Education in Wales

Overview

You can study through the medium of English, Welsh or a combination. Teaching is online, including live online seminars, with face-to-face support provided in school. You’ll experience teaching in two different schools in Wales (at least 120 days over the two years). Students endorsed by a school participating in the scheme may be fully funded (salaried route); or, you can self-fund and could be eligible for a student loan and/or a maintenance grant (part-time route).

Career relevance

On achieving your Education in Wales degree at The Open University UK , we’ll recommend you for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), as either a primary or secondary school teacher, depending on which option you chose.

The programme is employability-focussed and will prepare you to enter the profession. As a vocational teaching qualification, it’s accredited by EWC (Education Workforce Council) and monitored by Estyn. The combination of academic and practice-based skills and experience is central to the programme, ensuring you’re familiar with ‘practice as theory and theory as practice’. Your eportfolio will assess your skills and experience against relevant learning outcomes and professional standards.

While based on teaching experience in Welsh schools and for the Welsh curriculum, the PGCE is also valid in England. If you wish to teach in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you must register with the appropriate country’s professional body. They’ll assess applications on a case-by-case basis.