Program Overview

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PGCE - Primary Education with QTS: General Primary (5-11) years

Are you passionate about helping children become the very best they can be? If so, what better way to fulfil that passion than learning to engage and motivate children’s learning, develop their skills, knowledge, and understanding by becoming a primary teacher at University of Cumbria.

Our well-respected PGCE General Primary with QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) programme supports you through your journey from student to Early Career Teacher. The PGCE is an internationally renowned academic qualification, combined with the award award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) gives you the very best of evidence-based and informed practice. Our approach therefore provides you with the skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to navigate the complex and exciting demands of the primary classroom.

This also means you can take up a position as a qualified primary school teacher the minute you graduate.

Our PGCE Primary Education with QTS program has intakes in both January and September. It is available as either a school-based or campus-based option at our Lancaster, Carlisle, and London locations.

Course Overview

Ready to inspire and change the lives of Primary aged children with the learning of our acclaimed PGCE General Primary? This programme provides you with all the skills, knowledge and experience to teach engaging and stimulating lessons in a primary school setting.

You’ll learn through a blend of theory and hands-on experience, working within the National Curriculum framework. You'll explore a range of key teaching skills and concepts from exploring how children learn, to managing behaviour, planning lessons and adapting teaching to a range of learners. You will also explore the theme of challenging and dismantling disadvantage and the key role a teacher has in raising aspirations.

Over half the course will be spent working with children on assessed placement, with school-based enrichment activities through Intensive Training and Practice (ITAP) alongside your university-based study. You'll take three assessed placements across a variety of schools and settings, building a wealth of experience to help advance your future career. These placements are planned intentionally throughout the programme to build on your curriculum, facilitate your enactment of it and designed to provide the level of challenge you need as the programme develops.

On this course you will...

• Develop your passion for inspiring curiosity in children into a fulfilling career.
• Benefit from high-quality support from our academics and staff on a programme designed around you.
• Learn from an experienced, highly qualified programme team, working at the forefront of the academic field.
• Enjoy the intimate feel of our course delivery, with small class sizes and your own personal tutor.
• Utilise cutting edge research on a newly revalidated and up-to-date course.

Key Details

• Recruiting to: UK / RoI / Settled in UK, EU / EEA / International
• Course Location: Carlisle - Fusehill Street, Lancaster, London, or School Based
• DFE Code: X100 (Sept, Lancaster), E145 (Sept, London), B242 (Sept, Carlisle). U952 (Jan, Lancaster), Y530 (Jan, London), K505 (Sept, Barrow-in-Furness)
• Delivery Style: In-person
• Course Duration: Full-time: 1 Year
• Course Start Point: January, September
• Award: PGCE

Minimum entry requirements

• First degree, or equivalent with a minimum of 2:2 Honours degree
• Three GCSEs at minimum grade C/4 or above to include English Language or Literature, Mathematics and Science (including biology, chemistry or physics)
• A satisfactory academic (university) reference AND a satisfactory professional reference if more than three years since academic study
• All candidates must demonstrate professional suitability through interview and must obtain medical and enhanced DBS clearance according to established university procedures

Tuition fees

• £9,535 - UK | Per year
• £14,900 - International | Per year

What our graduates say

• "The university offered the possibility to complete the final placement back home in Northern Ireland and throughout the whole process of applying to being accepted, you were made to feel very welcome." - Shannon Keys, PGCE Primary Education

Course Structure

What you will learn

The programme is intentionally designed to scaffold your learning journey in a progressive way from your first day to course completion. This is done through a combination of relevant, detailed and comprehensive contributory modules complemented by qualificatory modules that support the development of effective classroom practice. All modules have been developed to enable you to make strong, meaningful and effective connections between theory, research and practice.

Modules

You gain the academic PGCE qualification via successful completion of three masters’ level modules:

• Beginning Professional Understanding
• Developing Professional Enquiry
• Extending Professional Learning

These thought-provoking modules are designed to provide you with an evidence-based foundation to support your development as a teacher. Drawing upon a range of recent, relevant and cutting-edge research, these modules support your understanding of professional decisions teachers make and therefore support you in becoming an excellent teacher.

To support your professional learning, you will engage with modules designed to help develop your professional practice. These will cover subject and pedagogical knowledge of all primary curriculum areas as well as key professional skills and attributes such as planning, behaviour management and adaptive teaching. You will have the chance to work with subject experts.

