The day in the Life as a teacher

Every day you’ll get the chance to inspire young people and use your skills to give something back – making sure every pupil gets the same access to a quality education and the opportunity to succeed.
As most teachers will tell you, there’s no such thing as a ‘typical’ day at work. That’s because no two days are the same – you’re unlikely ever to be bored by a lack of variety. It’s also a career that offers great benefits, opportunities for you to use a wide range of skills and inspire students in the subject you love.
Make a difference and inspire the next generation
You may remember a truly brilliant teacher from school who made a real difference to your life. As a teacher you can use your knowledge and passion for your subject to help children unlock capabilities and talents that they didn’t even know they had. You’ll develop a wide range of transferable skills for yourself in the process, too.
In addition to planning and teaching a range of engaging lessons, you can indulge in your hobbies and interests as part of your work by getting involved in after-school clubs, trips or sport.
A career for the future
As well as job satisfaction, teaching also offers great employment prospects and job security:
- 94% of newly qualified teachers were employed in a teaching role within six months of completing training
as a good teacher, you’ll always be in demand - Once qualified, there are many chances for good teachers to climb the career ladder and find opportunities for employment. View some of the available vacancies on offer via the Department for Education’s new teacher vacancy service. This service is in development and lists jobs in some areas of England. It will be rolled out in phases to new areas, so check back regularly for new listings.
A competitive salary and great benefits
You will also earn a competitive salary and have access to a wealth of other benefits – from a generous pension to up to 13 weeks of holiday allowance. So you can look forward to a career that is both personally and financially rewarding.
Financial support while you train
There is plenty of financial support available during your teacher training – depending on the subject you want to teach. You could also access tuition fee and maintenance loans to help support you. Or you could earn a salary while you train on School Direct (salaried) course.
Career progression
Teacher training will set you up to succeed from the very beginning. The variety of opportunities available means you’re always learning as a teacher and adding to your range of professional skills. You’ll develop the talents to succeed in your career, and realise many professional and personal ambitions.
Leadership
Being a leader in a school could encompass a number of different roles, from taking charge of a year group or a particular key stage, all the way up to becoming a deputy or headteacher. In these areas you’ll have a large influence in the school, setting high standards and ensuring continuous improvement throughout the school.
There are also schemes such as the Future Leaders accelerated leadership programme, which offers opportunities to qualified teachers who are ready to lead challenging secondary schools and tackle educational disadvantage.
Focus on your subject
If you’re passionate about your subject area, you can pursue a career as a head of department or even as a leading practitioner. In these positions you’ll still have time in the classroom, but enjoy additional responsibilities – from training new teachers to acting as a leading authority on your subject within the school.
Pastoral care
If you’re particularly interested in ensuring the welfare of students throughout their education, a pastoral role might be for you. This can range from guiding a tutor group through school to becoming a head of year. You could also take on the role of a mentor for young people with special educational needs.
Teachers’ salaries
When you choose to become a teacher, you’ll be joining a profession that offers a competitive starting salary with plenty of opportunity for career progression. This means you’ll not only be making a difference, but you’ll be rewarded for your contributions with excellent opportunities to climb the career ladder and receive pay rises.
As a newly qualified teacher, you’ll begin on a salary of at least £23,720, or £29,664 in inner London. As you rise up the pay ranges, you could earn as much as £118,490 as a headteacher, in inner London.
Schools now have more freedom to develop their own pay policies to attract and retain the teachers that have the greatest impact on their pupils’ learning. So what you’re paid will be linked to performance and not length of service – meaning you can increase your salary faster than ever before.
Related Blogs
-
Mar 5, 2021
How to become a…
NEDs are vital to any organisation for several reasons, bringing specialist expertise and valuable insights and their independence from the..
-
Mar 1, 2021
Explore Sky: Diversity Insight…
Fancy ‘Springing into Tech’ with an insight week with the team that built the likes of Sky.com, Sky News, NOW..
-
Mar 1, 2021
Working in an Ad…
Often featured in Movies or TV series, top advertising agencies can be both glamorous and well paid. Being able to..
-
Feb 26, 2021
How About a Career…
With the global appetite for watching new movies on Netflix and other sources, at an all-time high, film distribution is..
-
Feb 25, 2021
Have you got the…
We cannot expect to compete with the likes of the late great Sir Captain Tom Moore; however, you could consider..
-
Feb 19, 2021
Do You Have Job…
Where for example should you look for the current vacancies….is it really worth going to job agencies…. are you writing..
-
Feb 18, 2021
Do You Use Your…
LinkedIn has a staggering 450 million members globally, so it has become a fantastic way for you to connect and..
-
Feb 18, 2021
No child’s life chances…
“Social work is about working out a way to make life better for a child in a difficult situation, using..
-
Feb 16, 2021
How to Choose the…
Even within a single career area, employers come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and they offer a diverse..
-
Feb 16, 2021
Using Social Media for…
In this day and age the Internet is an integral part of our lives. Some see it as detrimental to..
-
Feb 16, 2021
Six tips to deal…
The current pandemic has presented a unique set of challenges to university students across the country. Social distancing measures, self-isolation..
-
Feb 8, 2021
Here’s what the nation…
Online learning has become the new normal since last March, and since the most recent lockdown was announced, searches for..
-
Feb 8, 2021
“I just knew an…
When Karl Rouse found himself working as a forklift truck driver in his mid-twenties, he came to an important realisation:..
-
Feb 2, 2021
How to become a…
If you dislike talking in public you’re not alone; millions of people dislike standing in front of an audience. However,..
-
Feb 2, 2021
Leadership Tips to Get…
The shifting focus on diversity and inclusion has meant that racial inequality and systemic racism, has been brought to the..
-
Oct 22, 2020
10 Tips to Reinvent…
So it’s no wonder then that the current pandemic is leading to many people rethinking their careers. Maybe you’re on..
-
Jul 14, 2019
How to Prepare for…
The tests, which use assessment tools designed by psychologists, are designed to reveal the truth about candidates’ abilities or personality..
-
Jul 14, 2019
Know your rights as…
So you’ve been looking around for a while at jobs and have finally landed yourself a position. Starting a new..
-
Dec 17, 2018
Careers in Banking
For the majority of people, the visible side of the banking sector is that offered by high street bank branches...
-
Dec 17, 2018
Careers in Engineering
Engineering can be described as being concerned with everything that is built or produced. The number of areas in engineering..
-
Dec 14, 2018
Careers in Computing and…
Information technology (IT) is still evolving at a rapid rate. There are many different IT careers – it has been..
-
Jan 5, 2017
A GRADUATE ‘MUST HAVE’:…
Almost 80% of graduate recruiters consider work experience one of the most important factors on a graduate CV, ahead of..