10 Tips For Getting
Hired as a Teacher

Teaching Job Resources

London Teacher Jobs

London is the capital of England and Great Britain or the United Kingdom. It is the most populated city in the European Union. It is also one of the most ethnically diverse and vies with Paris for the most expensive to live in. So what prospects are there for Teachers looking for a job in London? What do you have to consider and where do you look for the information you need?

Most teachers seeking employment begin looking just after Christmas with the expectation of finding something before the Easter break and hopefully by September you will be in the perfect teaching job in London.

In the UK, private, fee-paying schools are called public schools while government maintained and ‘free’ schools are called state schools. For a teacher the greatest difference is that in the private sector, class sizes are much smaller. This means that the private sector employs a disproportionate number of teachers.

Independent or fee-paying schools are also not bound by the National Curriculum and many choose to teach extra subjects such as languages, specific sports and music. The other aspect is the burden of record-keeping on the teacher, which is lighter in the private sector.

In terms of pay, there is no longer a large difference between the two sectors, especially since the government has introduced a system of financial incentives to entice people into teaching. In both sectors, teachers of specialist and shortage subjects are paid more although in the private sector, university graduates are more sought after, especially for specialist subjects.

A Union is an organisation that represents people who do a similar job but work for different employers. There are a number of Unions for teachers in Britain, and they are all national organisations, covering the entire country. It is a good idea to join one as there are many benefits from Union membership, a few of the most important include support, guidance and advice on your professional development and legal support. You can visit the Union websites to make your judgement on which to join. Talk to fellow teachers and see what they say also.

If you qualified in your field or took your teaching qualification in London, then contact the careers office at your university or college and see if they can guide you in your job search. Universities usually have extensive career related resources in their libraries to help their students find work and are keen to show that their graduates move on to good positions.

One publication that is used extensively to advertise educational positions in the UK is the TES, or the Times Educational Supplement. This is published on a Thursday and although it does not limit itself to London you will still find many London Teacher jobs advertised there. There are several London wide papers which advertise jobs in general as well, one such paper is the Evening Standard which has a large job section. Most school, however, will also advertise in their local paper.

You should also turn to our old friend, the internet. You can find many of the publications’ job sections online, contact schools directly, even apply for jobs online. Alternatively, there are dozens of recruiting agencies which specialise in catering for teachers. You could register with one or several of those and still look in the papers or on the ‘net for that perfect teaching job in London for you.