Thinking about teacher training? Start with what matters to you

It’s that time of year again: applications to train to teach open in early October for those planning to train on a postgraduate course of initial teacher training from September 2027.

It sounds straightforward, but choosing a teacher training course can be surprisingly difficult, not least because there are thousands of courses available to look at on the Department for Education’s application portal. Most providers will tell you broadly the same things: that you will receive good training, have support from experienced teachers and spend time developing your classroom practice. If you are looking at several providers in your area, it can be difficult to work out what the meaningful differences actually are.

Before comparing courses, it is worth thinking about what you want from the year. That sounds obvious, but people often start with the question ‘Which provider should I apply to?’ rather than ‘What sort of training will suit me?’ Your priorities might include how your training will be structured, what a typical week’s training will look like, if your training sessions are face to face, the sort of support you will receive, the opportunity to develop your subject knowledge, which connections you will be able to make and which networks you will be able to join.

These practical details are worth investigating. A good place to start is a provider’s website, which will give you more information about the courses they offer; a provider’s prospectus will often give more details about the structure of the programmes they offer. Getting in touch directly is also an excellent idea, not least because in a provider like NTTC you are likely to be speaking to people who will be involved in your training.

As part of your preparation to apply, ask what a typical week looks like and how the different parts of the programme fit together. Find out who delivers the training, how often you will meet your tutor, what your school-based mentor's role will be and how much opportunity you will have to work with other trainees. If a provider describes its support as ‘excellent’, ask what that means in practice. The answer will tell you much more than the description.

The school in which you train is also important. Teacher training is not simply a course that happens alongside a placement; much of your learning will happen through trying things out with pupils, watching experienced teachers, receiving feedback and gradually taking on more responsibility. It is therefore worth finding out how providers work with schools, how they work with mentors and how they respond when a placement is not working as it should.

The same applies to professional development, an essential aspect of your training year. There is a difference between being given a collection of classroom techniques and developing an understanding of teaching that you can apply in different situations. You might want to ask how a provider uses educational research, how trainees are expected to put ideas into practice and how feedback from the classroom is brought back into the training.

It is also worth considering what happens when things don't go well. Every trainee has lessons that don't work, classes that are difficult and aspects of teaching that take longer to learn than expected. A good training programme should give you people who can help you understand what has happened and work out what to do differently, rather than simply telling you that you need to improve.

Current trainees and recent graduates can be particularly useful here. They can tell you what the programme is actually like rather than what it looks like in a prospectus. Ask them what they found most useful, what they found difficult and whether there was anything they wish they had known before starting.

There is no single teacher training route that is right for everyone. Spending time researching where you think you will learn most effectively and receive the sort of support you are likely to need will help you make the right decision for you.

If you want to talk to NTTC about anything mentioned in this article, please contact us: NTTC@ccn.ac.uk and 01603 773708 / 773278.

Why don’t you come along to NTTC’s Open Day at Norfolk House, Exchange Street, Norwich to meet the team? We’ll be there to talk you through all aspects of our training programme, including our PGCE, on Saturday 26th September from 9.30am to 1pm.