Postgraduate Certificate in Education PGCE Secondary English
ObjectivesThe Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) programmes now include 40 credits of assessment at Master's Level (Level M). For candidates who opt not to attempt the requisite credit at Level M, a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education will be available as an alternative award. The Secondary Postgraduate Certificate in Education is a one academic year (36 week) course that trains graduates to be secondary school teachers of English. The PGCE programme has been designed to train teachers for the full secondary age phase (11-18). Trainees are assessed against the standards for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in two key stages, normally KS3 and KS4. In the first half of the Autumn term, some trainees may seek to change this to Key Stage 4 and post-16; this will be subject to discussion with the programme leader. The course is active and practical, allowing trainees to develop professional competence through work undertaken in schools and in the University. Trainees work with young people, develop expertise in their specialist subject area, share and discuss educational issues and study relevant educational research. The course is just the beginning of what we hope will be a process of continual professional development throughout a challenging and rewarding career. The PGCE Secondary Programme has been awarded a Grade 1 (outstanding) for Management and Quality Assurance from OfSTED (Office for Standards in Education) and all of the nine subjects have received good or very good OfSTED grades.
Entry requirementsApplicants normally have: a good honours degree (2:2 or above) or equivalent with at least 50% in a related subject (relating to the subject you want to teach) English and Mathematics GCSE grade C or equivalent (equivalency tests in English Language and Mathematics may be available for some applicants) to have spent between one to seven days in a classroom observing English being taught in a comprehensive school Applicants who do not meet the minimum academic entry requirements, but have significant life and/or work experience will be considered on an individual basis.
Academic titlePostgraduate Certificate in Education PGCE Secondary English
Course descriptionContent
The course is part of the School of Education's programme for Initial Teacher Training. Units studied are:
-Enabling Learning
-Meeting Curriculum Challenges
-Becoming a Teacher
These units are studied in both the school and the University-based parts of the course, the work on each site being complementary.
During the 12 weeks of University-based time, you will study the teaching of your main subject in relation to the above components. This includes consideration of a range of teaching styles and resources, including the use of appropriate information and communications technology (ICT), and preparation in all aspects of the National Curriculum including pupil assessment. During this time you also attend sessions in mixed subject groups where cross-curricular issues are covered, such as pupils' learning, classroom management, the organisation of schooling, the broader professional role and theories underpinning decisions and policy in the field of education.
On this course you will be encouraged to investigate ways in which you can help young people to learn. You will analyse the dynamics of what happens when people talk together about an issue that concerns them, or how they use talk to advance their own learning, and you will investigate ways in which you can make this happen in the classroom. You will consider how you might assess the learning that takes place.
You will be asked to read and to understand, analyse and evaluate the wide ranges of texts which you read. If you are sitting in a corner reading the latest novel by a writer of teenage fiction, or an anthology of poetry or lost to the world in a text from the 19th century, you will be working; you will be doing what you are required to do.
You will spend the majority of your time in schools where you will need to be enthusiastic and ready to seize the initiative in the many opportunities that will come your way.
There will be lots of people at the University and in your placement schools who will be only too ready to work alongside you and to support your progress.
Placements
24 weeks are spent on placement: a total of eight weeks in one placement during the Autumn term and 16 weeks in a second placement during the Spring and Summer terms.
As well as teaching, the programme includes contact time with a Senior Professional Tutor and a Subject Mentor, directed study time and personal study time.
There is an opportunity to spend time in a primary school and some students may also visit other institutions, such as special schools or colleges of further education.
Assessment
In order to pass the course, trainees are required to pass each unit. You are assessed on a number of written assignments and also on classroom practice against the standards specified by the Secretary of State for the award of QTS. Before the end of the course it is strongly recommended that trainees take the computer-based QTS skills tests in Numeracy, Literacy and ICT which are set by the Training and Development Agency (TDA).