my or free school). Graduates working in independent schools or colleges are also employed directly by the institution. Discover how to get a teaching job.
Other employers include:
- central government departments;
- community and voluntary organisations;
- the police and probation services;
- social services;
There are opportunities with both public and private sector employers in a range of careers such as HR, market and policy research, retail management, publishing, education psychology and careers guidance. Find out more about jobs in education.
Skills for your CV
You develop specific skills relating to educational issues, theories of learning, equality and diversity, education policy and practice, creativity and education, and a general understanding of education in social, political and economic contexts. Some courses include work placement modules, providing the opportunity to put theory into practice.
You also gain skills that are useful in a variety of job sectors:
- communication skills - presenting effective oral and written arguments;
- IT skills;
- research and analytical skills;
- interpersonal skills with the ability to work collaboratively as part of a team;
- problem-solving skills;
- organisation and time management skills - prioritising your academic/part-time workloads and delivering essays on time;
- self-management - planning your own workload and reflecting on and improving personal practice.
If you have teaching aspirations you'll need to prepare for and pass professional skills tests. If your sights are set on secondary education discover the essential skills for a secondary school teacher.
Achieving Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) through completion of the PGCE (PGDE in Scotland) or equivalent postgraduate qualification is a popular route for education graduates.
Alternatively, you may wish to take a Masters course in education or a related social science in order to develop your understanding of the theory, research and policy of education and to enhance your professional knowledge, skills and practice. Some education graduates go on to study for a PhD in education. Another option is the Masters in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).
What do education graduates do?
Half of the education graduates in employment in the UK six months after graduation are working as primary and nursery education teaching professionals. A further 10% are working as teaching assistants.
|Working and studying||4.5|
|Type of work||Percentage|
|Childcare, health and education work||21.0|
|Legal, social and welfare||5.1|
|Retail, catering and bar work||4.9|
Find out what other graduates are doing six months after finishing their degrees in What Do Graduates Do?
Graduate destinations data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.