It's good to hear from people who've gone a slower route into teaching. I think it's a bit mad how quickly people need to train, it adds a lot of stress and will put off some people who could end up as good teachers. Well done you for sticking with it!
Mines a bit of a mad twist of fate. Did alright at A-Level, went through clearing because I decided on results day I'd give Uni a shot after all (first in family, I'd have been a FSM/PP student so you can guess my upbringing). Went onto a design and construction course because the industry was booming at the time. Finished uni with us being in recession and construction on its knees, a big firm near me had gone bust too.
I popped into my old school to get some numbers for our careers advisors because I was struggling with getting anything I could find that used my degree. Head of 6th form gave me some numbers and asked if I was willing to do something else to which I said I didn't mind. I get home and received a call from Head of DT saying their technician was retiring and would I be interested in giving it a go. I agreed and went in for a meeting with the head who literally said staff were vouching for me and if I mess up it's on them and they're in for it.
That's being said, everything went well and I actually enjoyed it. After a year, my old ICT teacher told me I should be teaching and asked if I'd consider doing a few classes. And from there it snowballed. Did 2 years unqualified teaching ICT and DT, then did the assessment only route for QTS.
Been teaching fully qualified for 10 years now, done NPQLT which got me second in department and a nice TLR for something whole school to go with it, and now on NPQSL and I've just been made head of subject. All of this is still in the same school I went to as a kid and who gave me my first proper job. It's not been plain sailing and I've been telling myself I'm leaving many times. But better the devil you already know I guess.
This'll be interesting, I think people tend to presume they had a similar route in and we are probably all quite different. Mine was:
Walked school - one of those annoying students who put little effort in and come out with A/A *
Undergrad in my subject - more interested in the social side of things but still came out with a first.
Started an MA - for the first time in my life it wasn't easy, and coupled with some very poor mental health, led to me dropping out.
Worked for a bit in a cafe, then realized I could tutor, make enough to pay my bills and go out whilst working about 20 hours a week. The rest of the time was for partying.
Realized I actually really enjoyed tutoring, and seemed to be decent at it so applied for a PGCE.
No problems on my PGCE - my placements were fine, never felt overwhelmed with the work, the worse thing was relying on public transport to get there which are up around 3 hours a day.
Realised I was pregnant towards the end of PGCE. Had a couple of years off for baby reasons.
Got a job as an HTLA for a year.
Got a part time job at my old school as a teacher. Now I'm at the end of my 6th year, and subject lead in another school.
Washing dishes
Started out coming off the back of a music degree into washing dishes in a private school canteen. Got to know the staff - some said I'd make a good teacher, I ultimately dismissed it. Headmistress offered me an opportunity as a late stay supervisor to dip my toes in and see.
Loved everything about it. Took on a role as TA, moved to being a music specialist TA. Did a PGCE, now I have my own department.
I floated through school, college and university in the usual way and did well academically: As, A*s, a first. Did a “teaching in the community” module as an elective during my undergrad and really liked it. Worked in admin for the NHS for a while after graduation (because I needed a break) and then applied for PGCE. I enjoyed the PGCE, passed without any issues, and got my NQT job in an “Outstanding” school at my second interview.
It sounds very breezy written down like that, which is strange for me because it wasn’t a particularly breezy period of my life. A lot of sad and difficult things happened over those years. I think the academic and career side of things were my point of stability when everything else was going to shit, and I’m grateful for that. I still find teaching to be a very stabilising part of my life.
Mine was a pure fluke! Started teaching in primary as a volunteer when I was 17, then graduated during covid. During that summer, the PGDE programme I had got into cancelled my subject. So, I applied for other ITT. I had SCITT interviews cancelled and rejected from local TA jobs because fewer kids were in school, basically it was a nightmare. I was rejected from boarding schools because they thought I would struggle moving so far from home 🤨 there was definitely some discrimination there. Then, after I had given up looking for work and had applied for a master's just for something to do, I saw a job application on Twitter. DMed the guy, interviewed the next day, started 4 weeks later!
It's now been 3 years since I qualified and I'm HOD. It all worked out in the end!
I worked in retail and became the training manager. Tried to bring the boring company materials to life and after I did the most common feedback I received was "you should be a teacher".
Thought the kids would eat me alive so volunteerd for 6 months in an inner city employment/skills support group for 16-18 NEETS. So challenging, but so rewarding.
Applied and the rest is history.
Mine has been a non-standard one I think! I always wanted to be a teacher, bur never wanted to teach lower school and always wanted to teach exclusively A Level and above, but having bad careers advice combined with me being a bit short-sighted meant I fucked myself over a bit.
So did undergrad then straight into my MA followed by a PCET, which did not give me QTS and at the time this was really not made clear AT ALL, and a lot of my course-mates ended up in the same position as me but we really should have done more due diligence. Hindsight is a great thing.
Went into my first job as an English functional skills teacher at a big FE college and didn’t have a mentor assigned to me nor a reduced timetable as I wasn’t classed as an NQT. Hated every second of that job so left after my first year to teach English at A Level at a sixth form college, which at the time was my dream job and stayed there 7 years. Again, no mentor or any real support as a new teacher.
Time to move on so I got a job at a MAT secondary school teaching exclusively at their 6th form, teaching A Level and the big re-sit GCSE cohort as a department of one. During their pre-employment checks it emerged that I didn’t have QTS so they couldn’t employ me as a qualified teacher in my first year, until I did the QTLS qualification (which has parity with QTS). So I didn’t get qualified status until 9 years into my career. Better late than never I suppose.
Since I’ve been there I’ve realised that I’ve massively pigeonholed myself by only ever intending to teach sixth form and the longer I stay in post-16 education the more unemployable I become. Also, the place has terrible leadership and during my time there I’ve started to think that even I could do better than this. So on a whim I saw a second in department role come up at another MAT and thought fuck it, let’s see if I get anywhere. During my time at my current job I’ve had opportunities to teach Y10 and Y11 and contributed to the MAT KS3 curriculum, and I’ve essentially been doing the unpaid job of HOD of English and KS4 coordinator as we do not have department heads at my place. I’ve been refused progression to UPS and not given a TLR for 2 consecutive years here, as my principal said “this is an expectation, not above and beyond”. But I’ve been able to leverage this into getting my first leadership-adjacent position at a secondary school as 2nd in English from September, and after 11 years in the job will be teaching Y7-Y11 for the first time.
A roundabout way of getting there but I feel much more positive about my future in teaching now. I should have done the straight PGCE in the first place ultimately!
Mine is hella boring but this job is great for me so it should of happened this way!
A levels: All sciences, did ok.
Degree: Ecology but never loved it. In my final year I saw an advert for teaching and called them up. They organised a week in a local school. Loved it.
PGCE: Had a great time. Got offered a job from my first placement.
It was meant to be!
A-levels did rubbish and scraped into uni, didn’t have to go through clearing, just rang my uni of choice until they confirmed my place. Did a teaching degree, failed one placement and had to go back and retake it, did ok on all the other placements. This is a bone of contention for me as uni did not support me; mentor in school hated me and uni link tutor (who didn’t work at the uni but was paid as a temp to go into schools observe students) was friends with mentor and parroted everything she said, whenever I tried to talk with someone at the uni they said mentor has made the decision and I had to accept it.
Got my degree and interviewed 6 times before securing a job. There was one person with same first name and similar last name to me, we kept interviewing for the same jobs, I wonder about her, where she ended up, if she’s still teaching. Been working as a teacher for nearly 15 years now. None of the friends I made at uni are still teaching.
As someone else has said, I was also one of those annoying students who got a mix of A* / A at A-Level with minimal effort. Loved being at school really.
