How To Become A PE Teacher

Hi. I'm Suzie Butler and I work for Career Teachers Educational Recruitment Firm based in London in the UK. I've been a teacher for the last ten years and now I work with the training department to train all their teachers.

How to become a PE teacher? Probably the most important thing when you're thinking of becoming a PE teacher is that you must have a love of sports. You'd be doing it all day, everyday, and inspiring children and young people. So, that's probably the key thing.

In terms of qualifications, in order to teach PE in the UK, you'll need a couple of things. Firstly, you'll need English, Maths and Science as a GCSE grade C or above. You'll also need a degree.

Most commonly, people who want to be PE teachers tend to do a degree in PE but any sports related degree would be relevant and would allow you to do it. Some degrees actually offer QTS or qualified teachers' status within the original degree and well, a lot of people choose perhaps to do a degree in PE, and then follow it up with a PGCE or a Post Graduate Certificate in Education and that provides them with that QTS qualification so they can teach PE in schools. Generally, PE teachers specifically work in secondary schools but there are a few positions in primary where you could be a PE teacher.

If perhaps all those qualifications are not for you but you do want to get involved in teaching sports and often local sports complexes and further education colleges, post 16 colleges do also look for PE teachers and they don't require the same amount of qualifications. You will obviously be expected to complete a UK police check and various other registration procedures but then, once you've got those, you will simply be able to teach your sport. Another option maybe to work with your local school and offer your services to teach afterschool clubs or perhaps to do some sport coaching.

Again, you will need a full UK police check and any other registration that that school requires. So, those are couple of options if you're thinking about becoming a PE teacher. .