primary
school teaching can also be considered to be hard work because the
teacher does not usually have much spare time during the day to
prepare lessons and mark work. Because the children are so young
they are usually responsive to the teachers requests. It is fair
to say that the staff of primary schools are predominantly women.
For this reason primary schools welcome applications from men, especially
men who have a keen interest in sport so that they can help in the
children’s sporting activities and also provide a male role
model for the young boys.
Teachers who want to work in primary schools should have a degree
in education or a degree in a specialist subject AND a post graduate
qualification in education which should have included some teaching
practice.
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Teaching in Secondary Schools
Teaching in secondary schools is very different from teaching in
primary schools. There are many more secondary school teachers than
there are primary school teachers because the children in secondary
schools each have many teachers who teach specialist subjects. A
secondary school teacher does not teach a class for the whole of
the school day but they give lessons for part of the day and they
have some free time. In their free time they can prepare lessons
and mark homework or do other paperwork.
All secondary schools have children from the age of eleven up to
the age of sixteen. This is the age at which children can leave
the education system if they wish. Some secondary schools continue
teaching children up to the age of eighteen at which time they can
go to university if they can demonstrate their ability. To teach
at a secondary school a teacher must have a minimum of a degree
in Education. They could have a degree in a specialist subject [Physics,
French, Art, etc] but they must also have a post graduate teaching
qualification which included some teaching practice assignment at
a school. Teachers who teach advanced level subjects [A-Levels],
that is, teaching subjects to older children [16 -18 years old]
who are preparing to go to university will be preferred if they
have a specialist university degree in that subject and a post graduate
teaching qualification. There is currently a very high demand for
teachers of mathematics and physics at this level, along with modern
languages [French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian]
Some secondary schools often have a particular interest in sporting
activities such as football, swimming, athletics, tennis, rugby,
basketball, netball, cricket, etc. Applicants who could demonstrate
an ability to coach in these sports would be considered very seriously
by a prospective employer. To demonstrate coaching ability an applicant
should have a recognised coaching qualification from their country
of origin. Specialist physical education teachers who could assist
in the more academic areas of the curriculum would also be highly
valued.
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The Private Sector
The principal difference in teaching in the private sector is that
the parents of the children who attend the school have to pay fees.
Because of this the parents are often highly motivated for their
children to succeed. This often means that the discipline in the
private school is very good because the school has the option of
refusing admission to badly behaved children. [This is possible
but much more difficult in the state sector.] However the same parents
expect their children to perform well even when these children may
not be very intelligent.
There are both primary and secondary schools in the private sector.
The primary schools are usually “co-ed” which means
for both boys and girls but the private secondary schools are more
often single sex schools for just boys or just girls. Some private
schools are known as boarding schools where the children live at
the school all term. These schools often have accommodation for
the staff as well and the teacher can live there at virtually no
cost. It must be emphasised that these schools are very rare and
most of the teachers are very well qualified specialists who also
have a teaching qualification.
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