Teaching seems one of the most difficult careers to get into, despite the shortages. My South African husband wants to be a design and technology teacher. He has eight years’ experience in industry, and ran an art school. He can’t get on a PGCE course because he only has an HND and hasn’t been in the country long enough to get a grant. What should he do?

To train as a secondary teacher he needs a degree, and maths and English GCSE or equivalent. To be eligible for an LEA grant, if he doesn’t have British citizenship, he has to have been in the country three years and have permanent or indefinite right to remain.

The Registered Teacher Programme would be ideal. This is a route to getting QTS for people who have at lest two years of higher education (his HND), relevant experience and who can complete a degree while they train and work as a teacher. He would need to find a school to employ him, and a “recommending body” which can draw up a training programme based on what he needs to meet the QTS standards. He also needs to do modules at a university (perhaps the OU) to supplement his HND to degree standard. The programme usually takes two years. For more details, tel: 01926 330006 or email: 106310.444@compuserve.com Email your questions to friday@tes.co.ukSara Bubb’s book, A Newly-Qualified Teachers’ Manual: how to meet the induction standards, is published by David Fulton, pound;15. She regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence. More of your questions answered at www.tes.co.uk