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Primary and Early Years Education with QTS - PGCE

Currently viewing course to start in 2025/26 Entry.

Do you have a passion for educating children, supporting their academic and personal growth at a key stage in their development? Is your aim to become a reflective, critical and enquiring primary school teacher? Then our PGCE Primary and Early Years course is for you.

  • Level Postgraduate Taught
  • Study mode Full Time

This course is:

Open to International Students

Overview

Do you have a passion for educating children, supporting their academic and personal growth at a key stage in their development? Is your aim to become a reflective, critical and enquiring primary school teacher? Then our PGCE Primary and Early Years course is for you.

This course is open to International students.

What's covered in this course?

Our aim is to help you become a committed, confident and creative teacher so we’ll train you in the essential tools you need to kick-start your career in education. You’ll increase your ability to handle the ever-evolving teaching environment, and by the time your course is complete, you’ll be in a position to continue developing your understanding, knowledge and skills throughout your professional life.

Our ITE Curriculum aligns with the DfE (2019) ITT Core Content Framework. Our ambitious curriculum is designed within a spiral curriculum model, which deepens your knowledge and understanding through an iterative revisiting of identified topics, subjects, and themes throughout all our Primary QTS courses.

Why Choose Us?

  • We play a huge role in training and educating the teaching workforce across the West Midlands region; we have trained over 1400 primary and early years teachers since 2018 and over half of them continue to work and teach in our region (HESA).
  • Our curriculum is designed by research-active subject experts to be integrated between university and school-based training with input from our partnership schools, ensuring you’re equipped to meet the needs of the teaching workforce now and in the future.
  • We have partnerships right across the West Midlands and beyond so you can benefit from training in a range of schools and early years settings, preparing you for work in a wide variety of schools when you qualify.
  • Study in our specialist facilities, such as the Primary Innovation Room, art room, music rooms and science lab.
  • We have international links in countries such as Spain, France and Germany to enable you to experience primary education in another country if you wish.
  • We meet the Department for Education's (DfE) Criteria for Initial Teacher Training and successful candidates on our Initial Teacher Training courses will be recommended to the DfE for Qualified Teacher Status.

OPEN DAY

Join us for an on-campus Open Day where you'll be able to learn about this course in detail, chat to students, explore our campus and tour accommodation.

Next Event: 24 November 2024

Book now

Entry Requirements

Essential requirements

UK students
Essential

You must have a Bachelor’s degree (normally a 2:2 above) or a Master’s degree in a relevant subject from a UK higher education institution or equivalent.

We accept a range of qualifications in lieu of GCSEs for our Initial Teacher Training courses.  Please see a full list of GCSE equivalencies for Initial Teacher Training.

Successful candidates must meet Department for Education requirements for Initial Teacher Training prior to enrolling on this course. This includes obtaining a satisfactory occupational health check and an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, as well as prohibition and children’s barred list checks in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) guidance.

International qualifications

A minimum IELTS score of 7.0 is required with no individual component less than 6.5. Candidates who have undertaken IELTS will also need to successfully pass our GCSE English equivalency test.

If you have a qualification that is not listed, please contact us.

Fees & How to Apply

Please select your student status to view fees and apply
  • UK Student
  • International Student

UK students

Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.

Award: PGCE

Starting: Sep 2025

  • Mode
  • Duration
  • Fees
  • Full Time
  • 1 year
  • £9,250 in 2025/26
  • Apply

International students

Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.

Award: PGCE

Starting: Sep 2025

  • Mode
  • Duration
  • Fees
  • Full Time
  • 1 year
  • £17,690 in 2025/26
  • Apply

Access to computer equipment

You will require use of a laptop, and most students do prefer to have their own. However, you can borrow a laptop from the university or use one of our shared computer rooms.

Printing

You will receive £5 print credit in each year of your course, available after enrolment.

Field trips

All essential field trips and associated travel costs will be included in your course fees.

Access to Microsoft Office 365

Every student at the University can download a free copy of Microsoft Office 365 to use whilst at university and for 18 months after graduation.

Key software

You will be able to download SPSS and Nvivo to your home computer to support with your studies and research.

Key subscriptions

Subscriptions to key journals and websites are available through our library.

DBS check

If you are required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check for this course, the cost for your first DBS check is included in your fees.

Occupational health assessment

You will need to complete an occupational health assessment. The cost for this is included in your course fee.

Placement expenses (mandatory)

Placements are a compulsory element of this course. You'll need to budget for accommodation and any travel costs you may incur whilst living or working away from home.

Excess printing (optional)

Once you have spent your £5 credit, additional printing on campus costs from 5p per sheet.

Personal stationery and study materials (optional)

Based on the past experience of our students, you might find it helpful to set aside about £30 for each year of your studies for your personal stationery and study materials.

Memberships (optional)

You may wish to join a union or professional body related to this course, such as Unison, which is free for students.

Accommodation and living costs (optional)

The cost of accommodation and other living costs are not included within your course fees. More information on the cost of accommodation can be found in our accommodation pages.

The way you apply for teacher training has changed. The Department for Education (DfE) has developed a GOV.UK application service for postgraduate teacher training called ‘Apply for teacher training’ which you will need to use to make an application.

Course codes:

  • 3-7 age phase: X110 
  • 5-11 age phase: 338B 

We would like all applicants to make a fully informed decision about joining the teaching profession. As part of that decision making process, spending sometime in a school and considering the role of the teacher will prove to be invaluable.

