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what is better to study a degree in law or a degree in teaching
l am torn between studying as a teacher and stuyding law/l am interested in studying a dregree in those two subject but l cant seem to make up mind anyone with experince in those field please help
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I've got relatives who are in the legal profession, whereas I went into teaching, so I'm possibly in a good position to compare the two.
When previous questioners have posted questions about making university choices, my advice has normally been to decide which area interests them most and go for it. (i.e. to worry about their career options later on). However, you question effectively implies certain career paths, so I've got to ask you one big question: "Do you really love being surrounded by young children (or teenagers) so much that you want to spend a very large part of your life with them?". If the answer is an emphatic 'Yes', then go into teaching. You'll face long hours and mountains of paperwork but the joy you'll get from being with the youngsters will more than compensate for it.
If you're not really committed to spending a large amount of time with young people, then look for something else (possibly Law).
Of course, if you're interested in secondary teaching, you could always study Law for your degree and then gain a post-grad teacher training qualification (to teach GCSE and A-level Law). That route would leave your options open; you could still go on to become a solicitor or barrister if teaching no longer appealed to you.
A Law degree wouldn't bar you from post-graduate study to go into primary teaching but it might hamper your career development. (e.g. schools like to employ a Maths graduate to lead their mathematics education. It might be harder to obtain a post with special responsibilities if your degree subject didn't form part of the primary curriculum).
Chris
When previous questioners have posted questions about making university choices, my advice has normally been to decide which area interests them most and go for it. (i.e. to worry about their career options later on). However, you question effectively implies certain career paths, so I've got to ask you one big question: "Do you really love being surrounded by young children (or teenagers) so much that you want to spend a very large part of your life with them?". If the answer is an emphatic 'Yes', then go into teaching. You'll face long hours and mountains of paperwork but the joy you'll get from being with the youngsters will more than compensate for it.
If you're not really committed to spending a large amount of time with young people, then look for something else (possibly Law).
Of course, if you're interested in secondary teaching, you could always study Law for your degree and then gain a post-grad teacher training qualification (to teach GCSE and A-level Law). That route would leave your options open; you could still go on to become a solicitor or barrister if teaching no longer appealed to you.
A Law degree wouldn't bar you from post-graduate study to go into primary teaching but it might hamper your career development. (e.g. schools like to employ a Maths graduate to lead their mathematics education. It might be harder to obtain a post with special responsibilities if your degree subject didn't form part of the primary curriculum).
Chris
Talk to a careers adviser, and teachers/lawyers who you may know to try to get a good idea about what each profession does.
Most people see lawyers in the context of movies and TV shows - but many lawyers never go near a courtroom and there are so many areas of law that one could specialise in (Criminal, Family, Commercial, Conveyancing etc). You will probably have a better idea of what a teacher does. But even then, teachers spend a lot of time outside the classroom preparing for classes and marking papers. Both professions usually require you to work long hours, but if the money is better practising law, then that can be set against the number of weeks holidays a teacher gets.
My main considerations in making the choice that you are faced with is 'will I get a job at the end of my degree' and 'what will I enjoy most'? What subject would you be aiming to teach?
I wanted to teach history but I got to 3rd year at uni before finding out at a 'teach' careers seminar that I had next to no chance of finding a teaching job with my degree (history & politics). If I had the degree to enable me to teach maths, physics, or chemistry, then no problem, but arts based teaching jobs were very thin on the ground at the time. I enjoyed doing my degree but in the context of finding a job, it was next to worthless.
I now have a law degree and hope to enter the legal profession. I have better career prospects with this degree than my last, but still, there are many more law graduates like me out there than there are training opportunites available. So I would think very hard about what opportunities may be out there for you after you complete whatever degree you think about choosing to pursue.
If you have good passes in Maths & Science subjects I would explore those options either in a teaching context or in industry.
Most people see lawyers in the context of movies and TV shows - but many lawyers never go near a courtroom and there are so many areas of law that one could specialise in (Criminal, Family, Commercial, Conveyancing etc). You will probably have a better idea of what a teacher does. But even then, teachers spend a lot of time outside the classroom preparing for classes and marking papers. Both professions usually require you to work long hours, but if the money is better practising law, then that can be set against the number of weeks holidays a teacher gets.
My main considerations in making the choice that you are faced with is 'will I get a job at the end of my degree' and 'what will I enjoy most'? What subject would you be aiming to teach?
I wanted to teach history but I got to 3rd year at uni before finding out at a 'teach' careers seminar that I had next to no chance of finding a teaching job with my degree (history & politics). If I had the degree to enable me to teach maths, physics, or chemistry, then no problem, but arts based teaching jobs were very thin on the ground at the time. I enjoyed doing my degree but in the context of finding a job, it was next to worthless.
