Introduction:

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Nelson Mandela

Become a Primary or Early Years teacher with our comprehensive teacher-training degree. Our expert tutors will support you to become a confident and creative teacher with the skills and experience demanded by schools.

This is one of the most highly regarded courses in the country, with an enviable employment record. Our close relationship with partnership schools means you gain a wide experience of teaching in many different kinds of educational settings, from large inner-city academies to small, rural schools.

What you’ll study

Year One and Two

On this degree there is equal attention given to your professional development and teaching skills. In Year One and Two you will focus on your professional development and discover more about how children learn in educational contexts. The broad base of these two years allows you to learn to teach all areas of the curriculum and to work in schools with children across the 3 – 11 age range.

Years Three and Four

In Years Three and Four you opt to focus on teaching either the three to seven age range or the five to eleven age range, although the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) qualifies you to teach across the whole three to eleven age range.

Early Years specialism (3 – 7 years)

If you opt for the 3 – 7 age strand, you will continue to study English, Mathematics and Science tailored to the specific needs of this age phase. Your studies will concentrate on the breadth and interrelated nature of the curriculum and will support you in teaching in early years settings or Key Stage 1 classrooms.

Primary subject specialism (5 – 11 years)

If you opt for the 5 – 11 strand you will continue to study the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. You will also opt to develop strengths in chosen areas of the wider curriculum.

By the end of the course it is expected that you will be able to critically reflect on your own learning and thinking processes in order to further develop your own subject knowledge in a range of curriculum areas, through extending and generalising ideas with a focus on applying them to classroom situations.

Careers and employability

Your career development

What skills will I develop?

Through their Primary Education degree, graduates develop a valuable set of skills that are transferrable to a range of careers, including:

• knowledge of teaching and learning processes
• thinking critically and creatively
• initiating and challenging ideas
• planning and organisation
• patience and flexibility
• knowledge of child development
• interpretive and analytical thinking
• problem solving skills
• oral and written communication

Your future career

Graduates have gained positions in Primary schools in the UK and overseas. Primary Education graduates also find employment in government departments, educational publishing, social service agencies, and research fields.

Our graduates* are following a variety of career paths including roles as:

• Primary school teacher
• Early years practitioner
• Family and child community worker
• Special education teacher
• Teaching assistant
• Supply teacher

Our close relationships with partnership schools leads to a high proportion of graduates taking up employment locally.

With four periods of professional practice and wider enrichment opportunities, such as field work and specialisation, our graduates are confident, critical and creative professionals committed to the development of all through education and highly employable. Our emphasis on subject leadership in the final year of the course ensures that graduates are well placed to lead innovative practice in school.

Teaching salaries

The average starting salary for a teacher is £22,917 and experienced teachers can earn up to £59,000, with Head Teachers reaching salaries over £109,000 (DfE website, 2017/2018).

From the outset of your training, you will focus on developing your teaching skills and demonstrating the impact of children’s learning.

Learn a new language

Alongside your study you also have the opportunity to learn a new language. The University Language Programme (ULP) is available to all students and gives you the option of learning a totally new language or improving the skills you already have.

Learning a new language can:

• Enhance your communication skills
• Enrich your experience when travelling abroad
• Boost your career prospects.

Entry requirements

What are we looking for?

All applicants are required to have a Primary National Curriculum subject or one related to child development from:

• A-levels – BBB; or
• BTEC Extended Diploma – DDM; or
• 120 UCAS Tariff points from three A-levels or equivalent (AS levels or equivalent qualifications are not considered); and
• GCSEs – five at grade C / 4 or equivalent including English, Mathematics and Science. We accept the GCSE equivalency taken via equivalencytesting.com or astarequivalency.co.uk.

Applicants taking other qualifications that are equivalent to 3 full A levels (AS levels or equivalent not considered) will be referred to check on subject compatibility

Other requirements

• an interview and English test;
• an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check, and any other safeguarding checks that may be necessary
• a Fitness to Practise declaration; and
• It may strengthen your application to have had some experience in a classroom in a UK mainstream school, setting or college, although this is not an entry requirement. If you do wish to gain some experience prior to your application

Fees and funding

International fees for 2022 entry onto a full-time undergraduate course are:

• £15,600, or
• £16,200 (for courses in the Nottingham School of Art & Design and Nottingham Business School).

Tuition fees are payable for each year that you are at University. Tuition fees for the second and subsequent years of your undergraduate course may increase in line with inflation and as specified by the UK government.

If you choose to do a work placement as part of the undergraduate course the fee for the work placement will be £1,385.

Late Applications

If you missed the UCAS January deadline, it’s not too late to apply to join us in September 2022.

Applying to university after the January deadline isn’t anything to worry about – we accept applications for most of our undergraduate courses until Thursday 30 June 2022.