Intro

Being a primary teacher is rewarding and fulfilling. You’ll have an early impact on children’s learning and development as you lay the foundations for academic success and personal growth.

Our Primary 5-11 years PGCE leads to QTS – the professional teaching qualification.

You’ll gain supported practical experience in two schools and gain knowledge and skills at university in our specialist facilities and classrooms that replicate those used in schools.

As a Brighton student teacher you’ll learn with an Ofsted ‘outstanding’ provider from an expert team, with their own classroom experience.

Find out about postgraduate events

Key facts

Location Brighton: Falmer

Course code X100

Full-time 1 year

Qualified Teacher Status is awarded by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA)

Apply now with DfE Apply

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

This is a highly successful postgraduate route into teaching. We strongly encourage applications from candidates with the potential to become outstanding teachers in this intensive and mainly school-based programme.

The entry requirements listed here are our typical offer for this course. They should be used as a general guide. 

Degree and experience
Normally an honours degree, or equivalent qualification.

GCSE (minimum grade C or grade 4)
At least English language, maths and a science. Equivalence tests are available for suitable candidates.

English language requirements
IELTS 7.0 overall with a minimum of 6.5 in each element. Find out more about the other English qualifications that we accept.

International student application deadline
The deadline for international applicants is late May. This deadline is in place to ensure sufficient time for the visa process to be completed before the course starts in early September. 

Interviews
Interviews for this course can be in-person at the university or online. If we invite you to an interview, you’ll be able to choose a date and which option suits you best.

Experience
While experience in a school is not a condition of entry for initial teacher education courses, we recommend that you take up opportunities to gain a realistic understanding of whether teaching is right for you. The Get Into Teaching School Experience Programme offers opportunities across the country to book a day’s worth of experience.

Read the tips on applying for teacher training.

Other

  • Applicants from minority ethnic and other groups under-represented in the profession, including men in primary teaching, are particularly welcome.
  • All offers of places are subject to required regulatory checks including an occupational health check and a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) enhanced check.

  • We are committed to safeguarding and child protection. As part of our selection and interview process, we will undertake additional checks to confirm the suitability of candidates.

Course content

Top reasons to choose this course

  • You’ll train to teach with an Ofsted ‘outstanding’ provider
  • 2nd in the UK for education courses  – Guardian University Guide 2025
  • Placements opportunities with schools in large, small, urban and rural settings
  • Learn in specialist classrooms that replicate those used in schools and our curriculum centre with its 30,000 resources for student teachers
  • Brighton has an expert team who have their own successful experience as primary education practitioners
  • Our teaching graduates benefit from excellent employment rates that are consistently above the sector average
  • We work closely with local authorities, schools, colleges and educational organisations ensuring that you’re kept up to date with the changing world of education
  • We have a dedicated team to help you after you qualify, through our Early Teacher Career support programme.
teacher and students cross legged on the carpet

Course structure

This is an intensive year, with two-thirds of the course based in partnership schools and the remainder in lectures, seminars and independent study. Inherent to this programme are the government’s national priorities and we will give you support while thoroughly addressing these issues.

In line with government requirements, you will spend the majority of your course gaining experience in schools, where you will spend 24 weeks teaching under supervision. Our tutors and mentors will advise and support you throughout each placement. We will give you plenty of comprehensive feedback during this time, which will enable you to see what you are doing well and where you might need to improve.

You will benefit from experiencing school-based training in two different schools and age-phases. The first phase of school-based training runs simultaneously to the university-based programme, which ensures that teaching theory is effectively integrated with practice.  

We believe in nurturing and facilitating your opportunities to discuss and critically evaluate effective teaching practices through small interactive seminar groups, which complement larger group lectures.

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All students are enrolled onto the Postgraduate Certificate in Education, but an alternative exit award, the Professional Graduate Certificate in Education, which also includes QTS, is available if you do not achieve the masters-level elements of the postgraduate programme.

Areas of study

You will explore the subject curriculum areas for Key Stages 1 and 2, and practice the strategies and skills that encourage you to interpret the curriculum confidently and creatively. The programme is designed to encourage teaching practice that you can continually reflect upon and critique.

You will study modules that investigate learning and teaching throughout the two stages within the context of child development as a whole. 

Our teaching and learning strategies go across and beyond subject areas to ensure inclusive practice and equal, effective teaching of children from a diverse range of backgrounds. 

You will engage in a masters-level school-based Professional Enquiry module, focusing on an aspect of your own professional development.

students practising languages with finger puppets

School-based training

Ofsted identify our approach to training in schools as a key strength of this course, with an excellent balance between university tuition and school-based training.

