If you want to teach three to seven-year-olds, this PGCE Early Years course is an exciting opportunity to launch your teaching career. Addressing multiculturalism, diversity and more, our course combines your theoretical training with two practical placements at a school.
Attendees of our PGCE Early Years courses attain high results, with 95% achieving an Ofsted good or outstanding grade by the end of the course and 96% going on to obtain employment, often with their placement schools.
This PGCE Early Years course prepares you to teach three to seven-year-olds (Key Stage 1) and leads to Qualified Teacher Status.
You'll study at London Met and attend two placements at a partnership school of 11 and 13 weeks. We’ll extend your knowledge, develop your classroom practice and help you examine the underlying principles and values that inform current debates around educational issues.
At London Met, you’ll learn about teaching in urban, multicultural and multilingual schools and will address language, diversity and equality across the curriculum. Training within the framework and principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the unique London context, you’ll be well equipped to help maximise every child's development.
Your time at our partnership school will be supported by school-based mentors and University-linked tutors. The tutors will also deliver your University sessions, ensuring a continuity of support throughout the course.
Overall, the purpose of the course is to develop you into a teacher of the highest quality. One who is reflective, creative, imaginative and responsive to all children’s needs.
This approach led to positive reviews in our most recent Ofsted inspection:
"The Ofsted online trainee survey now indicates very high confidence rates... trainees are therefore pushed to reach the highest standards."
Ofsted, 2016
Your assessment will consist of four elements:
There are no examinations.
This PGCE course is accredited by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).
You will be required to have:
If you hold a third class degree, you may still be considered, particularly if this qualification is supported by a completed Master's degree or relevant work experience.
We do make conditional offers (with strict deadlines), so it is important that you include all pending qualifications in your UCAS application.
If you feel your qualifications are outside of the requirements you should contact us for further advice before applying. We highly recommend the one-to-one tailored advice on eligibility and equivalency offered by the Department for Education Get Into Teaching service.
*If you need to take an equivalency test for any of the required GCSEs, please sign up for A Star Equivalency or Equivalency Testing. They offer all three GCSE equivalencies. Please be aware that you may need to undertake study towards the exam, either with the equivalency organisation or independently.
Alternatively, you might want to sign up for a college course in the relevant subject, though this is likely to take longer and you may not have the chance for a re-sit, if required, prior to the start of the PGCE course.
The University will assess any overseas qualifications for equivalence using a number of resources including our own internal guidelines, the UK National Recognition Information Centre (NARIC) and the Overseas Degree Table.
Due to statutory requirements, we are not able to offer sponsorship under the Tier 4 visa route for this course. We will be happy to consider those falling into this category for an alternative suitable course on request. Overseas nationals who already hold an alternative visa in a suitable category or have been granted permission to remain in the UK indefinitely, and EU nationals may be considered for admission but please note that an additional international enhanced police check will be required.
To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. If you require a Tier 4 student visa you may need to provide the results of a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.
If you need (or wish) to improve your English before starting your degree, the University offers a Pre-sessional Academic English course to help you build your confidence and reach the level of English you require.
Before you can be permitted to enrol on this course:
Prior to the interview for this course, London Met recommends you:
Some offers may recommend further school experience if required.
The modules listed below are for the academic year 2020/21 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.
Year 1 modules include:
To support the trainee to:
• Develop a deep understanding of the curriculum they will be required to teach on school experience, and an ability to interpret this to plan engaging lessons which promote pupil progression.
• Develop their own subject knowledge to ensure they are confident to teach on school experience, through a combination of personal evaluation, target setting, personal study and engagement with university teaching and learning sessions.
• Develop a critical appreciation of the relevant traditions in pedagogy, assessment and children’s rights related to the areas they will be required to teach, and to use this knowledge to make decisions about planning, teaching and assessment which promote pupil progression.
To support the trainee to:
• Critically engage with the debate about teacher professionalism in the context of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Understand how teachers can use / undertake research to critically engage with complex educational issues.
To support the trainee to:
• Make progress towards meeting the minimum requirements of the Teachers’ Standards for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) or Early Years Teachers Standards for Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS)
• To become a critically reflective practitioner inside and outside the classroom.
• To acquire the necessary skills, experience and understanding required to plan, deliver and evaluate the appropriate areas of the curriculum (for their route) by the end of the module.
To support the trainee to:
Achieve the professional Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) or Early Years Teachers Standards for Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS)
• To become a critically reflective practitioner inside and outside the classroom.
• To acquire the necessary skills, experience and understanding required to plan, deliver and evaluate the appropriate areas of the national curriculum (for their route) by the end of the module.
“I really enjoyed my course at London Metropolitan University. There was a lot to learn, but the support and guidance from my tutor and mentors was excellent throughout. By the end of the course I really felt prepared to take on my first mainstream teaching assignment. The tutors and lecturers helped me set the right goals for my development as a teacher as well as giving me the tools to succeed. I had two great school placements arranged by the University and I feel these were key to building my confidence. I was really happy to be offered a job by one of these schools – my PGCE year couldn’t have ended better.”
Maira Rodrigues, London Met trainee and Year 4 teacher at Lloyd Williamson Primary School, Kensington.
This intensive PGCE leads to a Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and enables you to teach either 3 to 7-year-olds and 5 to 11-year-olds. Our students have gone on to become teachers at Ambler Primary, Cleveland Road Primary School, New North Academy and many more.
Funding is available for many postgraduate courses leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Depending on your teaching subject and degree classification, you may be eligible for a bursary or scholarship of up to £30,000 through the teacher training bursary.
Please note, in addition to the tuition fee there may be additional costs for things like equipment, materials, printing, textbooks, trips or professional body fees.
Additionally, there may be other activities that are not formally part of your course and not required to complete your course, but which you may find helpful (for example, optional field trips). The costs of these are additional to your tuition fee and the fees set out above and will be notified when the activity is being arranged.
All teacher training courses, apart from the assessment only route, are searchable on the Department for Education’s “Find postgraduate teacher training” site.
Applications must be made through UCAS Teacher Training (UTT).
To apply, please enter:
Please apply as early as possible to maximise your chances of securing a place. The application window opens in early October for courses starting the following September.
Do not wait until you’ve met all the criteria before applying.
If you’re not sure whether you meet the criteria, please do one of the following:
Places are limited by the Teaching Regulation Agency and are offered on a first come, first served basis. We also operate waiting lists for these courses.
To find out when teaching for this degree will begin, as well as welcome week and any induction activities, view our academic term dates.