C.A

Pursuing a job in education is popular with many people who are leaving university due to the number of benefits that these jobs can offer and the desire to work in the public sector. Teaching roles, such as teaching assistant jobs, can provide work that is both challenging and rewarding and many people who end up working in the field of education find it very hard to leave.

One of the many attractive benefits of working in education are the long holidays that we associate teachers with; many of us may know a teacher and can often feel envious when they declare that they are enjoying their extended summer break. The perks of the holidays should not tempt you to become a teacher unless you are very sure that it is the profession for you. Many people value the effect that their job in education has on their life as they feel a continual sense of well being at helping children to develop and grow in to young adults.

Getting in to education normally requires specialist training, although students who have left university with a degree are fast tracked somewhat and usually only need to complete an additional year of training in order to become qualified. The course that you will need to take is the PGCE and people who do not have a degree can still choose to train to become a teacher but will need to do an extended course.

Things to consider

It can be easy to be drawn to teaching jobs or teaching assistant jobs due to the good starting salary and the number of holidays that you get to use in a year but there are other factors to consider before you make the commitment to pursue a job in education.

Firstly, the daily hours can be quite long and do involve extra work in your own time at home. Becoming a teacher involves far more than just the work that you do in the day as there are parent evenings to consider, and many other school activities outside of hours that you will be expected to attend. Part of being a teacher is developing innovative attention grabbing lessons that are designed to inspire your students and maintain their interest for the duration of the lesson. A large part of this lesson planning will need to be done outside of your daily working hours and there are many evenings and weekends that will be spent marking assignments from your students and providing feedback to them. Most people in the profession find that the benefits that the job brings and the feeling of accomplishment far outweighs any negative side effects.