A teaching career in the schools of today provides the challenge and opportunity of interacting with young people. The profession provides a range of job opportunities, good promotion prospects, a reasonable salary system and clear career structures.

Further details of possible career paths and job prospects, together with more background on teaching as a profession, are provided in the leaflet, 'Expanding horizons: careers in teaching for Geoscience Graduates'. This is available in your University Careers Office or from the Head or Careers Officer of your Geoscience Department. It is also provided free by the Geological Society and the Earth Science Teachers Association by telephoning Burlington House in London on 0207 434 9944.


 

Teacher Education

There are several ways in which you could use your degree in Geology, Geoscience or Earth Science, as the basis of a teaching career in schools. All involve taking a
Post/Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). Details on applying for a PGCE course are provided below.

No PGCE courses in the country provide training in the teaching of Geology alone, since the possibilities of gaining a first teaching post as a Geology teacher are very small.
Thus you must offer a subject area other than Geology as your main teaching subject.  Possibilities for teaching Geology as a specialist may come later in your career.

The options are:

·         Become a primary/middle school teacher by taking a PGCE in Primary Education provided at many Teacher Education institutions in the UK.
A £4 000 Training Bursary is available.

 

·         Become a Secondary school Science teacher by taking a PGCE in Secondary Education, specialising in Science; these courses are provided at many
Teacher Education institutions in the UK. Most require two Science subjects at 'A' level or their equivalent. All school Science courses include an element
of Earth Science. As Secondary Science is a shortage subject there is a £9 000 Training Bursary (tax-free) available to support you during your training and
you will receive a further £5 000 (before tax) as you begin your second year of teaching (a “Golden Hello”).

 

·         Become a Secondary school Science teacher with a specialism in Earth Science/Geology teaching by taking a one- year   PGCE in Secondary Education.
Such specialist courses are provided by only two institutions in the UK: Bath and Keele Universities. The courses cover the teaching of Geology at GCSE
and AS/ A2 levels as well as broad balanced Science teaching. They require two Science subjects at 'A' level or their equivalent. As for other Secondary
Science courses, the £9 000 Training Bursary (tax-free) and £5 000 (before tax) “Golden Hello” support package is available.

 

·         If you want to become a Science teacher with a specialism in Earth Science /Geology teaching but do not have two Science subjects at 'A' level or their equivalent,
apply for the two year PGCE Science conversion course at Keele University which provides academic teaching in the 'weakness' Science areas as well as
preparation for teaching Secondary Science and GCSE and 'A'/'AS' level Geology. The £9 000 Training Bursary is available in the second year of the two-year
conversion course. By following a ‘specialist’ pathway of Chemistry or Physics, Geology students will be eligible for a £7 000 training bursary in the first year
of the course as well.

·         Become a Secondary school teacher in Geography by taking a PGCE in Secondary Education, specialising in Geography, provided at many Teacher Education
institutions in the UK. Most courses require that at least half  your degree is in Geography. Some institutions have lecturers in Geography Education who have
an interest in Geology (eg. Oxford, Swansea).  A £6 000 Training Bursary is available.

Many of the routes described above are not able to provide school placementswhere Geology teaching experience is possible.


 

Further information on all these courses is available by contacting the institutions concerned.  Some institutions provide course details on the internet.

All applications for PGCE courses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are made through the Graduate Teacher Training Registry (GTTR), Tel. 01242 223707,
and in Scotland are through TEACH, Tel. 0131 558 6170.