School Direct Tuition and School Direct Salaried

Course in brief

All School Direct routes lead to the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), which will allow you to teach either primary or secondary age groups in England and Wales.

With the School Direct Tuition and School Direct Salaried programmes, you work at a school and attend training at the university. Over the course of the year you will have experience of teaching in two of the many schools with whom we have established partnerships.

School Direct allows schools to recruit and select trainees, with the expectation that they may then go on to work within the school or group of schools in which they were trained.

You will be mentored by a successful teaching team with an outstanding national reputation and comprehensive research profile that informs course content.

The University of Brighton is an outstanding provider of teacher training. We offer both School Direct Tuition and School Direct Salaried programmes in primary and secondary age phases.

Training bursaries and scholarships of up to £28,000 are available for certain subjects on School Direct Tuition programmes with additional £10,000 early-career payments for those studying maths.

Key facts

Location Brighton: Falmer and a host school

Full-time 1 year

Before starting this course you will need to have passed the Professional Skills Tests; if you have not already completed these you are advised to take them as soon as possible.

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

We are actively seeking to recruit candidates with the capacity to become outstanding teachers to our highly successful School Direct routes. 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
An honours degree.

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). In-house equivalence tests are available for suitable candidates.

Professional Skills Tests 

You have to pass the professional skills tests in numeracy and literacy before you begin your teacher training. These tests are compulsory and it will not be possible to enter training without having successfully completed them. You are able to book these tests in advance. The Department for Education (DfE) strongly advises you to take the tests soon after you have submitted an application.

As of February 2018 new changes to these tests means that you can make unlimited attempts and the first three attempts are free of charge. The DfE has also removed the lock-out period that previously prevented you from re-taking tests for two years.

You do not need to have completed these tests prior to making an application or attending an interview however your offer will be subject to successful completion.

The University of Brighton recognises that these tests may present a challenge to some candidates and we recommend that you prepare before attempting them. Further resources to help you with the numeracy test can be found in the 'Course in detail' section below.

Find out more about the tests including how to register and prepare on the DfE website.

Selection

If your application is successful you will be invited to attend an interview in person at the Falmer campus where we have a number of structured activities aimed at allowing you to show your potential. You will also be interviewed by the school to which you have applied.

All offers of places are subject to required regulatory checks including an occupational health check and a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) enhanced check.

Course in detail

Course structure

To train as a teacher through the School Direct programme you need to apply direct to a school for a School Direct training place. If the school you apply to is one of our School Direct partner schools, then we will provide the academic education to support you during your training.

Our School Direct routes offer two types of training programmes: School Direct Training and School Direct Salaried Training.

School Direct Training Programme

The School Direct Training Programme 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. Those following this School Direct Training Programme will be registered for and can gain a PGCE award from the University of Brighton.

School Direct Salaried Training Programme

The School Direct Salaried Training Programme 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. The School Direct Salaried Training Programme replaced the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP). We offer a one year part-time Evidence Informed Practice PGCE for those studying this route into teaching.

If you are training to teach in a secondary school, the subjects you can train to teach through School Direct are:

High priority: physics, maths, computer science*, chemistry, modern languages
Other priority: biology, design and technology, English, geography, primary - FS/KS1, primary – general.
Other subjects: art and design, combined science, dance, PE, religious education.

*School Direct Salaried only

Areas of study

We offer programmes in both primary and secondary age phases.

The secondary subjects we offer are:

art and design
biology
chemistry
computer science*
dance
design and technology
english
geography
mathematics
modern foreign languages
physical education (closed for 2016 entry)
physics
religious education.

*School Direct Salaried only

Primary vacancies

The University of Brighton is partners with a large number of lead schools across Brighton & Hove, Sussex and beyond for School Direct. School Direct places are allocated to lead schools, however as schools largely work in alliances/clusters the placement may not be in the lead school.

Please see below our current primary vacancies.

Lead School	Subject	Tuition Vacancies	Salaried Vacancies
Brighton, Hove and Sussex Schools Alliance	Primary	Yes
Chailey	Primary	Yes
Eastbourne Area School Direct Alliance	Primary	Yes
Millais Alliance	Primary	Yes
SCLP Alliance	Primary	Yes
Tandridge Teaching Alliance	Primary	Yes
Thames Teaching Alliance	Primary		Yes
The Westlands School	Primary		Yes
Torfield and Saxon Mount Academy Trust	Primary	Yes
University of Brighton Academies Trust	Primary	Yes

Secondary vacancies

The University of Brighton is in partnership with a large number of lead schools across Brighton & Hove, Sussex and beyond for School Direct. School Direct places are allocated to lead schools however as schools largely work in alliances/ clusters the placement may not be in the lead school.

Below are the current secondary vacancies which can be applied for through UCAS teacher Training with the University of Brighton as the accrediting training provider.

Lead School	Subject	Tuition Vacancies	Salaried Vacancies
Eastbourne Area School Direct Alliance	Art and Design	Yes
SCLP Alliance	Art and Design	Yes
University of Brighton Academies Trust	Art and Design	Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	Art and Design	Yes
Wealden Partnership	Art and Design	Yes
Brighton, Hove and Sussex Schools Alliance	Biology	Yes
Eastbourne Area School Direct Alliance	Biology	Yes
Millais Alliance	Biology	Yes	Yes
SCLP Alliance	Biology	Yes	Yes
Thames Teaching Alliance	Biology	Yes
Torfield and Saxon Mount Academy Trust	Biology	Yes
University of Brighton Academies Trust	Biology	Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	Biology		Yes
Wealden Partnership	Biology	Yes
Brighton, Hove and Sussex Schools Alliance	Chemistry	Yes
Millais Alliance	Chemistry	Yes	Yes
SCLP Alliance	Chemistry	Yes	Yes
Thames Teaching Alliance	Chemistry	Yes
University of Brighton Academies Trust	Chemistry	Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	Chemistry		Yes
Wealden Partnership	Chemistry	Yes
Millais Alliance	Computer Science		Yes
SCLP Alliance	Computer Science		Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	Computer Science		Yes
Millais Alliance	Dance	Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	Dance	Yes
Wealden Partnership	Dance	Yes
Millais Alliance	Design and Technology		Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	Design and Technology		Yes
Brighton, Hove and Sussex Schools Alliance	English	Yes
Chailey School	English	Yes
Millais Alliance	English	Yes	Yes
SCLP Alliance	English	Yes	Yes
The Warwick Partnership	English	Yes
Torfield and Saxon Mount Academy Trust	English	Yes
University of Brighton Academies Trust	English	Yes	Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	English		Yes
Wealden Partnership	English	Yes
Brighton, Hove and Sussex Schools Alliance	Geography	Yes
Eastbourne Area School Direct Alliance	Geography	Yes
Millais Alliance	Geography	Yes	Yes
SCLP Alliance	Geography	Yes	Yes
University of Brighton Academies Trust	Geography	Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	Geography	Yes	Yes
Wealden Partnership	Geography	Yes
Brighton, Hove and Sussex Schools Alliance	Mathematics	Yes	Yes
Eastbourne Area School Direct Alliance	Mathematics	Yes
Millais Alliance	Mathematics	Yes	Yes
SCLP Alliance	Mathematics	Yes	Yes
Thames Teaching Alliance	Mathematics		Yes
The Warwick Partnership	Mathematics	Yes
The Westlands School	Mathematics	Yes
Torfield and Saxon Mount Academy Trust	Mathematics	Yes
University of Brighton Academies Trust	Mathematics	Yes	Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	Mathematics	Yes	Yes
Wealden Partnership	Mathematics	Yes
Brighton, Hove and Sussex Schools Alliance	Modern Languages	Yes
Chailey School	Modern Languages	Yes
Millais Alliance	Modern Languages	Yes	Yes
SCLP Alliance	Modern Languages	Yes
Thames Teaching Alliance	Modern Languages	Yes
The Westlands School	Modern Languages	Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	Modern Languages	Yes	Yes
Wealden Partnership	Modern Languages	Yes
Brighton, Hove and Sussex Schools Alliance	Physical Education	Yes
Chailey School	Physical Education	Yes
Millais Alliance	Physical Education	Yes
SCLP Alliance	Physical Education	Yes
The Westlands School	Physical Education	Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	Physical Education	Yes
Wealden Partnership	Physical Education	Yes
Brighton, Hove and Sussex Schools Alliance	Physics	Yes
Millais Alliance	Physics	Yes	Yes
SCLP Alliance	Physics	Yes	Yes
Thames Teaching Alliance	Physics	Yes
The Westlands School	Physics	Yes
University of Brighton Academies Trust	Physics	Yes	Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	Physics	Yes	Yes
Wealden Partnership	Physics	Yes
Millais Alliance	Physics with Mathematics	Yes
SCLP Alliance	Physics with Mathematics	Yes	Yes
Brighton, Hove and Sussex Schools Alliance	Religious Studies	Yes
Millais	Religious Studies	Yes
SCLP Alliance	Religious Studies	Yes	Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	Religious Studies	Yes	Yes
Wealden Partnership	Religious Studies	Yes
Valley Invicta Academies Trust	Social Sciences		Yes

Ofsted

In our most recent Initial Teacher Education inspection report, the University of Brighton's School of Education was graded 'outstanding'.

Ofsted identified some of our key strengths as:

the very high attainment of the majority of trainees
the expertly designed and diverse range of programmes that respond to trainees' backgrounds, needs and interests as well as to national priorities
the outstanding progress made by trainees as a result of training, which enables them to fulfil their potential
inspirational teaching, tutoring and mentoring that model the best teaching and give trainees the ambition to reach the highest standards
highly reflective trainees who demonstrate good subject knowledge and a breadth of understanding of how to teach
an excellent range of training experiences that effectively prepare trainees to teach in a diverse society
the excellent resources available to trainees
leadership that is dynamic in its approach to anticipating change and solving problems
a visionary approach to innovation and change.

