CGC Ebook 5.0

Education

Sector Outlook The sector employs 959,000 staff with around 4 68 ,000 teachers working in 32 ,000 schools in the UK alongside a range of administrative roles. The further education sector has 334 colleges with 235,000 staff and further 70,000 in private training. In higher education there are 2 39 ,000 staff with a further 1 8 0 ,000 support roles. There is a currently a high demand for secondary teachers as the stress and challenges sees one third of teachers leave after a year and many choosing to take early retirement. The further education sector has had its own challenges with area reviews pushing colleges to work or merge together. In higher education budgets are strained by operational costs, declining EU enrolments, funding cuts and international competition. However institutions are looking to the future as demographics expect by 2030 they will need to accommodate another 100,000 more 18 year olds. Particular demand in school exists for those who want to teach maths, science and language jobs with scholarships and bursaries available. As alterative to a degree, you could undertake a level 3,4 or 5 qualification in education and training and this would enable you to work in further education, training sector, armed forces or in prison depending on your specialism. Most lecturers in higher education hold a PhD so having a thirst for learning, research and achieving a 2.1 or 1st degree will give you the best chance to continue your studies in your chosen field. Remember there are a wide range of non-teaching careers connected to education in marketing, consultancy, finance, maintenance, education policy and support services. Most job opportunities can be found in maintained local authority schools, voluntary aided schools and academies with other vacancies on offer in independent schools. To find out more do make use of resources such as; the Times Educational Supplement, Guardian Jobs, jobs.ac.uk, local authority websites and the local press. Specialist recruitment agencies such as Supply Desk, Eteach and Randstad Education are another good source of job vacancies.