I now have a law degree and hope to enter the legal profession. I have better career prospects with this degree than my last, but still, there are many more law graduates like me out there than there are training opportunites available. So I would think very hard about what opportunities may be out there for you after you complete whatever degree you think about choosing to pursue.
If you have good passes in Maths & Science subjects I would explore those options either in a teaching context or in industry.
Both a law degree and BEd will be four years.
My advice do a degree you want for a normal 3 years and then you have options.
1) Law conversion or CPE (Common Professional Examination) or GDL (Graduate Diploma in Law)
2) PGCE (post-grad certificate in education)
A PGCE will give you the same weight as a BEd in teaching jobs.
That way you have another three years to decide. You may even just use your first degree as a completely different career path. If you get a BEd, you are useless for anything but teaching really.
Also my way you will have the option of taking a year out after first degree and post-grad. But in essence ALL are four years.
My advice do a degree you want for a normal 3 years and then you have options.
1) Law conversion or CPE (Common Professional Examination) or GDL (Graduate Diploma in Law)
2) PGCE (post-grad certificate in education)
A PGCE will give you the same weight as a BEd in teaching jobs.
That way you have another three years to decide. You may even just use your first degree as a completely different career path. If you get a BEd, you are useless for anything but teaching really.
Also my way you will have the option of taking a year out after first degree and post-grad. But in essence ALL are four years.
Hi,
I considered both at different times. Am currently a solicitor and have considered teaching though I have to say both my parents are teachers and have positively discouraged me from going in that direction.
I did A Levels in french, german and spanish then did my first year of french, german and italian at uni and decided I needed more of a challenge (think I ran my course with languages) and switched to law for my second year.
It's a long hard road, a lot of work and dedication and many people don't make it as there are so few training places available - one of my assistants recently was told only 40% of law school graduates will get training contracts. If you've got the drive and dedication (or the right contacts) you can make it, for some it just takes longer than others and they go in as paralegals and work their way up to get a training contract.
It's a very varied career, so many different areas which are completely different to each other and so many different types of place you can work in, firms differ from each other and then there's working in house and other possibilities. Friends of mine who are solicitors have very different jobs to me despite being in the same profession.
It can be very demanding and very long hours, when | worked in central London and large commercial firms a normal day was 7.30am til 8.30-9pm and we'd have a proper lunchbreak maybe every few weeks.
I considered both at different times. Am currently a solicitor and have considered teaching though I have to say both my parents are teachers and have positively discouraged me from going in that direction.
I did A Levels in french, german and spanish then did my first year of french, german and italian at uni and decided I needed more of a challenge (think I ran my course with languages) and switched to law for my second year.
It's a long hard road, a lot of work and dedication and many people don't make it as there are so few training places available - one of my assistants recently was told only 40% of law school graduates will get training contracts. If you've got the drive and dedication (or the right contacts) you can make it, for some it just takes longer than others and they go in as paralegals and work their way up to get a training contract.
It's a very varied career, so many different areas which are completely different to each other and so many different types of place you can work in, firms differ from each other and then there's working in house and other possibilities. Friends of mine who are solicitors have very different jobs to me despite being in the same profession.
It can be very demanding and very long hours, when | worked in central London and large commercial firms a normal day was 7.30am til 8.30-9pm and we'd have a proper lunchbreak maybe every few weeks.
I did get a bit disillusioned (nightmare job) at one point and looked into teaching much to my parents' horror. I found I was limited with my law degree but was told I could do an upgrade course with my languages or teach primary.
The teacher training people run lots of teacher training days so maybe you could see if you can get to one of them? They are good at keeping in touch and still ring me periodically to see if they can get me to do the training as they are in such need of teachers.
As said about you could do a degree in something you really enjoy then do a conversion course or PGCE afterwards should you still want to do law or teaching.
How about some work experience? Do some voluntary work in your holidays like working with children's holiday projects or summer schools.
Law wise it's difficult to give a decent work experience but you could see if they have any office junior positions over the holidays so you can get to meet some people who've been there. Maybe somewhere like the CAB could give you some experience?
This is a good site for teaching...
http://www.tda.gov.uk/
And one here for law...
http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/becomingasolicito r.law
Good luck!
The teacher training people run lots of teacher training days so maybe you could see if you can get to one of them? They are good at keeping in touch and still ring me periodically to see if they can get me to do the training as they are in such need of teachers.
As said about you could do a degree in something you really enjoy then do a conversion course or PGCE afterwards should you still want to do law or teaching.
How about some work experience? Do some voluntary work in your holidays like working with children's holiday projects or summer schools.
Law wise it's difficult to give a decent work experience but you could see if they have any office junior positions over the holidays so you can get to meet some people who've been there. Maybe somewhere like the CAB could give you some experience?
This is a good site for teaching...
http://www.tda.gov.uk/
And one here for law...
http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/becomingasolicito r.law
Good luck!
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