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Starting a teaching career in the UK doesn’t usually begin in the classroom. Before you teach, you’ll first need to decide which teaching route is right for you—a choice that influences your training, entry requirements, and day-to-day responsibilities.
If you’re planning to teach in the Further Education and Skills (FES) sector rather than in schools, the journey typically begins with a Level 3 qualification, an understanding of the role, and a realistic assessment of your readiness to enter the profession. This article explains the different teaching routes, who they’re suited to, the key entry requirements, and what a practical starting point looks like for aspiring FES teachers.
Teaching in the UK: Choosing the Right Route
Teaching in the UK follows two distinct pathways, and choosing the right one depends on where you want to teach. The route you take determines the qualifications you’ll need, the training you’ll complete, and the type of learners you’ll work with.
Route 1: Schools (Qualified Teacher Status – QTS)
To teach in a state-maintained primary or secondary school in England, you’ll generally need Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).
- ♦ The most common route is a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) or another approved teacher training programme. Entry typically requires a recognised bachelor’s degree, along with GCSE-standard English and Maths.
- ♦ School-led pathways offer an alternative. School Direct and postgraduate teaching apprenticeships let trainees earn a salary while they train — the Department for Education’s own Get Into Teaching service is the primary source for comparing these routes and checking current entry criteria.
Whichever path you take, QTS remains the recognised qualification for teaching in state schools.
Route 2: Further Education and Skills (FES)
Teaching in the FES sector runs on a different qualification framework entirely — further education colleges, adult education centres, independent training providers, and workplace learning.
QTS isn’t required here. Instead, the usual starting point is a Level 3 teaching qualification, such as the ATHE Level 3 Award in Education and Training (AET) — an Ofqual-regulated qualification covering the core principles of teaching, learning, assessment, and classroom practice. It’s a path that appeals particularly to career changers moving into education from another field.
A degree may help, and some specialist posts require one, but it isn’t the standard entry point for this sector. What employers look for instead is more practical: can you plan learning, deliver a session, manage a group of learners, and assess progress fairly?
Which Route Is Right for You?
Neither pathway is a simplified version of the other—they are designed for different educational settings.
- ♦ Choose the QTS route if your goal is to teach in primary or secondary schools.
- ♦ Choose the AET route if you want to teach in colleges, deliver vocational qualifications, train apprentices, or provide workplace and adult education.
Understanding this distinction is the first step towards selecting the qualification that matches your career goals and entering the teaching profession through the route best suited to your ambitions.
Entry Requirements Compared
The two routes ask for different things at the door, which is often the clearest early signal of which path fits.
Schools (QTS Route)
- ♦ Recognised bachelor’s degree.
- ♦ GCSE English and Maths at grade 4/C or above (Science also required for primary teaching).
- ♦ Additional English language requirements may apply for international applicants.
- ♦ DBS and fitness-to-teach checks before school placements.
Further Education (AET Route)
- ♦ No degree is usually required.
- ♦ Typically five GCSEs at grade 4/C or above (or equivalent).
- ♦ A reasonable standard of English, Maths, and basic IT.
- ♦ Non-native English speakers may need IELTS 5.5 (or equivalent).
- ♦ DBS and safeguarding checks are generally completed through the employer when working with learners.
Important: These are typical provider and employer requirements rather than legal minimums, so always check the specific criteria for your chosen course or organisation.
If you want to deepen your knowledge and gain a recognised qualification, you can complete the full course on our website and become certified. This course is designed to help you build essential education and training skills with confidence and clarity.
You can enrol here: ATHE Level 3 Award in Education and Training (AET)
What Training Actually Involves
The two routes differ almost as much in structure as they do in entry point.
- ♦ PGCE and QTS apprenticeship routes typically run for a full academic year (or around ten months for some apprenticeship formats), combining substantial school placements with academic study of teaching theory. Trainees on salaried routes earn while training but commit to full-time, in-school work throughout.
- ♦ AET, by contrast, is built as a shorter, more focused introduction. It centres on three core areas:
- ♦ understanding the roles, responsibilities and relationships involved in teaching and training;
- ♦ applying inclusive teaching and learning approaches; and
- ♦ understanding how assessment works, including giving learners effective feedback.
