Working in prison teaching isn’t just about qualifications – it’s about what you bring and who you are as an individual, your life experience.
Skills
To be a teacher in a prison, you need to be:
- a great communicator who is confident working with a diverse range of people
- non-judgmental and able to build trust and good teacher-student relationships with prison learners, including being able to share a joke
- patient and resilient, with the ability to motivate prison learners, who may not have had the best experiences at school, to get the most out of their learning opportunities
There are also other additional skills you will need depending on the role you choose. You’ll find more information in the job advert when you apply.
Qualifications
You don’t need to have a qualified teacher status for all prison teaching roles. The qualifications you’ll need will depend on the job and the subject you wish to teach:
- to teach a classroom-based subject such as English, Maths, or Business Studies, you will need either a teaching qualification or a subject-specialist qualification
- to teach a vocational subject, such as painting and decorating, construction, or barbering, you will need to have experience in the relevant vocational discipline and/or a relevant qualification
- if you don’t have a formal teaching qualification, you may be expected, depending on the role, to work towards a teaching qualification once you’re in post
Details of the qualifications you need for individual roles teaching in prisons will be listed in the job advert.