Options with a degree in education
The skills and experience you develop during your education degree prepare you for a range of careers working with children and young people
These skills, along with other factors of career choice – what you like doing (your interests), what’s important to you (your values) and your personality type – will help you make informed career decisions. Remember that your career may be based on the skills you’ve gained over the course of your degree studies.
Some of the main career options with an Education degree are:
- Community education officer
- Early years teacher
- Education administrator
- Education consultant
- Education mental health practitioner
- English as a foreign language teacher
- Further education teacher
- Learning mentor
- Primary school teacher
- Secondary school teacher
- Special educational needs coordinator (SENCO)
- Special educational needs teacher
- Teaching assistant
Jobs where your degree would be useful:
- Careers adviser
- Child psychotherapist
- Counsellor
- Family support worker
- Health play specialist
- Museum education officer
- Play therapist
- Private tutor
- Youth worker
You can find out more about these on Prospects what can I do with an education degree? as well as the wide variety of jobs where your skills and knowledge are applicable.
Useful resources to help with your careers research
- TARGETjobs – education degree careers information
- Education Careers Alternatives Booklet
- icould also has a full range of careers information interviews and case studies featuring numerous different roles which you can search through and view online. Some relevant case studies.
To help you explore the wide range of career options open to you have a look at Prospects what can I do with my degree? and take the Prospects Career Planner Quiz.
Volunteering locally
If you are interested in gaining some voluntary experience locally you may find the following websites helpful
Work experience and graduate jobs
- myjobscotland – for local authority vacancies in Scotland
- Teaching vacancies in England – the free service for schools in England to list teaching roles and for jobseekers to find them. The Department for Education has established its own vacancy listing service for state-funded schools in England, Teaching Vacancies, to provide an effective and simple process for teachers to find the right jobs. Schools can choose to list all their vacancies on the service, including support roles, for free. Over 87% of state-funded schools are signed up to use the service. The service also provides support to jobseekers on searching, applying and interviewing for a school that feels like the right fit. Apply for qualified teacher status (QTS) in England
- Teaching vacancies in Wales
- Tes Jobs – the largest selection of academic, education, teaching and support positions for the world’s largest network of teachers and teaching professionals.
- jobs.ac.uk – Vacancies in Higher and Further education
- Teach First – Training Programme for Teachers
General job searching sites for graduates – all disciplines
The following websites may be helpful to search the wider job market, where your transferable skills can be applied.
- University of Dundee JobShop
- Prospects
- TARGETjobs
- Graduate Career Advantage Scotland – GCAS funds internships and provides careers support to bridge the gap between recent graduates and employers in Scotland.
- Milkround
- GradJobs
- Bright Green Business
Graduate Schemes
Many leading UK employers across all industries run graduate training programmes, to discover the benefits of these schemes and how you apply the links below will help: