Get Into Teaching |

Grow like only a teacher can.

Teaching offers you the chance to shape lives, bringing everything you’ve learnt – your life experiences and your passion for your subject – to the classroom.

To add to that, you’ll start on a competitive salary of at least £30k - £36k (depending on location). With teaching, your career can also progress rapidly and there are many roles available, such as subject lead or head of key stage. A typical teacher with 5 years' experience could earn £41k .

Teaching also offers a generous pension scheme, making it a career that is both exciting and secure. Talking about exciting, you will also receive up to 13 weeks’ holiday a year, allowing you to do more of what you love.

Discover if a career teaching in a primary or secondary school in England is right for you.

These steps can help you to achieve Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), which you need to teach in many primary and secondary schools in England.

With QTS you also get additional training and support in your first 2 years as a teacher, helping you to grow in confidence and develop the skills you need to succeed.

You do not have to follow all of the steps in order and some may take longer than others.

There are more steps to consider if you're a non-UK citizen.

A teacher training adviser can give free practical advice and reassurance about all of these steps and more.

Check your qualifications

To train to teach, you’ll need to have GCSEs at grade 4 (C) or above in English and maths (and science if you want to teach primary).

You also need a degree in any subject to teach primary and secondary – if you have one or an equivalent qualification, you can do postgraduate teacher training.

If you do not have a degree, you can do undergraduate teacher training to get a degree alongside qualified teacher status (QTS). Or you may be eligible to do a teacher degree apprenticeship (TDA)(opens in new window) and work in a school, earning a salary while getting a bachelor’s degree and QTS.

Understand funding

Undergraduate and postgraduate teacher training course fees are around £9,250 per year.

You can apply for tuition fee and maintenance loans, even if you already have a student loan.

If you're interested in teaching certain subjects, you might be able to get up to £30k tax-free to support you while you're training. This money does not have to be paid back.

Consider getting experience

Experiencing life in a school can help you decide if teaching is right for you and who you want to teach. This is a good way to give you a taste of what the classroom is really like.

Find a teacher training course

Through teacher training, you can get qualified teacher status (QTS), a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE), or both.

You need QTS to teach in most primary and secondary schools in England but you do not need a PGCE to teach.

Apply for teacher training

You can usually start applying for postgraduate training in October and undergraduate training in May, the calendar year before your course starts.

You can apply throughout the year, but some courses do fill up quickly.

Get tips on making a great application including finding the right references and writing a personal statement.

Start your teacher training

All postgraduate training involves classroom placements in at least 2 schools. Your training will also include some theoretical learning, which might be in a different location to your placements.

Most postgraduate courses start in September, with full-time courses taking 9 months and part-time courses taking 18 to 24.

Undergraduate courses usually take 4 years.

Apply for a teaching role

Some teacher training providers recommend you start thinking about job applications quite early in your teacher training year.

Schools start to advertise their vacancies from January.

Start your career

Congratulations – you're a qualified teacher!

Now that you’ve started your first teaching job, you’ll be an early career teacher (ECT) – this used to be called newly qualified teacher (NQT).

For your first 2 years as an early career teacher, you’ll receive a package of support to help you find your feet. You'll get this automatically if you work in a maintained school but lots of other schools provide this for ECTs too.

You’ll get a mentor to support you, boost your confidence and help you develop key skills, including behaviour management and ways to adapt your teaching. This builds on your initial teacher training.

Find out what you need to include in your teacher training application and what happens as part of the application process.

You can get help with your application from our teacher training advisers. They have years of teaching experience and can give you free, one-to-one support.

What course should I apply for?

Make sure you check which qualification you’ll get through your training course. Some will award qualified teacher status (QTS), some a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE), and some both.

While you do not need a PGCE to teach in England, you do need QTS to teach in many primary and secondary schools.

If you're a non-UK citizen and need a visa to come to the UK to train to teach, you need to make sure the course you’re applying for sponsors visas.

When should I apply for teacher training?

You can start applying for courses from October, ready to start the following September (some courses may start at other points during the year).

It’s wise to apply as soon as you’re ready as:

• training providers allocate places as people apply, so some courses can get full quickly
• providers may set conditions of offer, such as completing a subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) course before you start your training
• this will give you more time to plan how to fund your training

What do I need to include in my teacher training application?

You can apply to up to 4 courses at a time and will need to provide the following.

Your qualifications

You’ll need to provide details about your:

• GCSEs
• A levels (and other qualifications)
• degree

Training providers will also accept some equivalent qualifications, for example, if you’re a non-UK citizen.

Your work experience

You should enter all the jobs you’ve had since you left school. Make sure you explain any gaps longer than a month.

If you do not have any work history (for example, if you’ve always been in full-time education, or you’ve been caring for a family member), you can mention that here.

You can also talk about any unpaid experience you have and how this supports your application to become a teacher.

Your personal statement

Your personal statement explains why you want to be a teacher. It’s a crucial part of your application so it’s worth taking your time on it.

Your adjustments

You can ask for extra support if you’re disabled, have a mental health condition or educational needs.

Your training provider can then make adjustments so you can attend an interview and do the training.

Your references

You need to provide the details of 2 people who can give you a reference when you apply. They will not be contacted until you accept a place on a course.

Start your application

You’ll need to create an account and then complete the different sections of your application form.

You do not have to complete the sections all at once – you can save and come back to them later.

When will I find out if my application has been successful?

Each training provider should review your application within 30 working days and decide whether to offer you a place on their course.

If a training provider does not respond within 30 working days, you can apply to another course while you wait for their response. You can also contact the training provider for more information about your application.

Holiday periods in England (such as Christmas and Easter) are not included in the 30 working days.

If you’re invited to interview

If your application is successful with a provider, you’ll be invited to an interview.

Interviews vary from provider to provider – you’ll be given all the information you need when you’re invited to attend.

If you do not get a place

Your teacher training provider should give you feedback if your application is unsuccessful.

You may need to get an additional qualification, work on your interview technique or improve the quality of your application.

You can apply to more courses if all your applications are unsuccessful.