Intro

We work with partner schools to offer primary and secondary School Connect PGCE and School Direct Salaried programmes.

Both programmes lead to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and allow schools to recruit and select trainees that best meet their needs with the expectation of employment at the end of the course. You are hosted at a school and attend training at the university.

At the university you will be mentored by a team with an outstanding national reputation.

We are an Ofsted ‘outstanding’ provider of initial teacher training and were recently reaccredited by the Department for Education.

Training bursaries and scholarships of up to £31,000 are available for selected subjects on School Connect routes.

Find out about postgraduate events

Key facts

Location Brighton: Falmer and a host school

Full-time 1 year

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

We are actively seeking to recruit candidates with the capacity to become outstanding teachers. In order to realise your potential over these intensive programmes you are greatly advantaged if you can demonstrate the following characteristics through your application.

Degree
Normally an honours degree or equivalent qualification in the subject specialism or a subject that is directly relevant.

Experience
A realistic awareness of the teaching profession with the capacity to thrive in a demanding and fast-moving environment. When applying, please use your personal statement to illustrate this.

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

Interviews
Interviews are usually online. In most cases you will be interviewed by the school and the university.

If you are invited to interview, you will be able to choose a date and option which suits you best.

Other

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

Course content

Course structure

To train as a teacher through the School Connect PGCE or School Direct Salaried, you apply direct to one of our Initial Teacher Training Partners for a place and we provide the academic education to support you during your training.

School Connect PGCE

The School Connect PGCE is open to all graduates and funded by tuition fees paid by the trainee, who may be eligible to receive a bursary from the Teaching Agency (TA).

Scholarships may also be available for candidates who wish to teach priority subjects, and these are awarded by the relevant subject associations through a competitive application process.

As a student on our School Connect PGCE you are registered for and can also gain a PGCE award from the University of Brighton in addition to QTS.

School Direct Salaried

School Direct Salaried is an employment-based route into teaching for high-quality graduates with three or more years’ career experience. The trainee is employed as an unqualified teacher by the school.

We also offer the Teacher Apprenticeship.

Subjects and age phases

We offer School Connect PGCE and School Direct Salaried for both primary and secondary age phases.

The secondary subjects available to study are:

art and design
biology
chemistry
design and technology*
English
geography
history
mathematics
physical education
physics.

*School Direct Salaried only

All of the above subjects are available on the Postgraduate Teacher Apprenticeship route.

Primary vacancies

The University of Brighton partners with a number of lead schools across Brighton & Hove, Sussex and beyond for the School Connect PGCE and School Direct Salaried programmes. Places are allocated to lead schools, however as schools largely work in alliances/clusters, your placements may not be in the lead school.

Our primary initial teacher training partners:

Eastbourne Area School Direct Alliance (1J5)
Swale Academies Trust (14H)
Torfield School (1YE)

To see School Connect PGCE and School Direct Salaried vacancies with our partners visit the find postgraduate teacher training website and search using the partner three-digit code listed above.

Secondary vacancies

Our secondary initial teacher training partners:

Eastbourne Area School Direct Alliance (1J5)
Oriel ITT Partnership (2LR)
Surrey Downs Partnership (3F2)
Swale Academies Trust (14H)
Torfield School (1YE)
Valley Invicta Teacher Training (1CU)
Wealden Partnership (1Z2)

To see School Connect PGCE and School Direct Salaried vacancies with our partners visit the find postgraduate teacher training website and search using the partner three-digit code listed above.

Ofsted

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.

Careers

Career prospects through these routes are very good.

School Connect PGCE and School Direct Salaried give schools the opportunity to recruit and select the trainees that best meet their needs, with the expectation that those teachers may go on to work in the school or group of schools in which they trained.

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 (SEP) offers one to 10 days classroom experience in a secondary school. For details, please visit the Get into Teaching website.

male teacher with child on stepping blocks

Fees and costs

Course fees

School Connect tuition fees

UK (full-time) 9,535 GBP

International (full-time) 17,250 GBP

With School Direct Salaried you won’t need to pay any tuition fees. You’ll be employed by a school directly as an unqualified teacher.

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

Tax-free bursaries and scholarships – these depend on the subject you are training to teach and your highest relevant academic award.

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

Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international postgraduate students
Student finance and budgeting while studying
About the university’s fees by checking our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

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

student outside the sport and health complex at Falmer

Extensive facilities at Falmer sports centre

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.

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