Personal statement

You’ll need to submit a personal statement as part of your application for this course. This will need to highlight your passion for postgraduate study – and your chosen course – as well as your personal skills and experience, academic success, and any other factors that will support your application for further study.

If you are applying for a stand alone module, please include the title of the module you want to study in your Personal Statement.

Not sure what to include? We’re here to help – take a look at our top tips for writing personal statements and download our free postgraduate personal statement guide for further advice and examples from real students.

Course in Depth

Year One

In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following modules (totalling 60 credits):

Download course specification

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This course seamlessly blends research-informed academic study with hands on school experience from day one. It offers a blend of critical thinking and practice-based learning to ensure you develop as a confident, committed and reflective practitioner.

It offers you an integrated and creative approach to initial teacher training that values diversity and respect for all backgrounds and the opportunity to gain experience working with children from a wide range of social, economic and cultural backgrounds.

The course will enable you to explore different models of teaching, the many ways children learn and a range of approaches to managing behaviour in the classroom. You will develop an understanding of how to engage, motivate and assess learners through a creatively planned curriculum that will take into account the needs of different learners and positively impact on learners’ outcomes.

Course structure

This postgraduate course takes place over one year full-time. Note that all PGCE with QTS courses commence teaching in the first week of September.

The structure of the course includes both school-based and university-based learning and is designed to meet the needs of each trainee teacher and to support and develop the skills, knowledge and professional attributes you need to become an outstanding teacher.

The course leads to the award of 60 credits at Level 7 and you will spend at least 120 days in schools developing the professional understanding and knowledge you need to meet the Teachers’ Standards for the award of QTS.

You'll choose from:

  • PGCE Primary and Early Years 3 to 7 (full-time) – the curriculum includes the Early Years Foundation Stage and the National Curriculum in Key Stage 1 and school based training will be in EYFS and KS1.
  • PGCE Primary and Early Years 5 to 11 (full time) - the curriculum includes the National Curriculum in Key Stage 1 and 2 and school based training will be in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

All trainees learn to teach across the range of subjects in the Primary National Curriculum, but there is a strong focus on English and mathematics.

Whichever route you choose, you’ll take a Professional Studies module where you can choose to focus on a National Curriculum subject area, depending upon demand. If you're looking to teach children aged 3 - 7, you will focus on Early Years for this module.

Assessment methods

You will be assessed through a range of methods to include audits of subject knowledge, written assignments and presentations. Academic work will need to be of the high standard required of postgraduate (Level 7) study.

Assessment of school based training is ongoing and will take a range of evidence into consideration, to include planning sequences of learning, teaching observations, evidence of effective marking and feedback. You will be assessed against the Teachers’ Standards (DfE 2012). You will need to meet the requirements of Part 1 and Part 2 of the Teachers’ Standards to be recommended for the award of QTS, so high standards of professionalism are essential.

Employability

Employment opportunities

Whatever subjects you choose, we focus on giving up-to-date knowledge. The real-life experience you gain on placements can also give you a real head start in the career stakes.

Placements

We work hard to maintain strong relationships with more than 900 primary schools in the region. All have signed a Partnership Agreement pledging their commitment to offering our trainees a high-quality experience.

More about our placement opportunities

International

Birmingham City University is a vibrant and multicultural university in the heart of a modern and diverse city. We welcome many international students every year – there are currently students from more than 80 countries among our student community.

The University is conveniently placed, with Birmingham International Airport nearby and first-rate transport connections to London and the rest of the UK.

Our international pages contain a wealth of information for international students who are considering applying to study here, including:

Facilities & Staff

University House

Our Facilities

We are constantly investing in our estate and have spent £400 million on new learning facilities.

From January 2025, this course will be based at our City Centre Campus in a newly refurbished building.

Our staff

Paul Purser

Associate Professor of Education & Social Work

Having completed a Science degree, Paul undertook a PGCE and qualified in 1990. He has always led Science within school in addition to his teaching and leadership commitments. Alongside this he developed his skills in whole school leadership, leading year groups and phases within school.

More about Paul

Grant Huddleston

CoESW Project Lead for Professional Development, Senior Lecturer in Physical Education

Grant commenced employment at Birmingham City University in 2017 as the Senior Lecturer for Physical Education (PE), working across both primary and secondary education within the College of Education and Social Work. During that time, Grant wrote, taught, and lead the PE curriculum for the BA (QTS) Primary Education, PGCE Primary Education (QTS),...

More about Grant

Gary Pykitt BA (Hons) QTS, PGCE, PGDip

Senior Lecturer in Primary Education/College Academic Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Gary's association with BCU started in November 1997 when he was interviewed for the BA (Hons) Primary Education with QTS course which commenced in September 1998, graduating with First Class Honours in 2002. Gary’s teaching career commenced at a large primary school in Burton upon Trent, undertaking a variety of responsibilities including...

More about Gary

Damienne Clarke

Senior Lecturer in Primary Education (History and Professional Studies)

Damienne gained her undergraduate degree from the University of Liverpool and then completed a PGCE in Primary Education at the University of Durham. Prior to joining Birmingham City University in September 2013, Damienne’s background was in Primary Education and she worked in six primary schools over a twenty three year period.

More about Damienne