I will know be looking at the suitability of for my career pathway. The career pathway I have is realistic and I also believe I could meet all the requirements needed. This pathway requires a lot of personal qualities, such as enthusiasm for example a feeling of excitement towards the work, punctuality in terms of arriving on time as well as effort and respect. I believe my personal qualities match most the ones needed, for example I am hardly ever late to school, and I have received many certificated for my outstanding attendance
There was another route which could be taken up. It is fairly similar to the route which I will be taking up but this route I would work in a different working environment and then do an undergraduate course. Taking this route would allow me to get the necessary qualifications needed whilst training to become a teacher. Taking this pathway would allow me to get into teaching quickly whilst getting my training at the same time. However I not chosen to undertake this pathway because it would mean I would spent less time on my courses which could result in me not get the sufficient knowledge required
I have considered taking alternate career routes because there may be factors that would mean I can’t take my chosen route for example lack of finance. This might occur if I spend more than I have budgeted. It is important for my income to stay equal or above my expenditure because it may have a great effect on my future. For example if I have considered only one route and it has an effect on my expenditure then this would affect my future as I wouldn’t have an alternative career route to choose from. Therefore I should consider an alternative career route that does not have such a major impact on my expenditure which I can undertake if I cannot undergo my chosen career route.
My chosen pathway requires dealing with students of different ages as well as other employees (teachers). Therefore I need a variety of skills in order for me to carry out my job successfully. Perhaps the most important skills that is required is communication skills as it is vital for me to communicate with the students in order me to pass on knowledge and assist them with their problems. I believe I posses this as the majority of the people who filled out the skills assessment sheet based on me said that I have good communication skills. However, I could improve this skill by getting involved in debates and introduce myself to new people. By doing this I would be improving my communicational skills and also will be gaining confidence at the same time.
However one quality which I could improve on is enthusiasm. I believe I don’t possess this quality as I am a quiet person and tend to keep my emotions to myself. However, I could develop this quality by showing the amount of effort I put in my work that way employers could realise.
Another skill that I lack is innovation skills as 3 people said I have good innovation skills whereas 2 people said average and 1 person said satisfactory. This would mean I won’t be able to come up with new ways to teach i.e. plan activities, I would give repetitive tasks such as homework and class work. This would lead the students getting bored which would be they won’t perform to the best of their ability. Therefore I need to focus improving on this skill. I could do this by looking at examples of other teachers of by attending training courses.
As I’m working towards becoming a secondary school teacher I could develop my personal qualities to mach my job. An example of how I could do this is for punctuality, I could arrive 15 minutes early for every lesson. This will prepare me for waking up early and getting to my work place either on time or earlier. It will also give me more time to prepare for the lesson that is about to commence.
There are a number of factors that could affect my chosen pathway. One of these factors is not getting the required amount of funds to pay my finances. There are an increased number of university places which would mean I may not get into my chosen university. This would mean I would have to go to another university which may not offer the courses I wish to undertake. An increase in university places would mean there is more demand for student loan which would mean I could get rejected if I apply as the government could lack funds especially in this day and age due to the current recession.
There are many benefits working within the teaching sector. One of these if the holidays. Teachers get holidays including half terms, Christmas, Easter and summer. There holidays mean I can take a break and spend time with my family. Another benefit of working in the teaching sector is that it is a public sector job which means that my salary would be paid to me by the government so there is less chance if me being made redundant. Teachers get a pay rise based on the amount of experience and responsibility they undergo for example if someone were to become head of a department, then they would get a pay rise. This would motivate me to take on more responsibility and would support me financially.
However the drawbacks of working within the sector is that I may be required to work long hours for example if there is parents evening running. Another drawback is that I may get bored of teaching as I would be teaching the same specification over and over again. This would have a great effect in my job role for the reason that if I am bored then I would not want to work to my best ability as well as it would affect the learning and the teaching within the school.
I will know be looking at the finance I require for my chosen pathway. The exact value which I will be charged, will depend on the university I am going to attend, as well as the course itself. With my own savings I will not be able to afford this, and instead, I will be required to get some other source of funding.
There are a number of funding methods available including student loans, government grants and learner support fund. However I believe the most suitable method would be to take out a student loan. The reason I think this is because money can be borrowed and is paid back at a later date with very low interest. This would be useful for me as I can pay the money back when I have a full time job. This would mean I don’t have to worry about paying back the loan throughout my educational year but I have to pay it back when I graduate. The student loan would be paid monthly instalment which would suit me as I would experience shortage of cash if I pay back the loan all at once.
As well as a student loan, I am likely to find a part time job to reduce the amount of loan I take out. My parents are also going to give me allowance in order to support me through university. I will be roughly getting £10 a week allowance (£520 a year) and will be getting a weekend jobs which means I would be getting £5.27 an hour (£91.52 a week = £4,759 a year).
The finance will be required for various things including university fees, training, equipment, rent, food, laptop and internet. The total cost of this equates to £11,894. Therefore I am required to take out a student loan of £6,700 as the rest will be paid using the money received from allowances an well as the part time job. The total amount needed for the remaining years will be roughly reduced by £700 as I can re-use the laptop throughout the years.
The student loan has a current interest rate 4.4%. This means that for the first years of university, I would need to pay back £295 on top of the £6,700 I would take out so it would total £6,995. For the remaining years, I would need to pay back a total amount of £6,264 (£6,000 + £264). The total amount needed to be paid back from the student loan would be £25,787 (£6,995 + (£6,264 X 3). I believe I will be able to pay the student loan back because after graduating I will have a degree and with this I will have a high chance of getting employed therefore, I will be able to get the necessary funds to pay it back.
If I am not able to get the necessary fund to pay for my courses and university, then it will result in me taking a gap year and find some sort of temporary job. The advantages of doing this is that the amount needed for the student loan would be decreased as I will be using my own money. It will also mean that also I will be more mature and will be more prepared than before.
I believe that the student loan would motivate me to accomplish my career pathway as I would have the required funds for my courses. This would mean I would work to the best of my ability as I wouldn’t want to waste my time at university and let all that money go to waste.
In conclusion I have set on my career I wish to take. Setting out my pathway would allow me to stick to it and complete it to the best possible manner. Completing this pathway would allow me to successfully enter the teaching sector and would allow me to teach as a secondary school ICT teacher.
