Teaching Apprenticeships with Primary Advantage

Primary Advantage Federation is hoping to offer a small number of places to train through the Post Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship route for the coming year.

This route is provided in partnership with London Metropolitan University and available for Primary General (5-11 years) or Early Years (3-7 years).

The Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship is a nationally recognised, work-based route into teaching; an alternative to a traditional full-time university course, offering participants a postgraduate-level qualification, no tuition fees, and the opportunity to earn while they learn.

You will benefit from a very strong support network which includes a London Met tutor, school mentors, and student peer group. Most importantly you will love working with our children.

You will be welcomed as a member of our staff in our schools on the first day of the school year and be completely immersed in your school, participating in all aspects of day to day life and working the full school year. You will be coached to teach whole classes from early on in your placement, with the guidance, nurture and support of your class teacher.

You will have 20% guaranteed off the job training, split between university days and school-based training tasks.

Throughout your year, your school-based mentors and university tutors will support you in in the classroom. The latter will also teach your university sessions, ensuring there is continuity of support throughout your training.

Primary Advantage has an outstanding track record of supporting student teachers, and many of our previous trainees are now teachers and leaders in our schools.  As part of our programme, along with our other trainees, you will have additional training sessions with some of the best teachers in our Federation. We have found this creates a strong peer group which students find incredibly supportive and valuable. It also adds an important third dimension to your teacher training experience.

Full course details can be found on:
https://www.londonmet.ac.uk/applying/postgraduate/teacher-training/graduate-teacher-apprenticeships/ 

How School Placements work on the Apprenticeship Route

At the interview stage we try to match you with the school that best suits your needs and interests, and also try to place you in the key stage of your choice, if you have a preference, though we cannot guarantee these preferences.

You will be based and employed in your ‘home’ school from the start of the year, and be based in 1 main class for that year, where you will gradually take on teaching responsibilities, supported by the class teacher, your mentor.

Half way through the year you rotate into one of our other schools for 4-6 weeks, gaining experience teaching in a different age phase.  You will then return to your same class in your home school by which time you will be teaching that class the majority of the week.
Throughout the year you will have plenty of opportunities to experience working with pupils at all key stages and learn from outstanding practitioners in different settings.

Assessment

You will be assessed on your practical teaching via observations by your mentor and tutor, and your progress in achieving the standards for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) by gathering evidence in the form of a portfolio. You will also submit essays and extended projects to the university for your PGCE award.

Qualifications

This is a Level 6 (degree level) course leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Our apprentices also undertake a Level 7 (Master’s Level) PGCE. This structure gives you room to develop your classroom practice and to examine the underlying principles and values around education. This course has two modules designed to help you develop an understanding of your future role as a primary school teacher:
·      The Curriculum Studies module introduces you to the issues of teaching within urban, multicultural and multilingual schools. You’ll address the challenges of language, diversity and equality across the curriculum and learn how to teach core subjects including English, Mathematics and Science.
·      The Professionalism and Inclusive Practice (PIP) module gives you an understanding of the broader contexts and a framework for meeting the needs of all the children you’ll teach, linking to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Completing the course successfully will lead to the PGCE award with 60 master’s-level credits and Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).

Entry Requirements

• You should have a first class or second class degree classification in a relevant area.
• You will need the equivalent of grade C / 5 in Maths, English and Science GCSE
• We recommend you have at least two and a half years full-time (or equivalent) post 18 work experience.
• You must have a minimum of 10 days experience within a primary school mainstream setting before the start of the course in September.

Cost

As an apprentice you would be employed on the Unqualified Teacher Scale, and paid at the Inner London rate, approximately £21,000-£22,000 at current rates.
The cost of training is met through the Apprenticeship Levy, leaving you with nothing to pay for your course.

Our Federated schools are:

• De Beauvoir Primary School,
• Gainsborough Primary School,
• Springfield Community Primary School,
• St John & St James Primary School,
• Holy Trinity Primary School,
•  Morningside Primary School,
• St John the Baptist Primary School,
• St Matthias Primary School.

All our routes will be open on the DFE Apply for Teacher Training pages from October for the following academic year

All applications for Teacher Training vacancies must be made through the DFE application pages. To view all our courses in detail please search for Primary Advantage on the DFE ‘Find a Postgraduate Teacher Training‘ website where you will find further information and application links to apply.  If you cannot find our apprenticeship course listed there, this means we do not currently have vacancies, but it is worth checking back throughout the year in case vacancies come up.

If you have any queries please contact us on: palearning@primaryadvantage.hackney.sch.uk