Is PGCE most respected route for someone who wants to teach but hopes to end up in school leadership one day?

[Stringbean70]

As the title asks really. My DC is doing modern languages and keen to teach at secondary level (we understand there is a government payment for MFL teachers but that is NOT motivation here). Should DC pursue a PGCE or another route into teaching and, ultimately, SLT? Any advice much appreciated

What other routes are being considered?

Most school based initial training now offers (/insists) on a pgce as well.

The only way I can think of which doesn't is teach first and that really is a throw you in at the deep end sort of option.

Yes, Teach First been recommended. But my gut says PGCE as teacher friend does not recommend Teach First (had a horror story!). Should DC at Swansea (on course for a first) do PGCE there - don't think it commits them to teaching in Wales? We live in commutable distance of top London unis so could PGCE at one of them. Loves Swansea though - does it matter where PGCE is done? If so, will move uni

Teachfirst is defo the a better route -can be tough at time but excellent support and preparation for the real world if she decides not to go into teaching whereas PGCE is softer option but very hit and miss for quality.

But DC does definitely want to go into teaching! Thanks for post though as I have rarely heard anyone advocate Teach First over PGCE (unless for financial reasons). Would you pls be able to say why Teach First is otherwise preferable? Thanks for contributing x

Once you’re teaching, nobody really questions how you qualified. In order to get a leadership role it’s much more about how you perform in your role, whether you volunteer for extra responsibility etc. I did School Direct with PGCE and that worked for me but I have no idea what route the vast majority of my colleagues took.

She may think now that she wants to go into teaching it people do I change their minds and a lot of people who go straight into teaching from university find it hard later to change carer and are trapped because they have never known a world outside teaching. Teachfirst is much more competitive and /she may not be accepted /PHCE will take anyone.
But she is the one who should be researching this /if is relying on her mum is not an auger for being be cut out for leadership .
FWIW I did SchoolDirect with PGCE a few years ago as a career changer / would wholly recommend it as a career after another one, but people my age who have been teaching since Uni tend (as you see on here) to be cynical and counting the days to ‘retirement’ -hence why I would say go for the better qualification -ie TeachFirst that outside employers respect.

Nobody cares where your pgce is from

Getting promoted into school leadership is much more about your ability to work hard.

One thing to consider is that a PGCE can be passed at masters level and is in effect half of an MA. Lots of PGCE providers also have 'top up' courses to get an MA.

That MA can be in Education or in Education with Leadership or a few other options.

www.newman.ac.uk/course/education-ma-online/september-2025/

As above - it doesn't matter how you qualify. As long as you get through ECT years well and get some good experience no one cares.

I am slightly suspicious of teachers who go into the profession wanting to be SLT before they've even stepped inside a classroom, though. I understand being ambitious and all, but it feels a bit cart before the horse to me.

I assume she is wanting to teach secondary? If primary, teaching in Wales is tricky unless she speaks Welsh.

I work in primary but it doesn't really matter. No one cares how you got there. What they care about is that you work hard and can teach. Getting into SLT will be based on what you can offer a school once you are there (and space on SLT). No one has ever asked me about how I trained now that I am experienced. Just go with a gut feeling about which route would suit the way she works.

The route into teaching will be entirely irrelevant. Once qualified, nobody will think twice about how your DD got there. Really.

I think it is odd that your DD is aiming for school leadership without having entered the profession. I might dial down that aspect of my aspiration during any application or interview process for PGCE or TeachFirst or similar programme: it suggests she is seeking to join a notoriously tough profession, one euphemistically referred to as a vocation, without the most basic interest in actually teaching at the coalface. It could be perceived as a smidgen arrogant when, at least on paper, leadership in education is a destination arrived at after considerable experience and a proven record of facilitating measurable change and whole-school impact. This really is necessary as 'school leadership' is not so much about procedural, operational or administrative function, or even directing pupils, but all about leading colleagues in processes of change and driving progress. This is where teaching experience and years under one's belt really matters, as without it, your DD will lack credibility with more senior (in years and experience) colleagues and is likely to struggle to lead. There are plenty of relatively new colleagues who find themselves in premature positions of leadership, put there by either desperate or nepotistic leaders, and they tend to really struggle.

Do you, or does DD know any teachers in real life to discuss her options with?

If you are thinking about reputation (and as you said you were commutable to London), UCL's IOE has consistently been ranked the world's top education school.

what Themother said.

No one cares where you got your pgce. Just like no one cares where their doctor went to uni.

You get to senior leadership by being good at teaching, building up experience, working hard and demonstrating that you can take on a leadership role by gradually taking on more responsibilities.

