Teaching in the UK.

 Hey guys! Long time no speak. I have a hypothetical question. Visas etc. aside, if I were to move to the UK with my degree in secondary education:history/social studies, would I only be able to teach at a secondary level? Is it possible that if jobs in that particular area were scarce, I could teach younger students? Thanks! Hope everyone is doing well. xx

Hey guys! Long time no speak. I have a hypothetical question. Visas etc. aside, if I were to move to the UK with my degree in secondary education:history/social studies, would I only be able to teach at a secondary level? Is it possible that if jobs in that particular area were scarce, I could teach younger students? Thanks! Hope everyone is doing well. xx

The hardest part for you would be to make sure you have QTS. Do you hold a full teaching qualification in your state? Or are you in any sort of probationary period? You would need to get NARIC to equivocate your qualifications and check with the DfE how your certification would carry.

Once you have full QTS, you are qualified to do any teaching - you would just need to convince a school to hire you.

Now the getting the job part: You presumably have no UK teaching experience? Most schools would not go anywhere near you. You would be a total unknown (and better the devil you know). There are currently a glut of newly trained and cheap teachers here. These are young people willing to put up with pretty terrible working conditions and hours and capricious headteachers and gov't minsters that subscribe to the latest 'trendy' initiatives. Primary, I hear, is particularly able to be picky about applicants. Education is going through a pretty major upheaval at the moment. If I weren't already in it, I wouldn't start now.

And all of this ignores the visa requirements... Sorry - it is pretty bleak.

Are you already settled in the UK? A few friends of my husband's are teachers in Manchester, and they say there is a dire need for teachers right now. They've got gym teachers teaching English, its so bad. This website should help you out: http://ecctis.co.uk/naric/Individuals/Teaching%20in%20the%20UK.aspx


I don't think it would be impossible for you to teach - especially since you have a degree in it. But since you have not taught or gone to school in the UK education system - which is confusingly different from the US system - you may have to go through one of their teacher training programs. Generally, I think you should anyway just because it is so different. Check out the website and contact people to ask questions.

I doubt that a primary school would look at you if you are not primary trained. There used to be conversion courses for secondary level qualified teachers, that might be something worth looking into?

I was a preschool special education teacher in the US.  Before I came over I had my degrees (both BS/MS) confirmed with NARIC and applied for QTS.  Apparently, yes, I can teach anything I want.  It was pretty easy to do while still in the States.  Once I moved over I started looking for jobs.  I had heard that it would be difficult to find a position as there were up to 100 candidates for every position.  I mainly looked on my county council website for vacancies.  I applied for 3 teaching and 1 aide position.  I got an offer with the second school I applied for as a teacher.  It's not impossible for Americans to find work, though the ease at which I found one may not be typical.  I actually think it was kind of a plus my being American at this particular school.  Just something to be aware of; they do not take your US teaching experience OR higher degrees into consideration for pay.  You will start at the bottom like other newly qualified applicants because they regard you as a newbie in the UK.  Best of luck!!!

Do you have a teaching license? How long have you been teaching on it? If you are from a state that issues some sort of initial license then the UK will likely NOT accept it. My husband was still on his initial first 5 years of teaching  with a license for K-12 special ed.from Ohio. The UK claimed that this was not a full license and that he was still "in training" (despite numerous letters from Ohio stating that it was a fully qualified teaching license). He ended up doing a program called assessment only route here in the uk to get QTS. It was a pain, but he does now have a teaching job.