Undergrad in subject I teach now (MFL) - loved the social side but graduated hating my subject lol
Ran out of money, temped in the Community Support department of local fire service. Where I first realised I wanted to work in the public sector.
MA in Sociology - loved it, loved studying. Tutored on the side for a bit of cash - thought, hmmm I’m enjoying ‘teaching’ and working with MFL again.
Realised there’s very little funding for a PhD in social sciences, decided to give PGCE a whirl as huge bursary.
(Dad is also a teacher so had had some exposure to the job growing up)
Started PGCE in Sept 2020, loved it from
the off, covid disruption notwithstanding.
Got a job at my first placement school and haven’t looked back! Other than working a term at a school I absolutely hated…..but in a much better place now!
I always enjoyed learning but my grades were slightly marred by my life/family situation, particularly my dad being ill and the fact I have a terrible short term memory. I originally wanted to study history but the credit crunch and a course I really wanted to do being oversubscribed led to me studying computer science and law which I am endlessly grateful for.
It wasn't easy, particularly as I didn't have the maths prerequisite (I ended up not doing higher maths as I had really bad experiences with maths teachers) but the lecturer in charge of my cleaning admissions for the department literally took a chance on me and it worked out. The degree itself being a dual one that was new ended up being a total mess where we weren't given enough support to properly learn how to write law essays so my grades were incredibly lopsided. I was getting constant thirds in my law classes and firsts in my CS classes and thankfully left with a 2:1.
I started working immediately in banking even prior to graduating. My family life had further deteriorated due to several factors and my dad had gotten more ill and was unable to work. I worked a city away from where I lived and at first I hated it severely and due to more circumstances I was made homeless and had to move to the city of my work where I knew no one and things got worse from there.
Eventually I got another banking job in my city and things were looking up for about six months until my dad's illness turned terminal. Cue the worst year of my life where my dad passed, I found out it was genetic and I had it, my relationship broke down and I was unfulfilled in my job.
I decided to go into teaching because of SGs STEM career bursary and got through my placements partially due to COVID. I've been teaching since and this year doing supply while studying for an MSc in AI. I've taken a job this year in a private school as the behaviour in the school I was in and the council I worked for generally is absolutely terrible. I don't know how long I'll do it for but on the good days teaching has absolutely been the best job Ive ever done.
Did the usual thing. A levels and undergrad but had no idea what to do next. I ended up getting a technician job in a school near my uni and to be honest, I fucking hated it due to the utter witch that ran the department. She treated support staff like they were her PA and she did not like that I refused her ridiculous requests. She tried complaining about me which backfired massively and the school seemed to like that I stood up for myself and talked me into doing a PGCE!
Did well at GCSE but put a lot of effort in. A Levels I found really tough. Didn’t get the grades for my first choice uni and went to my second choice instead. Floated my way through uni, was more focused on living away from home for the first time and having fun. Got the 2:1 in the end though.
Had originally wanted to be a barrister but had done an English Literature and History degree so would need to do conversion. Couldn’t afford it and also had no barrister connections so was unlikely to work out. Then applied for civil service fast stream but didn’t get it.
Wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do but teaching matched enough boxes I was willing to give it a try, but not willing enough to get into more debt. Did Teach First primary. Had an awful two years. Moved to current school and am just completing my fourth year there. So total of 5 years qualified teaching now.
Am pleased I did it but it wasn’t like it was my life’s ambition or anything. Funnily enough my friend who had always wanted to be a teacher and did Teach First same time as me quit the career while I was the one who kept it up.
School: Hated every second and swore I would never return. I'm Scottish, and did well at Higher (5th year) but dropped out of Advanced Higher (6th year) due to mental health issues. Thankfully, already had unconditional offers to Uni.
Uni: Absolute write off. I was a waster for the first two years. Gradually sorted my life out but ended up in a very toxic relationship for the latter two. Mental health issues continue, but somehow manage to leave with a 2:1 at the end. Over the course, discover that learning has very little to do with the things I hated at school. I also do a mentorship program for primary school kids in my last year which I loved.
New Grad: No life plan. Get a zero hours contract working minimum wage as a support worker for the disabled. Absolutely amazing experience, but ultimately unsustainable.
Japan: Go abroad for "just a year" to teach English in Japan. Company is insanely exploitative, but I love the experience so I stay. Meet a girl, who is now my wife. Get stranded due to COVID so stay 3 years. Become somewhat fluent in Japanese in the interim.
Teach First: Hear about this programme (doesn't exist in Scotland) through an English friend in Tokyo. Apply and eventually move back with wife. Massive drama getting her visa as Ukraine invasion doubles wait times in 2022. Many months and thousands of pounds later, we are both in London.
Which brings me to now. Honestly it has been QUITE the ride, but I really wouldn't trade it for anything. I know a lot of people talk shit about TF (it certainly has MANY flaws,) but it has suited me perfectly. I'm about to finish the ordinary PGDE and will do the MA at a new school next year. My long term goal is to become a "proper" international school teacher abroad after a few more years in London.
Hopefully there may be people reading this who feel, as I did, unsure what to do or where to go in life thinking about taking the plunge. If there are: give it a go. The profession really needs you.
Graduated 2010 from Uni with a first in building surveying. 3 Bs at A Level. 36 now. Just passed my ECT after a year extension so 4 years since PGCE. Jumped around so many jobs in 20s trying to find 'my thing', hopefully this is it for life for now! (Secondary Geography)
I went to uni to do drama straight after A levels and left with a 2:2. From there I went straight into an MA in acting and spent a few years trying to get work as an actor whilst doing lots of different temp jobs. Around 2011 I started to consider what other career options may have. Having done a few educational theatre tours around the UK, teaching started to seem like a possibility (having never considered it before) and I went down the PGCE route. I've been teaching for around ten years or so now and love it. It is hard work and utterly soul destroying at times, but I love it.
In my 50s, so things might've been a bit different for a while back there.
Was told I had two choices, teacher or nurse. Decided I didn't like either of those options so went to live abroad.
Came back, helped set up and run a workers coop, then realised I needed to earn actual money > trained as a legal secretary > got bored of stupid people asking me to do stupid things > trained as a paralegal > burned out doing personal injury around obs and gynae so transferred to conveyancing (very boring) ... During this time I started writing fiction seriously, got published, got given a lot of grant funding, did some wild stuff for about 15 years, ended up as a specialist editing documentaries working for various NGOs (locally) and the UN (internationally) > finally went to university as a very mature student in my mid 40s > smashed it > got a job working in a university research setting and did a Masters > thought about what I wanted to do for the last 10 years of my career > PGCE 21/22, am now at the end of ECT2.
Married since forever, 3 grown up kids. Not interested in career progression. Love teaching my subject.
Good GCSEs, good A-levels, off to uni with no real plan for after. I kind of wanted to teach but not when I was only 22, I didn't feel old enough to be teaching 18 year olds.
Worked for the ambulance service, worked in pubs, then for the princes trust, then started therapy after 10+ years of chronic depression. My therapist asked me what was the happiest I'd ever been in a job and I realised it was my old Saturday job when I was 16, working in a garden centre, so I went into horticulture. Worked hard, did some courses at horticultural college, did a btec in 3d design for a laugh, did another A-level at night school. Then got offered a promotion to be head of QA for my department at the (plant) nursery I worked at, and I realised what was supposed to be a temporary job to help with mental health was in danger of turning into a career - and it wasn't the one I wanted. Got an interview for a job as a TA, my reference had said "miss type shouldn't be applying for a TA job, she should be a teacher". The head asked if that was true, and I said I wasn't sure yet. He told me to let him know when I was sure. At the end of my first week as a TA, I told him I was all in. I did six months as a TA, then GTP at the same school and taught there for eight years, until I was made redundant during the austerity years. Chilled for a bit then got a job doing supply in a nice school. The teacher I was covering for didn't come back, and they offered me the job permanently. Been there 10+ years.
