Entry requirements
Our typical offer is:
| Qualification |
Minimum grade |
| a bachelor's degree | |
If you already hold a postgraduate qualification, please see our Applying for additional postgraduate degrees Help and Advice article.
If you don't meet our standard entry requirements, you can take one of the foundation pathways at our partners ONCAMPUS Sunderland. Find out more information and whether your course is eligible on our ONCAMPUS page.
If your qualification is not listed above, please contact the Student Administration team at studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk for further advice.
When completing your application, you'll need the consent of your school and a suitable mentor. The University of Sunderland will need to approve the school and designated mentor.
Successful admission will be determined by your potential to teach assessed using both your application and, if successful at application stage, an interview process.
To be accepted onto the course, you'll need:
Education requirements
- A bachelor’s degree or equivalent from a UK or non-UK university. This doesn't have to be in a curriculum subject. You must check the individual teacher registration requirements for the country where you wish to teach. The University uses ENIC to assess the level of your qualifications if from a non-UK university.
- To have achieved a standard equivalent to grade 4 in GCSE mathematics
- To have achieved a standard equivalent to grade 4 in a GCSE science subject (biology, chemistry, or physics) if teaching children aged 5 to 11 (equivalent to an English primary school)
- Any previous school experience isn't a requirement for successful admission to the PGCE iQTS course. Successful admission will be determined by your potential to teach assessed using both your application and, if successful at application stage, an interview process. Please note, for those not currently working as an employed teacher, you'll be responsible for arranging your own placement, both the main teaching experience blocks, and the second school experience.
- For those without a first degree studied in the medium of English, Academic in person IELTS is required, achieved within the last two years. (A minimum Academic IELTS band score of 6.5, with 6.5 in writing, and no less than 6 in Reading and Speaking and Listening).
You'll also need to submit a strong personal statement as part of your application which will be crucial in how your application is assessed.
When completing your personal statement, please consider the following areas:
- What made you want to be a teacher?
- What character and personality traits will you bring to the teaching profession?
- What skills and abilities will you bring to the teaching profession?
- What's your own philosophy for teaching and learning?
Essentially, this is a portrait of you as a teacher, a self-reflective statement of your beliefs about the teaching and learning process, and, where appropriate, how you enact or plan to enact these beliefs in the professional school environment.
Your response in the personal statement will be individual to you and reflect and embrace the diversity of your background, the richness of your experiences, and what you'll bring to the teaching profession.
School requirements
- To be able to satisfy the practicum and mentor requirements, trainees are required to find a placement school (if not already employed as a practising teacher) and second school placement experience that'll provide a teaching experience for a total of 120 days. Please note that teaching in Language Centres, Learning Centres, or similar cannot be used to complete this course; teaching must take place in an international school, state school, or similar that follows a recognised curriculum. This course requires teaching in either a primary or secondary school. If you wish to teach in early years (kindergarten), you'll need to apply for PGCE Early Years Teaching (DL). It's a requirement of the course that all teaching placement hours use English as the language of instruction to deliver whole-class teaching (not small groups, interventions, or one-to-one support).
- Please note, the number of days required for second school experience is not in addition to the mandated 120 days. The number of days required for the second school experience will be confirmed by the Programme Leader before starting the course.
- Trainees can only be made a conditional offer with a placement and mentor in place and you'll need to provide details of your placement/s and mentor before you can formally take up an offer and begin the course
- The placement must provide a suitably qualified mentor with a minimum of two years' experience and a teaching qualification
- When completing your application, you'll need the consent of your school and a suitable mentor. The University of Sunderland will need to approve the school and designated mentor.
Trainee requirements
Along with your application, you'll need to submit the online trainee agreement. As part of this agreement, you'll be asked to provide email addresses for two referees, your host school(s) head teacher, and mentor. They'll be contacted for further information and to provide their consent. Please note, all forms must be completed and submitted before being offered a place on the course.
Safeguarding and health requirements:
Police checks are to be undertaken by trainees in their country of domicile. In addition, for those trainees who've ever lived or worked in the UK, you must apply for an International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC). If you've never been to the UK, you don't need to apply for an ICPC.
To comply with safer recruitment practice, the partner school is required to complete a reference which includes local safeguarding and identity checks. These could include in-person ID checks and local police checks.
If you meet the criteria after submitting your application, you'll be invited for an online interview with the course staff.
PGCE iQTS (Distance Learning) FAQs.
This course is subject to revalidation to meet the requirements for Initial Teacher Training from 2024.
Is your qualification not displaying here? For international qualifications, search our full list of international entry requirements for this course.
Fees and finance
The annual fee is £9,250.
A £250 deposit must be paid prior to the start of the course. This deposit is refundable up until the point of enrolment.
This information was correct at the time of publication.
