Qualifications you need to be a teacher in the UK

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There are different qualifications available:

• Award in Education and Training – This is a short course which introduces people to teaching and is particularly useful for people who train adults who need to understand the basic principles of planning, teaching and assessing.

• Certificate in Education and training: A step towards a full teaching qualification that builds upon the Award programme. Useful for people who have worked in industry who have skills in a trade or specialist area of employment.

• Diploma in Education and training: A substantial teaching qualification that builds upon the Award and Certificate programmes.

• A Degree in Education with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)

• PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education), Full training to teach in Secondary School Education or above which is completed over one year full time following degree level study.

There are other qualifications available in the UK but these are the main qualifications available.

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The Peer observations. When we first started Peer observations we gave teachers a form with some guidance on the types of things they could comment on and give guidance to their colleagues. In the second year we gave teachers the option of using a blank sheet so they could record more freely or they could continue to use the sheet with guidance. We have continued to use both forms.

We do keep a record of the completion of the peer observations and note if there are common areas that teachers identify for improvement but the peer observations are not graded.