Career opportunities Education
In the UK graduates can use their degree to find employment that's not necessarily related to their degree subject. This is because the employer is looking for the skills they have developed through their academic study, rather than a specific subject.
Given the increased competition for graduate positions, it is important to consider a range of occupational areas. Bear in mind that many careers require further study, training and/or work experience beyond your degree.
The education sector offers many different career opportunities. Did you know 28% of OU students who graduated are now working in education (from those who responded to our Employability of Qualifiers Survey 2018) and “teacher” is the top job title listed overall. For example, Teach First is one of the UK's largest recruiter of graduates, with 1735 graduates recruited in 2019. In England there is still a shortfall of teachers in certain areas such as Science, Maths, Design & Technology and Modern Languages and those who can teach these subjects are in high demand, although demand for teachers of any subject can also be strongly influenced by geographical location.
Some examples of other job roles related to OU qualifications in this subject area are:
- careers adviser, personal adviser or adult guidance worker
- community education officer
- educational administrator
- education social worker/welfare officer
- teaching assistant
- training and development officer
- widening participation coordinator
- youth and community worker.
We advise you to thoroughly research your career choices as early as possible, particularly in relation to experience required, differences that relate to where you live, or where the study choices you make may affect future opportunities.
Colleges, universities, schools, central and local government, not-for-profit organisations, the Health Service and Civil Service all offer career opportunities for Education graduates.
If you are interested in teaching, see our becoming a teacher guides which cover teaching in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Inside you’ll find lots of advice, from deciding if teaching is for you to getting work experience, the routes into teaching and our answers to frequently asked questions.
Useful links
These resources will help you explore careers areas in further detail.
You will also find information about general job vacancy sites, work experience and volunteering at:
Postgraduate study
Many graduates undertake further study on completion of their first degree and/or after gaining relevant work experience. Reasons for doing so include wanting to explore an aspect of their studies in more depth, to further or change their career, because a specific postgraduate qualification is either an entry requirement for their chosen career or would be an advantage if entry is competitive.
Generally postgraduate study can open up opportunities for Education graduates to work in higher education and in areas such as teaching, training, practice educator, educational advice, careers advice, librarianship, arts and cultural education and educational publishing. Postgraduate study can also lead to opportunities to shape and influence future policy and practice within the educational and training fields as managers, senior teachers, consultants and senior positions within educational administration and policy departments at local, national and international level.
There are a range of education related OU postgraduate study options, both taught and research awards, in for example On-line and Distance Education and Applied Education which support professional development qualifications or relevant experience.
It's important to thoroughly research postgraduate study options as this will help you make the right choice for you. This would include checking you can afford it as the way you pay for postgraduate study is different to how undergraduate study is funded. Entry to teaching in particular is highly regulated, with different rules in each nation, so we would recommend you check these requirements. On the Prospects website you can search postgraduate courses, and find information on funding postgraduate study.
