Spending time experiencing the reality of teaching is a must for helping you decide if it’s the right career for you.
Several routes will give you experience of teaching in schools, depending on how much time you can spare. There are even some paid options.
Short-term placements and work shadowing
The first and easiest step is to arrange to spend time in a school, watching classroom teaching, and speaking to teachers about their role. Typically this will be for a day or two, but in some circumstances, you may be able to request a placement for a week or longer. Short placements are ideal if you aren’t sure whether you’d prefer to train for primary or secondary, or if you’re at the very early stages of considering a career in teaching.
Use the Get School Experience website to find a placement, or contact your local school directly. If you’re at university, your careers service may be able to help you with arranging placements with nearby schools.
Top tip: you can also search online for “lesson observation videos” “day in the life of a teacher” or “teach like a champion”. Watching videos is not as useful as time in a school, but it’s helpful as an extra research tool.
Volunteering
Regular volunteering is a good way to learn whether you enjoy spending time with children and supporting their development. You could help with after-school clubs, volunteer with organisations such as the Scouts or the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award or get involved in sports groups.
Holiday clubs
If regular volunteering is difficult for you, you could work as a volunteer (or as a paid helper) at a holiday club for a week or more. Search for “holiday club jobs near me” to explore options. As with volunteering, this won’t give you time in the classroom – but it’s still valuable experience and can help to strengthen your teacher training application.
Paid internships
There are a number of paid internship schemes available in June and July each year, which typically last for around three weeks and pay at least £300 per week. They may be limited to certain subjects, but they are an excellent option if you’d like a more immersive experience.
Work as a teaching assistant
If you’re not ready to commit to teacher training, you could consider working as a teaching assistant, also known as a TA. Working as a teaching assistant will give you practical experience in the classroom, supporting teachers and working with students, and you can complete training and gain qualifications while you work.
Join the Future
Future Teachers is a one-year programme that allows you to build your experience in the classroom – and undertake free training - while being paid a salary to work as a cover supervisor. After successful completion of the programme, you may also be eligible for a salaried teaching traineeship. This is an excellent route if you need to maintain an income while you train.
However you choose to gain experience in teaching, you can make the most of it by:
- Asking questions
- Being engaged and involved, and volunteering to help at every opportunity
- Thinking about what you have seen, and reflecting on it
Teaching is one of the most rewarding careers there is, and you should use your work experience to find out if it’s right for you.