PGDE Secondary (Home Economics) (Taught)

Are you looking for a change of career? Why not consider becoming a Home Economics teacher in a secondary school? Our one-year PGDE in Home Economics course will prepare you to teach home economics in Scottish secondary schools and beyond, providing you with an internationally recognised secondary teaching qualification.

Retraining and working as a teacher can be an incredibly rewarding experience. Not only does it offer you a quick and easy route to a new career, it offers you the opportunity to make a real difference in people's lives, whilst utilising skills and knowledge that you will have already acquired in your career journey so far. So, if you are a graduate of food, nutrition, professional cookery or textile technology courses and have studied some food science, family studies and health then this course is the first step towards a new inspiring, challenging and socially empowering career.

If you are passionate about food and textiles, sustainability, social justice and health and wellbeing then there has never been a more important time to learn the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding to enable you to transform young lives and contribute to both community and global wellbeing. As a graduate of our unique course, you will help to prepare young people to face the challenges of 21st century citizenship.

The PGDE Secondary (Home Economics) course will engage you in a critical understanding of contemporary ‘real world’ issues from ‘sustainable’ food production and consumption, through textiles consumerism issues including the impact of fast fashion on the environment.

Furthermore, with a rising demand for food banks, the impact of food poverty on society has never been more prevalent and thus you will consider critically children’s rights and how to plan for inclusive practice to enable all young people to participate and have the positive learning experiences they deserve. You will also learn about the role you can play as a Home Economics teacher to drive forward the discipline within its contemporary social, cultural, and political contexts.

Professional enquiry is an important aspect of the teacher’s role. On our course we will teach you how to conduct classroom research to enable you to make evidence-based decisions in support of pupils’ learning.

Course Modules

• Reflective and Critical Practice (Placement modules) (40 credits): This module has a particular focus on your achieving the GTCS Standard for Provisional Registration. This module is assessed by observation of teaching practice in Schools at SCQF Level 10 and through your maintaining an e-portfolio of evidence-based practice.

• Home Economics in the 21st Century (40 credits): This module aims to equip you with the skills to teach practical food and textiles lessons within Home Economics departments in a secondary school context and to engage critically with research to inform your approaches to transformative learning in schools. Assignments are research based and one is a recorded presentation, the other being a written submission. Both elements must be passed to achieve this module.

• Education: Theory, Practice & Research (1) (20 credits): This module will develop your critical reading and writing skills in relation to critical enquiry related to theories of learning, assessment and curriculum which will enable you to produce a literature review on a chosen topic.

• Education: Theory, Practice & Research (2) (20 credits): This module will develop your skills in preparing a research proposal to undertake classroom research. You will create a plan for a research proposal and present this to a live audience.

Structure and exit award

PGDE (120 credits) with the possibility of 80 credits at Master's Level 11.

Teaching, learning and assessment

Teaching consists of independent and collaborative learning in workshops. You will engage in research and produce two written assignments and two individual presentations all of which will be either assessed at Levels 11 (Master's degree level) or Level 10.

Assessments are designed to:

• optimise accessibility for students with a range of strengths and abilities;

• provide a variety of opportunities to be challenged and to excel;

• engage students in the importance of being literate and communicative in a range of formats and media; and

• model and demonstrate assessment procedures for student teachers so that they can incorporate these into their own teaching practices.

The PGDE shares the pedagogic approach of the other courses in the Division of Psychology, Sociology and Education, foregrounding:

• critical thinking;

• student collaboration;

• independent learning;

• involvement with real-world issues;

• interprofessional, interdisciplinary learning;

• practical experience, experiential learning and critical reflection;

• practical upskilling in food and textiles;

• peer/group work;

• enquiry-based learning;

• debate and contention; and

• outdoor learning activities.

Placement

Placements are an invaluable way of building on your theoretical and practical learning and seeing the evidence of how teaching Home Economics can benefit young people.

You will complete an 18-week placement in two different secondary schools in Scotland. Placements are allocated based on schools’ availability within a 90 minute radius of a student’s term time address.

Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.

• General Teaching Council for Scotland

To work as a teacher at a state school in England or Wales, you will need to achieve qualified teacher status (QTS). This is offered on this course for the following level:

• Has qualified teacher status