Downloads Timesheet,
P46, Feedback form etc
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Special Needs Teacher Jobs (SEN)
Online Autism Webinars
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Overseas Teachers
Overseas teacher pack
Coming to the UK
Specific information for those from...
Information for Overseas Trained Teachers
Why teach in the UK?
How can Axcis Education help?
What to expect in a UK school
The National Curriculum
What kind of schools are there?
Useful Information
What is the Teacher Training Agency?
What is Qualified Teacher Status?
Useful Lingo and Abbreviations
Key Stages
Pupil Examinations
Assessment
Statutory National Curriculum Tests
Non-Statutory Tests
Teacher Assessment
Teaching Qualifications
Subject Abbreviations
Teaching Organisations
Special Education Needs Abbreviations
Accommodation
Tax and National Insurance (NI) Including: Department for Work and Pensions, Inland Revenue, The Teacher Pension Scheme
Overseas teachers Induction Evenings For when you have arrived in the UK
Extend your teaching experience whilst seeing the UK and the rest of Europe, and you'll be joining countless international teachers currently living here for an experience you won't easily forget! Registration is free, you can choose from day-to-day or long-term work and transfer to the UK couldn't be easier. Teach in the UK and you'll gain valuable experience that you will appreciate on your CV when you return home to find your next post.
Wherever you're from, if you hold a fully recognised teaching qualification and have enthusiasm, adaptability and excellent spoken and written English, there are a range of teaching positions in the UK available to you. If you would not usually be able to come to the UK due to visa restrictions, work permits are now available, provided you accept a teaching post prior to your departure. This is great news! You can now embark on an overseas experience where you can extend and develop your teaching skills, work with supportive and enthusiastic colleagues and soak up all that Britain and the rest of Europe has to offer.
- Work Permit placements and advice on obtaining QTS (See below)
- Accommodation and relocation support and advice
- Opening a Bank Account and obtaining an NI Number
- Negotiation of Salary Packages (including relocation allowances)
- Advice on the expenses to be expected on arrival to the UK
- Assistance on up to date Numeracy and Literacy requirements in Primary Education
- Assistance with Curriculum requirements for Secondary Schools
- Meet and Greet at the airport, take to accommodation and introduce to the school by prior arrangement
- Settling in advice, ongoing professional development and a free Resource Area
The UK academic year runs from September to July and is usually split into three terms. The working year is 195 days. Holidays at Christmas and Easter are around 2 weeks and in the summer about 6 weeks. Term dates vary regionally by a day or so.
The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) is responsible for state education in England and Wales working with 173 Local Education Authorities who manage education on a regional basis.
What is the National Curriculum?
Introduced in 1989, it defines in general terms the knowledge base and skills expected of pupils aged 5-16. There are SATs (Standard Attainment Tests) at ages 7, 11 and 14.
The Core subjects are:
- English
- Mathematics
- Science
The Foundation subjects are:
- History
- Geography
- Art
- Design
- Information Technology
- Modern Languages
- Music
- Physical Education
The National Curriculum is divided into 4 Key Stages:
- Key Stage 1 (Ages 5 - 7)
- Key Stage 2 (Ages 7 - 11)
- Key Stage 3 (Ages 11 - 14)
- Key Stage 4 (Ages 14 – 16)
Pre- 5 years consists of Pre-School (Nursery) and Foundation Stage (Reception)
KS5: post-compulsory (16+ education) includes A level, GNVQ.
For further information about the National Curriculum see the websites at dfes.gov.uk and nc.gov.uk
What kind of schools are there?
For more on schools in the UK see Schools in the UK.
Useful Information
The Parent Centre
The Parent Centre is primarily for parents and carers of children from 0 to 16+. Its guide to types of early education is succinct and very helpful.
DfES: School Diversity
The term 'School Diversity' is used to describe the way in which the education system is structured to enable schools to differentiate themselves according to their individual ethos, special character and areas of specialist expertise. School diversity is promoted through various programmes, including specialist schools, beacon schools, leading edge, training schools, academies and city learning centres.
DfES: School improvement and excellence
The School Improvement and Excellence Team works with schools that face challenging circumstances and have developed a range of initiatives to support better ways of working and to raise attainment.
School Improvement and Excellence brings together two closely related sites:
Excellence in Cities (EiC) and School Improvement.
EiC is a targeted programme to bring additional resources to address the needs of core urban areas. It brings a new approach that increases the diversity of provision for pupils but at the same time encourages schools to co-operate to raise standards; that extends learning opportunities for pupils of all abilities and, above all, starts with the needs of the individual pupil and the challenges they face.
The National Grid for Learning (NGfL) portal is the gateway to educational resources on the internet. It provides a network of selected links to websites that offer high quality content and information. Whether you are learning, supporting, teaching or managing, there are resources on the NGfL for you. It includes information about every school in England.
