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    The skills and qualities you need to be a teacher

    Book open Reading time: 8 mins

    Want to work in the education sector? We’ll run through the key skills needed to be a teacher, trainer or tutor.

    In our guide to skills for teachers, we’ll cover:

    Science teacher demonstrating pouring a liquid into a container, while pupils look on engaged.

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    Reasons to work in teaching

    Before we delve into the skills needed to be a teacher, we’ll outline a few reasons to consider a career in education.

    Variety

    Don’t fancy sitting at a desk all day, every day? Teaching is ideal. No two days in a classroom are the same. Plus, your routine is broken up with sports days, school trips, celebrations, holidays and occasionally something completely unexpected.

    You get to make a difference

    A great teacher changes lives. Some teachers go into education because they loved their time in school and want to pass that enthusiasm on. For others, it’s the opposite – they felt let down by poor teaching and want to give other kids a better experience. Whatever your experience was, you can make an impact as a teacher.

    Financial support while you train

    There are bursaries available for in-demand subjects. They’ll boost your earnings while you complete your teacher training.

    The chance to use your degree

    Outside academia, teaching is one of the few careers where you’ll use everything you learned during your degree. You can pass on your passion for rock formations, Greek philosophers or right-angled triangles.

    Decent salary

    Education isn’t the highest-paid sector, but there’s still potential to earn more than your starting salary. Your wages will increase as you gain experience. If you excel and take on extra responsibilities, it's possible to earn around £50,000 (or even more). For more information, check out our guide to education earnings.

    What skills do you need to be a teacher?

    You need the following skills and qualities to be a teacher:

    Communication

    A huge part of teaching is communicating information, whether verbally, in writing or via any other route (eg. practical demonstrations or artistic interpretations) – whatever gets your point across.

    How to develop your communication skills

    There are lots of ways to grow your communication skills so that you’re ready to be a teacher.

    Our tips include:

    • Gain confidence in your verbal communication by getting involved with uni groups. Why not join the debating society, the student council or even an improv troupe? Getting used to talking to new people will help you handle interactions with future students and their guardians.
    • Write more to boost your written communication skills. Get column inches in the student paper or publish your recipes online. Even if you want to teach Maths, you’ll still need written communication skills. After all, you’ll have to write lesson plans and reports.
    • Earn while you learn by looking for a part-time job that’ll help you grow your skills. Call-based jobs, such as phoning alumni for donations, are great for developing your verbal communication skills and building your confidence. Alternatively, if you want to be a school teacher, you could look for a role with children that will help you get used to communicating with younger people.

    Patience

    People learn at different speeds. Sometimes you’ll have to explain something seven times in seven ways before it sticks. That’s part of the job. And when faced with challenging behaviour, you need to stay calm and not lose your temper. To be a good teacher, you need to be patient with your pupils.

    How to develop your patience

    Although some of us are inherently more patient than others, it’s possible to learn to become more patient (even if you’ve got a short fuse sometimes).

    Practise thinking before you speak and making patience your goal for the day. So, the next time you’re in a long queue, take a deep breath and resist ranting. You’ll need to use the same calming techniques in the classroom when pupils are pushing your buttons.

    Creativity

    Think of your favourite teacher at school. Chances are, they were someone who made lessons fun. If you’re creative in your approach, you’ll find enjoyable ways for your students to learn.

    How to develop your creativity

    Don’t think of yourself as a ‘creative person’? Don’t worry. With practice, you can become more creative.

    Things to do include:

    • Take up an artistic hobby, like painting, music or drama. You don’t have to teach a creative subject to add fun to a lesson. Writing a song about the periodic table is a fantastic way of helping your class remember the elements.
    • Brainstorm when you’ve got a problem. It’s a skill that’ll help you connect with fellow teachers and come up with creative solutions to school-wide problems.
    • Get inspiration. Take any opportunity to volunteer in a classroom and learn from teachers’ approaches.

    Enthusiasm

    Your enthusiasm is infectious. If you love your subject and your job, you’ll engage the people you teach.

    How to develop your enthusiasm

    It’s hard to fake enthusiasm, so aim to teach a subject you love. Picking something you’re passionate about is a great start.

    In your studies, look for ways to go above and beyond. Read books that aren’t on the reading list, take on extra projects and show that you love what you do.

    Once you become a teacher, encourage enthusiasm in others with engaging activities. Make a game of data entry or write poems to help pupils memorise facts. Soon you’ll have a classroom as eager to learn as you are.

    Confidence

    Confidence will help you talk to a class, whether your students are kids or adults. A lot of education sector jobs involve public speaking, so confidence is a must.

    How to develop your confidence

    A top confidence-boosting tip is to get out of your comfort zone. Pushing yourself sounds daunting at first. However, if you do some things that scare you, you’ll be better placed to handle future challenges.

