What to expect during your training

Course qualifications

On completion of the programme, trainees will be awarded qualified teacher status (QTS) with a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). As the accredited provider, Ambition Institute award QTS to trainees upon completion of the course. We have partnered with Liverpool Hope University as our Higher Education Institution who will award the PGCE.

Placements

Trainees will be based in a single school for the majority of the year. However, during the autumn and spring terms, trainees will attend approximately five specialist placement days, lasting between one and two days each so trainees get a feel for the breadth of the educational landscape. Trainees might visit a pupil referral unit (PRU), a special school or spend a day in an early years foundation stage (EYFS) classroom or sixth form. Trainees will also complete a second school placement in the summer term, lasting a minimum of 10 days.

Curriculum structure

The curriculum is organised into five key strands (behaviour, assessment, instruction, curriculum, and professionalism), sub-strands and weekly modules. The five strands each align with the statutory guidance in the Core Content Framework for teacher training. Each strand is then broken down into several sub-strands, each with further modules providing focus for a trainee's weekly self-study and focus.

To retain great teachers within Dixons Academies Trust and within the sector, we have incorporated the teaching of maximising resilience and self-regulation skills into our curriculum. This means that trainees are supported to establish healthy habits at the very start of their teaching career. Our purpose as an academy trust includes the development of schools which value diversity and reflect the society and communities that we serve. Diversity is therefore also a defining feature of our curriculum; we want the next generation of teachers to understand their role in ensuring everyone belongs.

We also offer fantastic employment opportunities and the majority of our trainees last year secured jobs within our trust. The knowledge and skills developed during the training year are consolidated and further developed through the Early Career Framework in the first two years of teaching after gaining QTS. Several of our Dixons Teacher Training alumni are now mentoring their own trainees or in roles as successful middle leaders. By training with us, you will begin a journey of continuous professional growth and be supported at every step of your career.