Secondary teachers work with children between the ages of 11 and 18. They specialise in teaching one or two subjects from the national curriculum.
Your degree should be relevant to the subject you want to train to teach. Examples of the way that degree subjects can relate to the curriculum are listed in the table below.
| National curriculum subjects | Degree discipline |
|---|
| Design and Technology (D&T) |
Food science, engineering, electronics, home economics, product design, textiles, jewellery and metalwork |
| Information and communication technology (ICT) |
Computer science, ICT |
| Mathematics |
Economics, mathematics, statistics, accountancy and engineering |
| Modern foreign languages (MFL) |
Welsh, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Biblical Hebrew and other European languages |
| Music |
Performance studies |
| Science subjects |
Biology, marine biology, sports science, environmental science, chemistry, physics and chemical engineering |
| Religious education (RE) |
Anthropology, citizenship, cultural studies, philosophy, theology, Jewish studies |
It is useful for potential teachers of modern languages to have skills in two languages. These can include community languages, like Mandarin or Hindi, as well as European languages such as French or Spanish.
Enhancement courses are also available for graduates who are interested in teaching physics, maths or chemistry but who need to develop their subject knowledge to teach secondary pupils. Find out more about enhancement courses.
The national curriculum for all key stages can be viewed at the National Curriculum website. If you have any doubts about the relevance of your degree subject(s) then please approach individual ITT providers for advice, or contact the Teaching Information Line on 0800 389 2500.
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