Graduate Teacher Training – West Midlands

Ambition Institute’s Teacher Training programme sets you on the path to becoming an excellent teacher. Join us and give every child the best possible start in life.

Five reasons to join our programme

1. Improve children’s lives: we are a national education charity with a mission to help young people reach their full potential, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

2. Learn with England’s largest professional development provider for teachers and school leaders: in 2024/25 1 in 9 teachers and leaders in England developed on our programmes.

3. Train in school: you’ll complete most of your training in your main placement school and will also gain further skills and experience in a contrasting school. During this time, you’ll get the high-quality academic training you’d expect to get from a university, combined with immersive classroom learning.

4. Be guided by a mentor: you’ll have weekly one-to-one guidance from a dedicated mentor. Your mentoring sessions will include protected time to discuss your wellbeing, coaching for your classroom practice and support with planning for lessons. This will build your confidence and allow you to put your learning into practice in a structured, step-by-step way, before taking it live in the classroom.

5. Qualify as a teacher in 11 months: on successful completion of the programme, you will have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) with a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and 60 credits towards a master’s degree.

Subjects

You can choose to train to teach primary pupils (ages 4-11). Alternatively, you can train to teach secondary pupils (ages 11-16) in one of the following subjects: Art and Design, Biology, Chemistry, Computing, English, French, Geography, History, Mathematics, Physical Education, Physics, and Spanish.

Option of part-time training

This is an 11-month, full time, postgraduate programme. You may also be able to do part-time training, spread across 22 months (two academic years).

Eligibility

• An undergraduate bachelor's degree with honours, or equivalent.

• A GCSE grade 4/C or above in English and maths, or equivalent.

• Primary school trainees will need a GCSE grade 4/C or above in science, or equivalent.

Please note that you don't need prior teaching experience; however, some of our school partners may require a degree and/or A-level qualification related to the subject you wish to teach.

International candidates

We accept international qualifications that are equivalent to our eligibility criteria above. You will need to provide an ENIC statement of comparability to progress with your application; this costs £69.60. It takes 15 working days to complete your order from the date ENIC receives your qualification documents and payment. For more information and to apply for your ENIC statement, please visit UK ENIC.

Please also note that you must have a visa with permission to work in the UK full-time by the start and for the duration of the training programme. Unfortunately, Ambition Institute cannot sponsor your visa. You can find out more about which visa to apply for by visiting Get Into Teaching.

Application process

Application

Click ‘Apply’ and you will be taken to our tool where you will need to select your preferences and register with your chosen school partner. Once you have registered you can complete Ambition's short application form - this will take you approximately 15 minutes to complete. Note, you can only apply for one school partner.

Interview

Our friendly team at Ambition will then assess your application and if you are eligible, will pass your application to your chosen school partner. You will then be invited to attend an interview by this partner; they will be in touch with you to arrange this. Your invite will include:

• Details about the structure of the interview, including the questions which will be asked and any tasks you will be asked to complete, so you are able to see these beforehand.

• Tips to help you prepare.

• Information you'll need to bring to the interview.

Offer

If you are successful at the interview, you will be provided with a conditional offer. The conditions of the offer are dependent on you completing the relevant pre-programme checks, such as checking degree certificate gradings and DBS check.