Skills for life teacher
Skills for life teachers work with adults and sometimes 16 to 18-year-olds to improve their English, maths and IT skills
Also known as: Functional skills teacher
- Starter salary£26,000 a year
- Experienced£36,000 a year
- Typical hours35 to 40 a week
What you'll do
As a skills for life teacher, you could:
- carry out skills assessments on students
- talk to students about what they want to achieve
- design learning plans to suit the needs and abilities of students
- prepare teaching materials and keep accurate records
- use a range of paper based and online resources to teach
- deliver individual and group teaching sessions
- guide and support learning support assistants and volunteers
Working environment
You could work in the community, at a training centre or at an adult education centre.
Skills and knowledge you'll need
You'll need:
- knowledge of teaching and the ability to design courses
- the ability to work on your own
- leadership skills
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- the ability to come up with new ways of doing things
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- the ability to create the best conditions for learning or teaching new things
- customer service skills
- to be able to use a computer and the main software packages confidently
How to become a skills for life teacher
You can get into this job through:
- a university course
- a college course
- an apprenticeship
University
If you have a degree in a relevant subject, without qualified teacher status, you can apply for a postgraduate teacher training course like:
- postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE)
- professional graduate diploma in education (PGDE) in teaching disabled adults
You can find more details about postgraduate courses on GOV.UK.
Entry requirements
You'll usually need:
- 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths
- a degree in a relevant subject for postgraduate study
College
You can do a college course to complete a recognised teaching qualification.
Qualifications include:
- Certificate in Education (Cert Ed)
- Level 5 Diploma in Education and Training
- Level 5 Diploma in Education and Training with a specialist pathway for teaching literacy, numeracy, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), or teaching disabled learners
Entry requirements
You'll usually need:
- 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths
- 1 or 2 A levels, a level 3 diploma or relevant experience for a level 4 or level 5 course
Apprenticeship
You could apply to do a Learning and Skills Teacher Level 5 Higher Apprenticeship.
This typically takes around 2 years to complete.
You'll need a qualification or experience in the subject you want to teach.
You'll also need to show ability in English, maths and IT.
Entry requirements
Employers will set their own entry requirements.
Volunteering
To find out if you're suited to this type of teaching, you could do some voluntary work, although this is not essential.
You can find out about volunteering opportunities at Do IT or at NCVO.
Restrictions and requirements
You'll need to:
- pass enhanced background checks as you may work with children and vulnerable adults
You'll need a minimum of a level 3 qualification, like an A level, in the subject you wish to teach.
Career path and progression
There may be opportunities to move into more senior roles, like head of department, or to train other teachers.
You might also be self-employed and work as a freelance teacher.
Guides for this industry
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