How to become a computing teacher

Computing is a shortage subject in England, and training funding for 2026/27 is among the highest available: a £29,000 bursary, or a £31,000 scholarship if you are selected for one. You need a degree and a teacher training course leading to qualified teacher status (QTS). A large share of trainees come from software, IT and engineering jobs, and the routes are set up to take them, including salaried options for people who cannot do a year without pay.

What computing teachers teach

The subject changed in England when the national curriculum replaced ICT with computing. Today it has three strands: computer science (algorithms, programming, data, networks and how computers work), information technology (using software and systems well) and digital literacy (staying safe and behaving responsibly online).

At Key Stage 3 every pupil studies computing. At GCSE, computer science is an option, with an exam on theory and programming. Some schools also offer vocational IT qualifications or A level computer science. You teach programming in at least one text-based language, usually Python, and you need to be comfortable explaining binary, logic gates, networks and how algorithms are analysed to a 14-year-old.

Coming from the tech industry

People who have worked as developers, analysts, network engineers or IT support staff bring real knowledge and examples that pupils notice. What usually takes adjusting to is the classroom itself: managing 30 teenagers, pitching an explanation at several levels at once and planning a sequence of lessons over a whole term.

A few practical points for career changers:

• the training year is full-time and includes long placements in two schools
• the starting salary may be well below what you earned in industry, at least for the first few years
• teaching pay rises in steps, and the upper pay range and leadership posts are where the bigger increases come
• school holidays are fixed, and you cannot take leave in term time in most posts

The career change into teaching guide covers money, timing and how to present industry experience on an application.

Funding in 2026/27

For a fee-funded postgraduate course in England, computing trainees can get either:

Award	Amount	How it works
Bursary	£29,000	Automatic if you meet the eligibility rules
Scholarship	£31,000	Competitive, awarded through a professional body

Neither has to be repaid, and both are tax-free. If you train on a salaried route, your school receives a grant instead and you are paid a salary. Salaried trainees are typically paid on the unqualified teacher range, which starts at £23,732 outside London from September 2026. Teacher training bursaries gives the full eligibility rules, including nationality and residency.

Qualifications and entry

You need a UK degree or equivalent and GCSEs in English and maths at grade 4 (C) or above. Providers look for computing content in your degree or substantial experience in a computing job. If your knowledge is mostly practical, expect questions on theory topics from the GCSE specification. A funded subject knowledge enhancement course is common for computing trainees.

Get some time in a secondary school computing department before you apply. Watching a Key Stage 3 programming lesson will tell you a lot about whether you would enjoy it. Watch how the teacher handles a room where some pupils have been coding for years and others have never written a line. That range is normal in computing classes, and planning for it is one of the harder parts of the job. Schools will also want to see that you understand online safety, since computing teachers are often the first to hear about problems pupils have online.

Pay and career

Qualified teachers in maintained schools in England are paid under the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document. From 1 September 2026, after a 3.5 per cent award, the main pay range runs from £34,069 at M1 to £46,940 at M6 outside London and from £41,729 to £54,131 in inner London. The upper pay range reaches £52,835 outside London. These figures are in the draft 2026 document, due to be finalised around early November 2026 and backdated. See teacher pay scales in England.

For someone coming from industry, the pension is worth weighing alongside the salary. Teachers join the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, a defined benefit scheme, paying 7.4 per cent of pay up to £36,198.99 and 8.9 per cent from £36,199 to £48,727.99 from 1 April 2026. The employer pays 28.68 per cent until 31 March 2027, compared with a legal minimum of 3 per cent of qualifying earnings from employers under auto-enrolment. The Teachers’ Pension Scheme guide explains how the benefits build up.

Computing departments are often small, sometimes one or two teachers, so head of computing posts open up early in a career. Some computing teachers take on digital strategy or online safety leadership across a school or trust, working closely with the school IT technician team. Others move into teacher training or curriculum development.

How to apply

Speak to a Get Into Teaching adviser, check whether your degree or experience meets providers’ entry requirements, and apply for scholarships early, since they have their own deadlines. Applications for training courses in England go through the DfE’s Apply for teacher training service.