HOW TO BECOME A LECTURER
May 24, 2017
Who is a lecturer?
Lecturers are teachers who teach academic and vocational subjects to undergraduate and postgraduate
students. They work in universities and higher education colleges. They are called lecturers and not
teachers because they give out lectures, seminars, tutorials and practical demonstrations to classes that
tend to be bigger than an average classroom.
Lecturers will teach a profession/career to students and prepare them to receive the qualification in their
chosen profession. They will often teach the theories and requirements needed to be acknowledged before
moving into the ‘working life’.
Get qualified to become a lecturer:
To become a lecturer you will need to have the relevant degree for the subject you may wish to teach.
You will need to have a bachelor’s degree 2.1 or above, masters and Ph.D. However, a Ph.D. is the main
qualification you need to achieve to become a full-time lecturer.
You will need the basic qualifications, which are:
Level 3 Award in Education & Training
Level 4 Certificate in Education & Training
Level 5 Diploma in Education & Training
It will almost be impossible to become a lecturer without a Ph.D., even if you have degree, masters, and
qualifications. However, you will need to have the ‘basic’ qualifications to start your Ph.D.
If you want to become a lecturer but haven’t got any teaching or a relevant degree, there are courses you
can complete but you will most likely to be paying for them. To start your Ph.D. you will also study and
pay for it.
You will have to contact the Education & Training Foundation to find out which course can be good for
you to get you started and how much it would cost.
Skills Required
Verbal and written communication – Verbal and written communication skills are both important if
you are planning to become a lecturer. Being able to communicate with your students both verbally and in
writing, allows them to understand you even if the subject is complex.
Creativity – As a lecturer, you will have to be creative. Lecturers have to keep their students engaged,
therefore, you have to use new methods to keep them engaged. For e.g. creating interactive powerpoint
presentations with gifs and videos.
Confidence and Patience and Control – Teaching young adults can get difficult too at times. You will
need to have confidence, patients with your students but you will also have to know how to control them
and not let them distract you from delivering lectures.
Commitment – As a lecturer, it will be a priority to spend time making presentations prepare for lessons,
marking exams and assessments on time. Therefore, lecturers have to be committed to their classes to
deliver quality lessons to the students.
What are the responsibilities of a lecturer?
Delivering lectures, seminars & practical demonstrations – An everyday responsibility will be
teaching. You will have to deliver lectures and seminars and show that you are the expert on the subject,
you will also have to show practical demonstrations if necessary. However, you will have to make sure
that students are able to understand what you are delivering to them and even if they don’t, you know
how to explain it in another way.
Preparing for classes, creating activities – Lecturers spend time creating lecture and seminar plans,
getting resources together, creating activities for the students. This is another daily responsibility, which
will be a priority on a daily basis. This is also where the creativity skill comes into place because lecturers
always have to make sure they deliver interesting lessons even if the unit is boring.
Implementing new ways of teaching – As a lecturer to keep lectures interesting, you will have to find
new ways to teach theories and tasks to the students. By applying new ways of teaching, you will see
which way they manage to learn the fastest and therefore, that chosen teaching method can be used with
harder units.
Assessing work – Assessing work will be another priority responsibility which will have to be done.
Assessing will take long, therefore, keeping timings is very important. Assessments can also help to see
what areas students tend to find harder and as a lecturer could help by going over the topic again.
Setting, preparing and marking examinations – Exam season will be a priority for students and for
lecturers too. You will have to make sure you set up mock exams for students for practice, teach and
prepare them for exam relevant requirements. In some cases you will also mark exam papers relevant to
your subject, so you have to make sure you are prepared for that too.
Career progression
To become a lecturer you will go through different stages of career progression. The more experience you
will have the further you will proceed.
Entry Level Lecturer Lecturer Senior Lecturer
At a senior level, you will
have more responsibilities.
At an entry level lecturer, As a lecturer, you have You may be marking
you have completed your completed your Ph.D. You examinations and
masters in the chosen will have more assessments of students you
subject and have some responsibilities than being haven’t taught. You may
experience in teaching. You an entry level lecturer, for also represent your
are still studying for your e.g. you may take on bigger university in talks and
Ph.D. classes. conferences.
Salary
(Source: [Link]
Entry Level lecturer Lecturer Senior Lecturer
From £33,000 From £40,000 From £55,000
You can easily apply to for lecturer jobs with Fish4jobs and filter your selection by location, sectors,
salary band, hours, and contract type.
If you can’t find the one that suits you the best, you can sign up to the Email alerts and receive all the
latest project manager jobs as soon as they are advertised.
What you’ll need:
If you are new to Fish4jobs and career hunting, we can help you out to write your perfect CV, Cover
letter and a Personal statement. These will grab recruiters’ attention and make your search easier.
You can download and fill out our teaching CV template to help you to secure your dream job.
A cover letter is also an essential document to have when applying for jobs. Just simply follow our guide
on how to write a cover letter for teaching roles.
Some recruiters will also ask you to provide them with a personal statement. Do not panic, we have
everything sorted for you. Simply follow the guide on teacher personal statement, step by step and secure
your place for the position.
