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Another 4 years of Uni?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
So, I am currently studying Law and I thought that’s what I wanted to do. I’ve enjoyed all the work experience that I’ve done over the years and I’m genuinely passionate about it. However, before settling on law as a career I considered going into teaching.
Now I’m beginning to think that law was the wrong choice and that I really should have picked teaching. However, the problem is if I decided that teaching is what I really should be doing I can’t just do the PGDE. Law doesn’t allow you to teach anything in Scotland. I’d need to go back to uni for another 4 years at a cost of around 8,000 plus living expenses for four years. I’d also be 29 the time I started my probationary job (which isn’t all that old I know, but would mean I’d have avoided having a proper job for the best part of 12 years).
So, looking for advice here...
Now I’m beginning to think that law was the wrong choice and that I really should have picked teaching. However, the problem is if I decided that teaching is what I really should be doing I can’t just do the PGDE. Law doesn’t allow you to teach anything in Scotland. I’d need to go back to uni for another 4 years at a cost of around 8,000 plus living expenses for four years. I’d also be 29 the time I started my probationary job (which isn’t all that old I know, but would mean I’d have avoided having a proper job for the best part of 12 years).
So, looking for advice here...
Post edited by JustV on
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Comments
Having done a bit of research you are completely right about needing a degree to do the PGDE or needing to do another 4 years of study, and it's understandable that you feel a bit frustrated with this :banghead: as it's a lot of time and money. Which year are you in of your law degree at the moment? And what kind of teaching are you interested in?
These websites are pretty useful for explaining it all so check them out if you haven't already stumbled across them in your searches.
- http://www.teachinginscotland.com/902.455.675.html
- http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/10/11152113/2
It doesn't look as though having a degree in law allows you to complete the PGDE as it is not a subject that is taught in schools. However, it may be worth speaking to the course administrator or equivalent at your uni (or the one you would like to study teaching at) and talking through your options. There maybe the opportunity for changing your course subject depending on how far along you are with it, or for a combined degree?
In England we have a programme called Teach First which allows graduates to train on-the-job. It doesn't look like this has been rolled out to Scotland yet, but it does look as though they work with Scottish Universities to recruit graduates. So you may want to contact them and find out whether this would be an option for you on completion of your degree and what the entry requirements would be? It looks like the best person to contact is jfordham@teachfirst.org.uk who covers the Scottish Unis.
Good luck with it :d
Laura
I have also had this problem of flip flopping between what I wanted to do. It is always best to just suck it up, when it comes to school, and end up with the degree and job that you really want, not what you are settling for. It will be worth it in the end. When you look at how long your life is, 4 years isn't that long. Plus, you will have a lot more knowledge and marketability with another degree and your wide range of expertise.
I started out as an engineering student. Then decided i wanted to go to law school to. When it came time to apply to law school, I decided that it wasn't what I wanted to do. So I ended up in a master's program. I'm very happy now, and I know this is where I should be. You have to be strong enough to make the tough decision to not just stick to the path you have drawn, but to wake up each day and draw the path that you really want to follow.