School Direct

Find out more about the School Direct route available at Loughborough University.

School Direct is a school-led teacher training route, in which a school or group of schools recruit and select their own students in collaboration with an accredited teacher training provider (such as Loughborough University).

There is an expectation that the student teachers may go on to work within the school or group of schools to which they applied, although there can be no absolute guarantee of employment at the end of the training programme.

Loughborough is involved in the School Direct ‘tuition fees’ route into teacher training, in addition to its provider-led route into teaching.

Who is School Direct for?

The School Direct ‘tuition fee’ funded route is for high calibre graduates who wish to train with a particular school team/group of schools and who also wish to gain a Loughborough University masters level teacher education qualification. Both routes lead to the award of a PGCE with 90 masters level credits (a full masters degree comprises 180 credits) as well as Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).

Loughborough's School Direct partnerships

Loughborough has School Direct partnerships with the following schools/groups of schools during 2022-23:

How is the Loughborough School Direct programme organised and structured?

Below is an outline of the Loughborough School Direct programme:

  • Loughborough University and the school(s) jointly recruit and select School Direct student teachers.
  • The School Direct programme runs in parallel with Loughborough’s provider-led PGCE programme; both programmes are high-quality, structured and delivered in the same way, and upon successful completion lead to the same final awards and QTS.
  • School Direct trainees spend both extended secondary school placements in two of the alliance schools, schools are determined jointly in negotiation with the lead school and Loughborough University.
  • If suitable employment opportunities arise in the School Direct school(s), School Direct student teachers may be encouraged to apply for these.