Research Portfolio – Written/Video (SHR4C007R~001) 

The Music related profession I am going to be focusing on in this Research Portfolio is about becoming a Secondary School Music Teacher. I am going to talk about how you become a music teacher, what skills are required, challenges of the profession and how to overcome them and what a typical day looks like. 

What are the (academic and professional) qualifications and/or experience required to enter the profession? 

The main qualification required to become a Secondary school music teacher is first an Undergraduate Degree from a university or conservatoire. This could be a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or a Bachelor of Education (BEd) or a Bachelor of Science (BSc), however both the Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Science need to lead to a Qualified teacher status (QTS). If you already have a bachelor’s degree without qualified teacher status, you must complete a postgraduate qualification like a postgraduate certificate in education to get QTS. This can be completed either at university or through a training programme based in schools (nationalcareers.service.gov.uk). A teacher training course can lead to: QTS only, QTS with a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), PGCE without QTS, however having a PGCE is not necessary to be a qualified teacher in England. Getting a PGCE without QTS means you will not be qualified to be able to teach in most primary, secondary and special schools in England, although some schools may employ teachers without QTS. If you get a PGCE without a QTS you may not be entitled to the same benefits as those with QTS and PGCE, like better pay and support when teaching. A PGCE can give you a better understanding of teaching practices, educational research and theory. It can also be beneficial if you want to teach in other countries because it’s an internationally recognised academic qualification. 

Most teacher training courses usually take 9 months to complete full time, or 18-24 months part time. Some teacher training courses are “accredited” which means they have been approved by the Department for education to run teacher training courses. All teacher training contains mostly classroom placements with some theoretical learning. All teacher training contains at least 2 school placements over 24 weeks. Entry requirements for Postgraduate teacher training courses include a bachelor’s degree or equivalent. You also need English and Maths at Grade 4 at GCSE. The maximum tuition fee for postgraduate teacher training for a UK applicant is: £9,790 per year for a full-time course, £7,335 per year for a part-time course. You can apply for tuition fee and maintenance loans, even if you’ve previously applied for and received a student loan. 

What knowledge, skills and personal qualities/attributes are needed for success within the profession? 

Teaching requires a wide range of skills. Some skills are learned through experience on the job and develop throughout the career. Others are ones that have either been gained through past jobs or from life experiences. Teaching allows you to bring your existing skills to the job. 

One of the most important qualities of a teacher is enthusiasm and subject knowledge. This allows you to help educate students and answer their questions but also allows them to be creative and think for themselves which is how learning is done best showing that the students understand the content on a deeper level. Enthusiasm also comes with enjoyment and it’s very important that you enjoy your job as happiness while educating helps students be more motivated to learn. Subject knowledge is gained through education via a degree and teacher training of course but also can be learned through colleagues and even students. Especially as subject knowledge is expected to stay up to date in the subject area as to help student succeed. Teaching methods and techniques are required too. In teacher training you are taught pedagogy which is how to teach. Teacher training allows you to experiment with said techniques and the best tone of voice for teaching compared to when not teaching. Observing other teaching allows you to learn and pick the right techniques you want to use when teaching. Possibly the most important skill to have is having people skills as when in the classroom you will teach a number of different students who all require different types of learning to succeed. Some of the skills required are: adaptability to help different types of students learn, communication to be able to convey what you are teaching to all students, creativity, empathy, organisation, patience, problem solving, resilience, self-awareness and teamwork (getintoteaching.education.gov.uk). These skills help build relationships with students, colleagues and parents or carers. And of course, the most important trait needed to be a teacher cannot be taught – kindness because no act of kindness no matter how small ever goes unwasted.  

What are the duties and responsibilities of the profession – what does a typical day’s work involve?  

The duties of a teacher extend much further than just the classroom. Teachers do a lot of planning behind the scenes to plan lessons making sure they are engaging and provide additional support for students. Encouraging student participation is also essential as students tend to be more engaged and learn more during lessons when participation is actively encouraged. Teachers should incorporate ways to help students have a voice and participate (cbassociatetraining.co.uk).  

As well as planning lessons teachers are required to research and source new teaching materials to help them in their lessons. This includes content in lesson and homework and revision tools for students. Things teachers need to consider when planning and preparing work for lessons is class size, learning and teaching objectives, subject matter, and students prior knowledge.  

As well as planning lessons teachers must assess students on their learning at key stages in their learning as well as keeping track record of how well each student are doing. Keeping track of student performance also helps teachers learn how best students learn and what key techniques are required to help each student succeed. They also are obliged to mark students’ work. This could be either assessments set by the teacher or just any class work done either in lessons or at home as homework.  

