Visit a classroom
Perhaps the best, and simplest, way to find out whether you are suited to life as a teacher is to spend some time in a school, observing experienced teachers as they deliver lessons and go about their daily professional lives.
What can you do?
Try approaching schools in your local area. They should be happy to arrange for you to spend a day or so observing one of their classes or shadowing one of their teachers. If you have more time to spare, then you could speak to a local school about becoming a regular volunteer – perhaps as a classroom assistant.
The open schools programme
If you're at the early stages of deciding about a career in teaching and would like to make sure that your observation will be sufficiently well structured, you might like to arrange a visit through the open schools programme (available in England only).
If you are interested in visiting an open school for a day, please call the Teaching information line on 0845 6000 991, bearing in mind that, owing to high demand for places, visits are subject to availability.
Other ways of experiencing working with children
If you'd like to understand what it's like to work with children, you're by no means limited to observing what goes on in a school. You could also volunteer to work in a youth club or as a Scout or Guide leader. This will give you just the kind of appreciation and experience to make your teacher training application stand out from the crowd, should you decide to apply.
