PGCE Online Course in Secondary Education

Our PGCE online course covers the knowledge side of the training year, and you fit it around your job. More than 17,000 people started secondary teacher training last year. You probably cannot stop earning for a year. So you take the theory first, then decide if you want the full route.

In our course you learn how a lesson gets planned and why a class goes wrong. Of course, qualified teacher status comes from a government-approved provider. That makes our online PGCE courses a sensible test before you hand in your notice. By the end you can discuss behaviour policy, SEN and assessment at interview. It is in plain English, so it reads easily even if English is your second language.

Here is what the PGCE course online gives you:

• Fully online
• Instant certification
• Simple lessons
• Free retakes
• Study around work
• Lifetime access
• Expert-made
• No teaching experience needed

You get to see how a classroom works before you stand in one.

What You Will Learn In The PGCE Online Course

Every module leaves you something usable:

• You can explain how learning actually happens.
• Plan a secondary lesson that fits the curriculum and the clock.
• Behaviour management that holds up on a bad Friday afternoon.
• Why a 14 year old behaves differently to an 11 year old.
• Adapt a lesson for pupils with SEN.
• Feedback a pupil can act on.
• What a school mentor looks for on placement.
• The conduct and safeguarding rules every school runs on.

Rules for Renewal

Nothing expires here. But the curriculum gets rewritten and so does the guidance on SEN. So look over your pgce secondary notes every 2 years.

Why Is This Course Important?

Schools are short of secondary teachers. Even so, the latest figures put secondary training at under 90% of target. So the staff already in the building picks up the slack. Walk in knowing how a lesson is built and you are useful from week one. Here is what that looks like:

• Walk into a classroom knowing what the plan is.
• You spot the pupil who has stopped following.
• The kind of support a stretched teacher actually relies on.

Teaching assistant posts ask for this sort of knowledge.

Who Is This PGCE Online Course For?

You might recognise yourself in one of these:

• Graduates weighing teaching against something else.
• Career changers who need a part time pgce around a job.
• Teaching assistants who want the theory behind what they already do.
• Learners outside the UK comparing providers from a distance.
• Parents going back to work who like the look of school hours.

How We Test You

You must successfully solve 60% of the questions to move to the next part. If you do not pass the first time, do not worry. You can retake the quiz as many times as you need without extra cost.

Certificate on Completion

Pass, and the certificate is yours the same day, free as a PDF. Paper copies go out by courier for £13.99.

Jobs You Can Get

Classroom support is the first door this opens, so here is the pay:

• Teaching Assistant: £19,000 to £26,000
• Learning Mentor: £21,000 to £27,000
• Education Welfare Officer: £24,000 to £32,000
• Youth Worker: £24,000 to £37,000

Find Out If Teaching Is Really For You!

Nobody should commit a training year on a hunch. So start your PGCE online course and go into the application knowing what the job asks. 

FAQs About PGCE Online Course

1. Can I do a PGCE fully online?

The theory side, yes. QTS itself needs weeks of placement in a real secondary school.

2. Can I do a PGCE for free?

Not free. Bursaries and tuition-fee loans cover most of the cost in shortage subjects.

3. How quickly can I do a PGCE?

Nine months at a university, or around work with ours.

4. Is a PGCE harder than a Masters?

Fewer credits than a Masters, and the classroom hours are the harder part.

5. How many people fail a PGCE?

About 8%, since government data puts QTS achievement at 92% of postgraduate trainees.