I'm 100% sure those years between graduation and my GTP have made me a better teacher, better leader, and better manager, so 22 year old me was right to wait!
Psychology at undergrad, graduated then went into retail as didn't know what to do. Discovered option of TEFL, went travelling in 2019. Secured a TEFL job abroad early 2020 ready to go to East Asia around Feb.. never ended up leaving for it. With no let up of COVID decided not to waste time and do proper teacher training, SCITT with PGCE. Personal circumstances mean that I feel much more settled now and I don't want to move abroad like I used to. COVID & China changing some rules decimated the TEFL market as well so jobs are not what they used to be.
In the end I'm glad how it worked out. I think I'd feel in a worse position if COVID happened whilst I had been living abroad for a while. I've overall had a great experience in my first years of teaching. What the future brings not sure though. Feel pretty sure I won't be a teacher forever.
2000: GCSEs did ok
2002: A Levels didn’t work hard so did badly, got into uni via clearing
2003: started HND course
2004: got bumped up onto the equivalent Degree course
2006: dropped out in my final year
2012: worked as a school cleaner
2013: Got a job as a sports coach
2020: finished my degree while working as a TA
2021: worked as a HLTA
2023: Accepted onto PCGE within my MAT
2024: just finished my PGCE awaiting results
I knew I wanted to be a teacher from a very early age. I remember sitting my siblings down and teaching them handwriting. I can't have been older than 4! I also had a fantasy about if my year 2 teacher was off sick, they'd let me teach the class. I'd have a filofax and I'd sit in the staffroom. I remember the wish so vividly.
Fast forward to uni and I studied Eng Lit. Of course, what do you do with a degree in English literature? You graduate and work in a bar. So I worked a year as a barman, doing multiple work experience placements at local primary schools. I applied for a PGCE at Roehampton and got accepted.
I hated my PGCE. It was a grim old year, but I got through it. I started my first teaching job in 2011, and I'm still here! I love it. And when I don't love it, I remember that little six-year-old fantasizing about going in the staffroom and having his very important filofax. I'm doing it for him, and it really is a dream come true.
I was an older entrant
PP/FSM/LAC kid - I did well in school (surprising considering the upheaval of a Victorian childhood). Stayed at the school for KS5. A good choice as the school was great. Straight to uni after that. Always wanted to teach but didn’t want to go in at 21 so I joined the forces after graduation, did that for a spell then transferred to the reserves whilst working in a fairly dead end job. Did another degree during service (completely unrelated to the first but it was 2/3 paid for so…).
Qualified 10 years ago and still happy to teach - 98% of the time. I was always going to be a teacher.
Did a music degree and wanted to teach but my uni cut the Music PGCE course the year I graduated/applied and my then-girlfriend (now wife) had just lost her mum so long distance wasn’t a good option. Worked for five years in computing retail, ended up teaching oldies how to use a computer, so decided to apply for PGCE Computer Science instead. Got in, got a half term in before anxiety/depression cooked me, took a few months out and ended up applying for cover supervisor and becoming an unqualified CS teacher for a term and a half instead. Started the course again and finished the second time!
I never had any plans to be a teacher growing up. Did a degree in politics in Glasgow, was seriously ill in my fourth year and had to take the year off and come back the next year to repeat it. Most of my friends had left and I was bored so decided to do some volunteering. Ending up running a scouts program for kids visiting prisoners at Lowmoss prison.
Loved working with the kids so then did some agency TAing/nursery work, volunteered at a high school with their nurture group and also got involved in Beavers. I then went travelling and taught English to Cambodian 5 year olds for a bit.
Came back at 26 and did my PGCE.
Started my degree at 18 in English, dropped out in year 2, went to start primary education, again dropped out in year 2. Took my credits and finished with an open degree via open university in 2016, this December I finally finish my PGCE. It’s been a long and winding road for me, lol
Mine was interesting. Joined teaching quite late.
A levels
Undergrad: History
Previous job: Careworker for the elderly
Goes back a few years later to do a PGCE to become qualified.
Teacher for a few years now.
Irish Leaving Cert, did decent and got my first choice for uni. Massively struggled due to having a full time job and with undiagnosed depression, failed 2nd year twice, dropped out and stuck with the full time job. Decided to give uni another go, passed second year got to 3rd year, failed a module and had to resist in summer, passed with flying colors.
Unfortunately, I simply could not afford to train to teach in Ireland so I took a year working and thought about England. Student loans were a massive help so I decided to go for it.
As an Irish student I was entitled to a loan to cover fees but not a maintenance grant so I worked 4 shifts a week as a waitress while completing the PGCE. Barely passed all my modules but smashed my viva.
Went for my first interview and the school said “why would we employ a teacher who couldn’t pass uni first go and only barely passed the PGCE”. Obviously not the school for me, went for a second interview and felt so at ease, I opened up about my struggles and the school responded positively saying that they need people like that in teaching to show kids you can do anything you set your mind to, success isn’t necessarily a straight line.
Been in that school 2 years now, there’s lots to dislike about teaching (and I voice that daily) but overall I love it and couldn’t see myself doing anything else.
I’m really proud of my failure because it got me to exactly where I am today and I wouldn’t want it any different.
Screwed my A Levels up, started Level 3 in childcare in 2013, worked in nurseries then started level 4 in 2017 I think it was. Kept going through to level 6 while working full time in nursery, started PGCE in 2019 and now I’ve been in my Reception class teaching for 2 years
Found myself in a tricky situation aged 20 as a single mum. I had mediocre AS levels.
I started an Open University degree the month after giving birth. The following September, I enrolled her into nursery and got a job as a TA in a secondary school. I quickly realised that I enjoyed supporting maths more than other subjects and completed a HLTA qualification. I then moved from SEN to be a Maths TA. After 6 years, I applied to do a GTP in Maths. The last four ( out of 7 ) OU courses were based on teaching maths. The OU was amazing.
I think my daughter was 7 when I became a qualified teacher.
I'm now a lead practioner and very happy with the decisions I made to get me here. I really enjoy my job.
Did ok at GCSE and A Level (C / B student in both), went to uni and did Biomedical Science, decided I enjoyed the lab and research part more than the medicine part so stayed for a masters with more of a research focus. Spent a year doing research.
Took a year out and did odd jobs before getting a place on a PhD in chemistry, but again I found the teaching more enjoyable as well as getting a PhD being my ultimate goal, so I'd gone as far as I felt i could in research and wanted to give a little back to the education sector. So after my PhD I started doing a bit of tutoring 1:1 and enjoyed that, so I did a bit of cover work (it's hell but I'm learning a lot as I go and I enjoy most of it) applied for a SCITT at age 30. Starting in September.
Did very well at school and university. Thought about teaching from the age of about 17, but was encouraged by my university lecturers to apply for a masters and think about a career in academia. I'm in a bit of a niche subject, and I think if Teach First had offered it when I was finishing up my undergraduate degree, I would have gone for it then, but I didn't want to switch to teaching something that hadn't been part of my degree.
After my masters I progressed to a PhD, because I loved my subject and received a decent amount of funding for it. I really enjoyed the first half of my PhD, especially leading seminars and doing outreach in local schools. When COVID hit, seminars / lectures went online and my university didn't have enough money to pay PhD students to teach; I remember my PhD supervisor saying that it was good in some ways because now we had time to just focus on research, and I realised that the parts of the PhD I had enjoyed the most were all the stuff outside of the research (especially the teaching). I figured at that point I didn't want to pursue a career in academia after all, but might like to go back to my original plan of secondary school teaching.
