Hello again everyone.........
Just wanted to see if anyone could help me, i will be finishing my music degree at Uni in June next year and would very much like to go into teaching in colleges (teaching a level music obviously), i dont want to teach in secondary schools, or primary. I simply want to go into teaching at colleges, i was just waondering if anyone could advise me as to what other qualifications i might need alongside my degree. I am aware of the PGCE course but i understand thats only needed for teaching in secondary and primary. Are there other qualifications i need to do in terms of teacher training.
Any help would be most appreciated.

Debs x

Where do you wanna apply as a college music teacher?! Usually, they have different qualifications in accepting a teacher. It would be best to ask the school about their qualifications..

The music teacher at my son's college didn't have a teaching qualification and it showed - the AS results were dreadful. They have had to get someone else in to sort everything out so that they can get their A2s to a reasonable standard. I believe it is not always required to have a teaching qualification in colleges but if you really want to teach, a PGCE is the best way forward. You will need to do some teaching practices in schools obviously but it is then up to you where you will apply for a job afterwards. You will have a great choice with a PGCE under your belt.

Yeah i woudl definitly like to get some sort of qualification under my belt but i dont think they are always necessary, ive tutored several people through their a level music as their teachers were not up to scratch and both achevied veyr high results. So i think the teaching qualifications arent always necesssary. I would like to study one though, i dont think a PGCE will be any good though as this is only for primary and secondary teaching, im just trying to find other ones which are relevant for Further Education.

Deborah, it all depends on: how much you want to be paid; how great a chance you want of being short-listed for interview; whether you are prepared to consider FE colleges.

Salaries paid by 6th form colleges are based on those paid to school teachers. Salaraies paid to FE college lecturers are up to 30% less. 6th form colleges will state that a teaching qualification is an 'essential' requirement; when prepared to waive this, they will pay you as an unqualified teacher i.e. roughly two thirds of a qualified one. FE colleges are even more flexible still and pay even less to unqualified teachers.

In addition, FE posts are usually in pop, rock or 'light' music. 6th form college posts are usually part-time. Mostly these days, they look for staff able to teach music technology as well.

30 years ago, I bitterly resented the year I 'wasted' taking my PGCE. It really came into its own though, when I won a half-time post as head of music in a 6th form college. The quali paid for itself hundreds of times over.

Hope this helps

Steve

I'd add to Steve's post by saying that it's becoming impossible to get a job in an FE college without agreeing to undertake on-the-job teacher training. This is down to the Government tightening up on FE teacher qualifications.

You might consider a part-time post-compulsory certificate. I did mine in 2 years part-time at the local FE college, where I managed to get a job teaching Psychology so I could fulfil the requirement for a number of class-teaching hours. Some universities run a PGCE designed for the post-compulsury (post-16) sector. It's the only option for those of us wanting to teach a non-school subject like Psychology or Sociology.

If you look at the website for your local FE college you can get full details.

Thank you so much everyone that really helps.