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I am considering doing a PGCE in Art & Design. I would ideally like to teach at college level based in the North West. I currently run my own evening classes (various ages) and took a 4 month placement (AS level) the feedback has all been very positive. I have friends who teach who all seem to enjoy the job but say the paperwork/marking is a huge part of it. I do get good job satisfaction from mentoring people and pushing them to get good results.
There seem to be a few vacancies for art teachers but I don't have data on the amount of applicants so I don't know if there is much work upon qualifying. Any art teachers on here? Any advice?
Practicing qts tests, I'm rubbish at maths
If you want to work in further education then you don't need to get a PGCE first, they will normally take you on with the requirement to get a qualification whilst you are teaching - I did mine over 2 years at evening classes at the college where I worked with a discount in fees.
I'd check out the places you apply for carefully - there are lots of FE colleges which have a very bad reputation for management bullying, endless restructures and putting people on crappy contracts, if you're moving into it from somewhere else then be aware and check them out - The Manchester College stands out as a NW college which has a sub-optimal approach to it's staff , but there are others.
I managed to get a foot in the door of the local uni doing part time contract work, have a degree in 'Graphic Arts' but no pgce. After a few years working in both FE & HE I landed a position on the graphic design & illustration degrees. I'll be able to do the pgce in house and the cost will be covered. I actually started the course last year but due to circumstances I have postponed it. The guys I work with are all amazing lecturers and I feel I've learned more from them than any course will ever teach me though. I love my job. The feeling of having helped or had a positive effect on one student can really make you feel great.
Thanks for the feedback. Some good points to think on.
Keep your options open. There are far fewer colleges than there are schools, and so far fewer jobs in colleges available.
If you can't find a college looking for unqualified teachers then do the PGCE. You'll then have the option to work in a school or a college, then you'll at least hold the qualifications to work in either should the need arise.
It's worth noting that not all PGCE's are equal - mine is a post compulsory teaching one, and as such, universities think it's fine, colleges think it's fine, but schools won't employ me - however, the other way round - with a compulsory education level one, they will all accept it.
Doing a PGCE now in upper primary and it is hell!!
The teaching is awesome but the paperwork is never ending.
Glad i'm doing it though.
Mosey - that's one of my considerations at the moment. Need to think of ways to get 10 days work experience in while keeping hold of my current job (with little flexibility).
The OH did her PGCE a few years ago, now teaches chemistry and biology at a 6th form college, after recently moving from a secondary school.
It is very competitive to get into - one of my pals took 2 years to get a place, despite having hons, masters and work experience!
Again thanks for the feedback.
I have lots of 1-2-1 experience from private tutoring and also groups from my evening classes, plus the placement I did. The sticking point for me is starting to look like the qts test in maths, I failed miserably at the practice online test. I need to work on it, it would be a shame if I couldn't get started due to this. One of the people I teach is an ex grammar school headmistress who said I would make a great teacher and has suggested i look at private schools were a PGCE is not required. I also teach another teacher (rougher city centre school) who has been positive about my teaching methods. I really want to move my career in this direction and get loads of satisfaction from teaching others. I looked at 'assistant' jobs and had an interview but I was deemed over qualified by the HR dept & may not stick around long term.
QTS is an absolute ball ache and it has changed now that if you fail it you can't take it again for two years.
Hopefully hard work will get me through the QTS.
I'm glad I'm not the only one 🙂 the maths bit is a real sticking point, by the time I have decided what to do with the information I've extracted from the question the next one is being asked.
Bump
I managed to avoid all the maths testing in my Further Education PGCE by blagging it (I'm pretty good at maths and teach quite complex acoustics, but didn't want to bother with the testing) so you might find that it's easier to get around it in FE - it's worth noting that some Academy/Free schools might well take people without formal teaching qualifications as well.
I think I would advise doing a qualification either way, whilst mine wasn't all that, and I loathed doing it, I did learn quite a lot from it.
Interesting Bokonon, when did you start your teaching? It seems now everywhere asks for the qts tests.
You can't pass your PGCE without completing the QTS now.
As above - that depends on which PGCE you take, FE ones do not lead to QTS status and as such you don't need to do the QTS testing.
I took my PGCE in 2006, but the situation has changed very little qualifications wise in FE since.
As an update, i did a few days the last couple of days in a secondary school. I spent most of my time shouting and looking for students work, a very different world to others schools i have worked in. talking to other NQT teachers there and PGCE'ers it seems the bar has been raised with entry requirments this last year.