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Primary teacher training.

Hi, just jumping on here for some advice from anyone who can relate to my question. I’m planning on starting a degree next year in primary education, in the hopes of one day becoming a primary school teacher, and was just wondering if anyone had any tips or advice on basically just how to survive it. The degree will take me 3 years, then plus a year for the PGCE that I’ll need to do, so overall it’ll take a total of 4 years. Is there anything I need to know before diving in head-first? I’m only 20 years old so I will be doing it quite young, although a lot of school teachers seem to be young now anyways. Thanks!

Reply 1

Rachel_ysj

Official Rep

Original post by Lu Rachel

Hi there,

I am a third year Primary Education student at YSJ uni. I'm just wondering about the three year course you mentioned as if it is in Primary Education, there should not be any need for you to complete a PGCE course afterwards, unless the undergraduate degree you take is in a different education degree and does not come with recommendation for QTS. With the 3 year course, this gives you Qualified Teaching Status, which allows you to dive right into the profession straight away. You would pick to do a PGCE if you did an undergrad in a different degree, as it is a condensed version of the three year course. I hope that all makes sense.

With regards to tips and advice, I would recommend that you put your studies as a priority obviously, but try to make time for yourself at least once a week because when on placement, it can become very tiring, stressful and consuming so that free time is valuable and necessary. I would also recommend that you seek opportunities visiting other classrooms and observing other teachers within your placement school so that you can get the most out of your experience as when you finish, there's very little opportunity to observe others.

Good luck with your studies and I hope everything goes well for you!

Rachel- YSJ student rep