Sara Bubb offers advice to students and NQTs
I’d like to be a key stage 2 teacher but most primary PGCE courses insist that some time is spent in KS1 (5-7 year olds). I don’t have much interest in pupils this young, so would I be better off doing a 7-14 PGCE? I wouldn’t mind teaching 11-14 year olds maybe later in my career. What do you think?
As soon as you have qualified teacher status, which all PGCEs except those in Further Education lead to, you can work in any school and with any age group. It will be easier to get a job with the age group you’ve qualified in, but you won’t be excluded from others. You should do a course aimed at the age group with which you feel happiest. Spend some time in nursery, infant, junior and secondary classrooms to meet children of different ages and observe the demands of each group. I know people who’ve changed their minds as a result!
Think hard about doing a PGCE in 7-14 because the demands are huge. You’ll have to cover the whole of the primary initial teacher training curriculums in English, maths, science and ICT as well as your specialist subject at KS2 and KS3. You’ll have to do teaching practices at both key stages. If you live in an area that doesn’t have middle schools, this might be a problem.
As for your employability, it would be high if you worked in one of the small number of places with middle schools. But secondary schools would probably want someone who could teach to GCSE, if not A-level. Primary schools sometimes employ specialist teachers at the end of KS2, but it’s not common. Doing a 7-11 course might be better: you’ll only spend some of the time with younger children, but I think you’ll find it very valuable.
Understanding how young children learn and how, for example, the basics of reading are best taught will provide you with a solid foundation for all your future teaching.
E-mail questions to susan.young@newsint.co.uk. Sara Bubb cannot enter into personal correspondence. More questions answered at www.tes.co.uk. Sara Bubb’s ‘A Newly-Qualified Teachers’ Manual: how to meet the induction standards’ is published by David Fulton, pound;15.
