What teacher training route did you choose and why?

Katie LiddellI have many friends and family members that have gone into teaching, and so I know some of what I should expect. Last year, my best friend chose to do the Teach First route, but she said that she did not enjoy the long periods of time at university and so she wouldn’t recommend doing this route. Our other friend who also did her PGCE last year did the School Direct route. She said that she enjoyed this more, as she always knew what school she was in, and there was not too much time that was spent sat in lectures at University. However, the key difference that I didn’t really realise when applying, was that there is a big difference between Primary, which they both trained for, and Secondary, which is what I wanted to do. 

I chose to take the school direct route for my teacher training. I interviewed at three schools, and the one that I got an offer from was my favourite out of the three. The maths department seemed lovely and it felt like they were prepared to help me at any time. I was really happy with the school I had chosen and by taking this route it meant that I didn’t have to worry about what to expect when I finally found out which school I was meant to be in. 

What I didn’t realise until I got to university was that there is a third option that you can take, which is straight through the university. Most of the people on my course have chosen to do it this way; I was shocked to find out there was only one other school direct person on my course. This was especially weird this week when everyone was getting excited to find out which school they are in, but I stand by my choice and I am really excited to get into my school in November! 

By Katie Liddell