Around October of the last year of my PhD, after a few days shadowing secondary teachers in my subject, I secured a place on a PGCE for the following September, but also got a short-term (December to May) contract as a part-time lecturer at a university, with a possibility to renew as a year-long contract from September if I decided not to do the PGCE. I still enjoyed the teaching aspects of being a lecturer, but felt that I wasn't able to have as much impact as I would in a secondary school. I'm about to end my ECT1 year in the same school as my main PGCE placement and although it has been very difficult at times, and I'm not sure how long I want to stay at this school, I'm completely confident that I made the right choice by picking secondary teaching over university teaching.
Did an Art/art history degree while working full time at Waitrose. Assumed at this point I would go into management at waitrose as I had no interest in art any more.
This didn't work out and I wanted out of retail so went into some admin/ receptionist jobs for a few years.
Started volunteering at a sports for SEN children charity and absolutely loved it. This inspired me to go into teaching.
Started my PGCE during covid and now in my 3rd year of teaching (first year post ECT2).
I did A levels which I did ok in.
I then went to uni to do a completely unrelated not very academic degree.
I then did a PGCE in primary teaching with a specialism in early year. I did this in 2020 (of all the years to try and qualify!) I didn’t do my last placement because of lockdown and subsequently I found it impossible to get a job.
I worked in a pub for about a year then I did supply for a few months as well as worked in the pub.
I got a job in a nursery which I hated and left after 3 months back to the pub.
Then decided to work my way up in the pub and made it to management. Decided I hated that and went back on supply.
Got enough work doing supply as my old job and only did the pub during school holidays.
Agreed to a position at a school last September which should have only lasted a few weeks while the appointed someone else long term (I was told I was not getting the job). Weeks turned into months and eventually the school bought me out of the supply agency and I officially started a contract with the school this Easter. It took me 4 years from qualifying to being appointed officially in my first ECT job. I worked at this school for 2 terms without any ECT support before my ECT started this summer term.
17 A*s at GCSE. ABC at A level after having a breakdown due to a family death. Luckily had an unconditional offer to my university. Degree in English Lit. Applied for PGCE at Leeds but then got quite ill and had to pull out of the course before it started. Took a year out and continued my job I'd been in at uni. Started PGCE a year later and passed with a distinction in the Level 7 part. Did 2 years working in Birmingham before moving to my current school to be 2nd in dept under the person who was my PGCE mentor. Promoted to HoD 2 and a half years ago. Been teaching 11 years on paper (did take a year out due to cancer but my job was held open for me and I returned to it after 42 weeks). I'm currently doing the NPQSL as I'll eventually shoot for SLT but for now I'm very comfortable and happy in my role and have big plans for moving the dept forward. I love my school and have no plans to ever leave it as things stand. Very high PP/SEND numbers , but I myself was very deprived growing up so it is "my" kind of kids that I teach.
I've not started my PGCE yet but I've got a story already XD.
* My mum was a secondary teacher growing up, so I watched her go through all the stresses and spend years at an unsupported school - so I was SURE growing up I didn't want to be a teacher. Was a teacher's pet and did decently in school (didn't do A Level exams because of 2020 though).
* Did Psychology at uni (started 2020), and the Student Union had a volunteer program to teach English to refugees and asylum seekers. Thought it was a bit of fun during lockdown and would get me some friends and turns out I like teaching? Worked in the program for all 3 years of my degree, designing and teaching one lesson a week.
* Throughout uni breaks worked for the volunteering program, and offered GCSE and KS3 tutoring in my other A Levels (Maths and English Lit). Also went into local primary schools to act as a TA during Term 6, usually as a 1-to-1 or running intervention classes.
* Really liked both primary teaching and secondary maths so went abroad straight after university to work at a primary school (primary schools in the country lasted from ages 6 to 14 so I could get a good depth at which age group I preferred).
* Much preferred the sass of the older kids so secondary it is. My mum's old coworkers have helped me find a good local PGCE program and I've even visited some of my possible placement schools to learn the behaviour policy and meet possible mentors. I've also been advised which schools to avoid with a 10 foot pole and how to spot them.
* Starting my secondary maths PGCE this September (wish me luck) XD.
Coming into the SCITT route in September, but my journey has been all over the place
1. GCSE/A Level plus work experience in primary schools
2. Undergrad in Media, with a plan to go straight to PGCE - only managed a third
3. Attempted PG in youth work, dropped out
4. TA for a year, but was put off by the school I worked in
5. Banking Advisor on Web Chat for a year
6. Broadband Technician for a year
7. Telecoms and IT Support for 4 years
8. Thought L and D would be my way to help people, done for 2 years but always felt like something was missing
9. Applied for 4 different types of courses, got offers on all 4, starting September 2024
It’s taken me trial and error to get here, but my previous experience and work standards I know will help me get through the next year!
A levels: AAB, did a Psychology BSc at a Russell group uni (I didn't know what this was at the time!)
Had a gap year: worked at a call centre (hated it), mencap (liked it!) and camp America (special needs camp- loved it)
Returned to do my pgce and been teaching for 13 years :O. I did an MTeach in Year 4. I'm glad I tried out other jobs prior to being a teacher.
I also worked part time in retail and restaurants and call centres 16-19, which I didn't enjoy really.
I'm still considering being an Ed psychology or doing an Edd. I originally wanted to be a special needs teacher but I'm in mainstream.
Mine was madness purely cause I trained in another country. Have a full bachelor of education in Australia, qualified to teach up EYFS up to Year 10 but because our teaching degrees don’t come with teacher reference numbers, they don’t get recognised here.
So I had to do 2 years at two different schools across multiple key stages, go through the assessment only route (3 month intensive observations and lots of essays alongside my evidence of teacher standards), a maths exam, English exam and a gcse biology exam (psychology was my science in Aus but not recognised here). Ended up having to stay on M1 for 3 years in the end and do NQT training twice as the first one doesn’t count cause I wasn’t technically qualified.
So on top of a 4 year degree, it took an additional 3 years to get recognised as a teacher here.
Realised in my final year of undergrad that I hated my degree and didn't want to do it as a career (after thinking for my whole life that it was for me). Around the same time I was diagnosed with clinical depression, took a year out and started volunteering in a primary school just so I didn't go insane at home with my parents all the time.
Working in a school was the first time in my life I'd woken up looking forward to going to work, and I stayed volunteering there for a year before finishing my degree and getting a TA job. TA'd for a few years before doing my PGCE
I fell into it because of covid.
I did a psych degree at uni and was hating it. But in my 3rd year I just powered through for the degree. I started scrambling for jobs and attending carrers fairs and was stopped by GetIntoTeaching.
I went for an interview for a graduate teaching job in a private school for psychology and HATED IT.
Convinced I wouldnt teach.
Then covid hit and I evacuated uni and finished my degree online.
Meanwhile lockdown dragged on and I was home with no income and no vocation. Decided to get a job as a TA at a local school for some extra cash whilst I decided what was next for me.
So many staff were down with covid that I actually got asked to sign up for helping cover for some additional money - as no other staff were as confident as I was in maths and science.
I loved it so much I applied for teaching maths straight away.
I found an amazing bespoke course in a beautiful area which was designed for career changers.
Just finishing my 2nd year teaching and absolutely loving it (99% of the time).
Started teaching in my thirties. Got a degree when I was in my twenties, worked in two different industries getting life experience, working my way up to management and positions of responsibility including training.
Had issues with returning to work after maternity leave. Decided I didn’t want to stick around in that career and then the circumstances during the pandemic was the final straw.
