The Student Room Group

PGCE - teaching abroad?

Does anyone know if the 5 year rule for an NQT is still relevant?
I am thinking, if I can I would like to go abroad, either to complete my NQT (maybe New zealand or somewhere) or for a few months, a year, maybe 2....then possibly coming back if I needed to to complete it, and do some other stuff.
Can anyone advise me?
The PGCE is accepted in many other countries, but as others have said it does depend on the country. According to my Teach First colleagues, the PGCE you gain through Teach First isn't accepted by countries abroad as it isn't a "proper" PGCE.
It's not a matter of PGCEs or PGDEs, but rather the fact that teaching qualification, much like professional qualifications for doctors, nurses, social workers, lawyers, etc are regional/local rather than international. On another note, I don't think a master's of doctorate anywhere gives you a teaching qualification anywhere. In the UK, the only master's degree that comes with a teaching qualification is the Master of Teaching degree but that is quite different, because that's a PGDE plus a dissertation, and is often not seen as an actual master's degree anyway.

Whether the English teaching qualification, QTS, is recognised anywhere else depends on the country. Within the United Kingdom and European Union, obviously. And as someone has said, some other English-speaking Commonwealth countries as well (and the UK also recognises their teaching qualifications). A country like Singapore does not have a specific teaching qualification and they access each applicant individually as a result (so could recognise a qualification from anywhere or nowhere).

If you are to teach in a private school, an international school, a tutorial school, or a language school, it's really up to the school whether they see you as a qualified teacher. Most likely as long as you're from a first world country they will see you as such, but in reality it does mean that the PGCE is likely not to be all that important to begin with.
Original post by Shelly_x
According to my Teach First colleagues, the PGCE you gain through Teach First isn't accepted by countries abroad as it isn't a "proper" PGCE.


But presumably an employer would have no way of knowing your PGCE was gained through the Teach First scheme unless you told them, do the PGCE certificates make any reference to Teach First? I just did a quick LinkedIn search (as you do) to see if there are any Teach First graduates teaching abroad, and there are, at some very prestigious international schools no less.
Original post by Shelly_x
The PGCE is accepted in many other countries, but as others have said it does depend on the country. According to my Teach First colleagues, the PGCE you gain through Teach First isn't accepted by countries abroad as it isn't a "proper" PGCE.


You do however need to think about the experience Teach First gives you - in primary and secondary education, experience comes first (after your initial degree).
Reply 5
The 5-year rule only applies to supply teaching.
Technically you can gain your PGCE then take some time off before returning to do your NQT year in the UK, but you may find it more difficult to gain an NQT post as time passes as it's possible that schools would consider your knowledge from training to be less and less up to date as the years go by.
I'd say trying to complete your NQT abroad is a very difficult bet as very few schools are accredited to do this by British standards. It is a myth that state schools in the EU recognise QTS. In theory, they should. In practice, it is frequently not the case.
Original post by Angelil
The 5-year rule only applies to supply teaching.
Technically you can gain your PGCE then take some time off before returning to do your NQT year in the UK, but you may find it more difficult to gain an NQT post as time passes as it's possible that schools would consider your knowledge from training to be less and less up to date as the years go by.
I'd say trying to complete your NQT abroad is a very difficult bet as very few schools are accredited to do this by British standards. It is a myth that state schools in the EU recognise QTS. In theory, they should. In practice, it is frequently not the case.


I think it's important to point out that there's a difference between being eligible (ie meeting the minimum requirement) for something, and being able to show that you are actually good for the job.

I wouldn't know but I don't think European countries would look upon a teaching qualification, but it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to consider British teachers less because those teachers will not have the local knowledge, and little experience with not only the system of that country, but also the public examinations. (And the language they use.)

Then the other thing is, if you want to be an actual teacher in the continent, I believe you have to be trained for forever like a doctor or a lawyer does in the UK. And many many teachers have already gotten a master's degree as well.
Reply 7
I completed my NQT abroad, almost 7 years after I gained my QTS in the UK. If an international school is accredited with COBIS (Council of British International Schools - cobis.org.uk) then they can approach ISTIP to be the appropriate body (istip.co.uk) which can oversee your NQT training. I'm not sure if the school has to have the equivalent to an OFSTED inspection in the past few years or not, the school I taught at had, and the OFSTED equivalent was posted on the DFE website. This was in SEAsia. The school has to be teaching the English and Welsh NC (or an equivalent) for registration with COBIS, I think.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by Shelly_x
The PGCE is accepted in many other countries, but as others have said it does depend on the country. According to my Teach First colleagues, the PGCE you gain through Teach First isn't accepted by countries abroad as it isn't a "proper" PGCE.


If you want to teach in a "prestigious" British International School then you will be interview and employed by (usually British) management who know and understand the British education system in the UK and indeed will be seeking to employ people from it. They will recognise Teach First for exactly what it is - a fast track graduate scheme leading to a perfectly acceptable teaching qualification for their school.

Perhaps you are talking about teaching in a local school in a different country, in which case they will be expecting to employ people from within their own education system, in which case you may be correct, I have no idea. But I think a PGCE with QTS is a PCGE with QTS no matter how it's gained. In any case, they are looking at your experience, your letter of application and what you can bring to their school. Qualifications only get you onto the pile to be looked at.
Reply 9
Original post by Hazza55
Does anyone know if the 5 year rule for an NQT is still relevant?
I am thinking, if I can I would like to go abroad, either to complete my NQT (maybe New zealand or somewhere) or for a few months, a year, maybe 2....then possibly coming back if I needed to to complete it, and do some other stuff.
Can anyone advise me?



To be more specific to you, if you are thinking about gaining your NQT in New Zealand you'd have to see if there are any British International Schools there as you'd need to be teaching the NC. NZ has it's own perfectly good education system to which expats would just drop into so I doubt there'd be many but you'd have to look. (e.g. Most expats in America would just go to an American local schools, but there is a British International school in New York for example). You'd have more chance of finding British International Schools that would take and train NQTs in SEAsia but it's a gamble as most of the "better" international schools require 2/3 years experience, but if you could demonstrate why they just HAVE to have YOU then they might take you.

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