Career outlook for teacher - primary school
UK Salary Ranges
Currently employed in Scotland
38,100
Salary information is provided by the "National Careers Service". "Oxford Economics" supplies job forecasts and employment figures. Due to COVID-19 the jobs market is constantly changing. Some of the information may not reflect the current situation.
What's it like?
You would teach primary school children and help them enjoy learning. You’d encourage them to take pride in their achievements outside school and be confident in their abilities.
Primary schools in Scotland, following the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), are usually divided into:
• Nursery and P1 - primary (ages 4-5)
• P2-4 - primary (ages 6-8 )
• P5-7 - primary (ages 9-11)
The school you work in could be an independent school funded largely by fees from parents, or a state school funded by the govenrment.
You’d help the children in your class express themselves and play a positive role in school life. It would be up to you ensure they get the knowledge, skills and attributes they will need to flourish at secondary school and beyond.
You would teach all areas of the curriculum:
- Expressive arts
- Health and wellbeing
- Languages
- Mathematics
- Religious and moral education
- Sciences
- Social studies
- Technologies
You would plan your lessons to meet the Curriculum for Excellence national guidance but you’d have a lot of flexibility. So you – and your pupils – could choose what to learn about and how to study that topic.
Interdisciplinary learning is very important, so you’d have to create projects and topics that pull in elements from several curriculum areas.
Your classroom activities should develop the pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills and teach them about health and wellbeing. You’d also connect what the children do in school with the wider world through global citizenship and enterprise projects.
You would:
- Create lessons and teaching materials
- Assess the children's progress in the curriculum and help them assess their own work
- Make sure the children behave and work well together
- Discuss children's development and progress with parents and carers
- Organise outings, clubs, social activities and sports events
Sometimes you will need to deal with bad behaviour, comfort children who are upset or help children who find it difficult to learn.
You’d need to attend meetings and training courses. You’d work closely with colleagues to plan the school’s work and with other professionals, such as education psychologists and social workers.
Working conditions
Hours
Full-time teachers work an average 37 hours a week, with typical class times starting between 8.30am and 9.15am and finishing around 3.15pm to 4pm. Teachers will spend more time outside of normal hours, planning lessons, marking work and also taking part in activities, such as parents' evenings and outings.Teachers normally work 39 weeks a year split over three school terms.
Environment
You will have your own classroom, although you may teach elsewhere in the school to cover staff shortages or specialist subjects. You would organise the classroom and learning resources and create displays to encourage a positive learning environment.
UK employment status
Full-time
60%
Part-time
38%
Self employed
2%
