PGCE Primary (3-7) (PGCE)

About the Course

Apply via the GOV.UK website.

The PGCE Primary 3-7 (QTS) course is designed to support you to develop as a quality driven practitioner who is aware of the impact a good early education can have on the lives of the children you teach, and help you become an ambassador for young children and their families. It is a demanding, but extremely rewarding course of professional education and training. 

Initial Professional Development (IPD): This element of the programme covers general aspects of becoming a teacher. It is largely lecture-based, supported by discussion-based seminars with an assigned professional tutor. You will study across a number of key educational practice areas within your IPD seminars in which you will explore the fundamental principles and research around which teaching and learning is based. You will explore and engage with key professional bodies, policy, theory, research and practice in a number of areas such as curriculum, effective teaching, behaviour, adaptive teaching and pedagogy. This will be bespoke to your chosen age range but also applicable across the Primary age ranges as, crucially, you also receive training across the National Curriculum areas in core and foundation subjects; English, Mathematics, Science, ICT, History, Geography, Art, Music, PE, RE, DT, PSHE and MfL.

In Prime and Specific seminars you will consider wide ranging theory, pedagogy and policy underlying early education provision. This will include in depth exploration of the Early Years Foundation Stage areas of learning, including the Prime Areas; Communication and Language, Physical Development, Personal, Social and Emotional Development and the Specific Areas; Literacy, Mathematics, Expressive Arts and Design and Understanding the World. You will consider how a carefully crafted, safe environment can be used to support children’s learning and development, help them become independent and challenge their thinking whilst also nurturing their creativity and wellbeing. You will have opportunities to work with expert practitioners in school, and through lectures and workshops and make concrete connections between theory and practice. You will also be given the opportunity to reflect on your own philosophy and ethos as a teacher. 

Approximately half of the course is spent in schools, where your training continues and you are given opportunities to develop and extend your skills, build your confidence and of course your experience. In order to help you make connections between theory and practice, your PGCE year includes Intensive Training and Practice (ITaP) weeks. During these weeks you will work in a blended approach of days in University, and days in school where you can focus on key areas of the curriculum such as early reading and phonics and maths as well as approaches to adaptive teaching.  

As part of the course, you are expected to engage on a variety of levels with the course content and materials. Many of the sessions require active participation in early years approaches to teaching. You will also be expected to have some familiarity with accessing library and online resources to support your research into different aspects of Early Years education in preparation for the completion of assignments. Exceptional levels of engagement and attendance are a must for this course. 

Formal assessment of the course takes place through observations of your teaching, profile points with tutors to discuss progress and targets and your successful completion of assignments based on assessment and curriculum development. Linking theory and practice is a key feature of the course and you undertake a number of curriculum and wider professional based tasks whilst in school under the support of expert school based practitioners.

All Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses at Liverpool Hope offer you the opportunity to combine a programme of theory with real world experience. IPD focuses on what underpins the work of an effective and successful teacher, while school placements offer you the opportunity to put theory into practice.

Curriculum Overview

Successful completion of this PGCE Primary QTS Early Years Specialism (3-7 years) course is achieved through the following ways:

Award of Postgraduate Certificate in Primary QTS Early Years Specialism (3-7 years) - made upon successful completion of the formal subject based assignments at Masters level and successful completion of the two teaching placements. This provides a recommendation for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and 60 Masters credits.

Enhancement Opportunities

Work Placement Opportunities

Approximately half of the course is spent in schools, where the training continues and you are given opportunities to develop and extend your skills. Both within university and in school, time is built in for you to meet with your tutors regularly on a one to one basis to discuss your professional development.

School experience covers block placements in both Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage one. In addition, you complete a placement in a Key Stage two class and a Special Educational needs setting.

Entry Requirements

PGCE applications available here

A minimum of a Second-Class Honours degree in a relevant discipline awarded by a UK university, or an equivalent higher education qualification.

GCSE Grade C or above in English, Mathematics and Science (Grade 4 or above in the new grading system). These can be pending but required before enrolment.

Alternative equivalency tests or assessments for English, mathematics and science (where required) may be considered to meet the GCSE requirements.  Please contact us for further information if you hold, or intend to apply for, an equivalency test or assessment.

Relevant experience in a school setting is beneficial for your application, but not essential.

Offers will be subject to a successful interview, as well as a Health Check Statement and an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (formally the Criminal Records Bureau – CRB).

International Entry Requirements

Non-UK applicants should achieve a minimum score of 6.0 overall with 6.0 in Reading and Writing mandatory, and 5.5 minimum in each sub-skill  in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) assessment (or an equivalent assessment).

UK/Channel Island Tuition Fees

2025/26

Tuition fees for Home students are £9,250

Additional Costs

You may be required to cover the cost of travel to and from your placement schools. Costs vary depending on location. 

Funding

LOANS

Funding is available to help you train to teach. You can apply for a:

• Tuition fee loan of up to £9,250 to cover your teacher training, so you do not need to pay course fees upfront

• Maintenance loan of up to £12,382 to help with living costs

You can still apply for a tuition fee and a maintenance loan if you already have a student loan, and regardless of whether you get a teaching bursary or scholarship.

You will only have to make loan repayments once you’re earning. Your repayments will not increase if you already have a student loan and take an additional loan for teacher training.

SCHOLARSHIPS & BURSARIES

You may be eligible for a teaching bursary or scholarship when training to teach.

These are tax-free amounts of money you receive to train in certain subjects. You do not need to pay them back.

You’ll need a first, 2:1, 2:2 degree or a PhD or master’s degree to be eligible for a bursary, as well as meeting the bursary scheme’s individual terms and conditions.

Find out more about your elibility for teacher training bursaries here

Careers

Once you have completed this degree, you will receive Qualified Teacher Status, which means you are eligible to become a teacher in a school setting. This course is particularly successful at preparing teachers who are reflective, skillful, knowledgeable and caring. You will develop the knowledge and skills needed to be an effective Hope Teacher, develop as an independent learner and nurture the beliefs, values and self motivation that you will need throughout your teaching career.