PGCE Tutoring *
* subject to final UWE Bristol approval
This course is open for applications
<p>This online course for professional tutors is a landmark development in UK PGCE and tutoring provision.</p>
About
Why study PGCE Tutoring?
Global demand for tutoring is growing rapidly as families and schools seek more personalised educational support. While classroom teachers have long had recognised qualifications like the PGCE, professional tutors have had no equivalent way to demonstrate their expertise. The PGCE Tutoring changes that. This landmark PGCE is designed specifically for professional tutors, combining the academic rigour of a PGCE with subject expertise and advanced tutor training.
This PGCE develops your ability to adapt teaching to the individual, respond in real time, and support learner progress, while building your expertise in inclusive practice, safeguarding, and professional standards. Shaped by advisory input from Tutors International and grounded in real-world tutoring practice, the course reflects the expectations of professional tutoring at the highest level.
Why UWE Bristol?
UWE Bristol has extensive expertise in teacher education and professional development in England and internationally. Our PGCE Tutoring is delivered fully online, allowing you to study flexibly from anywhere in the world.
The course follows our Professional Tutor Standards Framework, setting clear expectations for high-quality one-to-one and small-group tutoring practice. This includes student-centred teaching, evidence-informed pedagogy, professional responsibility, and structured subject audit and reflection activities designed to strengthen both pedagogical skill and subject expertise.
You'll be taught by experienced educators and join a community of tutors, encouraging collaboration, shared learning, and ongoing professional development.
Where can it take me?
The PGCE Tutoring is designed for new and experienced tutors who want a recognised postgraduate qualification built specifically for professional tutoring and home education.
This innovative course provides tutors with a robust, respected postgraduate qualification that validates both teaching practice and subject expertise. Graduates are equipped to support learners across all educational stages and in settings beyond traditional schooling.
As demand for personalised education continues to grow worldwide, the PGCE Tutoring helps distinguish you in an increasingly professional and competitive sector.
Entry
Entry requirements
You'll have an undergraduate honours degree or equivalent.
Personal statement
Your personal statement will need to explain why you want to do this course and any relevant experience, knowledge, skills or perspectives you'd contribute to your studies.
Additional criteria
Applicants are required to arrange 36 hours of suitable tutoring practice to take place across the duration of the course. Whilst this is not a requirement to start the course, by accepting any offer of a place you acknowledge that you're required to arrange your own tutoring practice and that this will meet the needs of the course. You must have the appropriate safeguarding checks required for your role and be able to provide them if required. Please contact the Programme Leader if you need further information.
References
You'll need to provide one satisfactory professional reference, received directly from the referee. Your referee should know you through your academic study (for example courses leader or lecturer) or employment and be able to comment knowledgeably on your experience, conduct, and suitability for the programme. Personal references will not be accepted. Your reference must address your suitability to work with children and young people and confirm, to the referee's knowledge, whether any safeguarding concerns or disciplinary procedures have been raised. You'll be asked to provide details of a suitable referee as part of the application process.
Deferrals
We accept deferrals for this course.
English Language Requirement
International and EU applicants are required to have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5, with at least 6.0 in each component (or approved equivalent).
You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades you'll need in our English language requirements pages.
How to apply
Applicants apply directly to the University.Read more about postgraduate applications.
Read more about international applications and key international deadline dates.
For further information
- Email: Admissions@uwe.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0)117 32 83333
Structure
Content
You'll study:
- Learning and Tutoring
- Professional Tutoring
- Tutoring Practice.
The University continually enhances our offer by responding to feedback from our students and other stakeholders, ensuring the curriculum is kept up to date and our graduates are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need for the real world. This may result in changes to the course. If changes to your course are approved, we'll inform you.
Learning and Teaching
Our PGCE Tutoring is delivered fully online through a structured programme of short video inputs, readings, live online sessions, and online tutorials. Each module is organised into units and guided study steps, with regular individual and collaborative tasks to support your learning.
The course is designed to support the transition to Master's level study, with carefully scaffolded activities and assignments. As a 90-credit PGCE, the programme combines academic rigour with practical application.
You'll engage with research-informed pedagogical approaches and apply these directly within your own tutoring context, adapting strategies to meet the needs of your learners.
Opportunities for discussion and collaboration are built throughout the course. You'll work with peers, supported by a UWE Tutor, to share practice, exchange ideas, and develop a professional learning community.
You'll receive ongoing academic and technical support, alongside feedback on your tutoring practice from UWE Bristol tutors, supporting your development as a reflective and evidence-informed practitioner.
See our full glossary of learning and teaching terms.
Study time
The PGCE Tutoring is studied over one academic year. As a fully online course, it offers flexibility, allowing you to plan your study around your existing commitments, while following a clear structure to support your progress.
Alongside engaging with course materials, you'll be expected to apply your learning within your own tutoring practice. This includes planning, delivering, and evaluating tutoring sessions, and using this experience to inform your ongoing development.
Time is also required for independent study, engagement with academic literature, and critical reflection on your practice and professional growth.
Assessment
Assessment is designed to support your development as a professional tutor. You'll complete a range of assignments, including portfolios of evidence, written reflections, and practice-focused evaluations.
A key feature of the course is the integration of theory and practice. You'll demonstrate your learning through evidence from your own tutoring, including planning, teaching, assessment, and reflection. Ongoing formative feedback will support you in preparing for summative assessment tasks.
Learn more about assessments.
Features
Placements
As this course is designed for new and practising tutors, you'll use your own tutoring context as the basis for developing and evidencing your practice.
You'll be expected to engage in regular tutoring activity throughout the course, enabling you to apply new approaches, evaluate their impact on learners, and reflect on your development over time.
Find out more about work experience and placements.
Study facilities
All course materials and resources are available online through our virtual learning environment. This includes access to videos, webinars, readings, and interactive learning activities.
You'll also have access to UWE Bristol's digital library resources, alongside academic and technical support throughout your studies.
Careers
Careers / Further study
Tutoring is expanding rapidly worldwide as families and education providers increasingly seek personalised and flexible learning support. The PGCE Tutoring has been developed in response to this demand, supporting more consistent, high-quality, and professionally informed approaches to tutoring.
Shaped with advisory input from Tutors International, the course draws on frontline tutoring expertise alongside long-standing advocacy for greater professional recognition within the sector.
The result is an innovative 90-credit PGCE that addresses a longstanding need for a thorough, practice-focused postgraduate qualification designed specifically for professional tutors. Drawing on UWE Bristol's expertise in pedagogy and curriculum design, including integrated subject audit and evidence-based reflection, the course introduces a high level of rigour, accountability, and professional validation.
The course equips you with the knowledge and skills valued by families, agencies, and education providers. You'll develop strong pedagogical understanding, the ability to adapt teaching to individual learners, and expertise in safeguarding, communication, and professional practice.
You'll also gain experience managing tutoring relationships and delivering learning across a range of contexts, supporting both academic progress and learner confidence. These capabilities are particularly valuable in home education and alternative learning environments.
Graduates may pursue careers as independent private tutors or work with tutoring organisations and agencies in the UK and internationally. The course also provides a strong foundation for further professional development, including progression to postgraduate study such as UWE Bristol's MA Education.
Our award-winning careers service can help you develop your employment potential through career coaching, a vacancy service for internships, placements, jobs, global opportunities, volunteering, and community activity plus support for entrepreneurial activity and access to employer events.
Learn more about our graduate destinations.
Life
Postgraduate support
Our support includes access to fantastic facilities, study tools and career consultants, plus practical help to access everything from funding to childcare.
Bristol
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