Working in education can be a thrilling and richly rewarding experience. You’ll get the opportunity to shape the skills of the next generation, sparking their imagination, boosting their confidence, and helping them to become the best that they can be.
In the modern world, where there seems to be a general assumption that any of us are free to move hundreds of miles at a moment’s notice, it can be challenging to build a career in your local area. If you love Cheshire and really want to improve the prospects of children living right here, what can you do to get into education locally?
Studying to become a teacher
There are three main routes into teacher training:
• Studying from scratch, either in a school or at a university.
• Taking a postgraduate course in teaching.
• Building on your professional skills with a teaching qualification.
These different approaches make it possible to start training from wherever you are in life. You could look for a training place in a local school or travel a little further afield to get a degree, or you could study part-time at a local college whilst working in a job that has given you useful experience. The latter approach is particularly good for people who want to teach career-focused subjects such as woodwork or business.
Finding a teaching job
Once you’ve graduated, you can apply for a placement, which might involve going further afield, or you can look around for a job opportunity in a local school. Some people choose to begin as a supply teacher, which means that it’s easier to get some work immediately and you can network as you go, making friends in different schools so that you’ll be well placed to apply for jobs when they become available.
Frontline alternatives to teaching
When you’re looking for work opportunities, it helps to look beyond the obvious. You may find that developing a speciality improves your prospects and brings rewards of its own. For instance, there are always opportunities available for special needs teachers who can work one-on-one with children, for mentors to help children facing other kinds of challenges, and for people who can teach English as a foreign language either to children or to adults. You could also consider private tutoring work.
Education administration careers
As well as tutoring and working in classrooms, there are many opportunities for people with an interest in education to work behind the scene. Local councils and universities, such as Bolton University, are always looking for administrators who actually understand how the education system works. Museums and art galleries also employ people with skills of this sort to help them communicate with the public and promote understanding of their collections.
Whichever area you choose to work in, Cheshire has some great opportunities for educators, so you won’t need to choose between your community and your vocation. You’ll have the chance to give something back to the community you love.
