Can you teach in a primary school as a secondary school teacher?

Many teachers want the opportunity to teach different class types as well as age ranges, so it’s important to understand what your options are as a teacher and how you can challenge yourself and grow in your career. In the UK, at present, a secondary school teacher can teach in a primary school. We’re going to break down how this can be achieved, as well as the potential barriers to entry that you may face.

Teaching in a school has the same fundamentals: providing a safe space for children to learn, ensuring that lessons and their delivery are high quality, inspiring students, and providing open lines of communication with parents and guardians. However, there are practical considerations that must be thought about before making the transition from secondary school teaching to primary school teaching:

Subject Expertise: Secondary school teachers specialise in particular subjects, whereas primary school teachers need to be adept at teaching all core subjects and possibly other subjects to primary students.

Classroom Management: Primary and secondary school classrooms can be quite different in terms of classroom management, teaching styles, and developmental needs of your students. For example, managing bad behaviour in a year 10 or 11 class will be completely different to year 3 or 4. You’re dealing with children at different developmental stages, where their communication style isn’t as evolved, and they may also have needs that are harder to spot at a younger age.

What are the qualifications and requirements to work as a primary school teacher?

Luckily, the qualifications that you need to be a secondary school teacher (QTS and DBS check) are valid to be a primary school teacher. Unless a school has a specific requirement for their teachers you generally don’t need to undertake any additional exams.

The main difference between primary and secondary teaching is that primary teachers require a broader range of teaching skills across multiple subjects, instead of being specialised. In a way, you could suggest that this is a requirement; however, it’s something that you would have to learn ‘on the job’ instead of a specific requirement

How do you know whether you should be teaching primary or secondary?

If you’re thinking about taking a side step into primary school teaching, it’s important to ask yourself ‘why’ and ensure that you’re moving for the right reasons. Teaching is an incredibly rewarding career path, but it’s also one that is incredibly demanding. There are common misconceptions such as primary is easier to teach than secondary, and it’s not as challenging, when the reality is that the challenges are the same, they’re just different.

There are pros and cons for both primary and secondary teaching, the question is: do you enjoy what you do on a day-to-day basis? If you’re choosing to move because you don’t enjoy teaching secondary students, then it’s important to understand what you specifically find challenging and see whether realistically this is going to be present in a primary school teaching environment.
However, if you enjoy secondary school teaching and want to go for a new, challenging environment, then primary school teaching can be an excellent next step in your career.
Finally, it’s important to consider the type of environment and school that you’re teaching in. Make sure that if you’re making the move from secondary to primary it’s for the right reasons, and that you’ve interviewed at plenty of schools before making your decision.

Get in touch with a specialist consultant today, and we will be happy to assist you in finding your next role within a primary school!