Go back to school... become a teacher
at teaching. I think people who have had experience of teaching their own children at home might have found they’ve got a bit of a talent for it.”
There are two routes to becoming a teacher, said Roger. Graduates can do a one year training course, while those without a degree can do three or four-year university course which leads to a degree and qualified teacher status.
The campaign’s website, getintoteaching.education.gov.uk, fully explains the whole process: from applying, the availability of tax free bursaries and scholarships, loans to help you with training course fees and how to get mentored.
Get into Teaching also has a raft of inspirational teachers from across the country who promote the benefits of the profession. They have also shown how they’ve risen to the challenges of lockdown.
These include Jagpreet Hayre, of Dormers Wells High
School, London, who volunteered over the Easter holidays to deliver food parcels to vulnerable children and those with special educational needs. She also called their families and helped them have vital human contact during lockdown.
Phil Young, a teacher and technology leader of Halterworth Primary School in Romsey, Hampshire, is another case in point. He and other colleagues wrote and hand delivered cards and letters to children to keep in touch.
A third example is awardwinning maths teacher Simon Dawson, 39. Up until Easter he was the head of department at King Ecgbert’s School in Sheffield whose famous alumni include England cricket captain Joe Root and Olympian Jessica Ennis-Hill. Simon, who is now the deputy head of Newfield School, Sheffield, has combined his teaching duties while homeschooling his own two children with his wife.
Like many other teachers, he has got to grips with video technology. He has been setting virtual maths problems from his kitchen table and has interacted with his students in a fun way to help with their well being.
Simon said: “The reality is teachers are working damned hard, staring at a computer screen for far too many hours, doing something they weren’t trained to do: learning how to teach remotely at the drop of a hat. They are doing a fabulous job.”
He encouraged aspiring teachers to get work experience in the classroom to get a feel for the profession, adding: “There is no other job out there that gives you the rewards. When they leave at Year 11 or 13 you’ve got these pupils and you are pushing them onto the next stage of their life. You’re taking children, particularly in Secondary Education, coming in at Year 7 and they are leaving as young adults. You are taking them on that journey and you are moulding them to become fantastic citizens of the UK and hopefully passionate about the subjects that you teach. “I recommend before you apply, get into schools, talk to teachers and kids and you will know whether that is right for you.”