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Primary Education with Specialism in SEN with QTS - PGCE

Currently viewing course to start in 2025/26 Entry.

Do you have a passion for educating children, particularly those with Special Educational Needs (SEN)? If your aim is to become a reflective, critical and enquiring primary school teacher then our PGCE Primary Education with Specialism in SEN and QTS is the course for you. 

  • Level Postgraduate Taught
  • Study mode Full Time

This course is:

Open to International Students

Overview

Do you have a passion for educating children, particularly those with Special Educational Needs (SEN)? If your aim is to become a reflective, critical and enquiring primary school teacher then our PGCE Primary Education with Specialism in SEN and QTS is the course for you. 

This course is open to International students.

What's covered in this course?

Our aim is to help you become a committed, confident and creative teacher so we’ll train you in the essential tools you need to kick-start your career in education. You’ll increase your ability to handle the ever-evolving teaching environment, and by the time your course is complete, you’ll be in a position to continue developing your understanding, knowledge and skills throughout your professional life.

You’ll discover that the way we teach you and the time you spend in schools in the Birmingham area will give you a broad experience of working with children who come from a wide range of different social, economic and cultural backgrounds so you’ll be well placed to take on the Early Career Framework.

Our ITE Curriculum aligns with the DfE (2019) ITT Core Content Framework. Our ambitious curriculum is designed within a spiral curriculum model, which deepens your knowledge and understanding through an iterative revisiting of identified topics, subjects, and themes throughout all our Primary QTS courses.

Why Choose Us?

  • We play a huge role in training and educating the teaching workforce across the West Midlands region; we have trained over 1400 primary and early years teachers since 2018 and over half of them continue to work and teach in our region (HESA).
  • Our curriculum is designed by research-active subject experts to be integrated between university and school-based training with input from our partnership schools, ensuring you’re equipped to meet the needs of the teaching workforce now and in the future.
  • We have partnerships right across the West Midlands and beyond so you can benefit from training in a range of schools and early years settings, preparing you for work in a wide variety of schools when you qualify.
  • Study in our specialist facilities, such as the Primary Innovation Room, art room, music rooms and science lab.
  • We have international links in countries such as Spain, France and Germany to enable you to experience primary education in another country if you wish.
  • We meet the Department for Education's (DfE) Criteria for Initial Teacher Training and successful candidates on our Initial Teacher Training courses will be recommended to the DfE for Qualified Teacher Status.

OPEN DAY

Join us for an on-campus Open Day where you'll be able to learn about this course in detail, chat to students, explore our campus and tour accommodation.

Next Event: 24 November 2024

Book now

Entry Requirements

Essential requirements

Essential requirements

You must have a Bachelor’s degree (normally a 2:2 above) or a Master’s degree in a relevant subject from a UK higher education institution or equivalent.

Applicants for this course also need GCSE English Language or English Literature, GCSE Maths and GCSE Science at grade C/4 or above prior to enrolment. We accept a range of qualifications in lieu of GCSEs for our Initial Teacher Training courses. Please see a full list of GCSE equivalencies for Initial Teacher Training.

While not essential, you may wish to gain some experience in primary school before attending an interview.  

International qualifications

A minimum IELTS score of 7.0 is required with no individual component less than 6.5. Candidates who have undertaken IELTS will also need to successfully pass our GCSE English equivalency test.


 

Successful candidates must meet Department for Education requirements for Initial Teacher Training prior to enrolling on this course. This includes obtaining a satisfactory occupational health check and an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, as well as prohibition and children’s barred list checks in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) guidance.

If you have a qualification that is not listed, please contact us.

Fees & How to Apply

Please select your student status to view fees and apply
  • UK Student
  • International Student

UK students

Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.

Award: PGCE

Starting: Sep 2025

  • Mode
  • Duration
  • Fees
  • Full Time
  • 1 year
  • £9,250 in 2025/26
  • Apply

International students

Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.

Award: PGCE

Starting: Sep 2025

  • Mode
  • Duration
  • Fees
  • Full Time
  • 1 year
  • £17,690 in 2025/26
  • Apply

Access to computer equipment

You will require use of a laptop, and most students do prefer to have their own. However, you can borrow a laptop from the university or use one of our shared computer rooms.

Printing

You will receive £5 print credit in each year of your course, available after enrolment.

Field trips

All essential field trips and associated travel costs will be included in your course fees.

Access to Microsoft Office 365

Every student at the University can download a free copy of Microsoft Office 365 to use whilst at university and for 18 months after graduation.

