Teaching Internship Programme

Are you currently studying for a degree in Maths, Physics, Computing, Chemistry or Languages (French/Spanish/German)?

Have you ever thought about a career in teaching? 

Do you want to find out what a career in teaching is like?

If so, apply to take part in our Paid Teaching Internship Programme, funded by the DfE.

You can be in any year of an undergraduate degree course.

This is a 3-week Internship which starts in June 2025 and interns will receive £425 per week, so a total of £1275 on completion of the programme. 

Click here  to apply

Support and advice will continue after completion of the internship, if required. You will be guaranteed an interview if you apply to train to teach through our Bishop Challoner Training School.

Read more about the internship in this case study of a 2023 intern in Mathematics:

What have you learnt about teacher practice in the classroom that you didn’t know before?

"Prior to the internship I hadn’t fully appreciated the strategies that teachers use in the classroom to manage behaviour. The fact that circulating the room is a practice very effective at keeping a class more quiet and task focused as well as providing an opportunity for the teacher to help students that are struggling and assess the understanding of a large portion of the students in the class. Another method of assessing student understanding which I hadn’t realised the purpose of before is utilising mini whiteboards in lessons and getting students to hold up their answers, this allows teachers in just a few seconds to get information about a lot of students understanding."

What have you learnt about the wider role of the teacher through the internship?

"The teaching internship has been enlightening about what the role of a teacher is outside of the classroom, it does this both by trying to replicate the experience of being a teacher as well as giving us the opportunity to learn from professionals via workshops about what their role entails. Things such as marking papers or being on playground duty are roles of a teacher that one is already familiar with from our time as students at school, but other aspects of the role such as the kind of preparation that goes into planning a lesson as well as efforts made to develop their own subject knowledge are less apparent. Through this internship I have also got a more familiar understanding of what a teacher training day might look like."

How have you contributed to school life during your internship so far?

"Although difficult to contribute to the school as an intern with no prior teaching experience there are still a couple of ways in which I think I have done so. I think the bulk of the added value to the school that I have brought is through helping individual students in lessons. By doing this often struggling students get some 1-2-1 time that they otherwise wouldn’t get to experience, as teachers don’t have much time to direct towards individuals as they are responsible for the learning of the whole class. Although harder to have a significant impact through doing this I have also been trying my best to inspire the students in mathematics, for example when they had to research Einstein telling them a little about the impact of his research on time travel."

What have the highlights of the programme been?

"By far for me the highlight of the programme is helping the students out during lessons. A lot of the time on the internship I don’t feel like I have much added value but helping students out 1-2-1 can be extremely fulfilling. Knowing you are helping a struggling student to grasp a new mathematical concept is something that I find very enjoyable."

What would you say to anyone thinking of doing the internship in future?

"I would encourage anyone thinking of doing the internship in the future to go ahead and do so. Regardless of whether or not they have a serious interest in teaching, it is extremely informative about what it might be like to be a teacher. And even if after three weeks you decide not to pursue teaching any further you have still developed some new skills and made some money"

Mathematics Intern, University of Birmingham Undergraduate in Theoretical Physics and Applied Mathematics, on placement in Bishop Challoner 2023

if you have any queries, please contact:

internships@bishopchalloner.bham.sch.uk

0121 441 6175