
January 02, 2025 - 333 views
There are more opportunities than ever to become a teacher in Wales, with a particular demand for teachers in Welsh, science, and maths.
One option is the salaried route, where trainee teachers can work at a school and qualify at the same time. The starting salary for teachers is £32,400, reaching up to £140,600 for headteachers.
At Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy in Llanrwst, 6 teachers are currently working at the school and training to be teachers at the same time.
As well as enabling the teachers themselves to take a change of career, the scheme is helping to solve recruitment issues. Steffan, one of the PGCE students moved from London, where he was working in financial recruitment, back to Wales to be with his family and start his teaching career. He said:
“After researching my options, the salaried route was perfect for me. It allowed me to carry on earning a salary, gain valuable experience of working in a school, and ultimately become a teacher as well.
“I’m part of a fantastic community at the school and at the Open University. Whilst all the work is online you still feel like part of the University community. I communicate with people across all of Wales who do the course as well.“
Owain Gethin Davies, Headteacher at Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy said: “The salaried route scheme has enabled us to recruit the best teachers and build a workforce for the future, especially in key subjects such as Maths or Welsh. In a rural area teacher recruitment can be an issue.
“But thanks to this Welsh Government scheme we now are training a team of six student teachers, all with different skills and from varied backgrounds, who are now gaining valuable experience both teaching and in other elements of secondary school day-to-day work.
Other routes into teaching include full-time and part-time PGCE courses, as well as a full-time undergraduate degree course.
Incentives are also available for postgraduate study.
For more information, visit the website Become a teacher with flexible training options.