Key software

You will be able to download SPSS and Nvivo to your home computer to support with your studies and research.

Key subscriptions

Subscriptions to key journals and websites are available through our library.

DBS check

If you are required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check for this course, the cost for your first DBS check is included in your fees.

Occupational health assessment

You will need to complete an occupational health assessment. The cost for this is included in your course fee.

Placement expenses (mandatory)

Placements are a compulsory element of this course. You'll need to budget for accommodation and any travel costs you may incur whilst living or working away from home.

Excess printing (optional)

Once you have spent your £5 credit, additional printing on campus costs from 5p per sheet.

Personal stationery and study materials (optional)

Based on the past experience of our students, you might find it helpful to set aside about £30 for each year of your studies for your personal stationery and study materials.

Memberships (optional)

You may wish to join a union or professional body related to this course, such as Unison, which is free for students.

Accommodation and living costs (optional)

The cost of accommodation and other living costs are not included within your course fees. More information on the cost of accommodation can be found in our accommodation pages.

Applications for teacher training courses are through the Department for Education’s application service, Apply for Teacher Training.

Using the ‘Apply’ button above will take you to the Department for Education website to complete your application. For more information on how to apply for a teacher training course, please visit Apply for Teacher Training.

Personal statement

You’ll need to submit a personal statement as part of your application for this course. This will need to highlight your passion for postgraduate study – and your chosen course – as well as your personal skills and experience, academic success, and any other factors that will support your application for further study.

If you are applying for a stand alone module, please include the title of the module you want to study in your Personal Statement.

Not sure what to include? We’re here to help – take a look at our top tips for writing personal statements and download our free postgraduate personal statement guide for further advice and examples from real students.

Course in Depth

Year One

In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 40 credits)

Download course specification

Download now

Course structure

Although this one-year PGCE course offers you a valuable academic qualification, one of its major attractions is the fact that you will spend two-thirds of your time –120 days – working in schools and gaining valuable real-life experience.

You’ll work towards your qualification by attending workshops and group discussions, but this course is essentially very practical and hands-on.

This is a full-time, one-year course, which will train you to teach young people between the ages of five and 11. All trainees learn to teach across the range of subjects in the Primary National Curriculum, but there is a strong focus on SEN. 

Approximately two thirds of this well-structured, supervised programme includes blocked time in schools/settings where you will gain direct teaching experience and work with experienced practitioners in the classroom. School based sessions are undertaken predominately in West Midland primary schools. Placements will include schools recognised for their strengths in SEN or a special school.

Teaching is graded as pass or fail and by the end of the second practice trainees will have gained experience of teaching approximately 80 per cent of the timetable in a supportive and guided context.

Note that all PGCE with QTS courses commence teaching in the first week of September.

Assessment breakdown

There are assessments on course work, teaching practice and the achievement of The Department for Education for the award of QTS. You will also undertake written assessments and some presentations derived from both faculty-based modules and school experiences. Academic work will need to be of the high standard required of postgraduate level 7 study.

Standards for the award of QTS are assessed in a number of ways, including course work, school experience assessments and evidence portfolios.

Modules are often workshop-based, covering professional subject and age-range methodology, as well as general pedagogical skills and all other major educational issues.

Employability

Placements

Approximately two thirds of this well-structured and supervised programme includes blocked time in schools/settings where trainees will gain direct teaching experience and work with experienced practitioners in the classroom. School based sessions are undertaken predominately in West Midland primary schools. Placements will be with schools recognised for their strengths in SEN or an SEN school.

More about our placement opportunities

International

Birmingham City University is a vibrant and multicultural university in the heart of a modern and diverse city. We welcome many international students every year – there are currently students from more than 80 countries among our student community.

The University is conveniently placed, with Birmingham International Airport nearby and first-rate transport connections to London and the rest of the UK.

Our international pages contain a wealth of information for international students who are considering applying to study here, including:

Facilities & Staff

University House

Our Facilities

We are constantly investing in our estate and have spent £400 million on new learning facilities.

From January 2025, this course will be based at our City Centre Campus in a newly refurbished building.

Our staff

Paul Purser

Associate Professor of Education & Social Work

Having completed a Science degree, Paul undertook a PGCE and qualified in 1990. He has always led Science within school in addition to his teaching and leadership commitments. Alongside this he developed his skills in whole school leadership, leading year groups and phases within school.

More about Paul