Year one

Another way in which the programme supports your understanding of the interplay between theory and practice is through the use of ITAPs (Intensive Training and Practice). These expertly designed and focused units of work, support you in knowledge, analysis, enactment, preparation and reflection in key pedagogic areas. The focus of our ITAPs have been chosen and placed strategically into the programme at key points to best develop your learning. The ITAPs focus on ‘Managing Behaviour’, ‘Assessment for Learning’, ‘Adaptive Teaching’, and ‘Structuring Learning and Curriculum Design’.
The ITAPs will involve a range of learning opportunities, including working with selected schools and expert teachers to contextualise your university-based learning and provide you with opportunities to enact the approaches explored.

• Being a Teacher
• Cumbria Teacher of Reading
• Curriculum and Pathway development
• Curriculum
• Intensive Training and Practice (ITAP)
• Understanding Learning

Teaching & Assessment

How you will learn

Your programme will help you to build your theoretical understanding of the complexity of teaching and learning, whilst at the same time helping you to develop your practical professional skills in classroom settings. You will find a significant focus within the course that is devoted to the interplay between theory and practice.

Assessed School Placement

To support your professional practice and provide you with the opportunity to be recommended for the award of QTS, you will have three placements in school. These will cover two age phases and will be in at least two different settings. You will benefit from the excellent school partnerships we have developed with schools over many years. While on placement, you will be supported by a mentor in school. Your mentor will have received initial mentor training from the university and will be supported by a member of staff from the university to support your professional development.

The programme is designed intentionally to weave together university-based learning, school-based learning and independent learning around a developmental learning framework. The combination of all these elements, structured in this way has proven to be a successful recipe for supporting students to gain the highest outcomes.

How you will be assessed

Your PGCE with QTS programme is assessed through a combination of placement assessment alongside formative and summative assessments.

You will complete three summative assignments over the duration of the course. The first two summative assessments will be based on topics of your choosing that will be set within a provided context. This will allow you to develop your understanding of teaching and learning and the professional application of your understanding in an area that is personally relevant to you. Formative activities are built into the assessment process. As you will be selecting a topic for each of your assessments, you will have the opportunity to share your intentions and to receive confirmation about the appropriateness of your topic before you progress further. You will also have formative assessment submissions where you will receive formative feedback but no grade. This will help you to develop your work prior to summative submission.

The third summative assignment involves bringing together learning from the cumulative work done during each of your ITAPs. The assignment will also provide a bridge to your Early Career Teacher (ECT) years.

Your three placements, take place at the end of each phase of the course: ‘Beginning’, ‘Developing’ and ‘Extending’. On your Beginning and Developing placements you are assessed against the curriculum you have been taught, split into Beginning and Developing staged expectations. These work towards your Extending placement where you will be assessed against the Teachers’ Standards. You can expect to be involved in this process with your mentor, who will help you to set developmental targets on a weekly basis during your placements. This will help you to build your ability to self-assess and be an active agent in your professional development.

Progression

The programme also recognises that gaining a PGCE and achieving QTS is not the end of your professional learning journey. It is with this in mind that the contributory modules have been planned to allow you to undertake a seamless transition to a University of Cumbria MA in Education Professional Practice. The learning outcomes of the modules have been mapped to the learning outcomes of the MA and the credits that you accrue on the PGCE are recognised as part of the MA.

Overview

Normally a first degree, or equivalent with a minimum of 2:2 honours.

Three GCSEs at minimum grade C/4 or above to include English Language or Literature, Mathematics and Science (including biology, chemistry or physics).

A satisfactory academic (university) reference AND a satisfactory professional reference if more than three years since academic study.

All candidates must demonstrate professional suitability through interview and must obtain medical and enhanced DBS clearance according to established university procedures.

Qualifications

Entry Requirements

• GCSEs: Three GCSEs at minimum grade C/4

What we're looking for

We want someone who:

• Displays a passion for children's learning.
• Aspiring teachers who can bring their own experience to the classroom setting.
• Enthusiastic and engaging communicators.
• Graduates with a 2:2 or above degree classification.
• Motivated and well-organised individuals who have strong planning skills.

Fees & Funding

Tuition Fees

• 2025 - 2026: £9,535 - UK, £14,900 - International
• 2024 - 2025: £9,250 - UK, £13,575 - International

PGCE Alumni Scholarship

Scholarship fund worth up to £2,000

We're offering a PGCE Alumni Scholarship worth up to £2,000 to alumni of University of Cumbria. Find out more on our Scholarships and Bursaries webpages.

The figures above don't include accommodation and living costs.

Tuition fees are set annually and are subject to review each year. The University may therefore raise tuition fees in the second or subsequent years of a course, in line with inflation and/or the maximum permitted by law or Government policy. Students will be notified of any changes as soon as possible.

International Finance

At the University of Cumbria, we offer affordable tuition fees for international and EU students looking to study at one of our main four campuses. No matter your choice of course or career path, our International Team is here to support you.

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