What is the Teacher Training Agency?
The Teacher Training Agency (TTA) was established by the Education Act in 1994. It is charged with raising standards in schools in England and ensuring the appropriate numbers of qualified teachers are trained and available.
What is Qualified Teacher Status?
QTS stands for Qualified Teacher Status. This is awarded to a teacher who has completed an appropriate teaching qualification and is deemed to uphold the professional code of the General Teaching Council of England.
You need QTS or equivalent to work as a teacher in maintained schools and non-maintained schools in England and Wales. It is possible to gain QTS whilst teaching in the UK provided that the host school agrees to sponsor the individual. For further details on obtaining QTS by this route contact the Training and Development Agency (TDA) for schools line on 0845 6000 991 when you are in the UK or visit www.teach.gov.uk
If you qualified as a schoolteacher in another country you will need to gain Qualified Teacher Status BEFORE you can work as a PERMANENT, QUALIFIED TEACHER in England.
However, if you are an Overseas Trained Teacher (OTT) you can work as a ‘temporary teacher’ for up to FOUR YEARS without QTS. If you do not attain QTS in within 4 years of your first teaching day in the UK you legally will not be able to teach in England.
Teachers in Independent Schools, City Technology Colleges and Further Education Institutions (including Sixth Form Colleges) are not legally obliged to have QTS.
You need QTS to:
- Secure a permanent post
- Progress to higher pay bands or senior management posts in maintained schools.
How to gain QTS
The TTA runs OTT's Programme to give them the opportunity to gain QTS while they work in a school. On the OTT Programme the school pays the trainees' salary.
OTT's with at least TWO YEARS teaching experience may be eligible for assessment against the Induction Standards and QTS Standards at the same time. THOSE WHO ARE SUCCESSFUL WILL BE EXEMPT FROM SERVING AN INDUCTION PERIOD. The TTA arrange for an assessor to come and visit you in your school.
The TTA runs a free advisory visit scheme to help the teacher and school decide which option is best.
Qualifying in different types of schools
Schools needs to provide you with an opportunity to teach the National Curriculum to pupils of a compulsory school age, across one of the required age ranges for QTS. There are exceptions!!!
Nursery Schools and other Early Years settings need also to arrange experience across the full 3 to 8 age range with a Primary School.
Sixth Form and Further Education Colleges need also to arrange experience across the full 14 to 18 range with a Secondary School.
Special Schools and Units need to consider whether you need an arrangement with a mainstream school in order to show that you can teach the National Curriculum to pupils whose chronological age matches the Key Stage.
Useful Lingo and Abbreviations
N.C. - National Curriculum
N.N.S. - National Numeracy Strategy. Launched to raise Maths standards in Primary Schools (Level 4 by Year 6).
N.L.S. - National Literacy Strategy. Launched to raise Literacy standards in Primary Schools (Level 4 by Year 6).
Montessori - A teaching methodology devised by Dr Montessori. Teachers can take Level 1 and 2 training in order to teach in Montessori schools. However, this qualification alone does not entitle them to teach in state schools.
- Pre-School, Nursery - non-compulsory schooling.
- Foundation Stage - Reception
- Key Stage 1 - Primary Years 1, 2, (ages 5-7) Pupils complete SATs in Year 2
- Key Stage 2 - Primary Years, 3, 4, 5, 6 and SATs at Year 6
- Key Stage 3 - Secondary Years, 7, 8, 9, (11-14)
- Key Stage 4 - Secondary Years, 10, 11 (14-16)
- Pupils complete G.C.S.E Examinations in Year 11
- Key Stage 5 - (6th Form) ? Years 12, 13 (16-18)
- FE - Further Education
- HE - Higher Education
- SATs - Standard Attainment Tests
- GCSE - General Certificate in Secondary Education
- A Level - Advanced Level
- GNVQ - General National Vocational Qualification (Can be at various levels and more a vocational qualification)
Assessment
QCA maintains and develops the national curriculum and associated assessments, tests and examinations; and accredits and monitors qualifications in colleges and at work.
Baseline Assesment
Baseline assessment was the statutory form of assessment until 2002 in reception classes. It is no longer statutory but many local education authorities encourage schools to do this. If you are to teach in this phase of education you will need to find out what assessment procedures are in place in the school.
Baseline assessment takes place when children start school. Teachers assess what each child knows, understands and can do. It normally takes place as part of the everyday classroom activities. Within seven weeks of starting school, baseline assessment has provided a picture of a child's learning needs.
Baseline assessment enables teachers to plan the curriculum appropriately and to provide learning activities that match each child's needs. It also provides a starting point from which schools can measure and monitor a child's progress. This lets them check whether children are achieving as well as they should, as they move up the school.
