A Brunel PGCE with recommendation for QTS through Bath Spa University, is a recognised symbol of high-quality Initial Teacher Education (ITE). This is demonstrated by Brunel’s outstanding employment rates over time and feedback from Brunel alumni student teachers, our partnership schools and Ofsted inspectors.

Brunel PGCE graduates have gone on to work in our partnership schools, and many in schools where they undertook a placement experience. This allows the department to retain links with former students and often they become school-based mentors for Brunel PGCE students. The department also has a network of alumni in positions of responsibility in schools across the country.

After you graduate, your relationship with Brunel doesn’t stop there. As alumni, you can remain involved in the Partnership in a range of ways including mentoring, and can also sign up to receive invitations to Brunel public lectures, Department of Education research seminars, events and steering groups, to ensure you continue to develop through a community of professional practice within, and beyond the school in which you work.

If you decide to pursue further study after your PGCE course, (perhaps an MA, a taught Doctorate of Education or a research-based PhD), you will be warmly encouraged by the department with the opportunity of discounted fees as a Brunel graduate.

• 2 Years PSW is applicable after completing a minimum duration of 9 months course (like- Undergraduate, Postgraduate Level)
• 3 Years PSW is applicable after completing PhD level courses.

Our conditions of entry to the PGCE Secondary Education program require that applicants have:

• An undergraduate or postgraduate degree in the field in which you intend to teach. Normally this should be a 2.2 classification or above in preparation for Masters's level professional study.
• Maths and English grades A* to C, or equivalent at GCSE level.

To further strengthen your application, we also recommend that applicants have:

• Modules within your degree course which should provide a foundation of preparatory knowledge for the phase or subject you are applying to teach;
• An informed personal philosophy on the aims of your phase/subject area, drawing on relevant reading and research;
• An understanding of statutory requirements for your phase/subject area within the state school sector;
• An awareness of recent government policy or initiatives in education and your phase/subject area
• Recent and relevant experience of state school education in England, either team teaching or observing with experienced teachers. This should normally be pre professional teaching experience where you have had the opportunity to develop relationships with a group(s) of pupils over a sustained period of time;
• The ability to communicate effectively in both spoken and written English. If selected for interview, you will be expected to interact effectively with university tutors and school colleagues and demonstrate the potential to form positive and productive relationships with colleagues and pupils in schools and in professional learning contexts;
• An awareness of the Teachers’ Standards (DfE, 2013);

An enthusiastic and energetic approach that communicates clearly your commitment to teaching and working with young people.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), Childcare Disqualification and Prohibition Orders

As an accredited provider of Initial Teacher Education, we have to have regard to the Department for Education’s statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education, when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

We ensure that all student teachers have been subject to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) criminal records checks, including a check against of the children’s barred list. The Department for Education has published statutory guidance on the application to schools of the Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2009 and related obligations under the Childcare Act 2006.

We undertake our responsibility to ensure that the student teachers are not, therefore, disqualified from childcare or that the student teacher has obtained a childcare disqualification waiver from Ofsted. We also check that candidates are not subject to a prohibition order for teaching issued by the Secretary of State.

The DBS application will cost £46.81 (this amount may be subject to change) and the University will send further instructions as part of the admissions process.

A minimum score of 55%-65%. Offers within the grade range are determined by the higher education institution attended.

If you require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK, you must prove your knowledge of the English language so that we can issue you a Certificate of Acceptance for Study (CAS). To do this, you will need an IELTS for UKVI or Trinity SELT test pass gained from a test center approved by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) and on the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) list. This must have been taken and passed within two years from the date the CAS is made.

English language requirements

• IELTS: 7 (min 6 in all areas)
• Pearson: 64 (59 in all subscores)
• BrunELT: 68% (58% in all areas)
• TOEFL: 98 overall (min 20)