You’re coming to the end of your university course and starting to think about Life After Graduation. But the idea of a routine 9-to-5 job, sitting behind a desk and glued to your emails, sends a shiver down your spine. Surely there’s an alternative?

If that all sounds familiar, you should definitely consider teaching.

As a teacher, you get to make a difference in the lives of hundreds of young people every single day. If you’re looking for a challenge, a career that pushes you to grow and develop whilst rewarding and inspiring you, read on...

Not just a job, but a career

For many people, teaching is more than a job – it’s a career. You can progress quickly – many of our graduates are already in middle or senior leadership positions within five years of qualifying. There are so many directions you can develop in: from subject specialist, to head of year, pastoral care and senior leadership, as well as roles in the wider education sector. Training to teach is just the first step.

Teaching is a career that allows you to keep growing. Specialist subject courses help you continue to build your knowledge, middle and senior leadership training supports you as your responsibility grows, and there are opportunities to study for Master’s-level qualifications and beyond. At United Learning, we also have a dedicated CPD programme to help you grow at every stage of your career.

There is also scope to work in a range of environments. Every school is different: an inner-city academy is very different to a rural grammar school, or an independent school. What every school has in common is the drive and ambition to improve the lives of every pupil in their care.

Where to start

If you're seriously considering teaching, get in touch with a local school and ask if you can spend some time volunteering. See if you can spend time in a range of different environments to get a really strong understanding of what it's like to work in a school. Find a United Learning school near you

You’ll also need to start doing some research, as there are multiple postgraduate routes to becoming a teacher! Here’s a couple of things to think about:

School-led vs university-led

Teacher training programmes can broadly be separated into two camps – school-led and university-led. On school-led courses (such as United Teaching), you could be working in a school from day one, learning on the job and gaining plenty of hands-on experience along the way. University-led courses, on the other hand, focus on teaching you the theory of teaching first, before sending you out to school placements.

Salaried vs non-salaried

Some courses give you the option of earning a salary while you train, rather than applying for a bursary or scholarship. This is usually in cases where you’ve got plenty of work experience, and they’re ideal if you’ve already built up a relationship with a school. On the other hand, sometimes the non-salaried route can make more sense financially, depending on the bursaries and scholarships available. Generally, you'll also build up your timetabled hours more gradually on the non-salaried route, whereas the salaried route usually begins with more teaching hours from the beginning. At United Teaching, both salaried and non-salaried routes are available – you can find out more here.

To start with, take a look at our candidate requirements to see if you're eligible to apply.