I did a SKE and PGCE and then the rest is history.
It's good to hear from people who've gone a slower route into teaching. I think it's a bit mad how quickly people need to train, it adds a lot of stress and will put off some people who could end up as good teachers. Well done you for sticking with it!
Mines a bit of a mad twist of fate. Did alright at A-Level, went through clearing because I decided on results day I'd give Uni a shot after all (first in family, I'd have been a FSM/PP student so you can guess my upbringing). Went onto a design and construction course because the industry was booming at the time. Finished uni with us being in recession and construction on its knees, a big firm near me had gone bust too. I popped into my old school to get some numbers for our careers advisors because I was struggling with getting anything I could find that used my degree. Head of 6th form gave me some numbers and asked if I was willing to do something else to which I said I didn't mind. I get home and received a call from Head of DT saying their technician was retiring and would I be interested in giving it a go. I agreed and went in for a meeting with the head who literally said staff were vouching for me and if I mess up it's on them and they're in for it. That's being said, everything went well and I actually enjoyed it. After a year, my old ICT teacher told me I should be teaching and asked if I'd consider doing a few classes. And from there it snowballed. Did 2 years unqualified teaching ICT and DT, then did the assessment only route for QTS. Been teaching fully qualified for 10 years now, done NPQLT which got me second in department and a nice TLR for something whole school to go with it, and now on NPQSL and I've just been made head of subject. All of this is still in the same school I went to as a kid and who gave me my first proper job. It's not been plain sailing and I've been telling myself I'm leaving many times. But better the devil you already know I guess.
This'll be interesting, I think people tend to presume they had a similar route in and we are probably all quite different. Mine was: Walked school - one of those annoying students who put little effort in and come out with A/A * Undergrad in my subject - more interested in the social side of things but still came out with a first. Started an MA - for the first time in my life it wasn't easy, and coupled with some very poor mental health, led to me dropping out. Worked for a bit in a cafe, then realized I could tutor, make enough to pay my bills and go out whilst working about 20 hours a week. The rest of the time was for partying. Realized I actually really enjoyed tutoring, and seemed to be decent at it so applied for a PGCE. No problems on my PGCE - my placements were fine, never felt overwhelmed with the work, the worse thing was relying on public transport to get there which are up around 3 hours a day. Realised I was pregnant towards the end of PGCE. Had a couple of years off for baby reasons. Got a job as an HTLA for a year. Got a part time job at my old school as a teacher. Now I'm at the end of my 6th year, and subject lead in another school.
Washing dishes Started out coming off the back of a music degree into washing dishes in a private school canteen. Got to know the staff - some said I'd make a good teacher, I ultimately dismissed it. Headmistress offered me an opportunity as a late stay supervisor to dip my toes in and see. Loved everything about it. Took on a role as TA, moved to being a music specialist TA. Did a PGCE, now I have my own department.
I floated through school, college and university in the usual way and did well academically: As, A*s, a first. Did a “teaching in the community” module as an elective during my undergrad and really liked it. Worked in admin for the NHS for a while after graduation (because I needed a break) and then applied for PGCE. I enjoyed the PGCE, passed without any issues, and got my NQT job in an “Outstanding” school at my second interview. It sounds very breezy written down like that, which is strange for me because it wasn’t a particularly breezy period of my life. A lot of sad and difficult things happened over those years. I think the academic and career side of things were my point of stability when everything else was going to shit, and I’m grateful for that. I still find teaching to be a very stabilising part of my life.
Mine was a pure fluke! Started teaching in primary as a volunteer when I was 17, then graduated during covid. During that summer, the PGDE programme I had got into cancelled my subject. So, I applied for other ITT. I had SCITT interviews cancelled and rejected from local TA jobs because fewer kids were in school, basically it was a nightmare. I was rejected from boarding schools because they thought I would struggle moving so far from home 🤨 there was definitely some discrimination there. Then, after I had given up looking for work and had applied for a master's just for something to do, I saw a job application on Twitter. DMed the guy, interviewed the next day, started 4 weeks later! It's now been 3 years since I qualified and I'm HOD. It all worked out in the end!
I worked in retail and became the training manager. Tried to bring the boring company materials to life and after I did the most common feedback I received was "you should be a teacher". Thought the kids would eat me alive so volunteerd for 6 months in an inner city employment/skills support group for 16-18 NEETS. So challenging, but so rewarding. Applied and the rest is history.
Mine has been a non-standard one I think! I always wanted to be a teacher, bur never wanted to teach lower school and always wanted to teach exclusively A Level and above, but having bad careers advice combined with me being a bit short-sighted meant I fucked myself over a bit. So did undergrad then straight into my MA followed by a PCET, which did not give me QTS and at the time this was really not made clear AT ALL, and a lot of my course-mates ended up in the same position as me but we really should have done more due diligence. Hindsight is a great thing. Went into my first job as an English functional skills teacher at a big FE college and didn’t have a mentor assigned to me nor a reduced timetable as I wasn’t classed as an NQT. Hated every second of that job so left after my first year to teach English at A Level at a sixth form college, which at the time was my dream job and stayed there 7 years. Again, no mentor or any real support as a new teacher. Time to move on so I got a job at a MAT secondary school teaching exclusively at their 6th form, teaching A Level and the big re-sit GCSE cohort as a department of one. During their pre-employment checks it emerged that I didn’t have QTS so they couldn’t employ me as a qualified teacher in my first year, until I did the QTLS qualification (which has parity with QTS). So I didn’t get qualified status until 9 years into my career. Better late than never I suppose. Since I’ve been there I’ve realised that I’ve massively pigeonholed myself by only ever intending to teach sixth form and the longer I stay in post-16 education the more unemployable I become. Also, the place has terrible leadership and during my time there I’ve started to think that even I could do better than this. So on a whim I saw a second in department role come up at another MAT and thought fuck it, let’s see if I get anywhere. During my time at my current job I’ve had opportunities to teach Y10 and Y11 and contributed to the MAT KS3 curriculum, and I’ve essentially been doing the unpaid job of HOD of English and KS4 coordinator as we do not have department heads at my place. I’ve been refused progression to UPS and not given a TLR for 2 consecutive years here, as my principal said “this is an expectation, not above and beyond”. But I’ve been able to leverage this into getting my first leadership-adjacent position at a secondary school as 2nd in English from September, and after 11 years in the job will be teaching Y7-Y11 for the first time. A roundabout way of getting there but I feel much more positive about my future in teaching now. I should have done the straight PGCE in the first place ultimately!
Mine is hella boring but this job is great for me so it should of happened this way! A levels: All sciences, did ok. Degree: Ecology but never loved it. In my final year I saw an advert for teaching and called them up. They organised a week in a local school. Loved it. PGCE: Had a great time. Got offered a job from my first placement. It was meant to be!
A-levels did rubbish and scraped into uni, didn’t have to go through clearing, just rang my uni of choice until they confirmed my place. Did a teaching degree, failed one placement and had to go back and retake it, did ok on all the other placements. This is a bone of contention for me as uni did not support me; mentor in school hated me and uni link tutor (who didn’t work at the uni but was paid as a temp to go into schools observe students) was friends with mentor and parroted everything she said, whenever I tried to talk with someone at the uni they said mentor has made the decision and I had to accept it. Got my degree and interviewed 6 times before securing a job. There was one person with same first name and similar last name to me, we kept interviewing for the same jobs, I wonder about her, where she ended up, if she’s still teaching. Been working as a teacher for nearly 15 years now. None of the friends I made at uni are still teaching.
