Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses

Our personalised online SKE courses are highly flexible, supportive and can be completed at your own pace. We enable you to feel confident and ready for your teacher training.

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What are Subject Knowledge Enhancement courses?

Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses help to get you into teaching by improving your knowledge of a subject area. If your degree isn't in the subject area you want to teach, or you want to transfer your professional experience into a teaching context, then an SKE course might be perfect for you.

Our courses, offered in a range of subjects, are designed to give you the subject knowledge you need to plan inspirational lessons from day one of your training year.

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Course structure

We’ve been delivering online SKE courses for over a decade. Unlike other SKE providers, we tailor your learning to the exam board or curriculum specifications of your placement school. Our courses are also aligned with the government’s Core Curriculum Framework. By familiarising yourself with authentic classroom materials, you’ll be well-prepared for your teacher training year.

All of our courses are designed around four-week units, each focused on different topics at KS3, KS4 or A-level. These four-week units make up the structure of your course, which will range from eight to 28 weeks. Your teacher training provider will tell you which course length you need to take. Your dedicated course tutor will work with you to select the right units for you, so you can focus on the priority areas.

The SKE courses are delivered remotely and can be studied in your own time. You can study full-time (25 hours a week), part-time (12.5 hours a week) or a combination of the two, with tutor sessions and deadlines scheduled to fit with your commitments.

Our passionate SKE tutors are experts in teacher training and have years of experience supporting trainee teachers. You will have optional fortnightly tutorials with your tutor where you can talk about your study, discuss your assignments and ask any subject questions.

Eligibility and funding

There are seven SKE courses that are currently funded by the Department for Education (DfE). These are:

Ancient Languages
Chemistry
Computer Science
French
Maths
Physics
Spanish.

Find out more about SKE eligibility and funding.

Self-funded SKEs

We also offer a self-funded SKE route for:

teacher trainees who are not eligible for DfE funding
qualified teachers who want to teach a new subject, or refresh their subject knowledge before returning to teaching after a break
anyone considering teaching as a new career who wants to increase their subject knowledge before applying for teacher training
SKE subject courses which are not funded by the DfE.

Rather than four-week units, self-funded SKEs are based on blocks of 100 hours of study. You can choose which units you want to study and add additional units as you progress.

The cost is £800 for one 100 hour unit, and £500 for each additional unit. Fees can be paid by you or, if relevant, by your school/institution (schools within the Sussex Partnership or PGCE Pedagogy and Practice Partnership can apply for partnership rates).

If you have any questions about self-funding your SKE, email ske@sussex.ac.uk.

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