DfE Get Into Teaching

Creating an engagement strategy to raise the profile of teaching.

DfE Get Into Teaching
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About our organisation

Get Into Teaching is a free service provided by the Department for Education to give information and advice to those who are looking at a career in teaching.

The challenge

Our aim is to help graduates with the potential to be exceptional teachers to consider teaching as a career. We need students and graduates to register with our dedicated Teacher Training Advice service in order to access support and advice on how to get into teaching.

What we did 

We worked with the Employer Engagement team to plan a year-long engagement strategy that enabled us to support students’ employability, and to raise awareness of teaching as a career to all students. Activities included:

  • Freshers’ week ‘Get Into Teaching’ ice cream van
  • Attending Careers Fairs to speak to students about their career options, and to generate sign-ups for the advisory service
  • Supporting a mock interview workshop for students in the Department of Education
  • Facilitating a mock assessment centre for students from all degree disciplines
  • Contributing to an online Leadership employer panel for PGT students in Social Sciences
  • Advertising internship vacancies through the Careers & Employability Service jobs portal, Career Connect
  • Recruiting student Brand Ambassadors to run pop-up stands and social media campaigns
  • Delivering a Get into Teaching event in Sheffield (national event)
  • Promoting our National Campaign through newsletters and social media

The result 

  • Raised awareness of teaching as a career
  • Increased the number of sign-ups for advisory support
  • Increased applications for internships

The advisory service is an unbiased service which helps students make an informed choice, so we will discuss university training programmes, school-based, apprenticeships and Teach First. All the advisers are experienced teachers allowing us to answer questions about teaching from an informed point of view. There are challenges around teaching – mainly around misconceptions about pay and rewards but also the perception regarding workload and media reports and it has been valuable to be able to meet students to give them the information needed to ensure they can make an informed choice.

The University of Sheffield is very open to collaborations with us and has given me a range of opportunities to discuss teaching as a career with their students. Good communication and links to different faculties has been particularly effective.

Alyson Church

DfE Explore Teaching Adviser, Get Into Teaching