You will spend a minimum of 120 days on school-based activities, with your training shared between the university and the partner school. 

Your school-based training will include observing primary practitioners, working with individual pupils and groups of pupils, team teaching and independent teaching. Your training will also entail completing specific subject tasks and developing your knowledge of school policy and effective practices.

You will maintain a professional training portfolio and be supported to review your work critically and analytically as well as to set appropriately challenging targets. We will also develop an action plan with you to identify strengths, development needs and actions so that your practice is continually developing.

Key aims of the school-based training:

  • advance the development of your professional attributes, skills, knowledge and understanding
  • provide a variety of practical and specific experiences that enable you to critically analyse your professional practice and take responsibility for your own professional development
  • enable you to work collaboratively with colleagues in order to develop an understanding of the ways in which the attainment, development and wellbeing of all learners can be achieved with a unified support and teaching system
  • provide opportunities that enable you to adopt a creative and constructively critical approach towards your practice, supported by appropriate reading and research.

During your school-based training, university tutors, school mentors and teachers will support you and take shared responsibility for your professional development.

Your progress will be observed and assessed throughout your placement by university and school staff, followed by feedback sessions to discuss your development. Your e-portfolio will also be evaluated as part of the overall assessment.

Organising your school-based training

Our Partnership Office will organise the school-based training for you. Each year we organise over 2,500 placements for our students. We work hard to ensure that you have placement opportunities that will give you valuable and varied experiences in the area of education in which you are interested.

How it works

We will ask you to complete a placement information form when you start your course and will use this information to match you to a suitable placement. We will consider your previous experience, travelling distance, the age ranges you wish to teach and your current needs.

Once we have matched you with a placement, the team in the Partnership Office will confirm the placement as quickly as possible with the school or organisation. They will then contact you with the placement details. Almost all of our placements will be with partner schools or organisations in south-east England, most of them in East and West Sussex. 

Ofsted ‘outstanding’

Graded ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted for primary and secondary in our 2024 Initial Teacher Education inspection.

Ofsted commended us on many aspects of our courses, saying:

  • Trainees shine at Brighton’s long-established and highly impressive teacher training programmes.
  • The care and dedication shown by staff towards trainees is superb.
  • Trainees are at the heart of everything. They are valued and expertly supported throughout the course.
  • The curriculum skilfully equips trainees in safeguarding, behaviour management and supporting pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
  • Trainees impress the placement settings they work in because of their professionalism and aptitude to apply what they have learned.
Ofsted Outstanding provider

Facilities

Our facilities include a curriculum centre which contains more than 30,000 specialist resources for trainee teachers including books, DVDs, games and an online catalogue.

Our Falmer campus also houses specialist classrooms that replicate those used in schools so you’ll feel at home when you go on your school-based training and start your career.

Teaching facilities include:

View our art and design rooms tour

View our Curriculum Centre tour


 

student working in the curriculum centre

Meet the team

Chloe Berrisford, course leader 

“I have worked in early years and primary education for over 26 years, teaching in schools in West Sussex before joining the University of Brighton in 2008. 

“My areas of expertise are early years education, language and literacy development, and Primary English, but as a teacher in school I also had responsibilities for leading art, science, ICT and teaching and learning. 

“I am currently co-leader for the academic subject of early years and primary ITE, which sees me working across teacher training courses to lead and manage the teaching of primary education. My particular interests lie in the transformatory potential of reading, what it can do for human lives and why it is important, plus language acquisition and the role of talk in learning and teaching, access to outdoor learning, equality and social mobility. 

“I am a trustee for a refugee welcome charity in West Sussex and I help organise literary events and Book in the Park community activities as part of WORDfest, in Crawley, West Sussex.”

Other key members of the teaching team: 

Chloe Berrisford Primary PGCE course leader

School Connect PGCE and School Direct Salaried

School Connect PGCE and School Direct Salaried are alternative routes to gaining Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). The University of Brighton works with a number of schools to deliver this programme across a range of secondary subjects as well as in the primary phase. 

To train as a teacher through the School Connect PGCE or the School Direct Salaried programme you need to apply directly to a school for a training place. Schools advertise their vacancies on the Department for Educations 'Find Postgraduate training courses' website. 

Find out more about School Connect PGCE and School Direct Salaried.

Secondary education students

Careers

Preparing for your teaching career

You will graduate from this course equipped with the skills and knowledge to become a confident and competent primary school teacher.

As well as gaining a PGCE, you will be assessed against the national Teachers’ Standards in order to be recommended for the award of Qualified Teacher Status.

