By Was - 18 Feb 21 9:41 AM
I've tried to reply a few times. Let's see if this one works!
In principle all cases are handled on their merit. A rough rule seems to be if you are allowed study for your certificate, then you are in with a shout subject to certain criteria. The main one seems to be that any sort of prison sentence, including suspended, would be a difficult hurdle to overcome.
However, I could only find the Scottish rules online. England, Wales and NI are probably out there somewhere.
Criminal convictions | General Teaching Council for Scotland (gtcs.org.uk)
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By jimmy456 - 21 Feb 21 8:34 PM
Cheers for the reply. The total conviction was just a fine, no suspended sentence or community order or anything else. I will see if the Uni will let me know if anybody has ever done a PGCE course with my conviction for starters thanks a lot
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By jimmy456 - 13 Feb 21 9:13 PM
Hi, new to the forum, I have been waiting for the tech issues to subside so I can post.
My question is: how likely is it I will be able to find work as a new secondary school teacher with an ABH conviction?
Background:
I am 33 this year, I have one conviction for ABH from when I was 18. I was very drunk on a night out and somebody kissed my equally drunk girlfriend who was elsewhere in the club, she told me she had protested, I saw him laughing, I saw red and I threw a glass bottle at him. It hit him on the back of the head and he needed stitches. I ended up in court, pled guilty, and received a small fine (no other penalty). The fact that he needed stiches increased it from Assault to ABH. Me and the man in question eventually met up, I apologised, he apologised too and we made amends. I have regretted what I did ever since.
I wanted to be a teacher all the way back then but thought my conviction would be a closed door so I didn't pursue it. I have never been in trouble before or since. I am currently applying to do an Open University degree, and my plan is to follow that with a PGCE. I have been putting it off for almost 15 years because of what I did basically, but I am older now, tired doing jobs I don't enjoy and I feel that it is now or never.
But I want to know if I am wasting my time. Will I have a degree I can't use if I go ahead? Will they even let me do a PGCE if they think I won't find employment? (I do plan on emailing them to ask but wanted to talk to people here first) I have read a lot online and always see the advice "in the teaching interview be open and honest and explain your conviction." However most of the scenarios I read are not convictions as severe as mine. I am hoping the fact that it was a sole conviction, that I was young, that I am a very different person now, and that a large amount of time has passed will be in my favour. However I would love some advice before I invest time and money into the degree.
Thanks
**Sorry about the messy way this is posted. Trying to work around the tech issues. If you post a one word topic/first message, you can go back and edit it and put more text in.
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