If you are applying to teacher training in England, you must pass your Professional Skills Tests for Trainee Teachers before you can start your training.
This is your guide to how to prepare for, approach and succeed in the Professional Skills Tests for Trainee Teachers. It takes you through how the tests work and includes hints and tips on what to expect and how to respond. It offers clear and concise guidance on revision and examples of questions so you can prepare for the tests and pass.
Also included is essential information on teaching and schools, knowledge of which may help you pass the tests, and information on how to successfully apply to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) in England.
Written by authors who have written questions for the test themselves, and published by Learning Matters, this is your essential guide to the Professional Skills Tests for Trainee Teachers.
Bruce Bond has been involved in writing, editing, observing, reviewing and trialling the QTS Literacy Skills Tests for over 10 years. He has also been closely associated with the national development and evaluation of the Initial Teacher Training pilots in invidividual learning plans, mentoring, and teaching observation and practice. Bruce has over 30 years of experience teaching English and literacy in SEN, primary, secondary and further education sectors and is now an educational consultant and author of literacy assessments.
Jim Johnson is an Honorary Fellow of Nottingham Trent University where, until his retirement, he led the English team in the Department of Primary Education.
Mark Patmore was until recently a senior lecturer in mathematical education in the Department of Education at Nottingham Trent University. He is an Associate of the AlphaPlus Consultancy and has written for the QTS Numaracy Skills Test.
Nina Weiss has worked in education for over 30 years. Since 2008, she has been authoring and editing the QTS Literacy Skills Tests. Nina currently teaches English and adult literacy at City and Islington College and is an external examiner for teacher training courses at the University of Greenwich and the Institue of Education, London.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the following contributors who responded to questions on applications and interviews to ITT, and shared their thoughts and comments, for the final chapter.
Doreen Challen, Primary PGCE Tutor, Southampton Education School
Jean Conteh, Senior Lecturer in Primary Education, University of Leeds
Richard English, Programme Director for the Primary PGCE Course, University of Hull
Suzanne Horton, Senior Lecturer in Primary Initial Teacher Education, University of Worcester
Angela Major, Principal Lecturer in Education, University of Roehampton
Ceri Roscoe, Assistant Head of Primary Programmes with particular responsibility for the BA Primary Education, Manchester Metropolitan University
Debbie Simpson, Interim PGCE Primary Programme Leader, University of Cumbria
The numeracy glossary is reproduced courtesy of the TA - Teaching Agency for Schools.
Permission to reproduce TA copyright material does not extend to any material which is indentified as being the copyright of a third party or any photographs. Authorisation to
reproduce such material would need to be obtained from the copyright holders.
The publishers would like to thank the TA for permission to use the audio icon. This has been taken from the practice Literacy Skills Test on the TA website www.education.gov.uk and is the copyright of the Teaching Agency.
Bruce Bond has been involved in writing, editing, observing, reviewing and trialling the QTS Literacy Skills Tests for over 10 years. He has also been closely associated with the national development and evaluation of the Initial Teacher Training pilots in individual learning plans, mentoring, and teaching observation and practice. /par1/After attending Goldsmiths and Rolle College in the late 1960s, he built up over 30 years of experience teaching English and literacy in the SEN, primary, secondary and further education sectors before becoming an educational consultant and author of literacy assessments. /par1//par1/Since 2000 other projects have included authoring and editing: Key Skills Communication assessments; Functional Skills English standards and assessments; and the university entry level assessment project in Mozambique. This involved travelling throughout the country working with teams of teachers and lecturers compiling standardised English objective tests./par1/ /par1/Bruce Bond is currently an associate member of AlphaPlus Consultancy Ltd.
Jim Johnson is an Honorary Fellow of Nottingham Trent University where, until his retirement, he led the English team in the Department of Primary Education.
Mark Patmore is a former senior lecturer in mathematical education in the School of Education at Nottingham Trent University and currently an associate lecturer at the University of Derby. He has also worked in teacher education with Bishop Grosseteste University and with training providers and provided subject knowledge courses for intending teachers of mathematics.
Nina Weiss has worked in the secondary, further education and university sector for over 30 years, delivering teacher training programmes and teaching English language and literature courses ranging from basic skills to advanced level. Since 2008 she has also been authoring and editing the QTS Literacy Skills Tests. Nina currently teaches English and adult literacy at City and Islington College and is an external examiner for teacher training courses at the University of Greenwich and the Institute of Education, London. Prior to this she was course leader for the Post-Compulsory PGCE programme at the Cass School of Education, University of East London.
