PGCE in Secondary Education (Science with Biology) with recommendation for QTS

Postgraduate

In Uxbridge

Price on request

Description

  • Type

    Postgraduate

  • Location

    Uxbridge

  • Start date

    Different dates available

Our Primary and Secondary PGCEs are "Outstanding" (Ofsted, 2015).IELTS: 7 (min 6 in all areas)
Pearson: 64 (51 in all subscores)
BrunELT: 70% (min 60% in all areas)

Facilities

Location

Start date

Uxbridge (Middlesex)
Brunel University, UB8 3PH

Start date

Different dates availableEnrolment now open

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This centre's achievements

2018

All courses are up to date

The average rating is higher than 3.7

More than 50 reviews in the last 12 months

This centre has featured on Emagister for 14 years

Subjects

  • Planning
  • School
  • Biology
  • Teaching
  • Education Studies
  • Secondary

Course programme

Course Content

The PGCE is an intensive programme, which combines an exploration of principles and methods of teaching and learning with practical school-based teaching placements. It lasts for 36 weeks from early September to late June.

The Secondary programme prepares you to work with pupils aged 11-16. At the heart of our programmes is a vision that our student teachers’ teaching will impact positively on pupil progress over time in schools and that our Partnership activities with schools will contribute to school improvement. We aspire for all our students to be outstanding teachers.

The PGCE Secondary courses are structured around three modules, which share a generic General Professional Education (GPE) component. The GPE programme involves an enquiry based learning approach, which combines taught sessions with independent professional learning activities (PLAs). These PLAs require independent research, which is either school-related or school-based. The three PGCE modules are:

1. Education Studies I

This module covers the following GPE themes:

  • Professionalism, values and reflective practice;
  • Safeguarding, child protection and e-safety;
  • Understanding curriculum and the National Curriculum;
  • Supporting learners, learning and effective behaviour management;
  • Inclusive education, with a specific focus on supporting pupils with SEND and SEBD;
  • Effective planning and teaching to promote pupil progress;
  • Assessment and its role in promoting effective learning.

You will also focus on teaching and learning issues of particular concern to your phase or subject specialism.

2. Education Studies II

This module covers the following GPE themes:

Applying for your first post:

  • Understanding data analysis to support effective teaching and learning;
  • Behaviour for learning and the wider professional responsibilities of the subject teacher;
  • Inclusive education, with a specific focus on supporting pupils with English as an Additional Language, pupils receiving the Pupil Premium and able pupils;
  • Safeguarding with a focus on the Prevent and Channel national strategy and bullying and homophobic bullying.

You will also continue to focus on teaching and learning issues of particular concern to your phase or subject specialism.

3. Education Studies III

This module focuses specifically on supporting student teachers to make an effective transition into their first post and examines the following themes in GPE:

  • Preparing for induction and the professional learning action plan for your first post;
  • Pathways into leadership in education;
  • Learning outside the classroom;
  • Contributing to the wider aspects of the formal and informal curriculum and your wider professional role as a teacher.
Subject Specific Course Content

The Science with Biology PGCE programme at Brunel aims to facilitate your transformation into a well-educated, confident and motivated science educator. Once qualified, you are likely to teach National Curriculum general science in Key Stage 3, and you may also be required to teach general science to Key Stage 4, as well as teaching biology to A level.

Along with English and mathematics, science is one of the three core subjects of the National Curriculum and since all pupils have to study a broad, balanced curriculum in science there is a demand for well-qualified and skilled biology teachers. Most pupils entering secondary school are excited at the prospect of working in a fully equipped laboratory, and secondary school biology teachers have to build upon and sustain this interest for the subject.

To meet this challenge we need capable, skilled and enthusiastic teachers who are able to motivate young people and lead them to discover the wonders of science.

