Welcome to the Primary PG ITE Programme. We are delighted that you will be joining us in the 2026-2027 academic year, and we very much look forward to seeing you in September.
Please navigate around the site carefully to access key information.
You may be interested to know that the Institute of Education has recently had an Ofsted inspection. You can read our press release here.
Georgia Aspinox
PG ITE Programme Director
(Please note: This page is for those recruited by our Lead Partners.)
In order for your conditional offer to become unconditional you must address all the aspects of your offer including:
Fitness to Teach
You will receive an email in early April with instructions on how to complete your Fitness to Teach assessment. This does not involve a GP. Please follow the instructions carefully and complete the assessment in good time. For more information, visit Fitness to Teach guidance.
DBS clearance
You will also receive instructions for your Enhanced DBS clearance. If you are tuition-fee funded (unsalaried), you will need to bring three ID documents to your Initial Needs Assessment session on campus.
Qualifications
You will need to present the original copies of your qualification certificates at enrolment in September.
Meeting these conditions takes time, often longer than expected. Please do not leave it until the summer, as this may prevent you from being able to enrol.
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 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.
Your timetable for the first week will be sent to you prior to the start of the course and uploaded here, and will outline where to go on your first day on campus – Friday 4th September. This will be on our Whiteknights campus and start at 9:30am.
As you have been recruited by one of our Lead Partners, you will be expected to attend the INSET days and start of term prior to joining us on campus on the 4th. Please liaise with your Lead Partners regarding dates and times. For the tasks that you are expected to complete during these school days, please see ‘Preparation for your ITE year’ section of this page.
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.
As a University we are working to reduce our impact on the environment, and sustainable travel is an important part of this endeavour. We are lucky to have excellent and affordable transport links in Reading.
Please be aware that to park on university campus you will need to apply for a parking permit. These are very limited so we encourage you to explore these options early, if you think this is something you will require.
Please download the standards and guidance document from the government website.
Read and begin to become familiar with the terminology. These standards apply to all teachers regardless of their career stage and define the minimum level of practice expected of teachers from the point of being awarded QTS onwards.
The teachers' standards on one page is a particularly useful document - please make sure you keep it handy.
You should access, bookmark and begin to become familiar with these frameworks.
An online information evening will be held on Wednesday 8th July 2026 , from 4-6 PM. We encourage all of you to attend to find out what to prepare for September and meet your tutors. The joining link is below, and the session will be recorded if you cannot attend.
These documents are used during our Initial Needs Assessment meetings. They contain all the information you need to get started on the programme.
Subject and pathway-specific tasks will be available prior to the course and will be put here.
Science - Please fill out the 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.
Please be as honest as possible here: if you don’t like science, that is okay. If you absolutely love it, also great. If you had a bad experience of science at primary, secondary or university, please let us know. As with any good lesson, knowing where you are starting from is critical.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 Student Teachers. 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. Specific tasks and useful links to Subject Knowledge support are set out within the Pre-programme tasks above.
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.)