    While getting out of your comfort zone is mostly about saying “Yes” to trying new things, it’s good to practise saying “No” too. Confident people are true to themselves without worrying about pleasing others and fitting in. If you find it difficult, experiment with firmly saying “No” and “I disagree”. You’ve got to find your voice.

    You want your students to respect you so that they listen to your instructions and follow your rules. Showing you’re confident will make that more achievable.

    Dedication

    Teaching is tough at times, so you’ve got to have dedication. If you’re dedicated to helping your students succeed, you’ll keep up your energy levels without getting discouraged.

    How to develop your dedication

    Only you know if you’re willing to work through the difficult patches as a teacher. The fact you’re reading this article shows you’re serious about teaching – and that will set you up well.

    If you commit to teaching with passion, have empathy for your students and accept the challenges that come with the role, you’ll go far.

    Conflict resolution

    Conflict resolution is part of the job, particularly in secondary schools. If you’re good at defusing tense situations, you’ll cope when students upset each other or test your authority.

    How to develop your conflict resolution skills

    You’ll learn behaviour management skills during your teacher training, but there’s no harm in having a head start.

    To get ahead:

    • Attend a conflict resolution workshop or read up on tips online and apply them in everyday life.
    • Look into volunteer roles that offer conflict resolution training – it will be more common in positions working with children or teenagers.
    • Get to know yourself and how you act. If you end up in a conflict at work, with your friends or during a project, think about how you reacted and what you’d do differently next time.

    Organisation

    If you want to be a school teacher, you’ll need organisational skills to juggle marking and lesson planning around your school hours. Plus, being organised will help you create systems to reuse the resources you develop – making lesson planning more efficient.

    How to develop your organisational skills

    There are lots of ways to improve your organisational skills.

    At uni, you can:

    • Practise organisation while you study. If a friend asked to borrow your lecture notes, would you know where to find them? If not, take a moment to work out a system.
    • Keep your calendar up to date and plan how you’ll fit your to-do list items into each day. (Don’t have a to-do list? That’s another thing to work on.)

    As part of your teacher training, ask around for tips. Every teacher will have tricks they use to keep themselves organised. The more hints you pick up while training, the better.

    Leadership

    Teachers need to lead a classroom and inspire confidence in their students. They also have to deal with various students with different (and sometimes competing) needs. Good leadership skills will help here.

    How to develop your leadership skills

    If you're not a natural-born leader, we’ve got good news: everyone’s capable of developing leadership skills.

    When it comes to leadership, practice makes perfect. Try putting yourself in situations where you're required to take the lead. You could volunteer to head up a group project or become more involved in a society at university.

    To thrive as a teacher, you want people to respect your authority. By practising your leadership skills, you’ll gain the qualities you need to take command of a classroom.

    Adaptability

    Working in teaching presents challenges daily. While challenges keep the career exciting, you’ve got to be adaptable. Sometimes you’ll have a great lesson plan, only to realise you need to switch gears to suit the level of understanding your students have.

    How to develop your adaptability

    To learn to become more adaptable:

    • Don't be afraid of making mistakes. It’s part of the learning process. If you make an error, adapt and learn from it rather than let it derail your hard work. That’s what you’d tell a student, so you need to follow your own advice.
    • Keep planning but be open to your plans going awry. While it's important to be prepared, leave room for change and modify your plans accordingly. That advice applies in the classroom, at uni and in life.

    Are there any downsides to teaching?

    So, now you know the must-have skills for teachers. You also know the great things an education career has to offer. To be fully informed though, you’ve got to understand the downsides too.

    Like any sector, there are pros and cons. If you want to be a teacher, you’ve got to prepare for:

    A heavy workload

    As well as a full teaching schedule, you’ll need to find time for lesson planning, creating resources, marking, doing admin, writing reports and more.

    Constant changes

    In teaching, guidelines, targets and government attitudes regularly change. You’ve got to be willing to move with the times and be flexible.

    Challenging behaviour

    Teachers learn behaviour management techniques and develop thick skins, but you’ll run across a real challenge now and then. You’ve got to factor it into your career decision.

    Core teaching skills, like patience, adaptability and conflict resolution, will help you deal with the toughest parts.

    Key takeaways

    Teaching is a hugely rewarding profession that offers variety, financial incentives and the opportunity to use your degree. However, wannabe educators must prepare for an intense workload, continual change and difficult behaviour.

    If you’re up for the challenge, you need the following skills and qualities to be a teacher: communication, patience, creativity, enthusiasm, confidence, dedication, conflict resolution, organisation, leadership and adaptability. Don’t have the skills needed to be a teacher right now? That’s OK. It’s possible to learn them and get better over time.

    Knowing the top skills for teachers is a great place to start. Now, you need to work on them and take the first step towards your teaching career.

    Want to work in education but not sure if teaching is right for you? Check out our guide to education roles other than teaching.

    Discover graduate opportunities in education

    Look at our current list of grad jobs in education and teaching and get your career started today.