PGCE Secondary (Business Studies)

The PGCE Secondary Business Studies course at BGU is for people wishing to train as secondary teachers of Business Studies & Economics, 14-19. You may be a new graduate, or you may be looking for a career change after a previous career in the business world; we hope that the course will appeal to a wide range of prospective trainees. The aim of the course is to encourage you to become a reflective practitioner – a teacher who thinks about their experiences and learns from them in order to improve their practice. Trainees following this course are encouraged to explore a wide range of creative approaches to planning, teaching and evaluating lessons. The course is built upon principles of inclusion and diversity in teaching and learning for all pupils, whatever their potential and achievements. Throughout the course, trainees study different methods of assessment and how they support classroom learning and teaching.

You will consider the broader aspects of teaching, contexts for learning, the latest government initiatives and contemporary issues in teaching, learning and assessment. You will also work alongside trainee teachers of other subjects to consider cross-curricular aspects of education. These topics will introduce you to your career in the teaching profession.

Throughout your year of study, you will explore all aspects of your subject. This includes those areas that are your strengths, as well as areas you may need to improve upon. You will study how pupils learn in your subject area, how you need to assess them and how to keep abreast of new developments within your subject. You will learn how to plan and deliver topics in ways that include all types of learners in meaningful ways.

You will spend two-thirds of the year in partner schools and other educational settings gaining rich and varied experiences designed to support meeting the standards for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Working with peers, tutors and school-based colleagues, you will develop your abilities to promote effective learning among 14-19 year-olds. You will also have opportunities to gain experience of the key stages before and after the ones in which you will qualify.

This course is demanding and stimulating. We aim for you to be prepared to take responsibility for your own learning, be open to creative and innovative ideas, and be competent, reflective practitioners both in your training year and beyond. Success on the course means you will have completed a postgraduate (with 60 credits at Masters level) or professional graduate qualification, have met all the Qualified Teacher Status Standards and be ready to start the next year as a Newly Qualified Teacher.

During a recent Ofsted inspection in 2015, it was noted that key strengths of the course are:

• the “vision for continuous improvement”
• our “involvement in current educational research”
• our warm and caring ethos which “provides trainees with very high-quality levels of pastoral care and support

This Secondary PGCE course is available through both Core and School Direct routes.

Assessment

Assessment is through written assignments, school and University-based tasks and observations of your teaching in your school environments. This course is all about taking the theory and putting it into practice.