About the course
The Oxford Internship scheme, as the PGCE programme is known at the University, is a one-year, full-time course of teacher education for graduates, involving a close partnership between the University department and local comprehensive schools. This enables all aspects of the course to be planned, carried out and evaluated jointly and results in a course which integrates work in the University and in school throughout the year.
Teaching students are known as interns during the PGCE course.
At Oxford, graduates are prepared to teach in secondary schools (11-19 age range) in one of the following subjects.
The programme has been developed with colleagues from Oxfordshire partnership schools and covers the key professional skills of.
This is a full-time course which will involve travel to your placement school, although most partnership schools do lie within the Oxfordshire county boundaries.
Assessment
You will complete three written curriculum assignments, two of which are formally examined, as well as one PDP assignment about a wider educational issue, which is also formally examined. In all assignments practical investigation of pedagogical or educational issues through your own practice and school-based research is integrated with reading of research and professional literature.
Successful completion of the examined assignments at master's level carries 60 M-level credits, which may be built upon to achieve a full master's degree. All three examined assignments must be passed at master's level for the award of the Postgraduate Certificate in Education with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), provided that your practice also meets QTS requirements. Those who pass the assignments at Honours level will be awarded a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education with QTS - provided, again, that your practice meets the required QTS standards.
Graduate destinations
The numbers of interns going into teaching at the end of the course is high with most of interns having secured a teaching post in a state-maintained school. As of October 2019, 93% of our graduates were employed in, or actively seeking, teaching roles. 37% of them were working in a partnership school.
12 October 2025
University of Oxford
University Offices,
Wellington Square,
Oxford,
Oxfordshire,
OX1 2JD, England
*There may be different IELTS requirements depending on your chosen course.