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PGCE Primary Early Years 3-7 (with QTS)

Find out more about our PGCE Primary Early Years 3-7 (with QTS) degree at Warwick

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Full-time - TEPQ-X3L1 (X3L2)
DFE Course Code: X120

PGCE Primary Early Years 3-7 (with QTS)

1 year

1 September 2026

Centre for Teacher Education

University of Warwick

At Warwick, we proudly train teachers who inspire and support the needs of every child. Our Primary PGCE programme, rated Outstanding by Ofsted in 2024, prepares you to work with diverse pupils, including those with SEND and EAL. With over 75 years of experience, we provide expert academic guidance and mentorship to build your confidence and skills. Our unique Warwick Teacher Values focus on social justice, intellectual curiosity, and creativity and permeate every aspect of our programme.

Why choose us?

Trainees at the University of Warwick get the best possible start to their teaching career.

Our 3-7 Primary Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) focuses on the 3-7 age range. Our course will develop you into a highly effective teacher, equipped with the values, skills, and knowledge to become a successful school leader.

• Course Structure: You will complete three modules focusing on key teaching principles such as behaviour management, assessment for learning, and creating an inclusive classroom. The curriculum is based on the Warwick Teacher Values of social justice, intellectual curiosity, and creativity. These values are embedded in the programme, shaping both your personal and professional identity.
• Curriculum Coverage: Develop subject knowledge and skills to teach across the National Curriculum.
• Inclusion: You will be incredibly well prepared to support disadvantaged pupils, as well as those with SEND and EAL. You will be incredibly well prepared to support disadvantaged pupils, as well as those with SEND and EAL. Our Inclusion Enhancement programme offers insights into inclusive teaching practices and you will receive expert input from specialists from SEND/EAL settings within our local partnership.
• Enrichment Opportunities: The course is enhanced by cross-phase conferences, offering further professional development in key areas of education.

All the Primary and Early Years tutors are qualified teachers with many years of school and teacher education experience. We work collaboratively with experienced and knowledgeable school partners across our well-established partnership. You'll be in the best possible hands for your teacher training journey.

What is a PGCE?

A Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) is usually a one-year teacher training course. It offers a mixture of academic and practical learning, and it's the first step for graduates in the development of a teaching career. At Warwick, our PGCE courses provide a recommendation for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS – a requirement to teach in the state school system as an Early Career Teacher).

Which route will you take?

University-led route

You will complete a minimum of 120 days in school, in a minimum of two placement schools/settings, organised by the University. These placements will address your chosen age phase and will involve one placement in Key Stage 1 and two placements in Early Years. Throughout these placements we will offer you:

• Weekly observations and meetings with a Warwick-trained school mentor.
• An allocated university lead mentor for ongoing support.

You will also have further days in school as part of our Intensive Training and Practice programme focussing on key pedagogies including behaviour, phonics and adaptive teaching and additional enhanced placement opportunities as part of our inclusion enhancement to further develop confidence in teaching learners with SEND and EAL.

The rest of the programme will consist of sessions taught by the University of Warwick on our Westwood Campus (with the exception of our digital route students who are taught online) focussing on developing your knowledge and understanding of both the central issues in education and how to teach the breadth of the curriculum.

Lead Partner route

You will spend a minimum of 120 days in school, with the remainder of the programme consisting of University of Warwick sessions, partner-led sessions as part of the Intensive Training and Practice programme, and independent study.

The partner-led route offers a slightly different placement pattern, with most of the year spent in a single school and a minimum of 6 weeks on a complementary placement in a contrasting setting. The lead partner will source your placements for you. As well as ongoing support from the lead partner, your school placements will offer you: 

• Weekly observations and meetings with a Warwick-trained school mentor. 

• An allocated university lead mentor for ongoing support. 

. For the partner-led route, there are the following options:

• Partner-led Training
• Partner-led Training (Digital)

To find out more about the Partners we work with on these routes please visit our Lead Partners Pages

On the Lead Partner routes, you may be eligible for funding via a tuition fee loan through Student Finance England.

Our 3-7 Primary Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) focuses on the 3-7 age range so predominantly addresses the Early Years Foundation Stage and KS1 of the National Curriculum. Our course will develop you into a highly effective teacher, equipped with the values, skills, and knowledge to become a successful Early Years leader in the future.

All the Primary and Early Years tutors are qualified teachers with many years of school and teacher education experience. We work collaboratively with experienced and knowledgeable school partners across our well-established partnership. Teaching approaches are carefully tailored depending on your chosen route.

For our digital trainees, the PGCE is delivered online but for other routes, face to face teaching is prioritised to ensure you have many in-person opportunities to learn, practise new skills and develop your subject knowledge and confidence with teaching in a supportive, intellectually stimulating and collaborative learning environment. Some aspects of the course will take place online either synchronously or asynchronously as appropriate.

Class sizes vary depending on the nature of the session: students will experience a variety of 1:1 tutorials, small group sessions in personal tutor groups, Primary/Early Years lectures, workshops in subject groups and whole cohort events/conferences

You will have a minimum of 120 days in school which run alongside a carefully sequenced programme of taught sessions throughout the course of the year appropriate for your point of development. You will also have 20 days of explicit Intensive Training and Practice to enable you to develop, hone and refine key areas of your classroom practice.

You will be assessed through written Master’s level assignments, which are aimed at assessing your professional and subject-specific learning. You’ll also be assessed on whether you meet the Teachers' StandardsLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window at a level appropriate for an Early Career Teacher.

The current assessment methods consist of the following, however, CTE reserves the right to change these as appropriate in line with the requirements of regulatory authorities such as Ofsted and the DfE.

