I finally got a degree today. I don’t know why I’m imagining myself moving in slow motion, wedged in a sports car, giving a Mr-Bean-style middle finger to the world as I pass. But I am.

I started studying with the Open University in 2006 and at that point, teaching wasn’t even a glint in my brain’s eye. The early OU courses I did in all sorts of subjects were a gateway drug to learning, with no end point in mind. They were more about gaining the confidence to grant myself permission to be a bit academic. Possibly. One day.

By that time I’d already built a writing career and was using English in a vocational way rather than a strictly academic one. It was because of that level of professional experience that a few years later I was allowed a place on a level 5 course - a diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector (DTLLS). By the time I’d finished that teaching course, I was hooked on FE and went on to amass an envelope full of level 5 and a level 6 specialist teaching qualifications.

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Regardless of the fact that I’ve taught English over the past 12 years without an English degree (until today), I never felt like it undermined my status as a teacher. I know the areas of English teaching that I’m good at and would never attempt to bluff my way through teaching content that I don’t feel secure with. Why would I put myself under pressure and more importantly, why would I risk doing the students a disservice? 

Entry to Initial Teacher Education

This brings me to the question I’ve been kicking around for a while. Should people be allowed to enter Initial Teacher Education (ITE) without first having a degree? Well, it didn’t do me any harm! (Christ, that’s the evidence presented by someone who advocates smacking kids or sending their seven-year-old to boarding school. That can’t be good.) 

I know the general consensus is that they should not be allowed without a degree and indeed most are not. There has to be a marker in place to demonstrate that a certain level of expertise has been gained, before an individual is equipped to pass that knowledge on. Teaching is a huge responsibility and should be appropriately regulated.

That all makes sense to me. It does. However, my personal experience obviously challenges that stance. I would only just be starting on my teaching career if the rules didn’t take vocational experience into consideration. So I instinctively believe that the entry point should be based on individual circumstances, though I know that leaves the profession vulnerable to all sorts of potential quality discrepancies.

OK, here’s another reason for my position: a degree certificate may not be the most accurate determiner of whether someone is qualified enough in their subject in order to learn to teach it.

Here’s my thinking. I did a three-year diploma at drama school in the early 1990s - akin to a level 6 qualification, apparently. The course I took has since been adapted and students who take it nowadays come out with a BA (Hons) in performance. I understand that with some administrative faffing I could get that qualification on my records (or most of the accreditation towards it). 

The thing is, I remember almost nothing from that course. I haven’t used what I learned there for years. To tuck a performance degree in my certificate envelope that states I have a level of expertise in material that in reality I have long since forgotten,would seem a bit fraudulent. Yet in theory, it would mark me as a better-qualified professional.

This nudges the question towards timescale of entry into the teaching profession - not just the necessity of a degree but the proximity of that degree to beginning an ITE qualification and becoming a practitioner.

If you asked me how fit I am today, I wouldn’t tell you that I am of similar physical condition to a young Zola Budd simply because I ran a marathon 15 years ago. The length of time between then and now would make the answer irrelevant to the question. I did run a marathon 15 years ago and today I barely have the strength to move from sofa to fridge without a load of effort-grunts, as I haven’t kept up my fitness levels.

Could the same “use it or lose it” concept be said of knowledge retention? If so, what would that mean for entry into the teaching profession?

So, should teachers be allowed to begin ITE without first having a degree? I’m still searching for a definitive opinion to cling to, but it’s not materialising. It’s more nuanced than a yes or no. In the meantime, I’ll have a celebratory lump of cake.

Sarah Simons works in colleges and adult community education in the East Midlands and is the director of UKFEchat