As an employer, learn more about the Postgraduate Teacher Apprenticeship (PGTA) with answers to our frequently asked questions on:
Programme information
How is the training structured?
Apprentices will be based in your school for the majority of their year. You will need to arrange for them to undertake a contrasting placement in another school, for a minimum of four weeks, which allows them to experience a different approach to leadership and management and teaching children from different backgrounds.
Typically this placement takes place from mid-January until mid-February, but through negotiation with the programme director you can arrange an alternative window (between the start of November and early June).
Apprentices will need to be released from the classroom a minimum of one day per week throughout the year in order to complete off-the-job training. This is typically on Thursdays.
This will comprise a mixture of attending face-to-face or online training, independent study and subject knowledge development. They will also need to complete in-school off-the-job training such as observing expert colleagues and attending staff meetings.
How is time split between on-the-job training and academic study?
Apprentices must have a minimum of 20% off-the-job training, which for a teacher apprenticeship is calculated as 278 hours. Of these hours, approximately 30 days (180 hours) are directly led by the University, with the rest comprising a blend of practical training (such as shadowing experienced teachers, time in mentor meetings and staff meetings/INSET).
Anything that is part of the usual, employed duties of a teacher, for example teaching, planning, preparation and assessment, is part of on-the-job training.
What is expected from us as the employing school or trust?
Before the apprenticeship can start you will need to complete an employer onboarding form and liaise with us to sign a series of compliance documents (outlined in our application and administration section).
During the apprenticeship you will need to:
- Employ your apprentice full time (minimum of 30 hours per week) on an unqualified teacher pay scale (minimum point 1).
- Release your apprentice for a minimum of 20% of their contracted hours for ‘off the job’ training, including attending university-led training as well as carrying out a range of training activities in school.
- Meet the ongoing requirements for employers set out in the and .
Application and administration
How do we apply to host an apprentice?
Please email pgta@reading.ac.uk with details and the name of the apprentice you are interested in recruiting to the programme, and we will contact you to gather further information.
In the majority of cases, apprentices will already be known to the school. However if you would like us to include your school details as potentially having the capacity to recruit an apprentice in one or more phase or subject, please and we will include your school or trust details on our website.
What will happen after our potential apprentice applies to you?
We will check that the candidate meets the basic requirements of the course, for example having the correct GCSE or equivalent qualifications, and that they have named an employing school.
At that point we will send out two electronic forms:
- A funding eligibility form for the candidate, so that we can check they meet the eligibility criteria and have a proceedable application.
- An employer form, which will gather information from you so that we can check eligibility and work through the process of setting up the apprenticeship.
After these are complete, we will set up a joint interview of the candidate, carried out by a university tutor and senior leader in the employing school or trust.
What costs are involved for the employer, and what funding support is available?
You will need to pay your apprentice on a minimum of scale point one on the unqualified teacher pay scale for your region. Unfortunately there is currently no support for these salary costs for the primary phase of the SEND sector.
Grant funding is available for secondary subject apprentices for 2026/2027:
- £29,000 for chemistry, computing, mathematics and physics
- £20,000 for design and technology and languages (including ancient languages)
- £5,000 for biology and geography.
Further guidance about postgraduate teaching apprenticeship funding is available in the .
What information will you need from us as the employer?
We will guide you through the process of employing an apprentice, but will need you to be able to provide key information such as:
- Confirmation of which apprenticeship service account will be used to fund the apprenticeship.
- Details of who will sign the contract and who will be responsible for communicating amendments or queries – this could be the same person.
- Details of the data protection officer if different from the person signing the contract.
- Details for the proposed line manager (this can be changed at a later date). This will be used to send out the apprenticeship training plan and apprenticeship agreement to sign on behalf of the employer.
Support and outcomes
What support will the school receive from the University?
The apprentice tutor provided by the University will be the main link between the apprentice, the school and the University. Through regular online and face-to-face visits, they will conduct tripartite progress reviews with you to check that everything is on track.
The programme directors will act as account managers, and provide access to any support from our apprenticeship, finance and legal teams for the purposes of setting up the apprenticeship.
Full mentor training is provided.
What level of mentoring are we expected to provide, and how is this supported?
Like all other initial teacher training students, the DfE has set out that apprentices must receive a minimum of 1.5 hours of high-quality mentoring per week.
Our model is for this to include a one-hour mentor meeting each week, supplemented by time spent before and after the weekly observation of the apprentice in the classroom, setting targets and carrying out a post-lesson discussion.
Mentors are supported by a structured programme of training (for which they can currently claim up to 16 hours for new mentors or six hours for experienced mentors) under the .
They will also be supported by a named apprenticeship tutor provided by the University, who will meet with them and their apprentice regularly online as well as conduct termly in-school visits.
What happens if the apprentice struggles to meet requirements?
We have a tried and tested process of supporting apprentices who may need additional support at times during their training. Your apprenticeship tutor and programme director will work with you to put additional support in place.
If necessary, we can discuss options such as pausing the apprenticeship, subject to certain criteria.
Future planning
Will the programme continue in future years (beyond 2026)?
The University is committed to this route into teaching and intends to continue the programme beyond the next academic year.
What are the long-term benefits for our school in hosting PGTA apprentices?
The apprenticeship route allows you to ‘grow your own’ teachers, ensuring they are embedded in the ethos of your school and understand your policies, systems and processes.
It also builds successfully on employment-based undergraduate routes such as the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø's Foundation Degree and the BA in Children's Development and Learning, providing a route into teaching for colleagues in your school who may not have previously had the opportunity to study for a degree.
What should I do if I have further questions?
Please email pgta@reading.ac.uk and we will get back to you as soon as possible.