If you are in a similar situation to myself and you are in your final year of your degree I strongly advise that you start to think about your next steps as soon as you go into your final year.
I began my teaching application on 12/10/2021, which was crucial as I did many other things towards my teacher training application from then to my first interview in mid January 2022.
One thing I suggest applying for is a teacher training advisor through the gov.uk service, this took around two weeks for me to receive a call back from my designated advisor. But this was so helpful as I was in the stages of my application on the gov.uk website, so the advisor was able to give me tips and tricks when writing the personal statement and professional statement, as well as send me over some helpful documentation that gave me sentence starters and many other things to think about for the application. Unfortunately the advisors will only follow your progress if you are applying for primary or secondary teaching, and with me applying for lifelong learning (14+) I was only able to receive one meeting over the phone, but this was still really helpful and all of the content I received helped me with the whole application.
Sending my application off for PGCE in further education teaching on 20/12/21 was over a month after starting the application. So you have time to fill out and review this before sending it off. The gov.uk site is really straight forward and simple to follow as it is almost like a check list when applying, just ensure you have all of your qualifications to hand and keep track of any achievements and volunteering you have done so that you can discuss this in your personal statement.
My first interview was with Sheffield Hallam, they responded to my application really quick as I received the invitation on 09/01/22. When you receive the invitation that attach a checklist and help sheet for preperation for the interview, this is crucial that you read through all of the documentation as they require a 5 minute presentation on why you believe your subject choice is important in the teaching sector. I prepared my presentation straight away to allow myself time to practice the script, keeping the slides simple and eye catching with my notes hidden in presentor view on powerpoint allowed me to have a intellectual discussion about why photography is a beneficial taught subject. I was then offered a conditional place after my interview on 12/01/22.
My other place that I applied for took a long time to come back to me, so during this time rather than waiting around I booked a 1 to 1 career appointment at my University. I chatted with Abi where she went through all of my postgraduate options and how to write a professional CV, as this was a requirement for my PGCE applications. She provided me with new ideas and a positive outlook for what postgraduate learning could look like for me, so if you have access to a service that is similar I highly recommend as they can reassure you that you are making the right decisions, and any questions that you may have will be answered.
Then in March 2022 I received a interview from Huddersfield University, to save time I altered some notes and information on my last presentation for Sheffield Hallam. This meant that I did not have to re-do the whole powerpoint and I was confident with my notes already, due to having used them before. Both of my interviews went well as I knew what was going to happen on the day due to reading the emails in depth. I accepted my offer from the University of Huddersfield, as that is the current university I am studying at. Now nearly two months later I am awaiting my next steps from the University, but I have applied for student finance so I know that financially I am prepared for my postgraduate course.
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