Secondary Initial Teacher Education Chemistry with Science - Postgraduate Certificate in Education

The course is part of UWE's Department 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. The course centres on learning about the nature, content and teaching of all aspects of the science curriculum for 11-16 year olds and of specialist Chemistry for 14-19 year old e.g. A -level.

During your 12 weeks of study at the university, a range of aspects of teaching and learning of the Science curriculum will be addressed, e.g.

• Common misconceptions in Science
• Learning Science through out-of school trips and visits
• Supporting Numeracy and literacy through Science teaching
• Safety in Science lessons
• The nature of Science

On the UCAS website, look for us under Chemistry rather than Science, although you will also be trained to teach across the sciences at least to KS3 and possibly KS4.

Guiding young people to develop an understanding of how scientists set about investigating the world, what science can answer and, probably more important in some ways, what it cannot, is exciting and very rewarding. Helping pupils to address misconceptions and facing some of your own is certainly challenging and never boring.

We will introduce you to a range of teaching styles, classroom management skills, lesson planning and assessment procedures both in the University and through classroom support from teachers in schools. You will consider strategies to support young people in their learning of science. You will also consider the use of a range of teaching styles and resources, including the appropriate use of information and communications technology (ICT).

You will participate in sessions with other Chemistry graduates, and in mixed Science groups. You will also work with graduates from other disciplines where cross-curricular issues, such as learning theories and behaviour management are covered. If you have the knowledge and the passion to teach Science with Chemistry then this PGCE course is for you.

Hear what our students think about their time at UWE.

The University continually enhances our offer by responding to feedback from our students and other stakeholders, ensuring the curriculum is kept up to date and our graduates are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need for the real world. This may result in changes to the course. If changes to your course are approved we will inform you.

Personal Support

We recognise that embarking on a new course of study can sometimes be quite a challenging undertaking. You will have support from a number of staff in the university including; your group tutor and a personal tutor from your 14-19 specialism (Chemistry). Additionally any student can get support on a range of issues from a Department Student Adviser.

In order to pass the course, trainees are required to pass each unit. They 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 Qualified Teacher Status. Before the end of the course it is recommended that trainees take the computer-based QTS skills tests in Numeracy, Literacy and ICT.

For more detail see our full glossary of assessment terms.