How to become a geography teacher

Most geography teachers in England have a degree in geography, but training providers also take graduates in related subjects such as geology, earth sciences and environmental science, and sometimes economics, sociology or planning if the content fits. On top of the degree you need qualified teacher status (QTS), gained through a PGCE, SCITT, School Direct or apprenticeship route. Geography trainees starting in 2026/27 can get a £5,000 tax-free bursary, and newly qualified teachers start on £34,069 outside London from September 2026.

Degrees that get you onto a course

Providers look at what your degree covered more than at its title. A single honours geography degree is the straightforward case. Joint honours with geography, or degrees in geology, environmental science, earth sciences or oceanography, are usually accepted for the physical side of the subject. Graduates in economics, sociology, anthropology, development studies or urban planning may be accepted for the human side.

Where your knowledge has gaps, a provider may ask you to take a subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) course before you start. You also need GCSEs in English and maths at grade 4 (C) or above. A Get Into Teaching adviser can look at your degree transcript and tell you how providers are likely to see it.

Funding for 2026/27

Geography carries a £5,000 bursary in 2026/27, the same as biology. There is no geography scholarship. The bursary is tax-free, does not have to be repaid and is paid in instalments during your training year. If you train on a salaried route, you cannot get the bursary, but the school receives a grant of the same amount. Tuition fees on fee-paying routes are usually covered by student finance. Our guide to teacher training bursaries sets out the conditions.

Routes into training

You can train through a university-led PGCE, a school-centred SCITT, School Direct (fee-funded or salaried), a postgraduate teaching apprenticeship or Teach First. Most geography trainees take a fee-funded PGCE or SCITT, because salaried places in the humanities are scarcer than in shortage subjects. The teacher training routes guide compares them.

Your training year mixes placements in at least two schools with study on how pupils learn geography, how to plan sequences of lessons and how to assess them. After you gain QTS, you complete statutory induction as an early career teacher, lasting the full-time equivalent of two school years. It is required in maintained schools; academies and independent schools may offer it but do not have to.

Fieldwork and the rest of the job

Fieldwork sets geography apart from other subjects. GCSE geography specifications require pupils to carry out fieldwork in contrasting environments, and A level geography includes an independent investigation based on fieldwork, which teachers supervise and mark. That means planning trips, writing risk assessments, getting parental consent, booking transport and working with the school’s educational visits coordinator. In many schools it also means a residential trip, which can involve nights away and long days.

Pupils often remember fieldwork best, and planning it well takes skill and a lot of time: trips have to fit around the school calendar, cover arrangements and the weather. Departments that share the work across the team make it far more manageable, so ask about this at interview.

In the classroom you teach human and physical geography across key stage 3, GCSE and often A level. Map skills, data analysis and geographical information systems (GIS) are part of the subject, so confidence with numbers and software helps. In some schools key stage 3 is taught as integrated humanities, so you may also teach history or religious education to younger classes.

Pay from September 2026

Teachers in maintained schools in England are paid on national pay ranges. The 2026/27 award is 3.5 per cent from 1 September 2026, set out in the draft 2026 pay and conditions document, which is expected in force around early November and backdated. Academies set their own pay, though many follow the national ranges.

Point	Outside London	Inner London
M1 (newly qualified)	£34,069	£41,729
M3	£38,400	£45,787
M6 (top of main range)	£46,940	£54,131
U3 (top of upper range)	£52,835	£64,684

The main pay points M1 to M6 are advisory, so schools decide how you move up within the statutory minimum and maximum. Running a geography department usually brings a TLR2 payment, worth £3,651 to £8,913 from September 2026. See teacher pay scales in England for the fringe and outer London rates, and the take-home pay calculator for what a salary leaves after tax, National Insurance and pension.

Outside England

The bursary is for England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own training programmes, and pay differs. In Scotland the main grade runs from £43,383 to £54,453 from 1 August 2026, after a probation year at £36,159. In Wales the minister was consulting on a 3.5 per cent rise for 2026/27. Northern Ireland’s most recent confirmed main scale, from September 2025, runs from £32,916 to £43,830.

Before you apply

Spend a day or two in a secondary geography department, and ask whether you can join a fieldwork trip. Applications go through the DfE’s Apply for teacher training service. When you are qualified, posts appear on Teaching Vacancies and under teaching jobs.