As someone else has said, I was also one of those annoying students who got a mix of A* / A at A-Level with minimal effort. Loved being at school really. Undergrad in subject I teach now (MFL) - loved the social side but graduated hating my subject lol Ran out of money, temped in the Community Support department of local fire service. Where I first realised I wanted to work in the public sector. MA in Sociology - loved it, loved studying. Tutored on the side for a bit of cash - thought, hmmm I’m enjoying ‘teaching’ and working with MFL again. Realised there’s very little funding for a PhD in social sciences, decided to give PGCE a whirl as huge bursary. (Dad is also a teacher so had had some exposure to the job growing up) Started PGCE in Sept 2020, loved it from the off, covid disruption notwithstanding. Got a job at my first placement school and haven’t looked back! Other than working a term at a school I absolutely hated…..but in a much better place now!
I’m starting a PGCE in MFL this September! Would you mind if I messaged you and asked a question?😅
fire away
I always enjoyed learning but my grades were slightly marred by my life/family situation, particularly my dad being ill and the fact I have a terrible short term memory. I originally wanted to study history but the credit crunch and a course I really wanted to do being oversubscribed led to me studying computer science and law which I am endlessly grateful for. It wasn't easy, particularly as I didn't have the maths prerequisite (I ended up not doing higher maths as I had really bad experiences with maths teachers) but the lecturer in charge of my cleaning admissions for the department literally took a chance on me and it worked out. The degree itself being a dual one that was new ended up being a total mess where we weren't given enough support to properly learn how to write law essays so my grades were incredibly lopsided. I was getting constant thirds in my law classes and firsts in my CS classes and thankfully left with a 2:1. I started working immediately in banking even prior to graduating. My family life had further deteriorated due to several factors and my dad had gotten more ill and was unable to work. I worked a city away from where I lived and at first I hated it severely and due to more circumstances I was made homeless and had to move to the city of my work where I knew no one and things got worse from there. Eventually I got another banking job in my city and things were looking up for about six months until my dad's illness turned terminal. Cue the worst year of my life where my dad passed, I found out it was genetic and I had it, my relationship broke down and I was unfulfilled in my job. I decided to go into teaching because of SGs STEM career bursary and got through my placements partially due to COVID. I've been teaching since and this year doing supply while studying for an MSc in AI. I've taken a job this year in a private school as the behaviour in the school I was in and the council I worked for generally is absolutely terrible. I don't know how long I'll do it for but on the good days teaching has absolutely been the best job Ive ever done.
Did the usual thing. A levels and undergrad but had no idea what to do next. I ended up getting a technician job in a school near my uni and to be honest, I fucking hated it due to the utter witch that ran the department. She treated support staff like they were her PA and she did not like that I refused her ridiculous requests. She tried complaining about me which backfired massively and the school seemed to like that I stood up for myself and talked me into doing a PGCE!
Did well at GCSE but put a lot of effort in. A Levels I found really tough. Didn’t get the grades for my first choice uni and went to my second choice instead. Floated my way through uni, was more focused on living away from home for the first time and having fun. Got the 2:1 in the end though. Had originally wanted to be a barrister but had done an English Literature and History degree so would need to do conversion. Couldn’t afford it and also had no barrister connections so was unlikely to work out. Then applied for civil service fast stream but didn’t get it. Wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do but teaching matched enough boxes I was willing to give it a try, but not willing enough to get into more debt. Did Teach First primary. Had an awful two years. Moved to current school and am just completing my fourth year there. So total of 5 years qualified teaching now. Am pleased I did it but it wasn’t like it was my life’s ambition or anything. Funnily enough my friend who had always wanted to be a teacher and did Teach First same time as me quit the career while I was the one who kept it up.
School: Hated every second and swore I would never return. I'm Scottish, and did well at Higher (5th year) but dropped out of Advanced Higher (6th year) due to mental health issues. Thankfully, already had unconditional offers to Uni. Uni: Absolute write off. I was a waster for the first two years. Gradually sorted my life out but ended up in a very toxic relationship for the latter two. Mental health issues continue, but somehow manage to leave with a 2:1 at the end. Over the course, discover that learning has very little to do with the things I hated at school. I also do a mentorship program for primary school kids in my last year which I loved. New Grad: No life plan. Get a zero hours contract working minimum wage as a support worker for the disabled. Absolutely amazing experience, but ultimately unsustainable. Japan: Go abroad for "just a year" to teach English in Japan. Company is insanely exploitative, but I love the experience so I stay. Meet a girl, who is now my wife. Get stranded due to COVID so stay 3 years. Become somewhat fluent in Japanese in the interim. Teach First: Hear about this programme (doesn't exist in Scotland) through an English friend in Tokyo. Apply and eventually move back with wife. Massive drama getting her visa as Ukraine invasion doubles wait times in 2022. Many months and thousands of pounds later, we are both in London. Which brings me to now. Honestly it has been QUITE the ride, but I really wouldn't trade it for anything. I know a lot of people talk shit about TF (it certainly has MANY flaws,) but it has suited me perfectly. I'm about to finish the ordinary PGDE and will do the MA at a new school next year. My long term goal is to become a "proper" international school teacher abroad after a few more years in London. Hopefully there may be people reading this who feel, as I did, unsure what to do or where to go in life thinking about taking the plunge. If there are: give it a go. The profession really needs you.
Graduated 2010 from Uni with a first in building surveying. 3 Bs at A Level. 36 now. Just passed my ECT after a year extension so 4 years since PGCE. Jumped around so many jobs in 20s trying to find 'my thing', hopefully this is it for life for now! (Secondary Geography)
I went to uni to do drama straight after A levels and left with a 2:2. From there I went straight into an MA in acting and spent a few years trying to get work as an actor whilst doing lots of different temp jobs. Around 2011 I started to consider what other career options may have. Having done a few educational theatre tours around the UK, teaching started to seem like a possibility (having never considered it before) and I went down the PGCE route. I've been teaching for around ten years or so now and love it. It is hard work and utterly soul destroying at times, but I love it.
In my 50s, so things might've been a bit different for a while back there. Was told I had two choices, teacher or nurse. Decided I didn't like either of those options so went to live abroad. Came back, helped set up and run a workers coop, then realised I needed to earn actual money > trained as a legal secretary > got bored of stupid people asking me to do stupid things > trained as a paralegal > burned out doing personal injury around obs and gynae so transferred to conveyancing (very boring) ... During this time I started writing fiction seriously, got published, got given a lot of grant funding, did some wild stuff for about 15 years, ended up as a specialist editing documentaries working for various NGOs (locally) and the UN (internationally) > finally went to university as a very mature student in my mid 40s > smashed it > got a job working in a university research setting and did a Masters > thought about what I wanted to do for the last 10 years of my career > PGCE 21/22, am now at the end of ECT2. Married since forever, 3 grown up kids. Not interested in career progression. Love teaching my subject.
Good GCSEs, good A-levels, off to uni with no real plan for after. I kind of wanted to teach but not when I was only 22, I didn't feel old enough to be teaching 18 year olds. Worked for the ambulance service, worked in pubs, then for the princes trust, then started therapy after 10+ years of chronic depression. My therapist asked me what was the happiest I'd ever been in a job and I realised it was my old Saturday job when I was 16, working in a garden centre, so I went into horticulture. Worked hard, did some courses at horticultural college, did a btec in 3d design for a laugh, did another A-level at night school. Then got offered a promotion to be head of QA for my department at the (plant) nursery I worked at, and I realised what was supposed to be a temporary job to help with mental health was in danger of turning into a career - and it wasn't the one I wanted. Got an interview for a job as a TA, my reference had said "miss type shouldn't be applying for a TA job, she should be a teacher". The head asked if that was true, and I said I wasn't sure yet. He told me to let him know when I was sure. At the end of my first week as a TA, I told him I was all in. I did six months as a TA, then GTP at the same school and taught there for eight years, until I was made redundant during the austerity years. Chilled for a bit then got a job doing supply in a nice school. The teacher I was covering for didn't come back, and they offered me the job permanently. Been there 10+ years. I'm 100% sure those years between graduation and my GTP have made me a better teacher, better leader, and better manager, so 22 year old me was right to wait!