I would advise your dc not to make a big deal of wanting to be a senior leader at any interviews at the start of her / his career - that would be very off putting for prospective employers, who want to someone who can consolidate their teaching first. New teachers start their first job with an awful lot to learn, and those that think they know everything already find it very hard. (And will annoy their new colleagues). You really need to watch others and learn the craft at the start. All the teachers I know (which is loads, because I am one) went into teaching because they wanted to teach, those who have reached senior levels did so because their skills became apparent and they went for promotion one stage at a time. People start planning career routes only once they’ve achieved a first step on the ladder (head of key stage for example) but you can only really plan one step at a time. It also depends how flexible you are geographically as job vacancies depend on someone leaving the right sort of job in the right sort of school.
EG: if you want to be a head you might be a head of year after 5/6 years, then a head of key stage for a few years, then assistant head, then deputy etc. It is very competitive though! Lots of internal candidates. 50+ appropriately qualified and experienced applicants for deputy head jobs in my area.

I’ll caveat this with the fact that males in primary schools seem to get promoted incredibly fast!!

Is your dc aware that numbers taking languages at gcse/ alevel are plummeting?

Surely it will depend on the school she trains through as well? DH wanted to do a PGCE but the institution he got a job with only offer the Apprenticeship, so he's doing that.

DS is looking to do teacher training after his degree, think it's a PGDE? In Scotland, if that makes any difference 🤷‍♀️

What everyone else said. No ones particularly bothered about your training route. A PGCE includes actual PG study and research, TF attempts to do this but doesn't offer the same depth imo.

Don't go in saying you want to be SLT. Go in humble, willing to learn and ready to take and act in advice. Prove you are good and then start to climb post ECT years.

It takes many years to become a good teacher. Unfortunately, it can take far less time for a relatively inexperienced teacher with SLT ambitions to progress up the management ladder and make their classroom based colleagues’ lives miserable as a result of their imperfect understanding and poor people management skills. Add to this the implementation of pointless fashionable initiatives and constant reinvention of the wheel, and you have one reason why teacher retention is so poor.
As others have said, it doesn’t matter how or where anyone gets their PGCE, though unfortunately some PGCE courses do encourage unsuitable people to think that the fast track to school leadership is a desirable thing.

Worth checking but I am pretty sure almost all routes you end up with a PGCE - or at least the opinion to get one - I have met a lot of teach first teachers and it seems like a great program -.if full on in first year - you also end up with an extra network which might help when looking at future career - the most important thing is to get some experience with young people/schools at this stage. At the very minimum a few days observation in school

I would opt for the PGCE route as it opens up more options - if they wanted to teach abroad for example, some countries require a PGCE. They will also have credits at masters level if they wish to do a masters degree at some point in the future, which may be helpful as SLT. It’s a long time since I had involvement in the SCITT programme but some unis offered a PGCE along side, although the workload was higher than “just” doing a PGCE.

I am a senior teacher at a large HMC independent school and have a PhD in Education. I am involved in teacher recruitment. I definitely favour those candidates with a traditional university-based PGCE. I'm not a fan of TeachFirst personally (although that's possibly because we've never had a decent TeachFirst recruit). Ultimately, though, apart from the teachers I've been involved in recruiting, I wouldn't really know which teachers took which route based on their teaching quality. The PGCEers tend to be more academic (many PGCEs offer Masters credits, so some follow this through) but that doesn't necessarily matter and I believe more transferable/recognised (eg teaching abroad).

I would caution your DC against being set on an SLT position already though - I really think you can't know what it's like until you work in a school, and even then I didn't know what a Dep Head was like until I was a Head of Faculty and worked very closely with him.

Exactly this. I wouldn’t let this be a factor in which route he chooses. I have no idea what route any of my colleagues took. It’s about how you perform in the role. I would say Teach First gives more first hand experience. Another one also saying he needs to experiencing teaching first and I must admit I roll my eyes a bit when people who have never taught before say they want to be SLT/heads etc!

The only qualification you need for SLT is surviving 5-10 years of teaching. That time is becoming less as fewer and fewer people survive.

I would go for PGCE. I did my PGCE at Swansea and loved it. Great course, great lecturers, their partnership is with some really great schools too.

As others have said, SLT shouldn’t be an aspiration at this point. They’ve not even set foot in the classroom yet. Teaching isn’t for the faint of heart and there’s nothing worse than colleagues in the early stages of their career who aim to be in an office based role rather than the classroom. I say this as a teacher and member of SLT.