With secondary school teachers in the key subjects of Welsh,
science and maths being particularly in demand, there are more
ways than ever to begin a journey into teaching.
This includes a salaried route, which enables trainee teachers to
work at a school and qualify at the same time.
With a teacher's salary currently starting at £32,400 and
reaching up to £140,600 for a headteacher it's a great time to be
a teacher in Wales.
Initial Teacher Education (ITE) courses are available at providers across
Wales.
Four ways to get into teaching:
Salaried Route
This route is a two-year PGCE course taking place around duties
within the school, with a paid salary. Costs are covered by
a training
grant from the Welsh Government.
At Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy in Llanrwst, six teachers are currently
working at the school and training to be teachers at the same
time.
As well as enabling the teachers themselves to take a change of
career, the scheme is helping to solve recruitment issues.
Steffan, one of the PGCE students moved from London, where he was
working in financial recruitment, back to Wales to be with his
family and start his teaching career.
He said: “After researching my options, the salaried route was
perfect for me. It allowed me to carry on earning a salary, gain
valuable experience of working in a school, and ultimately become
a teacher as well.
“I'm part of a fantastic community at the school and at the Open
University. Whilst all the work is online you still feel like
part of the University community. I communicate with people
across all of Wales who do the course as well.”
Owain Gethin Davies, Headteacher at Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy said:
“The salaried route scheme has enabled us to recruit the best
teachers and build a workforce for the future, especially in key
subjects such as Maths or Welsh. In a rural area teacher
recruitment can be an issue.
“But thanks to this Welsh Government scheme we now are training a
team of six student teachers, all with different skills and from
varied backgrounds, who are now gaining valuable experience both
teaching and in other elements of secondary school day-to-day
work.”
Cabinet Secretary for Education said:
“Having so many routes into teaching is enabling us to recruit
the workforce we need both now and, in the future, ensuring we
support learners to reach their potential and continue to raise
standards.
“I am determined to ensure we are doing everything we can to
attract high quality teachers to the profession in Wales,
especially in our secondary schools.
“It is heartening to see teachers joining our education workforce
through the salaried route, enriching not only their own lives
through a career in teaching but also contributing to an
education system that Wales is proud of.”
For those not currently working in a school, it is still possible
to apply for the salaried route, to teach one of the secondary
shortage subjects.
Sponsorship from a secondary school is necessary for this route,
but help is available from the Open University.
Full-time PGCE
The full-time postgraduate certificate in education
(PGCE) is available for primary and secondary level and
takes one year to complete. An honours degree is needed.
It can be self-funded or student loan and part-time maintenance
grants may be available to help with costs.
Part-time PGCE
The part time PGCE is available for primary and secondary level
and takes two years to complete. An honours degree is needed.
It is an ideal way to study the PGCE around job or other
commitments. It can be self-funded or student loan and part-time
maintenance grants may be available to help with costs.
Full-time undergraduate degree course
A three-year course available for primary level.
Incentives
Incentives for postgraduate study are available up to £25,000,
for those not on the salaried route.
These are the Priority Subject
Incentive, the Minority Ethnic
Incentive, and a Welsh language incentive the Iaith Athrawon Yfory.
For more information about routes into teaching visit: www.educators.wales/teacher
Notes to editors
Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes are offered by several
partnerships across Wales:
