Is postgraduate study useful?
Postgraduate study is the route into teaching in schools for graduates without a bachelor’s degree in Education. To teach in state-maintained schools in England and Wales, you must have qualified teacher status (QTS). To attain QTS you must follow a postgraduate course and then spend an induction year working in a school as a newly qualified teacher (NQT). Scotland and Northern Ireland have slightly different systems. There are still postgraduate routes available but not work-based schemes. There are three main routes at postgraduate level: • Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) – an academic, one year course, although it can be taken part time over two years. A PGCE involves a 12-week course in a HEI and 18 -24 weeks on school placements. • School-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) – similar to a PGCE, except the teacher training element is delivered in a school instead of university. • Graduate or registered teacher programmes (GTP and RTP) – these programmes are delive
