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Primary school teaching

Identity protected Post 1

1 Dec 2020, 20:31

Primary school teaching

Hello,

I have registered my interest for the primary education course. In order to qualify as a teacher what training will I need to complete in order to qualify and eventually work in a primary school? Also, how long does this additional training take after the 3 year full-time course at the open university?

Many thanks, 

Lily Thornton

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Post 2 in reply to 1

2 Dec 2020, 13:24
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Hello Lily, 

What training you'd need to complete will depend on where you are resident, we always suggest student's wishing to become a teacher read the guide specific to their nation - you can find all of our UK nation Becoming A Teacher guides here:

https://help.open.ac.uk/becoming-a-teacher

After you complete a degree, you would need to do some form of initial teacher training at another institution. Most PGCE courses take a year to complete full time, but as we don't offer them at the OU, we always suggest finding a PGCE institution and checking what you'd need to meet their entry requirements before you book on a course. You can find a UK PGCE course on the Get Into Teaching website, which also has contact details for webchat and a Freephone number:

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-options/postgraduate-teacher-training-courses

We'd also recommend checking the entry requirements for Q94 Education Studies Primary:

http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/education/degrees/ba-education-studies-primary-q94#entry-requirements

You do need to be able to spend some time in a school observing teaching in certain modules on the qualification, which requires a DBS check if you're in the UK.

The first modules on the course start once a year, in October, and registration for October 2021 will open in March of next year. If you're starting out, I'd recommend phoning to register on 0300 303 5303, and we can talk you through the process.

All the best

Jim