When you teach biology, you’ll be responsible for introducing students to all manner of significant processes, from the human body to the natural world. You’ll be setting them up to succeed in a diverse range of important careers.

As a trainee biology teacher, you’ll learn the skills to plan and deliver engaging lessons that inspire the best results from your pupils. You’ll be assisted by a team of mentors and tutors, helping you become a confident and inspiring teacher.

At the end of successfully completing teacher training, you’ll gain qualified teacher status (QTS), which is needed to teach as a qualified teacher in England.  Additionally, all university-led courses will offer a postgraduate qualification, usually a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE), and so do most school-led courses - you can check if a course provides a PGCE on UCAS Teacher Training.

On top of the job security and satisfaction, teaching biology also offers a competitive starting salary of at least £22,467, or £28,098 in inner London and a diverse range of opportunities for rapid career progression.

Enhance your subject knowledge 

Last year nearly 40% of trainees in eligible subjects completed additional subject training to enable them to start teacher training. If you don’t have a biology degree, or need to refresh your knowledge, you could complete a fully funded subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) course before you start your training. During the course, you could get a SKE bursary of up to £2,400 for a shorter course of 8-12 weeks and up to £5,600 for a 28-week course – find out more. 

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