A day to day tasks for teachers may consist of having a tutor group to take care of and look after, prep lessons at the beginning of the day or before they start, having to do lunch or break duty or having to stay after school to complete lesson plans or do extra work they are required to do but are not paid for.  

For music teachers especially there is loads more work that needs to be done. They must keep track of attendance to 1 to 1 instrumental lessons and take care of their instrumental perry teachers. They must call or email venues for upcoming concerts, stay after school get to school earlier for extracurricular activities and ensembles like orchestras, jazz and concert bands, as well as request funding for new musical instruments as well as a whole load or other administrative activities.  

What are the main financial and legal issues that impact on this profession?  

One of the main financial issues that impact being a teacher is the uncompetitive salaries. Teacher pay significantly lags behind that of other professions with similar level of education. Real term salaries have also declined over the past few years meaning when adjusting for inflation it’s very difficult to cover basic cost of living like housing and childcare. It’s even worse when taking into account that the vast majority of teachers have crippling student loan debt with a substantial amount of it having to be repaid. This student debt combined with low pay can cause financial stress and deter people from entering a field which is needed. A vast majority of teachers also spend their own money out of pocket to afford essential classroom supplies and materials that are not covered by school’s budget. These costs can add up to a large amount of their monthly income and can add to the financial stress.  

A legal issue of being a teacher is that they have a duty of care (in place of parents) and must exercise a reason of care and to protect children from harm. If negligence is alleged, then the teacher will reap the consequences of their actions mean they could lose their job on the extreme end.  

What would the potential marketing and promotional aspects of this profession look like? 

Apart from promoting positions for new teachers there isn’t much marketing and promotion involved in being a teacher. However, music teachers must promote instrumental lessons to students to make sure they stay/become popular as the more people taking instrumental lessons means more people possible to be involved in opportunities within the music department such as orchestra, jazz band, concert bands and other ensembles. They also must promote to instrumental teachers in the area when hiring so it is actually possible to provide instrumental lessons.  

However, when looking for job opportunities it is important to promote yourself as an individual as to stand out in the crowd of applicants and be more likely to get an interview and the job. While skills and experience speak for themselves when hiring, employers typically look at social networking sites to research potential candidates. To make you more attractive as a candidate you must define your personal brand. This is how present yourself in person and online. It’s an easy way for someone to understand exactly what you’re about, what your strengths are, and what makes you tick. In other words, what amazing skills and expertise can you bring to a school (www.totallyteach.com/blog). 

What are the intellectual and personal challenges presented by the profession and how might these be dealt with? 

One intellectual challenge faced by the profession is that you must keep up to date with your field of subject otherwise you will become outdated as a teacher and teach students the wrong things or even have students correct you.  

A personal challenge faced by teachers is, limited funding. Inadequate funding in schools is a major problem especially with rising number of learning in classes which is likely to cause a lower quality in one-on-one teacher to student interactions. With lower interactions between teacher and students means lower learner satisfaction and achievement. Reduced funding also means reduced investments in learning materials required for students. To overcome the challenge of limited funding, you may engage your creativity and create lesson plans that engage the learners.  

Another challenge faced by educators is the endless amount of paperwork that is demanded upon them. If not well-managed, paperwork can drown you in lots of workloads, killing your creativity and passion for teaching. To avoid this development of effective ways to manage paperwork is essential. Making sure you are on top of this by handing in paperwork on time and completing by deadlines is important. Effective organisation strategies are also important (www.teachersoftomorrow.org).  

What career-progression/development opportunities are available within the profession?  

Being a music teacher may not have a natural progression however starting out as a basic music teacher is the start. This can within time lead to a promotion to Head of Music which within some schools maybe its own faculty however some schools may include Drama, dance and the arts within the faculty meaning a bigger opportunity and possibly a bigger pay rise. Some schools may even include PE within the whole of the faculty meaning a bigger possibility and a bigger pay rise with such a big faculty to take of. Even bigger opportunities can be in leadership such as assistant principal, deputy principal or even principal or executive principal. Progressing even further might mean teaching at higher education such as university becoming a lecturer or professor. 

Bibliography: 

Academic qualifications: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/secondary-school-teacher 

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/train-to-be-a-teacher/what-is-a-pgce

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/train-to-be-a-teacher/if-you-have-a-degree

Skills and personal qualities: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/life-as-a-teacher/teaching-as-a-career/skills-to-teach 

Duties and responsibilities: https://cbassociatetraining.co.uk/what-are-the-duties-and-responsibilities-of-a-teacher/ 

Promotion and marketing: https://www.totallyteach.com/blog/how-to-market-yourself-as-a-teacher-with-expert-insightincluding-insight-from-leading-your-international-school-ceo-andr-double 

Intellectual and personal challenges: https://www.teachersoftomorrow.org/blog/insights/challenges-of-becoming-a-teacher/