With applications for 2025/26 teacher training courses opening on 8 October 2024, now is a great time to explore your options, including school-based and university-based routes.

To help you understand which route is right for you, we asked Jess Tame to share her recent experience of school-based teacher training with Portsmouth Primary SCITT. 

Can you tell us a little about your teacher training course?

Portsmouth Primary SCITT is a teacher training programme which includes both taught and school-based elements. With a perfect balance of learning and teaching, there's many opportunities to apply everything learnt in the taught sessions in a school setting. There are three placements throughout the year across both key stages. It is an adaptive, bespoke course which really prepares you for the world of education.

What does a typical week as a trainee teacher look like?

Each term starts with a few weeks in the training room. Sessions are run by experienced teachers and professionals who educate us on many aspects of the teaching profession, including safeguarding, subject knowledge, special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and assessment.

When on placement, we're encouraged to immerse ourselves within school life. We take an active role within our mentor's classroom; building professional relationships with colleagues and pupils, becoming a trusted adult within the room before starting to plan and teach lessons supervised by our mentor. As we become more experienced throughout the year, our responsibility increases and we start to take the class for longer periods of time, to independently plan a series of lessons and take responsibility for assessments and the progress of the children within our mentor's class.

We also have our portfolio to complete. This is the written/academic side of the PGCE and comprises three tasks spaced out throughout the year. There is a network such as mentors, link tutors and SCITT leads available to ask any questions, worries or concerns throughout the process. It is an intense course but has the most amazing support available.

What made you choose to pursue a career in teaching?

I've wanted to be a teacher ever since my work experience which I completed at an infant school. I have an appreciation for people who work in education and the passion that drives them to do the best they can for the young people they care for. After finishing my university degree, I wanted to pursue my teaching career earlier than I had initially thought. Choosing the SCITT course and going into teaching is one of the best decisions I've made for myself, and I am so excited for the future.

What have been the highlights and challenges of your training so far?

There are many ups and downs within the world of teaching, and this is no different in the training years. I have many highlights, mostly little milestones I have completed: teaching my first ever lesson, taking a class for a full day, a strength from an observation that was previously a target. Getting my job for September was another major highlight which I couldn't have done without the support around me: my mentors, my peers and the SCITT course lead.

The sense of pride that I feel looking back at these moments is wonderful and really puts things into perspective. As well as highlights from my own training, there are many times in which a child has a moment of pride or realisation, and this fills me with happiness knowing that I was part of that journey.

Workload can be a challenge at some points on this course but with the right strategies in place it is possible. This course has been a big step up from my university degree and the time and effort I have put in has almost doubled but because it is such a practical course, these things have been manageable with the right support around me.

What advice would you give to someone considering training to teach?

There are very few jobs in which you can have fun, be yourself, be silly, be constantly moving, play games and inspire young children all at once. Teacher training is tough and can be emotional at times, but at the end of it all, it is one of the most rewarding jobs you could have.

There is a lot of time, paperwork and effort that needs to be put into a teacher training course. But at the end of the day, if it is something you enjoy and are passionate about, most of the hardships are washed away by the excitement on the children's face when they see you in the morning or the happiness when they succeed and knowing you have made a difference in a young life. 

Find your perfect route into teacher training

Want to become a teacher in Portsmouth but don't know where to start? Meet Portsmouth Primary SCITT and other local teacher training providers at our webinar on Wednesday 23 October from 5pm and discover your options.