7. Students’ finance

The first step in drawing up a budget for student life is working out how much higher education will cost. One willneed to consider tuition fees, accommodation and living costs.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees help pay for the costs of running a university or college – salaries for teaching staff, maintaining the buildings and so on. The maximum tuition fees one can be charged for 2008/2009 is £3,145.

There’s a student finance package available to help with the costs of higher education. The main sources of help for full-time students are:

• Student Loans and grants from the government;

• bursaries from universities and colleges.

If one takes out a Student Loan from the government, he/she won’t have to start paying it back until he/she left the course and is earning more than £15,000 a year.

And any help that one get through a grant or bursary doesn’t have to be repaid at all.

Accommodation and other living costs

There are a number of things to take into account when one is working out his/her living costs. Living costs for full-time students include:

• accommodation – this is likely to be one’ssingle biggest expense ifone isliving away from home;

• food;

• household bills – gas, electricity, water rates, phone, TV licence, contents insurance;

• clothes;

• travel;

• socialising;

• leisure and sport;

• study costs – such as books, materials and field trips for one’scourse.

As well as Student Loans, one may be able to get a Maintenance Grant or Special Support Grant to help with accommodation and other living costs. One won’t have to pay this back.

Grants of up to £2,835 are available for 2008/2009.

8. Teacher training in the uk

There are many ways to become a teacher in the UK.  You need to achieve your QTS or Qualified Teacher Status, which will enable you to teach in state maintained schools in England and Wales.

There are five ways to obtain your Qualified Teacher Status in the UK.

You can study to become a teacher while completing your first undergraduate degree.  The qualification is a Bachelor of Education and incorporates your specific subject areas (such as English, Mathematics, History) with an education component. 

It can take 3 to 4 years to complete but if you have completed previous tertiary subjects, you may be able to obtain credits for these and reduce your study time down to potentially 2 years.

If you already have a degree, then you can complete your teacher training as a postgraduate.  The certification is a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and can be completed by people who already have a bachelor degree in a specific field.  This course can take 1 year full time or 2 years part time.  You will learn how to deliver your subject specialty to children using correct teaching methodologies.  These courses are available at universities, but there are also opportunities to train via flexible distance learning.

An excellent opportunity is to train and qualify to teach while you are already employed in a school. As a mature person, this may be the best way to go.  You can earn an income while learning and be able to apply everything you have learnt straight away. 

To become involved in this, you need to apply to a Graduate Teacher Program (GTP) provider who will find you a school to work in as an unqualified teacher.  To qualify you need to have a UK bachelor degree and GCSE grade C or higher in Math and English.  It can take up to 1 year full time to complete this qualification.

If you have considerable teaching experience but do not have your Qualified Teacher Status, then you may qualify for assessment based teacher training.

This program is for people with substantial experience within a UK school as an unqualified teacher or instructor.  You are required to demonstrate that you meet the standards to get Qualified Teacher Status by submitting evidence of your experience and abilities as a classroom teacher.  This process can take up to a year to complete and includes visits to your school by an assessor.

If you would like to work in the UK and are a qualified teacher from another country then the Overseas Trained Teacher Program is going to be the best for you.  You may need to spend up to a year working in a school as an unqualified teacher while obtaining your Qualified Teacher Status, but if you can demonstrate that you have the appropriate skills and experience to meet the required standards, you can apply to have the Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) assessment straight away.  You will need to demonstrate that you have a UK bachelor degree equivalent, the equivalent or higher of a GCSE grade C in Math and English and if you wish to teach 7-14 year old children you will need to demonstrate an equivalent standard to GCSE grade 3 in a science subject.