Lessons · Teaching · the three kinds of examination, and who decides which apply
Three kinds of examination, and neither your route nor your opinion decides which you sit
The papers a candidate meets fall into three recognisable kinds: a basic skills test, usually before or at admission; a subject content test for the field being certified; and a pedagogy test about planning, the learning environment, assessment and a teacher's legal and ethical duties. Which of them apply to you is set by your state and your field together.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a state certification officer. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
Candidates lose money on the wrong paper more often than they fail the right one, because neighbouring fields have deliberately similar names and cover different grade bands. The other half of the waste is the opposite: sitting something nobody asked for, because a colleague in another state sat it. Knowing that requirements attach to a field and a band, not to a route or a person, is what makes the right page findable.
How to think about it
Go to your state's page for the specific field and grade band you intend to certify in, not the general how-to-become-a-teacher page, and write down the exact titles it lists. Then check each title against your programme's advice before you pay for anything. Does the title on my registration match the title on the state's page, word for word? Which of these applies to you, and what it costs in time, is set by your own state and published by it. Read that page rather than this one for any figure you are going to plan around.
Worked example
Basic skillsReading, writing and mathematics. Often a condition of admission rather than of certification.
Subject contentThe subject of the field you intend to teach. Titles of neighbouring fields are close on purpose.
PedagogyHow a teacher works and what a teacher owes. This is the one experience helps most with.
Which apply to youDecided by the state and the field together. Not by the route, and not by what a colleague sat.
Your turn
Name the two things that together decide which examinations a candidate must sit.
Which papers apply is set by your state and your
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Reading the general page about becoming a teacher and assuming it describes you. It describes everybody, and therefore nobody in particular. The page for your field and band is the one that is true for you. Which of these applies to you, and what it costs in time, is set by your own state and published by it. Read that page rather than this one for any figure you are going to plan around.