Foundation Stage Profile
The Foundation Stage Profile has replaced baseline assessment. It is the statutory assessment for children in the final year of the Foundation Stage. It is completed for each child during the second half of the summer term, and sums up each child's progress and learning needs in relation to the Early Learning Goals at the end of the foundation stage.
Statutory National Curriculum Tests
There is a statutory requirement to assess children formally at the end of KS 1, 2 and 3:
- KS 1 (Year 2 age 7 ) in English and Mathematics
- KS 2 (Year 6 age 11) in English, Mathematics and Science
- KS 3 (Year 9 age 14) in English, Mathematics and Science
NC tests and tasks are provided by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and undertaken by children in these year groups in May of each year. In addition, teacher assessment takes place.
Pupils are assessed by national tests at the ages of 7, 11, and 14. The last set of these tests is taken at the end of KS 3. The tests are designed to:
help teachers assess pupils' strengths and weaknesses
determine what pupils understand about a subject.
As well as standard versions of the key stage tests, QCA produces versions for children with visual impairment.
QCA publishes non-statutory tests in English and mathematics for Years 3, 4, 5,7 and 8. Most schools use these to track children's progress year by year.
QCA also produce optional assessment tasks for pupils working above and below the level of the tests.
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Teacher Assessment (TA)
In addition to national testing in Years 2 and 6, teacher assessment of each child's progress is required. These assessments are made against the level descriptions in the National Curriculum. Teachers should use their knowledge of a child's work to judge which level description best fits a child's performance across different contexts. Up-to-date records must be kept of each child's attainment and it is useful to keep samples of the children's work as evidence of attainment.
Assessments Teachers Made
There are three types of assessment that should be made. They correspond to, and provide information that will assist with, short-, medium- and long-term stages of planning. You will need to know the purpose and nature of each of them because, depending on the timing and length of employment in a school, you may be required to carry out all of them.
Formative assessment (TA) Assessment for Learning
Summative assessment (TA) Assessment of Learning
National Curriculum tests and tasks Assessment of Learning
The Difference Between 'Assessment For Learning' And 'Assessment of Learning'
Assessment for learning is the process of using classroom assessment to improve learning, whereas assessment of learning is the measurement of what children can do.
In assessment for learning:
teachers share learning targets with children;
children know and recognise the standards to which they should aim;
there is feedback that leads children to identify what they should do next in order to improve;
it is assumed that every child can improve;
children review and reflect on their performance and progress with teachers and they develop skills in peer and self-assessment.
It is important that you are aware of current initiatives. Visit the QCA Assessment for Learning website that offers guidance, research findings and useful resources.
It is important that you are aware of current initiatives. Visit the QCA Assessment for Learning website that offers guidance, research findings and useful resources.
Short-term Assessment
You will undertake short-term assessments informally in every lesson. You will use them to give you information that will help you to adjust subsequent lesson plans and to brief adult helpers.
When marking and monitoring children's work, provide constructive oral or written feedback that acknowledges their successes, helps them see what they need to do to improve further and sets them targets to achieve.
Short-term assessment is a continuous process and should be part of your day-to-day work with the class. It also informs your planning ('formative assessment'). It helps you to make judgements about children's progress against targets you have set for (and with) them. Because progress is being assessed over short periods, these targets will be expressed in much smaller steps than NC levels.
For example to support short-term assessment in writing the Marking Guidelines for Writing produced by the National Literacy Strategy focuses on what can be done when children have completed a piece of writing and the teacher has an opportunity to assess what they have achieved.
You will find a wide variety of resources on the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy websites and the KS 3 National Strategy website to support your teaching.
Medium-term assessments
Medium-term assessments should be made to review and record the progress children are making against the key objectives. Doing this approximately every half-term will allow you to judge children's progress over time and against any individual targets, including those in IEPs. It will also help you to plan work for the next half-term.
Long-term assessment
Long-term assessment for children in all year groups is important, but only statutory in Years 2, 6 and 9. These assessments take place at the end of each year. They provide information on how successfully the objectives for the year have been met and how well children are progressing. Assessments help the school to set targets for the NC tests in future years. Schools use a variety of standard tests for this purpose.
Assessing Children's Learning In Lessons
You can use a variety of methods to assess children's learning. These include:
- observing children;
- noting children's reactions to work;
- discussing work and asking questions;
- setting assessment activities;
- using tests as part of a lesson or as homework.
Are The Pupils Achieving As Well As They Should?
The National Curriculum level descriptions and the National Strategy Frameworks for teaching objectives for each year group will give you an indication of the level of achievement expected. You should also observe children working. If they are not fully engaged in their tasks, it may be that they are struggling because the work is too difficult, or bored because it is too easy.
