Initial Teacher Education

For Potential Applicants

So, you've decided to take a step
towards becoming a teacher...

…an excellent, rewarding, and progressive profession, but you’re not sure where to start or of the routes available to you.

Well, we’ve got you covered. On this page, we clearly outline the current routes into teaching and achieving Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). We will introduce you to the John Taylor SCITT and provide the details for regional and national accredited teacher training providers. In addition, we will signpost you to useful resources from the Department of Education (DfE) and provide you with our contact details for further information.

What are you waiting for? The school bell is ringing!

So, you've decided to take a step towards becoming a teacher...

…an excellent, rewarding, and progressive profession, but now you’re not sure where to start or of the routes available to you.

Well, we’ve got you covered. On this page, we clearly outline the current routes into teaching and achieving Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). We will introduce you to the John Taylor SCITT and provide the details for regional and national accredited teacher training providers. In addition, we will signpost you to useful resources from the Department of Education and provide you with our contact details for further information.

What are you waiting for? The school bell is ringing!

What does Teacher Training Involve?

Postgraduate teacher training usually takes 9 months full-time, or 18 to 24 months part-time. All teacher training involves mostly classroom placements with some theoretical learning.

This means that even if your course provider is a university, you will still do placements in schools. And if your course provider is a school, you might still do your theoretical learning in a university.

The important thing to remember is that regardless of your course provider, all teacher training involves around 120 days of school placements in at least 2 schools.

Routes into Teaching

School Centred

University

Assessment-only

Apprenticeship

You can enrol for postgraduate teacher training either through a university or a School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) route, where you can gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Some providers also offer a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). With the John Taylor SCITT, you can train both full and part-time to gain both QTS and a PGCE.

Alternatively, from September 2025, in most subjects, you may have the option of completing a postgraduate apprenticeship. This is a work-based route that typically lasts 12 to 15 months and is available through universities and providers across the UK.

Training with
The John Taylor SCITT

John Taylor has been a SCITT, providing high quality teacher training, since 2014 and we have gradually expanded our provision each year to include a variety of routes: Secondary subject and Primary (5-11 and 3-7 years) routes, salaried and unsalaried routes, QTS only, and the option to train part time.

We have a proven track record of recruiting and training talented teachers and retaining a large proportion of them in our local area due to the excellent reputation that we have built up over the years.