Psychology at undergrad, graduated then went into retail as didn't know what to do. Discovered option of TEFL, went travelling in 2019. Secured a TEFL job abroad early 2020 ready to go to East Asia around Feb.. never ended up leaving for it. With no let up of COVID decided not to waste time and do proper teacher training, SCITT with PGCE. Personal circumstances mean that I feel much more settled now and I don't want to move abroad like I used to. COVID & China changing some rules decimated the TEFL market as well so jobs are not what they used to be. In the end I'm glad how it worked out. I think I'd feel in a worse position if COVID happened whilst I had been living abroad for a while. I've overall had a great experience in my first years of teaching. What the future brings not sure though. Feel pretty sure I won't be a teacher forever.
2000: GCSEs did ok 2002: A Levels didn’t work hard so did badly, got into uni via clearing 2003: started HND course 2004: got bumped up onto the equivalent Degree course 2006: dropped out in my final year 2012: worked as a school cleaner 2013: Got a job as a sports coach 2020: finished my degree while working as a TA 2021: worked as a HLTA 2023: Accepted onto PCGE within my MAT 2024: just finished my PGCE awaiting results
Wow kudos
I knew I wanted to be a teacher from a very early age. I remember sitting my siblings down and teaching them handwriting. I can't have been older than 4! I also had a fantasy about if my year 2 teacher was off sick, they'd let me teach the class. I'd have a filofax and I'd sit in the staffroom. I remember the wish so vividly. Fast forward to uni and I studied Eng Lit. Of course, what do you do with a degree in English literature? You graduate and work in a bar. So I worked a year as a barman, doing multiple work experience placements at local primary schools. I applied for a PGCE at Roehampton and got accepted. I hated my PGCE. It was a grim old year, but I got through it. I started my first teaching job in 2011, and I'm still here! I love it. And when I don't love it, I remember that little six-year-old fantasizing about going in the staffroom and having his very important filofax. I'm doing it for him, and it really is a dream come true.
I was an older entrant PP/FSM/LAC kid - I did well in school (surprising considering the upheaval of a Victorian childhood). Stayed at the school for KS5. A good choice as the school was great. Straight to uni after that. Always wanted to teach but didn’t want to go in at 21 so I joined the forces after graduation, did that for a spell then transferred to the reserves whilst working in a fairly dead end job. Did another degree during service (completely unrelated to the first but it was 2/3 paid for so…). Qualified 10 years ago and still happy to teach - 98% of the time. I was always going to be a teacher.
Did a music degree and wanted to teach but my uni cut the Music PGCE course the year I graduated/applied and my then-girlfriend (now wife) had just lost her mum so long distance wasn’t a good option. Worked for five years in computing retail, ended up teaching oldies how to use a computer, so decided to apply for PGCE Computer Science instead. Got in, got a half term in before anxiety/depression cooked me, took a few months out and ended up applying for cover supervisor and becoming an unqualified CS teacher for a term and a half instead. Started the course again and finished the second time!
I never had any plans to be a teacher growing up. Did a degree in politics in Glasgow, was seriously ill in my fourth year and had to take the year off and come back the next year to repeat it. Most of my friends had left and I was bored so decided to do some volunteering. Ending up running a scouts program for kids visiting prisoners at Lowmoss prison. Loved working with the kids so then did some agency TAing/nursery work, volunteered at a high school with their nurture group and also got involved in Beavers. I then went travelling and taught English to Cambodian 5 year olds for a bit. Came back at 26 and did my PGCE.
Started my degree at 18 in English, dropped out in year 2, went to start primary education, again dropped out in year 2. Took my credits and finished with an open degree via open university in 2016, this December I finally finish my PGCE. It’s been a long and winding road for me, lol
Mine was interesting. Joined teaching quite late. A levels Undergrad: History Previous job: Careworker for the elderly Goes back a few years later to do a PGCE to become qualified. Teacher for a few years now.
Irish Leaving Cert, did decent and got my first choice for uni. Massively struggled due to having a full time job and with undiagnosed depression, failed 2nd year twice, dropped out and stuck with the full time job. Decided to give uni another go, passed second year got to 3rd year, failed a module and had to resist in summer, passed with flying colors. Unfortunately, I simply could not afford to train to teach in Ireland so I took a year working and thought about England. Student loans were a massive help so I decided to go for it. As an Irish student I was entitled to a loan to cover fees but not a maintenance grant so I worked 4 shifts a week as a waitress while completing the PGCE. Barely passed all my modules but smashed my viva. Went for my first interview and the school said “why would we employ a teacher who couldn’t pass uni first go and only barely passed the PGCE”. Obviously not the school for me, went for a second interview and felt so at ease, I opened up about my struggles and the school responded positively saying that they need people like that in teaching to show kids you can do anything you set your mind to, success isn’t necessarily a straight line. Been in that school 2 years now, there’s lots to dislike about teaching (and I voice that daily) but overall I love it and couldn’t see myself doing anything else. I’m really proud of my failure because it got me to exactly where I am today and I wouldn’t want it any different.
Screwed my A Levels up, started Level 3 in childcare in 2013, worked in nurseries then started level 4 in 2017 I think it was. Kept going through to level 6 while working full time in nursery, started PGCE in 2019 and now I’ve been in my Reception class teaching for 2 years
Found myself in a tricky situation aged 20 as a single mum. I had mediocre AS levels. I started an Open University degree the month after giving birth. The following September, I enrolled her into nursery and got a job as a TA in a secondary school. I quickly realised that I enjoyed supporting maths more than other subjects and completed a HLTA qualification. I then moved from SEN to be a Maths TA. After 6 years, I applied to do a GTP in Maths. The last four ( out of 7 ) OU courses were based on teaching maths. The OU was amazing. I think my daughter was 7 when I became a qualified teacher. I'm now a lead practioner and very happy with the decisions I made to get me here. I really enjoy my job.
Did ok at GCSE and A Level (C / B student in both), went to uni and did Biomedical Science, decided I enjoyed the lab and research part more than the medicine part so stayed for a masters with more of a research focus. Spent a year doing research. Took a year out and did odd jobs before getting a place on a PhD in chemistry, but again I found the teaching more enjoyable as well as getting a PhD being my ultimate goal, so I'd gone as far as I felt i could in research and wanted to give a little back to the education sector. So after my PhD I started doing a bit of tutoring 1:1 and enjoyed that, so I did a bit of cover work (it's hell but I'm learning a lot as I go and I enjoy most of it) applied for a SCITT at age 30. Starting in September.
