With many teachers leaving the industry in the first year, the UK is calling out for people to start training to work in schools as teachers. Some schools are having to rely heavily on teaching assistants to spend a significant period of time teaching the class on their own rather than actually assisting the teacher, which is not ideal.

If you fancy a change in career and are up for a challenge, then why not train to be a teacher. I think the main issue is people going in to teaching not fully aware of what it entails and the amount of hours you need to out in. Too many people comment on how teachers have it easy, finishing work at 3.30pm and with long school holidays, but don’t see the early mornings and late finishes plus weekend work that goes on behind closed doors.

If you are not sure if teaching is for you, you could volunteer to be a teaching assistant for a few weeks or months, to get more of a true picture of what you will be doing.

Teacher agencies have received some bad press over the last few months with many of them being branded as a money grabbing and not treating the teachers on their register fairly. It has to be said, that although there are some teaching agencies out there like that (as within any industry) not all of them are, but it does confirm the importance of shopping around.

A good teaching agency will find you work that is in your selected location quickly. They often already work with a number of schools and have many staff that they send out on a daily basis to cover supply teaching jobs.

Some agencies also offer a service to find permanent teaching jobs for people and often they will even assist with the initially interview process. Most good teaching agencies will not only find their teachers work but will also offer them support in terms of legal advice and stress management advice. They sometimes even have a bank of information that you can access to find ideas for lessons or lesson materials.

These days there is so much pressure to chose the correct GCSE and A Level subjects that some students find the whole process very daunting, I know I did.

You may feel like you need to have a good idea of what career path you wish to take from an early age and the subjects you chose at 15 will decide the job you will have for the rest of your life.

This is not always the case and regardless of how old you are, most of the time you can take a total change in jobs.

You my find it slightly harder to return to studying when you are older as you may have more responsibilities like a family or financial commitments and often as an adult you will have to pay for all or most of your further education. This being said, there are sometimes other ways round a change in career such as on the job training or evening studies that will allow you to progress in a career without having to worry about the issues above.

When it comes to teaching, you do not have to train differently to teach different aged pupils. Regardless of whether you teach secondary school children or a reception class, the degree is the same, it is your teaching style that needs to change.

It is totally different teaching classes of different age ranges and you must be able to adapt accordingly to suit the requirements of each class as and when it is needed. If you are a supply teacher, you may go from teaching five year olds to teaching fifteen year olds within a few days. The planning of work and how you actually teach subjects will vary greatly.

Often in a class with younger pupils in, the ability varies greatly so you may need to split the class in to groups and give them each a slightly different task according to ability. Normally in secondary school the classes have already been split up in to sets.

Teaching is quite a popular job. There are two sides to teaching, as with many jobs. It is often very challenging but also immensely rewarding at times too.

If you like the satisfaction of being able to teach a child or adult a new subject or topic, then teaching may well be suited to you. If you are not too sure about teaching children, you could go down the route of looking for a job that requires adult learning.

To teach children and sometime adults of all ages and subjects, you will often find that the degree and courses that you need to do are the same. You may have to do a teaching degree and then a further degree if you want to specialise in a certain area.

A teaching job is often different every day depending on where and who you are teaching and the subjects you need to cover. There will be challenges along the way but also some very rewarding times that you will take with you throughout your career.

Summers on its way and the weather is already picking up. With this year set to be one of the best summers for years, it makes sense to see how you can involve summer activities in to your learning plan.To make summer learning an enjoyable experience for your pupils, we have suggested a few activities below that you may like to try.

Outdoor exploration – Design a lesson where the children can explore the wildlife and natural surroundings.  If you have a pond nearby, take a net to the pound and pour out the contents in to a tray of water. Have some worksheets handy for the children to record what they have found.

Arts and Crafts – Simply collecting up leaves and sticks etc and getting the pupils to make a collage using the materials they have found. You could also allow them to draw pictures using pavement chalks on the concrete play areas that simply wash away with the rain.

Teaching is one of the most common professions in the UK. While a teaching career presents numerable advantages and opportunities, supply teaching has a number of benefits apart from the ones in a more permanent position. Unlike a normal teaching career, supply teaching presents a greater degree of flexibility in your working hours, as well as the time when you are allowed to take holiday. Supply teaching also means that you won’t be tied down to a specific school, or subject, which can be good. A supply teacher doesn’t have nearly as much paperwork, or targets, because of this, meaning that you can dedicate more of your working hours to educating our youth. Finding work as a supply teacher can be difficult, especially when you don’t have a permanent position with a school. During lull periods, you have an opportunity to supplement your official work with some tutoring work.