What qualifications do I need to become a primary school teacher or an infant school teacher?
Assuming you are in the UK: First of all, you cannot qualify as a primary, infant ior any other teacher whilst doing a full-time job. End of. You must have a degree. If you have not got a degree, then you can get an Open University degree whilst working full-time. You also need Maths, English and Science GCSE at grade C or above. If you do have a degree (at least a 2:1), then you have several options. You can take a one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Education course (PGCE). It is not possible to do this whilst working full-time. Or you could find a GTP (Graduate Teacher Programme) placement, where you will be paid whilst ‘learning on the job’. This is exceptionally hard work (the PGCE is hard, but GTP is harder because you have the paperwork/academic load as well as the teaching load). GTP placements are not common place, as they put a substantial workload onto the placement school. Finally, there are some schools which offer SCITT (school-centred initial teacher training). All the
