Routes into teaching

What support is out there to help me understand the routes available to me?

Start by examining the different routes into teaching and decide which is right for you.

There are several pathways into early years, primary and secondary teaching in the UK. Discover which is best suited to your skills, personal circumstances and career ambition. To become a qualified teacher in state-maintained schools across the UK, you need to undertake Initial Teacher Training (ITT) or Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Entry is generally competitive, but less so for shortage subjects such as maths, physics and languages. Completion of an ITT course leads to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in England and Wales. This qualifies you to teach.

Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)

For most postgraduate teacher training courses, you will need a minimum of a 2:2 degree, normally GCSE English and Maths, plus other requirements such as a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, so allow plenty of time to prepare your application.

Teacher training programmes vary slightly from provider to provider, but most will offer:

• 120 days of practical classroom experience in two schools
• academic study, giving you the knowledge and understanding to teach successfully
• experienced professional mentoring and tutoring in classroom management
• ongoing assessment of your teaching skills towards a final assessment against a set of teacher standards, which will lead to QTS.

Many providers offer different routes that ALL still all lead to QTS and some a PGCE - but a QTS can be gained through different routes.

• Non-salaried route: This is where you would be supernumerary to the timetable and would gradually take on teaching experience as your confidence grows, under the direction and support of an experience teacher. Typically, on this route have two placement schools. One from September to December and one from January to June.
• Salaried route: This is where a school directly employs you to teach from day one some classes and a small timetable and then you do your ITT course learning around this teaching commitment. You will receive a salary as an unqualified teacher while you train. Typically, on this route you spend most of your training at your employing school with a six-week placement in a contrasting school.
• Part time routes: Some providers offer a part time training route in some courses and typically this spreads the one-year training over two years, allowing you to spend less time in school per week.

Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)

A popular postgraduate academic qualification leading to QTS, the PGCE is a one-year course focused on developing your teaching skills and underpinning your knowledge. Available for primary and secondary and this complements the in-school experience that leads to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).

In England and Wales, PGCEs are offered on all university-led courses and most school-led courses. To teach as a qualified teacher in England, you only need QTS, but you might find gaining a PGCE advantageous if you are considering teaching in Scotland or overseas. You will need to consult each Initial teacher training provider to see which routes offer the PGCE option and consider what is required if you opt into a PGCE and QTS based route.

Undergraduate teaching degree

Make sure your qualification will allow you to teach in schools by choosing an undergraduate course that includes qualified teacher status (QTS). There are full-time programmes, which take three to four years, or part-time courses, which will take longer to complete. This links your degree course, buts ends up with a QTS qualification too. This is a popular route into primary school teaching and can include the option of a specialism, such as maths. Secondary teacher training courses would have a specialism such as PE with QTS.

Degrees with opt-in QTS are available in certain subjects such as modern foreign languages, computing and physics. Applications are generally made through UCAS for this route.

What if my degree specialism is not in the subject I want to teach?

If your degree subject does not link closely to the subject you intend to teach at secondary level, you can take a subject knowledge enhancement course in preparation for the start of your ITT course for some subjects. Local providers can help you with this process, once you have decided who to train with and been successful in gaining a place with them.

Once you have decided which age range and subject you would like to teach, look for a route which gives you the relevant experience. To find out more about what is on offer, search teacher training courses. You can do this through the national DfE database, or if you are looking to work with the Saffron Teaching School Hub area, you can use our  interactive map find local providers and see what routes they offer.