QTS Skills

You have won your place on the English PGCE course.

You have your Maths GCSE and you will never have to study the subject again right?

Wrong.

You will have to pass three skills tests before you can qualify as a teacher and they are Numeracy, Literacy and ICT.

Why, you may ask, does an English teacher need another numeracy qualification?

The answer is that when it comes to marking, assessment and tracking your pupils you will need to understand how spreadsheets work and what about when you take Year 9 to the theatre to see "Our Day Out" - you will need to make sure your sums add up or it will be an expensive lesson for you to learn.

What I am trying to say is that these skills tests are designed to develop the essential skills you will need to carry out your job.

And you can have a go at the tests here.

The ICT one tests your ability to browse the web, create Power Point presentations and create whizzy graphs that make you look pretty impressive.

And as an English teacher the literacy test will ensure you don't create any spelling howlers in little Johnny's school report that may well put you on the front pages of all the newspapers.

And I don't mean in a good way.