Applying for teacher training

Gill Golder, Director of Teacher Education at Plymouth Marjon University, offers some advice on teaching training applications

Applications for teacher training programs open at the end of September or early October each year. If you don't yet have a degree you can apply to an undergraduate course and you can search for these on the UCAS website. If you already have a degree you can take a postgraduate route into teaching and these are to be found on the Department for Education website.

There are a number of different ways that you can become a qualified teacher:

If you do not yet have a degree you will need to do an undergraduate degree (i.e. a first degree) and in this case you have two options.

1. The best option for you is BEd or BA with qualified teacher status (QTS). These are three or four year degrees. The three year Bachelor of Education (BEd) programmes are your fastest way to train to become a teacher, and every step of the course is designed to prepare you for the career as a teacher in schools.

Plymouth Marjon offers three BEd degrees, all with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS):

2. You can complete an undergraduate degree or foundation degree plus top up year in a subject area e.g. Education, Social Sciences, English, Physical Education (PE), Science, Maths, and then go on to complete a one year postgraduate teaching course.

If you already have a degree then you will need to complete a postgraduate route into teaching, there are a number of options which essentially fall into three categories:

A University based PGCE
A school-led postgraduate route (e.g SCITT or School Direct)
Or a specialist route ( e.g researchers in school, teacher apprentice, teach first); these different options are explained on the Get Into Teaching website.

Plymouth Marjon University has 180 years in the field, making us the most experienced teacher-training institution in the South West. We offer a number of PGCE and School Direct courses:

PGCE Primary
PGCE Secondary Education with Art and Design
PGCE Secondary Education with Biology
PGCE Secondary Education with Drama
PGCE Secondary Education with English
PGCE Secondary Education with Geography
PGCE Secondary Education with Health and Social Care
PGCE Secondary Education with History
PGCE Secondary Education with Maths
PGCE Secondary Education with Modern Foreign Languages
PGCE Secondary Education with Physical Education
PGCE Secondary Education with Psychology
PGCE Secondary Education with Religious Education
School Direct - Primary
School Direct - Secondary - with Art & Design, Biology, Chemistry, Drama, Design & Technology, Computing, English, Geography, History, Mathematics, Modern Languages, Music, Physical Education, Physics or Religious Education.
Postgraduate diploma in Early Years with Initial Teacher Training
Postgraduate teaching apprenticeship

Applying for teacher training

Gill Golder, Director of Teacher Education at Plymouth Marjon University, offers some advice on teaching training applications

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