I want a career change

You don’t need prior teaching experience to work in Further Education. A move into FE is a great opportunity to use the knowledge you’ve gained in your career so far in a completely different role.

Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses have been designed to enable FE institutions and schools to recruit the best candidates for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) programmes. If you can demonstrate the right skills, aptitude and attitude to teach, an SKE is a great way to develop relevant knowledge.

If your skills are relevant to any of the following subjects, you could take an SKE course:

• Maths or primary maths
• Physics, chemistry or biology
• Languages
• Computing
• Geography
• English
• Religious education
• Design and technology

Shortage subjects

As a result of the government's push to improve post-16 numeracy and literacy skills among the population, FE English teachers have never been in higher demand. Therefore, it is an ideal time to take the plunge if you are planning on a career change to teaching English. Shortage subjects are by their nature crying out for FE teachers. Aside from maths and English, these subjects include physics, modern languages and computing.

Should I consider changing careers to become an FE teacher?

Examples of where general industry work experience and teaching overlap are:

• You may have worked as a journalist, copywriter or editor and consider becoming an English teacher. An English degree is also highly desirable.
• You may have worked as a manager or in retail or have run your own business and are considering becoming a business studies teacher.
• You may have qualified and worked as a chef or in a kitchen, or run your own catering business and consider becoming a catering teacher.

It’s also common to move into FE from other people-focused careers, such as youth work or coaching. Making the move into FE can be hugely rewarding, both in terms of flexibility and job satisfaction.