Running through the qualification is a micro-teaching requirement — a short, practical teaching session, often submitted as a recorded video — giving learners a controlled first experience of actually teaching before doing it in a live role.
How You're Assessed
Although both routes assess your ability to teach, they do so in very different ways.
Schools (QTS Route)
- ♦ Teaching practice: Extended classroom placements in schools.
- ♦ Observation: Regular observations by mentors and teacher educators.
- ♦ Coursework: Academic assignments are typically required for PGCE programmes.
- ♦ Assessment outcome: Successful completion leads to a recommendation for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).
Further Education (AET Route)
- ♦ Teaching practice: A short micro-teaching session, where you deliver a brief lesson to demonstrate your teaching skills.
- ♦ Observation: Your micro-teaching session is observed and assessed by a qualified assessor.
- ♦ Coursework: A small number of written assignments covering the principles of teaching and learning
- ♦ Assessment outcome: Assessed on a Pass/Fail basis. There is no formal written exam.
Why the micro-teaching session matters:
For many aspiring teachers, the micro-teaching session is the most daunting part of the AET qualification before they begin—and the most valuable afterwards. It offers a supportive, low-pressure opportunity to plan, deliver, and reflect on a lesson before teaching in a real classroom or training environment.
Where Each Route Can Take You
The two routes lead to genuinely different destinations, which is worth being clear-eyed about before choosing.
- ♦ QTS qualifies you to teach as a fully qualified teacher in a state-maintained primary or secondary school in England, with pay and progression on the qualified teacher scale.
- ♦ AET leads to entry-level roles across the FES sector: teacher trainer, teacher in adult or vocational settings, teaching assistant, learning mentor, learning support assistant, and online tutor. Which of these is realistic depends on the specific employer and sector — some accept AET as sufficient on its own, others treat it as a first step. Many AET holders go on to complete a Level 4 or Level 5 qualification in education and training to gain full teaching status within the FES sector — a common progression, though not an automatic or guaranteed one.
It’s worth being explicit: the two systems don’t connect. AET doesn’t lead to QTS, and QTS training doesn’t substitute for the practical, sector-specific grounding AET provides for FES roles. Choosing correctly at the start avoids retraining later.
Is This the Right Time to Start?
Start by deciding where you want to teach, as that determines the qualification you need.
- ♦ If you want to teach in schools, you’ll need to follow the QTS route through a PGCE or an approved teacher training programme.
- ♦ If you’re aiming for colleges, adult education, workplace training, or vocational learning, a Level 3 Award in Education and Training (AET) is a practical and accessible starting point.
Choosing the right route from the outset helps you gain the qualifications that match your career goals, rather than retraining later.
FAQs — What You Need to Know Before Starting a Teaching Career
Am I too old to start a teaching career?
No — there’s no upper age limit for either route, and both attract a significant number of career-changers rather than only recent graduates.
Do I need classroom experience before I apply?
Not necessarily for AET, though many providers value some exposure to a training or workplace environment. QTS routes often expect at least some school-based observation or experience beforehand, which can usually be arranged directly with a school.
What’s the difference between AET and PTLLS?
PTLLS (Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector) was the earlier version of this qualification. AET is its current equivalent, at the same level.
Can I study AET while working full-time?
Course access is typically provided for a full year, with delivery available as classroom-based, distance learning, or blended — generally allowing learners to study around existing work commitments, though pace depends on the individual provider.
Can I move from the FES route to the QTS route later, or the other way round?
There’s no direct conversion between the two. Moving from one to the other means completing that route’s own training and entry requirements from the relevant starting point, rather than transferring credit across.
Which age group or subject should I choose to teach?
This depends on the route and setting rather than the qualification itself — QTS routes usually require choosing a specialism (primary, secondary, or subject) as part of applying, while FES roles are often organised by vocational area rather than age group.
Is a teaching salary the same across both routes?
No — salaried QTS training routes typically pay on the unqualified teacher scale during training, with progression to the qualified teacher scale after QTS is awarded. FES sector pay varies more by employer, role and setting, and isn’t set on a national teacher pay scale in the same way.
Article by
Sam Walker
Aug, 09, 2026 
