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Age ranges

Courses in England and Wales

Most teacher training courses in England and Wales train you to teach pupils in two or more specified age ranges. Training providers will usually offer training courses in one or more of the following age ranges:

  • 3-7 years
  • 3/5-11 years
  • 7-11 years
  • 7/9-14 years
  • 11/16-19 years
  • 14-19 years

There are also courses for teaching in the post-compulsory and further education sectors that do not relate to any specific age ranges.

You can apply through the GTTR for the following categories of teacher training course in England and Wales. You will need to read the Entry Profiles on Course Search or contact the training providers to find out the age ranges for their courses.

  • Primary

    Primary courses generally train you to teach all the subjects in the primary school curriculum to children in the age ranges 3 to 7, 5 to 11 or 7 to 11 years. Some primary courses allow you to specialise in one subject, while learning to teach all the other curriculum subjects. For some courses, the name on Course Search will tell you the subject specialism, but you will need to contact the training providers to find out the subject specialisms, if any, for most primary courses.

  • Middle years

    Middle years courses train you to teach children in the age ranges 7 to 14 or 9 to 14 years. Most middle years courses require you to specialise in teaching one or two subjects. There are no training providers in Wales that offer middle years courses.

  • Secondary

    Secondary courses normally require you to specialise in teaching one or two subjects in the secondary school curriculum to students in the age ranges 11 to 16, 11 to 18 or 14 to 19 years. A course may train you to teach students aged between 14 and 19 on any type of course or it may train you specifically to teach the new 14-19 Diploma.

  • Post-compulsory or further education

    Training providers normally offer a general course for teaching in further education. The range of subjects that a training provider can offer may vary from year to year depending on the teaching placements they can arrange in FE colleges. You should read the Entry Profiles on Course Search or contact the providers to find out whether or not they can offer the course in your subject. Some training providers offer post-compulsory education courses in a particular subject specialism, such as adult literacy or numeracy.

    Post-compulsory and further education courses do not normally provide Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) for teaching in state schools.

Courses in Scotland

All primary teaching courses at training providers in Scotland train you to teach children between the ages of 3 and 12 and cover all subjects in the curriculum.

All secondary courses train you to teach your specialist subject to pupils between the ages of 12 and 18. You can qualify to teach in more than one subject.

There are no middle years courses or further education courses in Scotland.