Professional Enquiry (Master's level)

Coursework focusing on a key issue and combining theory with your practice in schools.
1 x 4,000 word written assignment

Subject Studies (Master's level)

Coursework focusing on the role of the adult in supporting children's language development across the curriculum.
1x 2,500 word written assignment
1x 10 minute presentation

Professional Practice (Master's level)

Assessment against the Teachers’ Standards (Regular observations/meetings/coaching conversations with school-based and university lead mentors; Tutorials; and Professional Digital Portfolio)
1 x 2,000 word written reflective piece
1 x 30 minute viva (professional dialogue)

• UK Bachelors degree with Honours at 2:2 or above, or equivalent level.
• At least Grade C or the new Grade 4 in GCSE English, Mathematics and Science.*

Equivalency Tests

We are able to accept approved 3rd party equivalency tests in place of GCSEs. The current providers that have been approved are as follows, with details of the current discounts that are available. If you are intending to use another equivalency testing company, we recommend you contact our admissions team prior to doing so to ensure that they meet the entry criteria.

Equivalency Testing

• Why choose Equivalency Testing?
• Long standing company
• Excellent student support
• Secure testing
• Good and quick feedback
• Significant discount available for PGCE offer holders, please email cte dot admissions at warwick dot ac dot uk for the code.

A Star Equivalency** Link opens in a new window

• Why chose A Star Equivalency?
• Excellent student support
• A clear outline of required material in each exam
• Rolling programme of live online subject specific support sessions.
• An extensive range of free support material Practice papers and marking schemes Discounted from £165* to £139 (saving £26). Please contact cte dot admissions at warwick dot ac dot uk for the discount code.

If you are intending to use another equivalency testing company, we recommend you contact our admissions team prior to doing so to ensure that they meet the entry criteria.

Your spoken and written English must be of an adequate standard for postgraduate study. If English is not your first language, you will need a minimum score of 7.0 under the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Documentation

If you graduated in the last two years, you’ll need to provide an academic reference. Please refer to your DfE portal for more information.

You will need original copies of all your qualifications. If you don’t have these any more, you can obtain a Certified Statement of Results instead, but these can take some time to retrieve from exam boards and you may need to pay a fee.

Classroom Experience

Although it is not a requirement for entry, we strongly recommend that you have some experience in the classroom within mainstream UK schools/Early Years settings (Early Years, Key Stage 1 and 2) before applying. This experience will give you a flavour for your potential future career and will help you write your application. Find out how to gain school experience.

 Safeguarding checks

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff, enrolled trainees and offer holders to share this commitment. The successful completion of an enhanced DBS check to confirm your suitability for the profession is a condition of any offer to study within CTE. Disclosure does not automatically make you ineligible to enrol onto a PGCE course, each application will be considered on a case by case basis, we recommend you use the DBS guidelines for applicants with previous convictions.

*The new grading system for those receiving their results for GCSE English, Mathematics and English was adopted in 2017. The grading system is now 9-1, with Grade 9 awarded to those students in the very top tier. Grade 4 is considered equivalent to the old Grade C.

**Special offer for the University of Warwick students. Maths exams are available in Foundation or Higher. English, Science and Biology are untiered. If students require further support, we offer a range of low cost options.

Subject Studies

This module focuses on the evidence base, subject knowledge and practice of teaching all the subjects across the curriculum. Primary students are trained to teach the Core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science, as well as all of the National Curriculum foundation subjects across Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

Professional Enquiry

This module is concerned with pedagogy – the method and practice of teaching. It addresses central issues such as, teaching methods, how children learn, meeting individual needs, assessment, adaptive teaching and behaviour management. The module includes input from specialist teachers and will help you develop teaching that is effective and inclusive of all learners.

Professional Practice

This module connects the taught curriculum and school placements, focusing on how you are embedding new knowledge and robust evidence into your own teaching in a school placement. It also includes training which develops your professional behaviours such as reflective practice, teacher wellbeing and safeguarding.

"At the University of Warwick, trainees receive the best possible start to their teaching careers, emerging as confident, highly skilled professionals ready to inspire the next generation."

"Warwick trainees are renowned for their preparedness, resilience, and innovation, making them highly sought-after educators across the UK and beyond."

Ofsted report, 2024

What do our students say?

"I began my teacher training via a Partner Led route in 2014. When I qualified, I began working at a Primary School which was where I stayed for about 5 years. I took on the role of class mentor to trainees, supported NQTs and lead geography throughout the school. I began then working for the University of Warwick in January 2020. I mostly teach geography and history but also some maths across the EY, KS1 and KS2 curriculums. I also support trainee teachers in a pastoral setting as well as in a moderation setting by visiting the schools the trainees are placed in. I love teaching others, both children and adults alike and love learning myself. My motivation, I then suppose, comes from my own love of learning and wanting to instil that in others.

I like to think I’m an empathic educator and recognise the challenges that teachers, especially those beginning their career can face. I’m an advocate for the use of mindfulness as a way to manage the day to day difficulties teachers can face and run a weekly Twitter chat that looks at this (every Wednesday at 8pm. #MindfulTeacherChat).

I’d say that it’s important to remember that teaching is a career full of peaks and troughs. Sometimes you can have the best time of your life teaching and sometimes you can feel really snowed under but that it’s worth it in the end. Seeing those around you flourish under your guidance as their teacher is deeply satisfying and rewarding. There’s simply no other job like it."

Emily
Teaching Fellow at The University of Warwick
CYE Lead Partner Alumna, Graduated 2014