Postgraduate teaching and education courses... PGCE, PhD, GTP, RTP
If you want to teach in a primary or secondary comprehensive school, you will need to obtain a postgraduate qualification of some kind. There are a number of routes to this: some are gained through on-the-job learning and others from combining university work with classroom experience.
Teaching is a rewarding but demanding job. No two days will be the same and the benefits include generous holidays and a final salary pension plan. Teacher training will provide you with both subject knowledge and classroom skills that you won't have picked up on your undergraduate course.
If you are considering a career in education that doesn't necessarily involve teaching, or are already teaching and would like to develop your skills, there are postgraduate courses at masters and PhD level that may be suitable. These may focus on child development in educational settings, a specific level of education (eg higher education) or developments in education at an international level.
What teacher training study options are available?
The PGCE is the most popular postgraduate route for secondary education teachers, and for many primary school teachers. The course may be university or school based (known as a SCITT: School-centred Initial Teacher Training). If you undertake a PGCE with a SCITT, you're likely to be based in school but you'll have a good balance of training sessions outside the classroom, whereas a traditional PGCE will divide your time between university and school. Some distance-learning PGCEs are also available. Full-time PGCEs usually take one year but, in special cases where extra subject knowledge is built into the programme, they can last up to two years.
Employment-based routes include the graduate and registered teacher programmes (GTP and RTP) and are for people who want to change to a teaching career but need to earn while they train. Ideally, applicants should have some prior teaching experience. On the GTP scheme, applicants are employed by a school as an unqualified teacher and undertake on-the-job training to attain qualified teacher status (QTS). The RTP programme is similar, but applicants do not need to hold a full degree to apply. The GTP programme usually takes one year to complete, and the RTP two years.
Useful links
Featured postgraduate teaching courses: PGCE, PhD, RTP
Postgraduate teacher training case studies
Professional teaching bodies and associations
Featured teaching and education school videos
Read the digital edition of TARGETcourses Teaching 2012
