Maths teacher helping a pupil work out a problem.

Steps to become a teacher

  1. 1

    Decide who to teach

    Get school experience or attend events to see which of the following settings suits you best:

    • primary (ages 5 to 11)
    • secondary (ages 11 to 18)
    • early years (children up to the age of 5)
    • further education (for example, teaching at further education colleges or sixth form colleges)

    Follow these steps if you want to teach primary or secondary, including teaching disabled pupils and pupils with special educational needs in these settings.

    If you’re an undergraduate and interested in teaching chemistry, computing, languages, maths or physics then you could do a paid teaching internship to find out if teaching is right for you.

  2. 2

    Check your qualifications

    If you have a degree or equivalent qualification, you can do postgraduate primary or secondary teacher training.

    If you do not have a degree and are not studying for one, you can do undergraduate teacher training.

    Find out more about the qualifications you need to teach.

    You can also chat to our teacher training experts online. They're available Monday to Friday between 8:30am and 5:30pm, except on bank holidays.

    Find out what to do if you’re an international candidate with qualifications from overseas.

    Or, you can teach in further education without a degree.

  3. 3

    Learn about funding

    You can get funding that you do not have to pay back if you train to teach certain subjects.

    You can also apply for a student loan to cover course fees and living costs.

    Find out what funding you can get

  4. 4

    Find the right training

    Find out how to train to teach primary or secondary to get qualified teacher status (QTS).

    You need QTS to teach in most primary, secondary and special schools in England.

    You can get support training to teach if you're disabled.

    Search for teacher training courses

  5. 5

    Apply for your course

    Get tips on applying, including finding the right referees and writing a teacher training personal statement.

    A teacher training adviser can also help you get your application ready with free, one-to-one support. Chat to an adviser with years of teaching experience as little or as often as you need by phone, text or email.

    When you're ready, you can start your application for teacher training.

    Get tips on applying

Find out more about getting into teaching

Explore how you can get into teaching primary or secondary and find top tips on making a successful application.

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