How to become an English teacher

To become a secondary English teacher in England you need a degree, usually in English or a closely related subject, and then qualified teacher status (QTS) through a postgraduate course such as a PGCE, SCITT or salaried school-based route. English has no training bursary in 2026/27, so most trainees fund the year with student finance or choose a salaried route. The job itself is heavy on reading and marking: the subject carries two GCSEs, and almost every student takes both.

What English teachers teach

In most schools in England, students take GCSE English language and GCSE English literature. Language covers reading unseen fiction and non-fiction and writing for different purposes. Literature covers a Shakespeare play, a nineteenth-century novel, a modern text and poetry, studied closely and examined without the texts in front of students.

Below GCSE, Key Stage 3 English covers reading, writing, spoken language and grammar, and many schools use those years to build reading habits and close reading skills. At sixth form you may teach A level English literature, English language or the combined course, and sometimes media studies or drama.

GCSE English language is a requirement for so many courses and jobs that students who do not reach grade 4 continue studying it after 16. In a college or a sixth form with resit classes, that can make up a large part of your timetable.

Marking

English teachers do a lot of marking. Extended writing takes time to read properly, and English classes often produce more of it than other subjects. How much you mark, and how, depends on the school’s feedback policy. Some schools now use whole-class feedback, sampling and verbal feedback to cut the load, while others still expect detailed written comments in every book.

Full-time teachers in maintained schools can be directed to work up to 1,265 hours over 195 days. Marking and planning fall outside that, under the general duty to do what the job reasonably needs. Ask at interview how the department handles marking and mock exams, and read teacher workload for what the rules say.

Getting onto a training course

Providers usually expect:

• a degree in English, English literature, language, linguistics, drama or a related humanities subject with substantial English content
• GCSEs in English and maths at grade 4 (C) or above
• some recent time in a secondary classroom, which can be a few days of observation
• wide reading, including the texts commonly set at GCSE

If your degree is in another subject, a provider may still consider you if you have an English A level and evidence of strong subject knowledge. Some will ask you to complete a subject knowledge enhancement course.

Interviews for English courses often include a written task and a short teaching activity, such as introducing a poem to a class. Your teacher application statement should say why you want to teach English to teenagers specifically and what you have done that shows it.

Paying for the training year

With no bursary, a fee-funded PGCE means paying tuition fees (usually with a tuition fee loan) and living on a maintenance loan or savings. Salaried routes avoid that: a school employs you while you train, paying at least the start of the unqualified teacher range (£23,732 outside London from September 2026). Salaried English places are less common than in shortage subjects, so check early. Teach First recruits English trainees in most years.

Pay once qualified

English teachers are paid on the same scales as every other teacher. In maintained schools in England the 2026 award is 3.5 per cent from 1 September 2026, taking M1 to £34,069 and M6 to £46,940 outside London, with higher rates in the London fringe and outer and inner London. Upper pay range points run from £49,134 to £52,835 outside London. A head of English or a key stage coordinator usually receives a TLR payment.

The new figures are in the draft 2026 pay document, expected to be finalised around early November 2026 and backdated to 1 September. Academies set their own pay but most follow the national figures.

You will pay into the Teachers’ Pension Scheme unless you opt out. The rate is set by your actual pay: 7.4 per cent on salaries up to £36,198.99 and 8.9 per cent from £36,199 to £48,727.99, from 1 April 2026. If you also have a student loan from your degree and training year, repayments come out through payroll once you are over your plan’s threshold, which for Plan 2 is £29,385 a year. Teacher pay scales in England has the full table, and the take-home pay calculator shows the monthly figure.

Where the jobs are

English posts appear on the DfE’s Teaching Vacancies service year round, with the largest number from March to May for a September start. Teachers in maintained schools who want to move for September must resign by 31 May, which is why spring is the busy season. English is a large department in most secondaries, so there are usually several posts in any area, and second in department roles come up regularly for those a few years in.