You’ll benefit from our partnership with over 600 schools, where you’ll gain practical school-based experience in a wide range of settings – large, small, rural and urban.

You will gain a knowledge and understanding of the full primary curriculum, with subject studies to strengthen your specialist knowledge in your chosen area, while you start to develop your leadership and management skills.

If you are considering whether a career in teaching is for you, and you are a UK resident, the Department for Education’s School Experience Programme offers between one and 10 days’ classroom experience in a secondary school.

primary languages classroom activity

School-based training

Each phase of your school-based training will give you supported experience and help you gain confidence in your teaching ability.

Our staff will ensure that you are well prepared before your school-based training and that you have all the support and guidance needed to make the most of these opportunities.

We have partnerships with over 600 schools and settings which offer you opportunities in large, small, urban and rural settings, ensuring you will have a well-rounded experience. You will spend time in two carefully selected schools during your course.

Your school-based training experiences will include:

  • writing lesson plans and evaluations for the classes you teach
  • engaging in both formative and summative assessment of pupils’ learning and performance
  • completing your e-portfolio as supporting evidence of meeting the Teachers’ Standards.

Each year we organise over 2,500 placements for our students with partner schools and colleges, offering varied placement opportunities. We work hard to ensure that your school-based training will provide you with learning opportunities and valuable experience with the age group you are qualifying to teach.

School-based experience will enable you to demonstrate and grow your knowledge. You’ll also make valuable contacts in schools which will help when you are looking for your first teaching role.

lecture teaching primary science

Graduate destinations

Our teaching graduates benefit from excellent employment rates that are consistently above the sector average.

Career prospects are good; most graduates gain their first teaching posts in school settings as soon as they qualify.

University of Brighton trained teachers are highly sought after by our partnership schools. They are known for their creative and innovative approaches to teaching.

Many of our graduates take on mentoring and leadership roles, or opt for specialist roles such as special education needs.

Our careers service holds an annual teaching recruitment fair on campus which our partner schools attend as they are looking to recruit newly qualified teachers for the next school year.

Male trainee taking part in drawing with group of school children

Supporting your employability

Outside of your course, our Careers and Employability team are here to support you as you discover (and rediscover) your strengths and what matters to you. We are here for you throughout your university journey as you work towards a fulfilling and rewarding career.

  • Find part-time work that you can combine with your studies.
  • Find, or be, a mentor or get involved with our peer-to-peer support scheme.
  • Develop your business ideas through our entrepreneurial support network.
  • Get professional advice and support with career planning, CV writing and interview top tips.
  • Meet potential employers at our careers fairs.
  • Find rewarding volunteering opportunities to help you discover more about what makes you tick and build your CV.

Whatever your career needs, we are here to help. And that’s not just while you are a student – our support carries on after you’ve graduated.

Find out about careers and employability at Brighton.

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Early career support

We will continue to support you after you qualify through our early career support programme.

We’ll offer resources, advice, events and drop-in sessions to help you overcome the challenges that many new teachers face in their first few years of working as a qualified teacher. We’ll help you with the next stage of your journey and offer support that will enable you to develop and thrive in your early career.

Our website provides guidance and support for after you graduate, including the latest teaching job vacancies, personal statement feedback, short mock interviews, useful contacts for advice and a variety of helpful resources including videos.

The university tutors supported me long after finishing the course. During my NQT year at a community college they continued to provide me with advice and check on my professional progress and my wellbeing.

Brenda, graduate and teacher

Fees and costs

Course fees

UK (full-time) 9,535 GBP

International (full-time) 17,250 GBP

As a postgraduate trainee teacher there is a range of funding available which you could be eligible to receive while you are studying:

On our website you will find information about other funding, including:

  • the student finance package from Student Finance England – tuition fee loans and maintenance loans
  • Parents’ Learning Allowance
  • Childcare Grant
  • Care leavers’ bursary
  • Disabled Students’ Allowance.

If you are not a UK citizen, you are unlikely to get help funding your training unless you have permission to live permanently in the UK.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2025–26.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

What's included

Here you’ll find details of specific resources and services that are included in the tuition fee for our education and teaching students. To help you to budget for your studies, there is also information on any additional costs that you may have to pay or can choose to pay in addition to your tuition fee.

Check out our finance pages for info about fees, funding and scholarships along with advice on international and island fee-paying status.

You can chat with our enquiries team if you have a question or need more information.

What’s included in your tuition fee

  • Course books, magazines and journals are available in the university libraries. You do not need to have your own copies. See the subject area guides in the library for an up-to-date list of key subject journal databases.
  • You will have access to computers and necessary software on campus – and can borrow a laptop from us if yours is broken or you don’t have a computer at home. Specialist equipment is provided to cover essential learning.

