PGCertTeaching and Learning in Higher Education

The PGCert TLHE is a part-time course delivered via blended learning. This means that in addition to attending the face-to-face sessions, you are required to utilise selected online resources and to engage regularly in the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Learnzone. The course is work-based and flexible, drawing on participants’ experience as learners and teachers to contextualise their professional practice within a reflective pedagogic framework. In addition to conventional face-to-face teaching sessions, participants will be largely self-directed. You will select and utilise your own specific teaching and research opportunities to evidence your active engagement with the UKPSF and to meet the course learning outcomes.

Although the course is designed around generic issues concerning learning and teaching, there is, nevertheless, a particular focus on your professional context. While we assume that most applicants will be involved in teaching theatre (whether it be drama, movement, voice, lighting, costume or another discipline) and the arts, applicants are welcome to apply from any discipline. Since the focus of the course is on supporting student learning, support staff (e.g. technical, library, learning resources) and PhD candidates may also find that this programme is well suited to their needs.

The approach we have taken is firmly located in your professional experience and your day-to-day activities in supporting learning, teaching and assessing. It is based on the underlying premise that people learn best when they are active and take responsibility for their own learning, which they then apply to their professional context. In order to achieve the course learning outcomes, you will need to adopt a critically reflective approach throughout. Reflective practitioners are able to view their particular achievements and make informed judgments about them in relation to the broader theoretical context. The course is designed to support the interrogation and integration of contemporary praxis within your professional practice.

Peer Observation is a required element of the course and is achieved on this course through a minimum of three teaching observations (one in Unit 1 and two in Unit 2). While these are not formally assessed, they are requirements of the course and provide a valuable opportunity for direct feedback and subsequent reflection on your practice. You will be given guidance on what to expect whilst being observed and how to act as an observer during the course.

Students are also expected to observe teaching by their peers. This should be approximately six hours for Unit 1 (excluding observations of teaching provided online via Learnzone). For Unit 2 you would be expected to continue to observe the teaching of your peers. This should be approximately 10 hours.

Your record of peer observing will be part of your evidence submitted as part of your portfolio assessments. You must also be formally observed by experienced members of staff within your own teaching practice three times. The three formal observations over the course are as follows:

Observation 1: 30-60 minutes as part of Unit 1 (Pedagogies: Integrating Theory and Practice)
Observations 2 and 3: 45 to 60 minutes for each observation as part of Unit 2 (Scholarship and Enhancement of Professional Practice).
Students on the course are expected to be undertaking the following minimum teaching loads:

15 hours in Unit 1 (Pedagogies: Integrating Theory and Practice unit)
35 hours in Unit 2 (Scholarship and Enhancement of Professional Practice unit).