Keeping Records Of The Assessments
The recording of short-term assessments does not need to be extensive. It is helpful to write brief evaluative comments about the class's response at the end of each unit of work. It is also useful to make notes on particular children whose performances are exceptional, either because they exceed or because they fall below your expectations.
Keeping records of medium-term assessments will be helpful when you Make end-of-year assessments. A suggested format for record keeping is given on page 35 of the Framework for teaching mathematics from Reception to Year 6.
Long-term assessments should be recorded and used as the basis for writing reports and reporting to parents. Be sure to pass on any assessment records you have made to the class teacher or assessment co-ordinator when you leave the school.
Records Of Children's Achievement
End-of-key-stage and end-of-year assessments will help you to gain an overview of children's levels of achievement and enable you to judge their performance in relation to national expectations. You should have available to you the previous teacher's records of achievement in relation to the key objectives in some or all of the subjects. They will give you more detailed information about each child.
What Must Be Reported And To Whom
The results of teacher assessments and NC tests in English in Years 2, 6 and 9 must be recorded on the forms supplied by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and then sent to the DfES. These results enable the DfES to monitor national and local trends in children's progress.
A summary of the English, mathematics and science tests and teacher assessment results must be published by each school in its prospectus and governors' annual report, alongside national comparative assessments for the previous year.
Each school is required to set end-of-key-stage attainment targets, expressed as a percentage of children who are expected to achieve different levels of attainment. These are then broken down into curricular targets in each year group. Curricular targets are usually linked to the Frameworks' objectives and act as signposts towards achieving the school's quantitative targets.
A written comment on attainment, progress and activities covered in English, mathematics and science must be entered on the report of each child, which is sent annually to parents. At the end of Years 2, 6 and 9 each child's level in English, mathematics and science must also be included.
- BA (Ed) - Bachelor of Arts with Teaching qualification
- BSc (Ed) - Bachelor of Science with Teaching qualification
- BEd - Bachelor of Education
- Certificate in Further Education
- PGCE - Post Graduate Certificate in Education
- PCET – Post Compulsory Qualification (Post 16)
- DipEd - Diploma in Education (generally an overseas qualification)
- QTS - Qualified Teacher Status - Awarded after successful completion of the Induction Year.
- Induction Year - Completed in the first year after graduation whilst teaching
- OTT - Overseas Trained Teacher
- PE - Physical Education
- RE - Religious Education
- RS - Religious Studies
- CDT - Craft Design & Technology
- MFL - Modern Foreign Languages
- PHSE - Personal Social and Health Education
- ICT - Information Communication Technology
- EFL - English as a Foreign Language
- ESOL - English as a Second Language
- EAL - English as an Additional Language (often EMAG funded, ie Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant.)
- DfES - Department for Education and Skills
- TTA - Teacher Training Agency
- GTC - General Teaching Council
- GTP - Graduate Teaching Programme
- RTP - Registered Teachers Programme
Special Needs Education Abbreviations
- A - Assessment/Diagnosis/Observation
- AUT - Autism
- B - Blind
- CLD - Complex Learning Difficulties
- Del - Delicate
- DYS - Dyslexia
- EBD - Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties
- EP - Epilepsy
- HI - Hearing Impaired/Partial Hearing/Deaf
- MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulties
- PhDIS - Physically Disabled/Handicapped impaired
- PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties
- PRU - Pupil Referral Unit
- SD - Speech/Language Disorders
- SEBD - Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties
- SEN - Special Educational Needs
- SLD - Severe Learning Difficulties
- SpecLD - Specific Learning Difficulties
Please see our Accommodation page.
Tax and National Insurance (NI)
Department for Work and Pensions
Provides information on social security reciprocal agreements with other countries. Dependent on which country you are coming from, you might be able to get a benefit from that country or a benefit the UK provides. This link provides a list of countries with reciprocal agreements.
Provides information on what you need to do to apply for a NI number, includes contacting your local social security office (DWP); attendance at an interview; what you will need, to provide proof of identity. There is a list of documents that it is recommended you provide.
NI - GL25 Leaflet (you are advised to read this whilst in your country of origin so that you can bring any documents you may need).
Provides information on National Insurance numbers (NI), if you are starting work you can apply for a NI number.
Offers information about NI. Explanations, what your NI number is needed for, when you can apply for an NI number
Features income tax : a series of guides, includes understanding your tax code, personal allowances, rates etc
Features a series of international leaflets including guidance for residents and non-residents' liability to tax in the UK.
Provides information on pensions for teachers, information on transfer of your pension rights to another scheme. The frequently asked questions section provides information on pension transfers overseas, for further information visit the link above.
