PGCE Primary

Course description

Our PGCE Primary has been running for over 60 years and schools tell us we are developing the kind of teachers they want to employ.

All of our PGCE courses are made up of both campus-based sessions - which will give you a grounding in the principles of good teaching practice - and school-based placements, giving you the chance to apply your knowledge and experience to a wide range of classroom situations.

These placements will be in contrasting schools to provide you with a broad range of experience; they could be in city, suburban or rural schools, in the independent or state sector.

The PGCE Primary course prepares you to teach across the full range of the Primary Curriculum. We will introduce you to the wider context of teaching, including responding to diversity in schools and the inclusion of Special Needs Education, as well as equipping you with classroom management and planning skills.

By the end of the course you will meet the required professional standards for Qualified Teachers Status (QTS) and will be awarded a University of Leicester PGCE. Our strong ethos of reflective practice will prepare you well for your future career in teaching.

New teachers have now become some of the best-paid postgraduates in England. From September 2023, once you have completed your one-year PGCE course - which awards you QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) - as a primary or secondary school teacher in England, you’ll start on a minimum salary of £30,000 (£36,745 in inner London).

Your salary will be reviewed every year, with most teachers moving up the pay range annually. A typical teacher could earn at least £41,333 (or more in London) within 5 years.

Not sure which PGCE route is right for you? Have a look at our Routes into Teaching pages to find out more about PGCE, Lead Partners and SCITT routes, including the dates of regular events we hold.

Alongside this ‘University-led’ PGCE, we work in partnership with schools across the region to offer a Lead Partners Primary PGCE.

We’re delighted that in 2024, Ofsted have graded our initial teacher training programmes as Outstanding. This means that both our primary and secondary teacher training adheres to the highest standards set by the Department for Education. 

According to the report, “trainees are exceptionally positive about the high quality of training they receive. They benefit from an ambitious curriculum, delivered by experts, and supported by relevant, up-to-date research.

Trainees have ample opportunities to integrate theory and practice. They learn to be instinctively reflective, and this helps them to decide the beliefs and values they will hold as a teacher.
Trainees gain rich experiences in schools with different contexts.” 

Course structure

Taught Strands

The PGCE Primary covers the following three taught strands:

Professional Studies Strand

The Professional Strand of the PGCE course provides generic foundations for you as a future Primary teacher. It will support your development as a skilful practitioner by helping you to understand and engage with the complexities of teaching.

You will cover a range of important elements including planning, teaching, learning, assessment and classroom management, according to the Teachers’ Standards.

The sessions are designed to help you develop pedagogical understanding through critical discussion and reflection on classroom action. You will also develop an understanding of the role of teachers and their wider professional responsibilities.

Curriculum Strand

Whilst there is an emphasis on teaching Maths and English, PGCE Primary teaching sessions cover the full range of the Primary National Curriculum.

Sessions may focus on a single subject area or involve cross-curricular or thematic approaches currently adopted in many schools. Some curriculum work will take place through Focus Days in schools.

Specialist Studies Strand

An engagement with research is an important element of developing as a critically reflective classroom practitioner; the sessions in this strand will introduce you to a range of theoretical ideas about learning and teaching and their implications for practice.

This strand is also designed to help you develop skills related to professional inquiry and will show you how to carry out small scale studies in your placement classrooms which can then be written up for your two assignments.

A significant element of the strand is undertaking a specialist study which includes taught sessions at the University combined with a small project in the spring term school placement. During the autumn term you will select your area for specialist study from options which may include:

• English

• Inclusion

• Mathematics

• Science