How to Move from KG to Primary: Our Honest Advice
We’ve seen many experienced Kindergarten teachers reach a point in their careers where they look at applying their experience to teaching an older age group. With many excellent Primary teachers around, it can sometimes be difficult to be considered for a Primary teaching role when you have a Kindergarten background. When it comes down to it, a school may simply prefer to go for the more experienced and qualified candidate.
However, we always want to support our teachers’ career growth, and just because it can be difficult, it doesn’t mean it’s not possible!
Using our years of knowledge, expertise and experience, we’ve compiled our advice on how to give yourself the best success at moving from Kindergarten into Primary teaching. To give our teachers the very best information, we’ve also included insight from a leadership perspective, by speaking to school leadership specialist André Double, CEO of Leading Your International School (LYIS).
Read on to find out how you could take your teaching career from Kindergarten to Primary.
Proven Stability in a Kindergarten Role:
A really important factor that all schools will be looking for is stable work history. This means completing contracts and not switching between schools every academic year. This proves that you are a reliable and dedicated educator, who is serious about their work and is naturally looking to progress in their career. It may sound a little obvious, but any gaps or short term employment on your CV will immediately make a school question if you are ready to take on the responsibilities of a new age group.
Work With an International Curriculum:
If you’ve got experience with curriculums that span across age groups, such as IB or the British Curriculum (EYFS), then this will put you in good stead to transfer your current skills to an older age group. For example, the EYFS programme helps students ready themselves with the skills required for learning through the national curriculum. If you’re familiar and experienced with the methods and content of teaching this curriculum to the early years, you’ve already got a great deal of knowledge for delivering it to primary age groups also. This can really help to make the transition between age groups a lot easier, and is something that schools will be looking for.
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Gain British and IB curriculum experience
Teach Core Subjects:
If you’ve worked as a homeroom teacher covering all core subjects such as maths and science (not just English), then this can also prove to schools that your move into primary teaching won’t be a big change from what you are already doing. A primary school teacher is responsible for teaching all areas of the primary curriculum, so being able to demonstrate that you are competent and experienced in covering multiple subjects already will prove to schools that you are a good fit for the role!
Hold a Teaching Qualification:
Holding a recognised teaching qualification is also essential when it comes to teaching older age groups. We would certainly recommend that you have a PGCE qualification alongside your current experience. For many schools, a teaching qualification will be a minimum requirement, alongside experience and qualities of an enthusiastic and driven educator.
You can study a PGCE (non-QTS) online with the University of Cumbria! Mention Totally Teach as your agent for £45 cashback! Find out more HERE!
Mention Totally Teach as your agent for £45 cashback!
Gain your PGCE (non-QTS) with the University of Cumbria
Moving from Upper KG to Lower Primary:
If you’ve got experience with teaching the older Kindergarten age groups, then moving into lower Primary isn’t too much of a jump. For teachers whose experience is mainly with Nursery or Pre-K, you can also look at this as a career ‘stepping stone’. Get a few years of experience within Year 1, then make your applications for lower Primary roles. It requires looking at moving into Primary teaching as a long term goal, but it’s also a pathway that will give you even more valuable experience along the way.
Take Advantage of ASAP Positions!
ASAP positions may pop up if a school has an unexpected vacancy. As they will be looking for a new teacher urgently, it can be a great opportunity to get into a role you may not typically be considered for. This is because there is generally less competition for ASAP vacancies, and schools may consider a candidate more on their qualities of flexibility, adaptability and ability to grow into a role at short notice. In other words, an ASAP vacancy is an excellent chance to get your foot in the door!
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2 years of relevant experience required
Taking a Paycut:
Moving into a Primary role with Kindergarten experience may also involve taking some kind of paycut. A school could be interested in you joining their teaching team, but as you ‘technically’ don’t have much Primary teaching experience, the salary they offer could reflect this.
Our best advice is to be open to some kind of pay cut or compromise, but remember that this will likely only be a temporary situation as you build up experience within the primary years. The benefits of a new role, new skills to be learned and new opportunities to grow will certainly outweigh the compromises in the long term!
Move From a Private KG to a K12 School:
If you’ve spent your teaching career in private Kindergartens, consider joining the early years department of a K12 school. This way, you will be able to network with and potentially score opportunities within the school’s primary division. Maybe you’ll be one of the first to know about a vacancy, or be able to access Professional Development geared towards Primary age students. Again, this acts as more of a ‘stepping stone’ into Primary teaching, but is certainly a step in the right direction if teaching Primary is your goal!
Advice from school leadership expert, André Double CEO - LYIS
Stepping into Primary - What are Leaders Looking For?
When transitioning into Primary from Kindergarten, you will have several distinct advantages.
Your patience, resilience and agility in dealing with an ever-changing environment are examples. Yet many schools will be looking to you to see how you can support students on their continued journey of learning and growth. Key to all of this is managing the expectations of parents, as many of these will be extremely high. By far one of the biggest challenges in our Primary Schools is not only teaching for consistent high-quality, but how we articulate this learning journey to parents. If you can develop the metacognitive capacities of your students so they can begin to describe and articulate their own learning journeys, you will be at a distinct advantage.
Learning is an active process that involves collaboration. Think about how you plan to get the best out of your students and use their individual strengths to support each other. Provide plenty of opportunities for your class to speak, with you, your support staff and each other. Confident students make a school stand out.
Professional experience of supporting students' diverse linguistic needs is something to keep developing in the transition. Speak to the Head of EAL or become familiar with the EAL Strategies from the Bell Foundation. Know what evidently works from the EEF and their Toolkits. If you can consistently use strategies that are likely to bring about progress, your case will be hard not to listen to.
If you aspire to move into leadership - do the job without the title. Volunteer to review a curriculum, lead an accreditation process or experiment with coaching conversations instead of performance reviews. Make sure that you have a firm grasp of whatever curriculum you are likely to be leading on, any learner profiles that support it and can talk openly about assessment opportunities that you have experience.
During any application, think SAR - Situation, Action, Results. What you did. How your students responded, and what IMPACT it had on them. Avoid repeating your Job Description.
Good luck.
André Double
CEO - LYIS.
There may not be one fixed path to take your Kindergarten experience into Primary teaching, but hopefully with out information and advice, you can consider the ways in which your teaching career can move towards your goals. Remember to keep an open mind, look for opportunities and prove your value as the incredible and adaptable educator that you are!
Looking for a primary teaching role? Check out our vacancies and apply HERE
