Primary Postgraduate Initial Teacher Education

If you are an international student, please visit our living and studying in the UK webpage for additional guidance on how we can support you in joining our programme and university.

We also recommend visiting the University's Essentials website. There is a specific section for international students offering lots of advice and information on things like accommodation, opening up a bank account, health care, visas and even things like culture shock.

You can also contact the International Student Advisory team for support on visas and immigration advice.

Online enrolment

Online enrolment is the first step you need to take towards becoming a fully enrolled Reading Partnership Teacher. Please look out for the email with instructions for online enrolment which you should receive during August or when you have met all the conditions of your offer. You must complete online enrolment before coming to campus to collect your campus card.  

In-person enrolment and first week

Your timetable for the first week outlines where to go on your first day on campus – Monday 8 September 2025. Your first day will be on our Whiteknights campus and will start at 9:30am. The timetable for the first week will be available soon.

During the day you will have your in-person enrolment. You will need to report to the Carrington Building Helpdesk (no. 135 on map) at the times instructed. More information to follow.

During lunchtime you will also have the opportunity to attend the University Life fair at the Meadow Suite on the Whiteknights Campus. 

We try to keep printing for our university-based sessions to a minimum. This means that it is often useful if you can access materials electronically, either live from our VLE (Blackboard) or by downloading materials in advance and accessing them on a laptop or tablet during the session. These documents are very difficult to access effectively through a phone screen, so it is likely that you will want to be able to bring a laptop or table to sessions. Although many schools do try to support student teachers by providing laptops, they are not funded for this and are not always able to do so. 

 The following documents contain all the information you need to get started on the programme.

• Course structure: this document gives you an overview of your training year so that you know when you will be at university, in school and on vacation. 

• Pre-programme work: this sets out everything you need to do before the programme starts to make sure you are well-prepared. Read carefully!

• Initial needs: fill this out and follow the instructions regarding who to share it with – it ensures that your mentor and tutor can tailor the programme to your starting point and needs

• Fundamental skills: (literacy and numeracy): there are no longer any requirements to pass skills tests before starting your initial teacher education journey, however you will need to demonstrate these skills by the end of the year so it is never too early to start.

Subject Specific Tasks

Subject and pathway-specific tasks will be available prior to the course and will be put here.

• Science - Please can you briefly read the science national curriculum document (you only need to read the KS1 and KS2 requirements) and make a note of anything you are unclear on. We will go through this in detail on the course, but this will give you a clear indication of what you might need to ‘brush up on’ knowledge and skills wise. 
  Do not worry if it is a lot at the moment - we will be going through much of it in the course. 
  
  
• Science - Please fill out the science pre-course questionnaire. This is used by us at the university to help structure the course, and will inform the planning of the subject knowledge development sessions. Your first session in science will build upon the answers of this questionnaire - no identifying details will be shared during the session. 
  I ask that you are as honest as possible here: if you don’t like science, that is ok. If you absolutely love it, also great. If you had a bad experience of science at primary/secondary/university, please let me know. As with any good lesson, knowing what where you are starting from is critical.
  
  
• Mathematics - Coming soon. 

Please complete the tasks as outlined and bring them to your first week with us in September.

All student teachers need to demonstrate certain standards of subject knowledge. This requirement was introduced because there is overwhelming research evidence to show that secure subject knowledge is essential for teachers to support children’s learning. Teachers feel more confident about effectively questioning children when their own subject knowledge is good.

The Teachers’ Standards require you to have sufficient subject knowledge to challenge the most able children. Although you may not train to teach the full age range, you will be qualified to teach in any Primary school and so we aim to provide you with the confidence to teach the curriculum to Year 6 children– even for EYFS trainees. You will be fully supported, through taught sessions and individual help as required, to go beyond this level. Core subject audits will give you an indication of your strengths and areas for further work.

You should revise any areas that have become a bit “rusty” and identify any areas where you will need to spend time in private study before the programme begins. . You will be better equipped to focus on teaching skills if you ensure that you arrive having already addressed any problems with subject knowledge to the best of your ability.

There are some very useful books to revise subject knowledge.

Also on offer and optional to complete are open online courses. These courses are designed to help prepare you and build your confidence in teaching primary school children, explore how you can best support children’s with English as an additional language or teach about climate and sustainability. These have been designed by Institute of Education academics. 

Limited free access is available or full access to a course requires a one-off payment or subscription to Future Learn. (Once enrolled with a University of Reading email address students may be able to gain full access for free.)

• Supporting successful learning in primary schools
• Teaching climate and sustainability in primary schools: an outdoor learning approach
• Understanding multilingual children’s language development