Search
New Teacher Degree Apprenticeship enables people to train as teachers without having a degree
A new Teacher Degree Apprenticeship is on offer from Coventry University Group’s National Institute of Teaching and Education
University news
Tuesday 02 September 2025
Press contact
Coventry University Group’s National Institute of Teaching and Education (NITE) is helping more people train to teach by becoming the first and only local provider to offer its new Teacher Degree Apprenticeship.
This new route into teaching will allow people working in schools who do not have degrees to make the step up through a funded course, widening the access for people to become qualified teachers.
NITE’s apprenticeship not only offers these students a BA in Primary Education and Qualified Teacher Status, but it is funded through the employer’s apprenticeship levy meaning the barrier of tuition fees is also removed.
This is a much-needed opportunity to support the well-publicised recruitment challenges schools face as they can ‘grow their own’ teachers while retaining valued and experienced members of staff.
We are the first and only provider locally, and one of only four in England to offer this for primary education. We are also the only provider with a national reach through our established model that combines school-based training with live online learning and independent study.
Professor Geraint Jones, Associate-Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Director of NITE
The new Teacher Degree Apprenticeship: Primary Education will have its first cohort this September with 51 students starting the course in 50 schools across England, from Cornwall to North Yorkshire, 11 of who are based in primary schools in and around Coventry and the West Midlands.
Most of this first cohort of students have been working in their schools as teaching assistants or similar learning support roles. Their potential to qualify as teachers may have been recognised by their schools but the fact they did not have a degree meant that, until now, they could not access teacher training.
We are very excited to offer this new route into teaching and given the large number of applications, we know that schools are very excited by this as a teacher training option too. I have helped with interviewing prospective candidates for the first cohort and have been so impressed with the very high standard of applicants, so I am really looking forward to working with this group of apprentices.
Dr Becky Geeson, NITE’s Deputy Director of Initial Teacher Training who developed the course
This course has grown out of NITE’s established Postgraduate Teacher Apprenticeship programme which has created more than 600 qualified teachers since the first cohort began in 2020.
Find out more about training to teach with NITE.
