Are you not sure if becoming a teacher is the right job for you? Maybe you are thinking about going on a training course, but you just don’t know if you are cut out to go all the way. Either way, if you want to help yourself then this guide will tell you everything you need to know.
Academic Achievements
You need to have a degree if you want to become a teacher. If you want to teach at the secondary level, then you need to be both enthusiastic and passionate. If you would rather teach at a primary level, then you have to be able to cover a huge range of subjects, not to mention that you might need to pass various skill tests too. This will help you to get the best result out of your teaching position. If you want to do a degree in teaching then consider an online master’s degree in education.
Great Communication Skills
Great communication skills are essential if you want to give lessons that are engaging and compelling. At the end of the day though, you have to remember that your lessons are not just about the students. They are also about the parents and even your work colleagues as well. If you want to excel as a teacher, then you need to make sure that your written communication skills are on-point and that you are also able to deal with any issues that relate to the progress of your pupils in an effective way. If you aren’t able to do this then you may find that you are not able to be the best that you can be.
Great Organisation
There is a lot of admin work involved when you become a teacher. You will need to plan your lessons, track your pupil’s development and even be capable of staying on top of a very demanding workload. All of this can quickly become overwhelming if you’re not careful, so you have to make sure that you are able to really focus on what you need to do, the deadlines you have and how long each project is going to take. The better organisation you have, the more likely you’ll be able to succeed as a teacher.
Shouldering Responsibility
Teaching is emotionally demanding and intellectually demanding. You have to be capable of managing any behaviour that is challenging and you also need to keep up with any marking and paperwork too. On top of all that, you also need to try and have a caring approach to your pupils as well. At times, it will be hard to manage everything but at the same time, you need to remember that you are going to have a lot of support and that you are also going to have a lot of career satisfaction as well. As if that wasn’t enough, you also have the chance to make a positive impact on those you work with and even the local community too.
Willingness to Adapt
Flexibility is key when you want to work as a teacher. You have to get to grips with any new developments and you also need to try and learn the national curriculum and the introduction of new qualifications. This will require a lot of adjustment and you need to be able to commit to ongoing development too.
Self-Awareness
You have to be able to look back at various lessons and review what happened to work and what didn’t. This will help you to constantly improve and it will also help you to know how to carry on teaching your students well. If you want a job that will keep your level of interaction at a minimum then this might not be the career for you. You have to make sure that you have plenty of patience and that you are keen to work. You might think twice about teaching if you want a job that fits you in terms of a strict and defined working environment. After all, a lot of teachers might seem like they leave work at a certain time every day, but they probably end up working overtime far more than you realise.
University
Another thing that you need to do is think about whether you want to go to university or not. Teaching is a graduate profession and you can get into it from a huge range of degree backgrounds. You really don’t have to decide if it’s what you want to do by the time you leave school. You can start your degree as late or as early as you’d like and when you do, you will soon find that you are able to really reap the benefits.