Professional Skills Tests

Support for the skills tests

You have to pass the professional skills tests before you begin your teacher training. The University of Brighton recognises that these tests may present a challenge to some candidates and hope these support materials will help you to be fully prepared before attempting them.

Department for Education Practise Materials – You will find a range of support materials on this official site, including online tests.

Passing the Numeracy Skills Test – Book by Mark Patmore, including one practice test . Published February 2018. ISBN-13: 978-1526419231

How to Pass the QTS Numeracy and Literacy Skills Tests: Essential Practice for the Qualified Teacher Status Skills Tests - Book by Chris John Tyreman. Published July 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0749478292

Careers and employability

Career prospects are very good. School Direct aims to 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 1 to 10 days’ classroom experience in a secondary school. For details, please check: www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/school-experience.aspx

Fees and funding

Your fees

School Direct Tuition fees are detailed below.

UK/EU (full-time) 9,250 GBP

Island students (full-time) 9,250 GBP

International (full-time) 13,920 GBP

There are no fees payable for School Direct Salaried programmes.

Bursaries and funding

Generous, tax-free funding is available to the best graduates training in a range of subjects. You could get up to £28,000 tax-free while you train, either as a bursary or prestigious scholarship. Early-career payments are also on offer for those choosing mathematics.Your eligibility for financial support, and the amount you can expect to receive, will depend on the subject you choose to teach and your degree classification or highest relevant academic qualification.

In addition, a small number of discretionary bursaries may be awarded to trainees who we identify as having outstanding potential, and who fall within the bottom and middle tier for core bursary payment purposes.

You don’t need to apply for a bursary – if you are enrolled on a non-salaried postgraduate course and meet the eligibility criteria, you will begin receiving payments automatically by your chosen teacher training provider. You will receive more information on the arrangements and how this is distributed prior to the start of your course.

Find out more about funding.

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2018–19.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full- or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply check with the school that provides your course using the contact details in the Find out more tab (at the end of this page) for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.

See our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Location and living here

Location

About Brighton

Forward-thinking and welcoming, the city of Brighton & Hove is a community of creative and diverse people who share values like sustainability and inclusivity – just like its university.

Miles of pebble beaches, hundreds of bars, restaurants and clubs, a packed calendar of culture, music and sport and great independent and high street shopping attract visitors from all over the world. By the end of your course you’ll still be finding new things to enjoy about the city.

The Brighton Festival, England’s largest arts festival, takes place every May – as does the Great Escape Europe’s leading industry showcase for new music, 300 bands perform over three days at venues across the city. Major events celebrate Pride, digital culture, cinema, photography, food and the winter solstice. Our own Brighton Graduate show is a highlight, turning the university into the largest exhibition space in the south east as we celebrate the outstanding creativity of our students.

As a student here you’ll have a unique opportunity to experience what the city has to offer. Volunteering and placement opportunities enable you to play your part in the events, organisations and communities that make Brighton such a compelling place to be.

Campus where this course is taught

Falmer campus

Surrounded by the South Downs National Park and just five miles from the centre of Brighton, our Falmer campus has benefited from over £60million of investment over the past 10 years. 7,000 students are based here, studying subjects including English, education, social science, nursing and medicine.

Recent developments include the Falmer Sports Centre – with its fitness suites and sports hall – and the innovative Checkland Building, which has natural ventilation systems and an insulating green roof.

Falmer has also recently installed more than 600 solar panels, which reduce the campus’s carbon emissions by more than 80 tonnes. The renovation has made us one of the top universities in the UK for on-site renewable energy production.

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Accommodation

Brighton: Falmer

We have halls of residence across the city in Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

Eligible students can apply for any of these options. Find out if you are eligible…
You’ll be prioritised for accommodation in the halls that are linked to your teaching base, subject to availability.
Falmer campus is linked to halls on the Falmer campus and Varley Park.
- Varley Park offers a mix of rooms and catering options. Varley Park is less than a mile from Falmer and four miles from the city centre. Public transport in the city is excellent, and there’s a shuttle bus between our Brighton campuses during term time.
- Paddock Field and Great Wilkins halls are on campus and offer a range of room types and catering options.

We also offer Unihomes and Unilets, student houses that we let out to our students on behalf of private landlords. This option offers the most choice and flexibility and can work particularly well when you’re balancing learning with placements and other commitments.

There’s plenty of support if you choose private rented accommodation. We manage our own studenthomes database of properties. And we run our housemates service over the summer for students, new and returning, looking for a place to live.

Find out more on our accommodation webpages.

Hillside hall of residence at Varley Park

Varley Park accommodation near to the Falmer campus

Student in our Moulsecoomb Place hall of residence

Maps

Accommodation

University building

Falmer campus

Find out more

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