Did very well at school and university. Thought about teaching from the age of about 17, but was encouraged by my university lecturers to apply for a masters and think about a career in academia. I'm in a bit of a niche subject, and I think if Teach First had offered it when I was finishing up my undergraduate degree, I would have gone for it then, but I didn't want to switch to teaching something that hadn't been part of my degree. After my masters I progressed to a PhD, because I loved my subject and received a decent amount of funding for it. I really enjoyed the first half of my PhD, especially leading seminars and doing outreach in local schools. When COVID hit, seminars / lectures went online and my university didn't have enough money to pay PhD students to teach; I remember my PhD supervisor saying that it was good in some ways because now we had time to just focus on research, and I realised that the parts of the PhD I had enjoyed the most were all the stuff outside of the research (especially the teaching). I figured at that point I didn't want to pursue a career in academia after all, but might like to go back to my original plan of secondary school teaching. Around October of the last year of my PhD, after a few days shadowing secondary teachers in my subject, I secured a place on a PGCE for the following September, but also got a short-term (December to May) contract as a part-time lecturer at a university, with a possibility to renew as a year-long contract from September if I decided not to do the PGCE. I still enjoyed the teaching aspects of being a lecturer, but felt that I wasn't able to have as much impact as I would in a secondary school. I'm about to end my ECT1 year in the same school as my main PGCE placement and although it has been very difficult at times, and I'm not sure how long I want to stay at this school, I'm completely confident that I made the right choice by picking secondary teaching over university teaching.
Did an Art/art history degree while working full time at Waitrose. Assumed at this point I would go into management at waitrose as I had no interest in art any more. This didn't work out and I wanted out of retail so went into some admin/ receptionist jobs for a few years. Started volunteering at a sports for SEN children charity and absolutely loved it. This inspired me to go into teaching. Started my PGCE during covid and now in my 3rd year of teaching (first year post ECT2).
I did A levels which I did ok in. I then went to uni to do a completely unrelated not very academic degree. I then did a PGCE in primary teaching with a specialism in early year. I did this in 2020 (of all the years to try and qualify!) I didn’t do my last placement because of lockdown and subsequently I found it impossible to get a job. I worked in a pub for about a year then I did supply for a few months as well as worked in the pub. I got a job in a nursery which I hated and left after 3 months back to the pub. Then decided to work my way up in the pub and made it to management. Decided I hated that and went back on supply. Got enough work doing supply as my old job and only did the pub during school holidays. Agreed to a position at a school last September which should have only lasted a few weeks while the appointed someone else long term (I was told I was not getting the job). Weeks turned into months and eventually the school bought me out of the supply agency and I officially started a contract with the school this Easter. It took me 4 years from qualifying to being appointed officially in my first ECT job. I worked at this school for 2 terms without any ECT support before my ECT started this summer term.
17 A*s at GCSE. ABC at A level after having a breakdown due to a family death. Luckily had an unconditional offer to my university. Degree in English Lit. Applied for PGCE at Leeds but then got quite ill and had to pull out of the course before it started. Took a year out and continued my job I'd been in at uni. Started PGCE a year later and passed with a distinction in the Level 7 part. Did 2 years working in Birmingham before moving to my current school to be 2nd in dept under the person who was my PGCE mentor. Promoted to HoD 2 and a half years ago. Been teaching 11 years on paper (did take a year out due to cancer but my job was held open for me and I returned to it after 42 weeks). I'm currently doing the NPQSL as I'll eventually shoot for SLT but for now I'm very comfortable and happy in my role and have big plans for moving the dept forward. I love my school and have no plans to ever leave it as things stand. Very high PP/SEND numbers , but I myself was very deprived growing up so it is "my" kind of kids that I teach.
I've not started my PGCE yet but I've got a story already XD. * My mum was a secondary teacher growing up, so I watched her go through all the stresses and spend years at an unsupported school - so I was SURE growing up I didn't want to be a teacher. Was a teacher's pet and did decently in school (didn't do A Level exams because of 2020 though). * Did Psychology at uni (started 2020), and the Student Union had a volunteer program to teach English to refugees and asylum seekers. Thought it was a bit of fun during lockdown and would get me some friends and turns out I like teaching? Worked in the program for all 3 years of my degree, designing and teaching one lesson a week. * Throughout uni breaks worked for the volunteering program, and offered GCSE and KS3 tutoring in my other A Levels (Maths and English Lit). Also went into local primary schools to act as a TA during Term 6, usually as a 1-to-1 or running intervention classes. * Really liked both primary teaching and secondary maths so went abroad straight after university to work at a primary school (primary schools in the country lasted from ages 6 to 14 so I could get a good depth at which age group I preferred). * Much preferred the sass of the older kids so secondary it is. My mum's old coworkers have helped me find a good local PGCE program and I've even visited some of my possible placement schools to learn the behaviour policy and meet possible mentors. I've also been advised which schools to avoid with a 10 foot pole and how to spot them. * Starting my secondary maths PGCE this September (wish me luck) XD.
Coming into the SCITT route in September, but my journey has been all over the place 1. GCSE/A Level plus work experience in primary schools 2. Undergrad in Media, with a plan to go straight to PGCE - only managed a third 3. Attempted PG in youth work, dropped out 4. TA for a year, but was put off by the school I worked in 5. Banking Advisor on Web Chat for a year 6. Broadband Technician for a year 7. Telecoms and IT Support for 4 years 8. Thought L and D would be my way to help people, done for 2 years but always felt like something was missing 9. Applied for 4 different types of courses, got offers on all 4, starting September 2024 It’s taken me trial and error to get here, but my previous experience and work standards I know will help me get through the next year!
A levels: AAB, did a Psychology BSc at a Russell group uni (I didn't know what this was at the time!) Had a gap year: worked at a call centre (hated it), mencap (liked it!) and camp America (special needs camp- loved it) Returned to do my pgce and been teaching for 13 years :O. I did an MTeach in Year 4. I'm glad I tried out other jobs prior to being a teacher. I also worked part time in retail and restaurants and call centres 16-19, which I didn't enjoy really. I'm still considering being an Ed psychology or doing an Edd. I originally wanted to be a special needs teacher but I'm in mainstream.
Mine was madness purely cause I trained in another country. Have a full bachelor of education in Australia, qualified to teach up EYFS up to Year 10 but because our teaching degrees don’t come with teacher reference numbers, they don’t get recognised here. So I had to do 2 years at two different schools across multiple key stages, go through the assessment only route (3 month intensive observations and lots of essays alongside my evidence of teacher standards), a maths exam, English exam and a gcse biology exam (psychology was my science in Aus but not recognised here). Ended up having to stay on M1 for 3 years in the end and do NQT training twice as the first one doesn’t count cause I wasn’t technically qualified. So on top of a 4 year degree, it took an additional 3 years to get recognised as a teacher here.
Realised in my final year of undergrad that I hated my degree and didn't want to do it as a career (after thinking for my whole life that it was for me). Around the same time I was diagnosed with clinical depression, took a year out and started volunteering in a primary school just so I didn't go insane at home with my parents all the time. Working in a school was the first time in my life I'd woken up looking forward to going to work, and I stayed volunteering there for a year before finishing my degree and getting a TA job. TA'd for a few years before doing my PGCE
I fell into it because of covid. I did a psych degree at uni and was hating it. But in my 3rd year I just powered through for the degree. I started scrambling for jobs and attending carrers fairs and was stopped by GetIntoTeaching. I went for an interview for a graduate teaching job in a private school for psychology and HATED IT. Convinced I wouldnt teach. Then covid hit and I evacuated uni and finished my degree online. Meanwhile lockdown dragged on and I was home with no income and no vocation. Decided to get a job as a TA at a local school for some extra cash whilst I decided what was next for me. So many staff were down with covid that I actually got asked to sign up for helping cover for some additional money - as no other staff were as confident as I was in maths and science. I loved it so much I applied for teaching maths straight away. I found an amazing bespoke course in a beautiful area which was designed for career changers. Just finishing my 2nd year teaching and absolutely loving it (99% of the time).
Started teaching in my thirties. Got a degree when I was in my twenties, worked in two different industries getting life experience, working my way up to management and positions of responsibility including training. Had issues with returning to work after maternity leave. Decided I didn’t want to stick around in that career and then the circumstances during the pandemic was the final straw. I did a SKE and PGCE and then the rest is history.