Get into Teaching with the OU

Case Study Louise has been a teaching assistant in a secondary school for six years and really enjoys her job. However, her ambition has always been to become a fullyqualified teacher, with an eye to specialising in sport. To realise that ambition she knew she needed to acquire a degree-level qualification. Four years ago, she took the decision to embark on a part-time Open University BSc (Honours) Sports, Fitness and Coaching degree. And when she finishes that course in two years’ time, she will use the qualification to enroll on a teacher training course.

“Once I finish my degree, I intend to go straight into a teacher training programme. I want to become a PE teacher, with a second subject of science, just to keep my career prospects open,” she says.

Louise knew she wanted to be a teacher when she was at school – she took English language, history, psychology and PE at A’level because she wasn’t sure which direction she wanted to go with as a teacher. Post A’levels, she started studying at a traditional bricks and mortar university in 2016, but didn’t enjoy the experience. “I did a sports and exercise science course, but I just didn’t get on with it. I really didn’t enjoy it. The structure of the learning didn’t work for me – it felt really impersonal and I didn’t feel like sitting and listening to someone talking at me for hours a day was a brilliant way for me to learn. I didn’t find it particularly engaging or interesting, so I decided to leave and see what other options were out there for me.”

How the OU can help “We can help people at teaching assistant level who are looking to gain their teaching degree,” says Nicole Edgington, Head of Education Partnerships, at the OU. “Without a degree, they can’t move on to specialise and get a teaching qualification, but there are a host of things that people can do with the OU that can help them along their journey and to progress their career.”

At a very basic level, people can get a taste of what it is like to be a teacher through the OU’s free FutureLearn course Becoming a Teacher (www.futurelearn.com/courses/ thinking-about-teaching). Another option – and the option that Louise chose – is to take a BA/BSc Open (Honours) course, tailored around their particular needs and interests. Louise spent some time looking through the range of OU modules to decide if she definitely wanted to specialise in sport or pursue another specialism, such as history. Sifting through the content and resources and gaining a good understanding of the structure of the learning helped her decide the course she wanted to take. It also gave her a good sense of what the programme would entail and what would be expected of her.

The course she chose (www.open.ac.uk/ courses/sport-fitness/degrees/bsc-sportfitness-coaching-q76) covers a broad topic area, including sports science, psychology, working in the industry, etc.

Although there is a lot of flexibility about how, where and when Louise studies, the structure of the course was very clearly set out from the word go, as is what would be expected from her. Louise really likes that as it helps her to plan her work. “You have your study guide for the year, so you have all the module materials and activities and reading that you need to do as you progress through. And at the end of each module or study topic you have an assessment.” n

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