Find out how tuition fees enable us to support all of our students with important services, facilities and resources across the university.

Additional course costs

  • For courses which require a placement, you’ll be expected to pay for your travel expenses but you may be able to claim some travel costs back from the university, depending on where your placement is in relation to where you live.
  • You’ll need to budget for printing and stationery for personal study, and books if you decide to buy your own.
  • You may wish to budget up to £25 for stationery/teaching materials.
  • Many students choose to buy their own hardware, software and accessories. The amount spent will depend on your individual choices, but this expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.

Location and student life

Campus where this course is taught

Falmer campus

Set in the South Downs, our Falmer campus is around four miles from Brighton city centre. Students based here study a range of subjects including education studies, teaching, sport and exercise, nursing and midwifery, allied health professions and medicine. Brighton & Hove Albion’s Amex stadium and beautiful Stanmer Park are right next door.

Falmer campus has two halls of residence on site, as well as a library, restaurant, cafes and the Students’ Union shop and bar.

The campus has extensive sport and leisure facilities including a fitness suite, swimming pool, outdoor grass football and rugby pitches, sports hall, tennis and badminton courts, and dance and spin studios.

Specialist learning facilities at Falmer include the curriculum centre used by teaching and education students, which houses over 30,000 teaching resources, clinical skills and simulation suites used by health students, and labs and a strength and conditioning suite used by sport students. We’ve recently redeveloped the Falmer campus – learn more about the many facilities our students have access to.

Cycle lanes link Falmer with our other campuses and the city centre. There are regular bus services to the city centre and other campuses. Falmer train station is right next to campus and a nine-minute journey to central Brighton.

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Accommodation

We guarantee an offer of a place in halls of residence to all eligible students. So if you applied for halls by the deadline you are guaranteed a room in our halls of residence.

Brighton: Falmer

Halls of residence
Paddock Field at Falmer offers a bespoke contract length for PGCE students to cover the duration of your course.

  • Paddock Field offers a range of rooms, minutes from your classes, and on the edge of the South Downs.

Want to live independently? We can help – find out more about private renting.

Outside views at Falmer accommodation

Outside views at Falmer accommodation

student outside the sport and health complex at Falmer

Extensive facilities at Falmer sports centre

Students dining at Westlain

Students dining at Westlain

Local area

One of Time Out's 50 best cities in the world

“Brighton has… all the important parts of a sprawling cosmopolitan metropolis (connections to London in under an hour, an array of properly excellent restaurants, energetic late-night spots) … with the easy-breezy beachy attitude to life that makes you feel welcome in an instant.”
Time Out’s 50 Best Cities in the World, 2025

About Brighton

The University of Brighton is at the heart of our city's reputation as a welcoming, forward-thinking place which leads the way when it comes to the arts, music, sustainability and creative technology. Brighton is home to a thriving creative community and a digital sector worth £1bn a year to the local economy, as much as tourism.

Many of the work-based learning opportunities offered on our courses such as placements and guest lectures are provided by businesses and organisations based in the city.

You can also get involved with city festivals and events such as the Brighton Festival, the Fringe, Brighton Digital Festival, Brighton Science Festival, the London to Brighton bike ride, and the Great Escape festival of new music to name but a few. Other annual highlights include Pride, the Brighton Marathon, and Burning the Clocks which marks the winter solstice.

You'll find living in Brighton enriches your learning experience and by the end of your course you will still be finding new things to explore and inspire you.

It's only 50 minutes by train from Brighton to central London and there are daily direct trains to Bristol, Bedford, Cambridge, Gatwick Airport, Portsmouth and Southampton.

Map showing distance to London from Brighton
Brighton Beach sunset

Maps

Falmer campus

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Support and wellbeing

Your course team

Your personal academic tutor, course leader and other tutors are all there to help you with your personal and academic progress. You'll also have a student support and guidance tutor (SSGT) who can help with everything from homesickness, managing stress or accommodation issues.

Your academic skills

Our Brighton Student Skills Hub gives you extra support and resources to develop the skills you'll need for university study, whatever your level of experience so far.

Your mental health and wellbeing

As well as being supported to succeed, we want you to feel good too. You'll be part of a community that builds you up, with lots of ways to connect with one another, as well having access to dedicated experts if you need them. Find out more about how we support your wellbeing.

