Requirements

Primary or nursery education teaching professional - requirements

As a primary or nursery education teaching professional, often called a primary or nursery teacher, you’ll use your passion for learning and communication skills to educate children and contribute to their mental, social and emotional development. Here you can find out more about a career in this field, what it involves and what you’ll need to study and do to get a role.

Know what you'll need to land a job below.

What qualifications do you need to be a primary or nursery teacher?

Alongside the subjects you might want to teach, you’ll typically need a qualification in:

You’ll need to qualify as a teacher in order to work as one. To reach qualified teacher status (QTS), you could do a degree in education, or complete a degree in any other subject followed by direct teacher training or a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE).

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Do you need a postgraduate qualification to be a primary or nursery teacher?

A postgraduate qualification in education is a common route to qualify as a teacher after studying a different subject.

You could consider postgraduate study options like:

Postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE)
Postgraduate teaching apprenticeships
Educational leadership
International education

What skills do you need to be a primary or nursery teacher?

Your interpersonal communication skills, emotional intelligence and a passion for teaching are central to success as a primary or nursery teacher.

Hard skills usually include:

Educating children
Child protection laws and practices
National educational curriculum
Managing children and classrooms
Managing special educational needs
Planning and delivering lessons

Soft skills include:

Communicating
Motivation
Time and work management
Leadership skills
Basic literacy and numeracy
Empathy and compassion

Do you need work experience to be a primary or nursery teacher?

Experience teaching the age group you want to work with is expected for teacher and nursery roles, unless you’re applying for teacher training or an induction year.

Strong experience is valuable if you’re applying to positions at prestigious schools or schools in desirable areas of the country. Shadowing other teachers, taster courses, open days and working as a teaching assistant are great ways to gain early experience.