You need to get at least grade C in English, maths and science at GCSE level. A Levels are often the requested route by universities, but some teaching degree courses accept students with qualifications such as a Btec in childcare. Check different universities’ requirements. Once you have done either A levels or grade equivalent you go to university where you do a degree in primary education with QTS (Qualified Teacher Status). Some of these teach you a bit about all primary school subjects, and you do approximately 2 teaching practices each year for 3 or 4 years, and some offer you a specialism, so if you are particularly good at one subject you can study that to a higher level. If you would rather do a degree in one subject you can do that first, in pretty much any subject you like, and then you apply to do a one year course called a PGCE, which is like a primary education degree but compacted into one year. This also involves teaching practices, where you have to plan lessons, carry them out, mark work, evaluate your teaching, set yourself and your pupils targets, etc. There is also something called the GTP, or Graduate Teacher Programme, which you need a degree to do, and involves training while working in one specific school. I believe you apply to the local education authority for this, wheres with PGCEs and degrees that give QTS you apply to universities via UCAS. Whichever training route you go down, once you are trained you are not fully qualified until you have carried out your first 3 terms of teaching. I hope this helped. I did a PGCE, and it was very stressful. A word of warning, almost everyone I was on the course with had a bad experience during teaching practice because of unsupportive class teachers. No matter how hard you try, you can’t please some of them! You just have to jump through hoops and look forward to getting your own class at the end of it all!

For more information about the routes into teaching look on the Teacher Training Agency website.

You need to get a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education or Early Childhood Education, pass your state boards, and then apply for a job and get hired!