Why train with Co-op?
As a trainee teacher with Co-op you’ll have access to support from both your course leader and our subject Directors, with Directors leading many of the training days. You’ll benefit from opportunities to network across the Trust and good overall employment rates.
Co-op offers training in subject areas including:
- Modern Foreign Languages
- RE
- Design and Technology
- Geography
- History
Co-op currently has teacher training locations in areas including:
- West Yorkshire - Bradford / Leeds
- Stoke
- Staffordshire
- Merseyside - Wirral
- Greater Manchester
Eligibility and Requirements
Co-op requires candidates to hold a Bachelor Honours degree at grade 2:2 or higher, either in the subject they want to teach or closely related with a strong A level. Candidates also need to have achieved GCSE Maths and English grade 4/C or higher.
Candidates will be required to provide compliance information including degree title, classification, and certificate, as well as proof of A Levels and GCSEs.
Ability to work in UK is essential. Co-op is unable to sponsor VISAs.
Application Process
Candidates usually apply via the Department for Education Apply portal.
Candidates who meet the above entry criteria will be required to submit a well written personal statement as part of the application process. Personal statements should show the individuals passion for teaching and not be written with the use of AI.
Successful applicants will be invited to complete a PowerPoint lesson and for a formal interview. Interviews will be followed by a written task. Interviews are conducted online.
Now Teach will support you through this process, offering advice and guidance with your application, preparations and practice for your lesson, formal interview and any written assessments.
How Now Teach supports you
When you join Now Teach, you don’t just retrain - you join a community. Our Network connects you with others who’ve taken that step into teaching, helping you stay supported and inspired throughout the journey.
- Free expert advice to apply for teacher training
- Two years' personalised career-change support
- Lifetime membership to a national network of career changers
- Make an impact on young people's lives with your previous experience
FAQs
There’s a lot to consider when you’re thinking about becoming a teacher. So, we’ve collected answers to some frequently asked questions below. If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, register with us and a career change specialist will be in touch.
Our events are a chance to get up-to-speed on the big issues in education and to develop relationships with other career changers in the Now Teach Network.
We offer opportunities across the year to develop your knowledge and encourage networking.
The sessions focus on a topic previous cohorts have identified as wanting to hear more about. Topics this year include Behaviour, Planning and Assessment, Subject Knowledge and Preparing for your NQT year.
We also hold an annual Now Teach Conference. This is for every Now Teacher, designed and led by career changers tailored to addressing what you need to know for when you start in the classroom and your first two years in teaching.
Your pattern will depend on whether you are on a school or provider-led training route. However, when you first start, you typically will have 6-8 hours a week contact time in class.
This will be a mixture of lessons that you observe, and lead and this balance will change over time. The rest of the time you will be planning, training and reflecting.
Contact time then increases through the school year as you progress. You will sometimes be observed by qualified teachers and sometimes co-teaching alongside an experienced teacher.
You will be asked to complete assignments as part of your teacher training course if you are completing a PGCE these will be masters level assignments.
In addition to teaching and developing your practice you should expect to engage in extra-curricular activity, form time, school duties and meetings.
Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) is a government department that inspects and regulates institutions in England providing education to learners of all ages and providers of care for children and young people.
The following list is a guide to useful acronyms to know:
DfE – The Department for Education
FE – Further Education
HOD – Head of Department
HT – Headteacher
HE – Higher Education
HEI – Higher Education Institute
ITT – Initial Teacher Training
KS – Key Stage
NARIC – National Academic Recognition Information Centre
NQT – Newly Qualified Teacher
OFSTED – The Office for Standards in Education
OTT – Overseas Trained Teacher
PGCE – Post Graduate Certificate in Education
QTLS – Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills
QTS – Qualified Teacher Status
SKE – Subject Knowledge Enhancement
SCITT – School Centred Initial Teacher Training
STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
SD – School Direct
SEND – Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
SENco – Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator
TA – Teaching Assistant
GCSEs in England have been reformed to keep pace with universities’ and employers’ demands. The new grades have replaced letters with numbers with 9 being the highest grade.
They are based on new and more demanding subject content but are still suitable for the same wide range of abilities. The new grade scale makes it clear to everyone that students have studied the new GCSEs.
It also has more higher grades compared to the old A to G grades, to give sixth forms, colleges, universities and employers the opportunity to better distinguish between students of different abilities.
For a table on equivalence see here.
Teaching is a job like few others. It can be stressful, rewarding, challenging, and funny, often within the same hour.
Our founder Lucy Kellaway has documented her experience in training to become a teacher and we would recommend her book: Re-Educated.
We would also recommend reading some of the case studies of our participants.
