Thank you for your detailed reply. I guess the bottom line is that QTS is always the best option. Might just bite the bullet then.

Hello,

I have been teaching in a UK independent secondary school for a year, following a PhD. I'm looking at various teacher training options, and notice that some universities offer a 'PGCE without QTS'. It seems significantly less onerous than the government-funded teaching apprenticeship, which comes with both QTS and PGCE but at the cost of pretty hefty training day schedule (+ a temporary placement in another school), which would require missing quite a few lessons, which I don't like.

Since I am thinking of going international at some point, how important is QTS to international schools? (particularly interested in Asia, for family reasons) Do they generally expect QTS, or is a PGCE qualification enough?

Thanks in advance!