Name: Education & Training (Further Education & Skills), Preparatory Cert
Price: £1,540 per 20 credits GBP

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Attendance

Campus

Start

Duration

12 weeks

Start

January 2025

Delivery

In-person

The Preparatory Certificate at Level 5 is an introduction to teaching in the further education and skills sector. This short one module course is ideal if you’re looking for a qualification to accelerate your professional development. It does not have a minimum teaching requirement or placement.

Teaching is a rewarding profession where you’ll use your enthusiasm and talents to really make a difference. This qualification will start to prepare you to teach in the post-14 further education (FE) and skills sector. This includes FE colleges, sixth forms, alternative provision, pupil referral units (PRUs), adult and community learning, the NHS, offender learning, the Police service, and private sector training organisations.

The Preparatory Certificate is ideal if you’re looking to develop your skills and don’t require a full teaching qualification such as the PGCE or Certificate in Education.

You can study this course at one of a range of colleges across the North West. It’s suitable for new in-service teachers, pre-service and pre-employment teachers, trainers and tutors in the further education and skills sector. If you’re an in-service applicant, you should check with your employer that this course’s target qualification meets the requirements of your job role.

Why study with us

Opportunities to study and train to be a teacher at one of eight UCLan partner colleges across the North West.
A wide range of teaching roles are available across the further education and skills sector. There are also opportunities for progression and promotion.
Our course is well established and enjoys an excellent reputation in the further education and skills sector.

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Award: Preparatory Cert
Delivery: Partner colleges
Study mode: Part time
Duration: Check with partner college
Campus: Blackburn College, Furness College, Hugh Baird College, Lakes College West Cumbria, Myerscough College, Preston College, St Helens College or Wigan & Leigh College
Start dates: Check with Partner College

What you'll do

Take your first step into training to become a teacher in the further education and skills sector.
You’ll learn from experienced tutors as they model inspirational teaching that you can use in your own practice.
Apply the latest thinking on teaching to equip you with the knowledge and skills to work in the exciting and dynamic further education and skills sector.

Modules

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of our published course information. However, our programmes are subject to ongoing review and development. Changing circumstances may cause alteration to, or the cancellation of, courses. Changes may be necessary to comply with the requirements of accrediting bodies or revisions to subject benchmarks statements. As well as to keep courses updated and contemporary, or as a result of student feedback. We reserve the right to make variations if we consider such action to be necessary or in the best interests of students.

Alternative initial teacher education courses

If you find that the Preparatory Certificate isn’t for you, you might want to consider one of our other Initial Teacher Education courses:

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Future careers

The Preparatory Certificate (Further Education and Skills Sector) is ideal if you’re interested in joining the teaching profession but don’t want to commit to a full teaching qualification.

You’ll get valuable insights into best practice in teaching, lesson planning and assessments. The course is particularly suited to those primarily interested in working with the 16 and over age group.

A wide range of teaching opportunities exist in many organisations. This includes further education colleges, alternative provision, sixth forms, adult and community learning, the National Health Service, the prison service, the police service, and private sector training organisations.

This Preparatory Certificate is for those wishing to teach primarily in the further education and skills sector. Whilst this is not a specific school teaching qualification, there are various employment opportunities in schools, particularly for teachers of vocational subjects. Such roles include trainers, assessors, instructors, demonstrators, mentors and pastoral mentors.

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image overlay — The Library (Preston Campus)

students-library — The Library (Preston Campus)

Entry requirements

A minimum of a Level 3 qualification in all the specialist subjects you will or wish to teach.
GCSE English at grade C/4 or above (or OfQual approved equivalent).
Where English is not your first language: The ability to communicate fluently, accurately, and effectively in professional spoken English A current (IELTS 7.5 with no element lower than 7.0 (or equivalent).
Completion of a satisfactory course interview.
If you're studying the in-service route: Provide confirmation of an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Specialist subject: where your specialist subject is Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), you will need to have a Level 3 SEND qualification. 

If you need an International English Language Training System (IELTS) certificate, the date must be within two years of the point of application.

You'll also need to demonstrate at interview and through references that they have the potential to become a good teacher.

If you have non-standard qualifications, you should contact the college course leader to enquire about equivalences.

If you're applying for placements in vocational subjects you'll need to demonstrate suitable industrial or employment experience. If you're applying for placements in academic subjects you're usually expected to have a degree in the subject.

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and communities, and in particular those that are currently under-represented in our Initial Teacher Education (ITE) courses. We specifically encourage applications from ethnic minority groups at this time.

Fees and funding

Please contact your chosen college(s) for fees information as partner colleges have their own fees structure.

Additional costs

Please consult your chosen partner college(s) for more information about course-specific additional costs and optional costs.

There may be scholarships and bursaries available to support you at your chosen partner college(s). Please contact your partner college for more information.

The Preparatory Certificate (Further Education and Skills Sector) recognises the diversity of your learning needs and experiences. Teaching, learning and assessment strategies have all been designed to meet these differing needs.

Your tutors will model inspirational teaching practice and your teaching skills will be developed in class through peer-to-peer teaching practice and the observation of experienced teachers.

You can expect a wide range of assessments. These will be undertaken individually and in groups. One of the assessments which forms part of this course is a ‘mini teach’ session where you’ll plan and deliver a small session to your peers. You will be assessed at various points throughout the course. There is no final examination.

Occasionally, we may invite guest speakers from different areas of the further education and skills sector to share their knowledge and advice.

You will be introduced to the Education and Training Foundation’s (ETF) Professional Standards as part of this course. These are used to support teachers and trainers to maintain and improve standards of teaching and learning outcomes across England.

The Preparatory Certificate is the first module of the six for the Certificate in Education or PGCE (Further Education and Skills Sector).

If you choose to upgrade your teaching qualification to a Certificate in Education or PGCE and choose to do this with a UCLan partner college, you will be given accreditation for the UCLan Preparatory Certificate. You would then need to apply for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. This is if you decided to continue your studies to the Certificate in Education or PGCE (Further Education and Skills Sector), as you would need to have a teaching placement as part of the national requirements for these courses.

Please note that if you continue your teacher education onto a course with a placement requirement, (Intermediate Certificate, Certificate in Education or PGCE) you will be required to show evidence that you have achieved GCSE mathematics at grade C/4 or above or OfQual approved equivalent.

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This course is delivered by the School of Psychology and Humanities

For information on possible changes to course information, see our essential and important course information

You can find regulations and policies relating to student life at the University of Central Lancashire on our student contract page

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Education & Training (Further Education & Skills)

Why study with us

What you'll do

Modules

Modules studied

Compulsory modules

Alternative initial teacher education courses

Future careers

View the course facilities

Entry requirements

Fees and funding

Additional costs

Education & Training (Further Education & Skills)

Why study with us

What you'll do

Modules

Modules studied

Alternative initial teacher education courses

Future careers

View the course facilities

Entry requirements

Important information about entry requirements

Fees and funding

Additional costs

Learning and assessment

Pathway opportunities

Further information