How to become a teacher
To work as a teacher in England, Wales and Scotland most schools require you to have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). One way of achieving this and become a highly skilled, reflective teacher is to gain a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate of Education) which leads to a recommendation for QTS. You can complete a PGCE in Early Years, Primary, Secondary or Further Education and Training. Applications for all PGCE courses must be made through UCAS Teacher Training (UTT) www.ucas.com.
All of our PGCEs are available on a one-year full-time basis but some can also be studied flexibly, meaning we can tailor a programme to meet your individual needs and take any existing knowledge and experience into consideration.
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How to become a teacher
How and when to apply The UCAS Teacher Training (UTT) system is expected to open on October 27th 2015 for training courses starting in 2016, and applications can be made right up to the beginning of the next academic year if an institution still has places. However, many programmes do fill up quickly, so an early application is advisable.
The application system has two processes; Apply 1 and Apply 2.
Apply 1: You can make up to three choices, all submitted at the same time. Your choices are simultaneously deliberated by your chosen training providers. If successful, you will be invited to attend an interview or selection day and training providers must decide on your application within 40 working days.
When you have all of your offers, you have ten working days to respond and accept one offer.
Apply 2: This begins early January, and is for those individuals who haven’t received an offer from Apply 1. These are made one at a time, for any route, and you can keep applying until you are offered a place.
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Personal Statement • • • •
A personal statement Details of your qualifications Details of your work experience Referee/s
One of the most important elements of the application is the Personal Statement. In some respects it is also one of the most difficult to complete as this is where we get an insight into you, your personality, skills, strengths and suitability for the profession. You only have limited space for your Personal Statement (approximately 48 lines or 4000 characters) so it is important that you mention all the key information necessary to make a good first impression. It’s a good idea to write your Personal Statement in a word processor first, then copy and paste it into your application.
You should open your statement with an effective sentence and end with a brief paragraph as summary. Ensure your grammar and punctuation is correct and redraft your statement until you’re happy with it. You should also try to answer the following questions, particularly those relating to school experience: • • • • • • • • • • • •
Why do you want to teach? Why have you chosen this particular course? Why do you want to teach this particular subject / age range? What personal skills/abilities do you have? How many days have you spent working in school? What did you observe during your school experience and what types of work did you undertake in the school? What did you learn from your school experience, especially in the classroom? Which age range did you work with? Have you had any experience outside of the classroom with children or young people? Do you have any relevant work history you could include? Do you have any hobbies or interests you could emphasise? Do you have a specific career direction in mind?
Show your Personal Statement to your family and friends and be prepared for constructive criticism. Remember that you are applying for highly competitive programmes of study so don’t be afraid to sell yourself.
How to become a teacher
Applications made through UTT will require you to submit:
References You will need to provide the name and contact details for two referees. If you’re still at university or got your degree within the past five years, one reference must be from someone at your university who can comment on your academic ability and potential. (If you left university more than five years ago, you can choose two referees who know you from work, or who can comment on how suitable you are for teaching). The other reference can be from someone who knows you from work, or who can comment on your character and your potential as a teacher. If you’re providing a reference from a school where you have been employed or have done classroom observation, it should come from the Head Teacher. You mustn’t use family members, friends, partners or ex-partners as referees.
We recommend that you ask your chosen referees in advance of submitting your application so that they know to look out for the reference request email. You could encourage them to add UTTenquiries@ucas.com to their contacts list to ensure that they receive it. Make sure they understand the deadlines; you will not be able to submit your application until both references are complete.
Once you have sent off your application you will receive an email from UCAS which will contain your Personal ID and username for the online system ‘Track’, where you can follow the progress of your application.
As part of the admissions process, you will be required to sit and pass national Professional Skills Tests in numeracy and literacy. These tests assess the core skills that teachers need to fulfil their professional role in schools, rather than the subject knowledge needed for teaching. This is to ensure all teachers are competent in numeracy and literacy, regardless of their specialism.
You need to have submitted your application before you can register to sit these tests. Once you have applied to one of our PGCE programmes Edge Hill University offers you the opportunity to attend as many free support sessions as you need in literacy and numeracy at the Ormskirk Campus. •
For further information about the literacy support sessions or to book your place, please contact the Access Programmes Team on 01695 657148 or email edgehilltests@edgehill.ac.uk.
All candidates who are offered a place will need to have passed both tests before the course starts. It is important that you assess when you are ready to sit the tests and don’t rush into too many attempts too soon. We recommend, however, that you make at least one attempt to pass the tests by 30th June 2016. This will help you to assess whether you need to attend the support sessions and give you time for extra revision if you don’t pass first time around. Applicants who have passed their tests prior to attending an interview should bring confirmation of the pass to the interview.
Further support, as well as registration and booking for the Skills Tests is available through the Department of Education website.
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Professional Skills Tests
Interviews Before you can be offered a place on a PGCE programme at Edge Hill University, you will need to attend an interview. This is your opportunity to shine and show us that you have the potential to be an outstanding teacher. You need to be prepared to explain why you want to be a teacher, why you want to teach pupils in your chosen age range, and why you have chosen to teach your particular subject.
The format of the interview varies slightly depending on which PGCE programme you have applied for, but the day may include: • • • •
A presentation/teaching task An interview A group task Written and subject knowledge tasks
If your application is successful and you are invited to interview, you will receive further details with specific information about what your interview day will include.
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Decisions and Replies • •
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• •
•
Unconditional offer: you’ve got a firm offer of a place on this programme. You’ll only get this if you have met at least all the academic requirements in full. You may still have to meet some non-academic requirements, like a Disclosure and Barring check.
Conditional offer: you have an offer of a place on this programme, as long as you meet some conditions. You’ll be told what these conditions are. You may be waiting for the results of your degree or of the professional skills tests. If you meet the conditions of your offer, your place will be confirmed with that training provider.
Withdraw: if you don’t attend the interview or don’t reply to correspondence, then we will withdraw your application. This means your application won’t be considered further. If you want to be considered again, you’d have to make a fresh application in Apply 2. Reject: your application has been unsuccessful.
Not qualified in English, maths or science: this may mean that you do not have a GCSE at a high enough grade in one or more of these subjects and won’t be able to achieve it before the programme begins. It might mean that the qualification you hold in one or more of these subjects is not considered to be the equivalent of a GCSE. Not considered: programme full: this is unlikely to happen since we have to consider applications we receive when our programme is open and you can only apply when it is. However, sometimes there might be a small time gap between you sending your application and it being sent to us via UCAS. It’s possible that a programme could close in that time.
How to become a teacher
You will need to keep checking Track on the UCAS site for the outcome of your application. There are several possible outcomes which are outlined below:
What happens next? You must reply to your offer in UCAS Track. Any verbal or email communication will not be considered a formal decision. Once you have had a decision from all the training providers you have applied to, you will have 10 working days to respond via Track. You can however accept an offer before you’ve heard from all your choices. To do this, you must withdraw from any providers who have not given a decision. The option to reply will then become available.
If you are offered a place on one of our programmes and you accept the offer, you will then be sent further information regarding your course.
We appreciate that the UCAS application and Interview process can seem daunting. You can find lots of information on our website at edgehill.ac.uk/postgraduate/pgce, or if you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our friendly team, Rachael Farley, Ellie Butcher and Jane Pitt can be contacted at pgce@edgehill.ac.uk or on 0808 144 66 44.
How to become a teacher
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