The Brunel Science with Biology Postgraduate Certificate (PGCE) is an M level course with 60 credits that can contribute to further Master's level study in Education, subject to approval. The course will equip you with the knowledge, understanding and skills necessary to teach biology such that you are able to:

  • Demonstrate an understanding of the vital role of the teacher and the school in ensuring excellence in the educational experiences of young people;
  • Undertake professional practice which enables you to evidence the Teachers’ Standards which facilitate the award of Qualified Teacher Status;
  • Understand the relationships between Education and science within current national and government frameworks, and critically reflect on the impact of these in the work of schools and the educational experiences of young people;
  • Recognise the contribution that science as part of the whole school curriculum makes to the development of the individual learner and groups of learners;
  • Think critically about what it means to be scientifically educated and how this informs curriculum planning and design within the subject area;
  • Apply a thorough knowledge and understanding of the science National Curriculum to the planning of curriculum experiences for pupils in school;
  • Demonstrate competence and confidence in your ability to teach across the contexts for pupil learning in the science National Curriculum, applying principles of continuity and progression;
  • Use subject knowledge and relevant course specifications to plan and teach the 14-16 curriculum for biology;
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the subject knowledge and specification requirements for the 16-19 curriculum for biology;
  • Utilise a range of teaching strategies to meet the identified learning needs of a wide range of pupils;
  • Utilise a range of resources, including information and communication technology, to enhance pupil learning in science;
  • Understand the importance of safe practice and safeguarding and apply these in working with young people both within and beyond science lessons;
  • Use a wide range of class management strategies to maximise pupil learning;
  • Understand the principles of inclusion and apply these to ensure equality of opportunity for all pupils in science;
  • Understand national frameworks for assessment within the subject area and use these to support the recording and analysis of data, and the subsequent use of this to plan the next phase of learning;
  • Raise the status of the subject area by demonstrating high standards of professionalism at all times;
  • Understand the crucial role of professional learning for the teacher, the pupils and schools.
School Experience

School-based professional learning is a compulsory element of all programmes leading to a recommendation for QTS. The course involves the statutory requirement of at least 120 days of school experience in the form of block school placements undertaken in at least two different contexts.

Our current partnership schools are mainly located in the West London area and adjoining Home Counties. We have developed close links with a number of very good schools over a number of years, and offer placements within carefully chosen schools that provide an appropriate professional learning experience. The ethnic and cultural diversity of the schools we work with is a distinctive aspect of our provision and we are equally proud of the diversity of our student teacher cohort, who reflect the communities in which many of them go on to work as teachers.

We also offer student teachers the opportunity to experience placements in alternative settings, which include special schools, Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), young offenders institutions. This further demonstrates our commitment to preparing teachers to work with young people in a diverse range of educational contexts.

You will be allocated a school-based mentor, selected for their experience and expertise, who is there to help you develop and learn while you are on placement. The importance of this person should not be underestimated. Teaching is a very challenging profession and with the help of your school-based mentor and your University tutor we aim to make sure that you have support every step of the way, encouraging reflection and development.

Read more about the structure of postgraduate degrees at Brunel and what you will learn on the course.


Additional information

Teaching and Assessment Assessment Learning and Teaching We adopt an enquiry-based learning approach in our PGCE Secondary courses where students are encouraged to research and investigate a range of broad and subject specific educational themes and issues and bring their findings back for discussion in interactive lectures, workshops and seminars. These themes and issues address national, regional and partnership priorities as well as specific areas for investigation with the subject area. Various teaching and learning methods are used on all our PGCE Secondary courses, for example: Groupings of different sizes and compositions to provide as much variety of experience as possible; Lectures, seminars and workshops; Modelling of classroom practice; Group-work, independent learning, investigation and guided discovery; Observation, portfolio preparation, self-evaluation and reflection on teaching practice; Guest speakers who are experts in their fields; Visits to particular types of schools, for instance PRUs and special schools; Fieldwork with pupils, and other visits to relevant places relating to the school curriculum. Assessment Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) The PGCE Secondary programme carries 60 Master’s Level credits and requires you to successfully complete three formally assessed pieces of academic work during the year. All of these assessments also require an accompanying portfolio of evidence. The Master’s Level credits provide an excellent foundation for future academic and professional study. Qualified Teacher Status. Alongside the PGCE academic award for your programme, you will also be assessed for the recommendation of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). In order to be recommended for QTS you are required to demonstrate that you have met the Teachers’ Standards (DfE, 2013) in both the University and in school and alternative education settings

PGCE in Secondary Education (Science with Biology) with recommendation for QTS

Price on request