Frequently Asked Questions
At The Sheffield SCITT we pride ourselves on the quality of our training. We offer an ambitious curriculum that is tailored to the school context in which you will be teaching. We offer both the QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) and the QTS with PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) qualification which is a master’s level qualification in primary and secondary phases.
All our courses offer in-person tuition which means that you will always have opportunity to meet with other trainees to share your experiences and there will always be someone available either in your placement school or from the SCITT team who will be able to offer support and advice.
In this section we answer frequently asked questions about our course and programme.
We offer a range of primary and secondary courses on both the QTS only and QTS with PGCE route.
If you have at least two years teaching experience across different year groups, you may be eligible for the Assessment Only route to teaching. Please visit these pages on our site for more information.
We also offer an internship programme in the summer term.
What courses do you offer?
What makes your programme different?
All our training is based in a school. This includes our hub sessions. Our approach is based on what our partnership Headteachers are looking for in their Early Career Teachers. They have told us they prefer teachers who have spent the whole year in school, experiencing the full calendar cycle of the school year and being involved in every aspect of the professional teacher’s role.
How does your route prepare me for the future?
Our headteachers tell us that school-trained ITT is their preferred route for recruiting their Early Career Teachers. Our partner schools, both Primary and Secondary, have recruited Early Career Teachers from the Sheffield SCITT. They find teachers trained by serving outstanding teachers are better prepared for the rigours of qualified teaching and progress more quickly in their careers in their schools.
What will the teacher training year look like?
All our courses are for one academic year, running from September to July. You will work mostly in one school, gaining more experience and responsibility in the classroom as you progress, whilst being trained by serving outstanding teachers. You will spend a short time teaching in at least one other school too.
How long will I spend in each placement school?
You will spend September to December in your ‘Home School’. From January to Easter, you will then have the opportunity to experience life in a contrasting school. From Easter to the end of the programme you will return to your initial school.
The course will entail 4 days per week in school. During your time in your placement school, you will be guided by an experienced mentor.
What are Hub Days?
One day per week you will join other teacher trainees for ‘hub days’ at one of our Lead Schools. Here you will be trained on aspects such as how to walk and talk like a teacher, plan lessons effectively, behaviour management and how to really stretch and challenge students.
What makes our course different is the opportunity to experience all your hub days within a school environment. This means that not only do you have face to face contact with our expert guest speakers, but you can also see this theory put into action within a school environment.
Our trainees describe our hub days as a real highlight of their week as it is a good opportunity to network with other trainees and share their experiences of the week.
When will I find out about placements?
We inform our trainees about their placement school in the summer term before their placement begins. This allows trainees the opportunity to find out about the school where they will be placed and the colleagues they will be working with before the programme starts in September.
What is your commitment to diversity and inclusion?
We welcome applicants from all walks of life and are committed to increasing diversity in the teaching profession.
As part of our support system, all our trainees are required to complete an online Health Assessment. This service is operated by a third-party provider Corazon Health - Occupational Health Services.
This allows us to identify any needs our trainees may have and to put support in place for them (in line with the Reasonable Adjustment Policy) before the course starts. This stems from our aim to meet the unique needs of every trainee, specifically by taking reasonable steps to ensure that disabled trainees and applicants are not put at a substantial disadvantage by comparison with trainees and applicants who are not disabled. We encourage all our applicants to declare their disability on their application form and to discuss their requirements with us at interview. While disabled access to our schools is good, we can only place trainees at the most suitable school to meet their needs if we know what those needs are.
The Sheffield SCITT ‘Reasonable Adjustments Policy and Procedure’ which underpins this approach and is available on request by emailing admin@sheffieldscitt.org.uk