Sport at Brighton

Sport Brighton

Sport Brighton brings together our sport and recreation services. As a Brighton student you'll have use of sport and fitness facilities across all our campuses and there are opportunities to play for fun, fitness or take part in serious competition. 

Find out more about Sport Brighton.

Sports scholarships

Our sports scholarship scheme is designed to help students develop their full sporting potential to train and compete at the highest level. We offer scholarships for elite athletes, elite disabled athletes and talented sports performers.

Find out more about sport scholarships.

Brighton Cricket Academy

Develop your cricketing skills in the UK’s largest indoor cricket facility alongside studying for a degree. Whether you can already play or you’re new to the game offers the opportunity to train with top coaches in our world-class training environment. 

Find out about the Brighton Cricket Academy.

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Take a tour of sport facilities on our Falmer campus

Student views  

Chloe Rebecca

“After completing my undergraduate at the University of Brighton I knew I wanted to carry on my education journey and complete my PGCE.

“A large percentage of this course is school-based training. Before you even start your first day of school you are placed with a University Mentor and a School Mentor, both of mine were lovely and provided me with so much more than just academic support, they helped me navigate my way through a complex thought process.

“Your first day at school as a training teacher is daunting but you learn a ridiculous amount within your time at the different schools you are placed in. Every single day is an opportunity to change someone's life or enhance it is some way, and that is incredible. I had three amazingly beautiful school-based training experiences.

“Before starting the course, I already knew I wanted to work in the UAE and I secured a job in March before completing the course. I am a mixture of extremely excited but also extremely nervous! I simply cannot wait to see the development and growth both myself and my new students will make together as a class. 

“This course may be the most intense year of your life, but it is manageable, and it is doable. In every which way possible the course was everything and more than I expected!”

Chloe Rebecca Underwood primary trainee teacher

Chloe wearing a dress decorated with hand prints of children from one of her placements.

Melanie Fryer

“I graduated three times from Brighton. I first studied a foundation degree in arts and then went on to study a BA(Hons) in Professional Studies in Learning and Development. I then followed this with the Primary 5-11 years PGCE, gaining QTS (qualified teacher status) in 2015. 

“I was a mature student with no experience of the Harvard referencing system or any form of academic writing when I started, but the tutors were always really kind and helpful and I felt supported.

“I secured my first teaching post at Gildredge House Free School in Eastbourne, whilst still studying for my PGCE.

“I spent three years in year 4 before one year in year 3 and am now in my second year teaching year one. During my career, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to set up classroom settings for year 2 and 4, where I was responsible for deciding which resources to get and topics to choose.

“I became the Primary Professional Tutor six years ago, and I have forged strong links with the staff at the University of Brighton. Recently, I have been helping with looking at how the structure of the Primary PGCE course can be made even better. 

“This has been almost full circle for me as this was the course that I studied in 2014/15, so sitting alongside my tutors discussing ways forward has been really humbling.

“I am University of Brighton through and through – like a stick of rock.  I love that after all these years I can step onto the Falmer campus, walk around the corner and go straight into the same coffee shop in the Checkland building and order my usual and find a seat and think, ‘yeah, I am home.’”

Melanie Fryer

Hilary Tutt

“I live locally and was impressed by the university’s reputation amongst teachers. People kept saying to me “you’re so lucky to live within commuting distant of Brighton” whenever I mentioned wanting to go into teaching.

“The university-based lessons, particularly in English, maths and science, were both fun and helpful. The Open Learning Centre has a wide variety of teaching resources, books, games, maths resources and a Smart Board to practise on. The course staff were very friendly and knowledgeable and I am particularly grateful to my maths tutor who was able to banish a lifelong fear of maths - it is now one of my favourite subjects and the one I find easiest to teach!

“I enjoyed the variety between placements and university-based training, every day was different. The pace at which we were learning was a challenge but one of the most enjoyable things about the course.

“The course was a challenge and you need to be prepared to work hard but it’s very enjoyable and the best decision I ever made. I am now working at Ocklynge Junior School in Eastbourne as a Year 4 teacher.”

Rebecca Hynam

“I had a huge desire to teach and chose Brighton. It has great facilities that cater for the demands of the course and the staff are helpful and approachable.

“The best part of the course for me was the school placements and being able to apply what I learnt at university into a real-life setting. I got to experience three different placement settings, including a private school.

“The University of Brighton is a great place to undertake teacher training - everyone is friendly and incredibly helpful throughout.”

Stay in touch

Find out about postgraduate events

Ask a question about this course

Read our application advice for postgraduate teacher training. The DfE has also produced a helpful short film: what to know when applying for teacher training.

If you have a question about this course, our enquiries team will be happy to help.

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