Teacher Training Applications
Find information to help with the application process for teacher training, including how to research courses, when to apply and how to complete your personal statement.
If you are unsure which option to choose, book an appointment with a Careers Consultant through MyCareer.
See teaching in schools in our Occupations site to find out more about the different routes into teaching and visit the individual websites for more information on the application process.
Application process
Applications usually open in October for entry the following year.
The steps below outline the process for applying for postgraduate teacher training programmes.
Find courses
Use the search tool on the GOV.UK site to find teacher training programmes in England. Search for courses in Scotland and Wales through UCAS.
Read course information carefully and research the training provider. See our information above about researching courses.
Training providers keep their applications open until they are full, so it's important to apply early for popular courses.
Prepare to apply
Check the work experience requirements for individual training programmes to make sure you meet their criteria. See the information on our School-based work experience section for more advice on finding relevant work experience.
Create your personal statement. See our information below on how to write an effective personal statement, and how to get feedback.
Choose your references. You will need to provide details of two people. If you are still a registered student or if you graduated in the last 5 years you will need to include an academic reference. Contact your referees in advance to ask if they are happy to provide a reference. The Get into Teaching website has more information on references.
Apply for courses
For teacher training in England, applications are made through the Apply for teacher training service on GOV.UK.
You can apply for up to four training programmes in each round of applications. Training providers have 40 working days to respond to your application.
If you are unsuccessful in your first round of applications, you can apply again to another four training programmes.
Applications in Scotland or Wales are made through UCAS.
Prepare for interview
Interviews can take place as early as November. The process will vary depending on the training provider, but you will be given a description of what to expect in your invitation to interview.
Teacher training personal statement
It's really important that your personal statement is relevant and effective.
Your personal statement is your chance to explain why you want to teach, your commitment to the profession and why you would be a good teacher.
If you have had some work experience in a school, you should include what you observed and learned during your time in the classroom. You should also include any other experience you have had of working with children or young people.
The format of the personal statement is different on GOV.UK and UCAS.
Your personal statement should be between 500 and 1000 words.
You should aim to include:
- why do you want to be a teacher?
- why teaching is important
- your interest in the subject or age group
- skills and qualities that would make you a good teacher
- experience you can use to contribute outside of the classroom such as sports or music
- any experience working with children or young people, and what you learnt
The Get into Teaching service advise that 90% of successful applicants write more than 500 words.
Attention to detail is important. Make sure that you check your spelling and grammar before submitting.
The UCAS personal statement should be at least 1,000 characters long and no longer than 4,000 characters or 47 lines.
UCAS recommends drafting your application in Microsoft Word (or similar software) and pasting it into your application as the application doesn’t have a spell check.
See the UCAS website for more information.
Application advice
You can get advice on your application from a teaching adviser through the Department for Education’s Get into Teaching service.
Feedback on your personal statement
We can give you feedback on your statement in an online or in-person appointment. Log into MyCareer, click on 'Book', then 'Appointments' and use our Appointment Finder to book the right appointment type for you.
You can also send your personal statement (preferably in Microsoft Word) to us for written feedback. This can take up to 5 working days. Click on Queries/CV in MyCareer (top right hand corner) to submit your query and CV.