Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PgCE) – Further Education and Skills Level 6

Take on one of our ever-popular Teacher Training courses to support you on the road to a rewarding and fulfilling career with many perks and benefits.

This is a two-year, part-time course which leads to an initial teaching qualification for those who teach or intend to teach in the education and training sector.

This course is suitable for those interested in teaching anyone aged 16 and over, this course is not for primary.

The Further Education Skills Sector includes Sixth Form Centres, Pupil Referral Units (PRU), prisons and remand centres.

What will I be doing?

We will help you learn a wide range of skills that will support you to work in the teaching industry, including how to:

• Undertake group learning activities to develop your knowledge and understanding of teaching in the education and training sector

• Complete assignments linked to the programme’s themes

• Plan and deliver teaching and learning (50 hours minimum in each year of study)

• Complete wider reading and research

• Teach competently within your subject specialist area

• Reflect critically on a range of professional issues and practices

• Take responsibility for identifying your own continuing professional development

Modules

Research Informed Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Becoming a Subject Specialist Teacher

Being a Subject Specialist Teacher

Curriculum and Context

Trainees are expected to attend the University of Huddersfield Conference that takes place in the second year of the programme around March/April (exact date to be confirmed). Full attendance is a module outcome therefore failure to fulfil this requirement will result in credit for the module being withheld. Trainees need to budget for the cost of the travel to and from the Conference along with overnight accommodation in Huddersfield; these costs are in addition to the course fees, they are not included in the course fees.

Research Informed Teaching, Learning and Assessment

This module aims to develop your understanding of how people learn in the Lifelong Learning Sector and of the role of assessment in enabling learning and achievement. It introduces theories and principles of learning and assessment and develops your ability to apply research evidence in designing effective learning and assessment strategies and materials. It seeks to develop positive approaches to the management of group and individual behaviours and promotes an inclusive approach to teaching, learning and assessment. It introduces the role of key transferable skills and the ways in which people learn English, Maths and digital skills. The module is assessed by means of a practical micro-teaching assignment and the design of an intervention, strategy, activity or resource, underpinned by an understanding of key principles of teaching, learning and assessment.

Becoming a Subject Specialist Teacher

The module reviews your practice as a trainee teacher. It explores your teaching values, knowledge of your subject specialism, and your knowledge and understanding of how you’re learning to teach. You’ll have the opportunity to learn how to identify and respond to students’ needs, and how to use suitable teaching, learning and assessment strategies to develop inclusive teaching and learning environments. You’ll have the chance to evaluate your teaching effectiveness and develop as a reflective practitioner as well as engage in personal and professional development planning, against the appropriate Professional Standards, to recognise and develop relevant subject specialist knowledge, behaviours and skills. This will include further development of English, Maths and digital skills for you and your students.

Being a Subject Specialist Teacher

This module builds on previous generic and subject specialist development in two ways. Firstly, it contributes to your development of more advanced strategies and methods for promoting learning and, secondly, it involves a focus on specific specialist areas and the critical analysis subject specialist pedagogy. The module seeks to enhance your ability to reflect critically on, and to evaluate, teaching and learning; by recognising particular curriculum and professional challenges; and by enabling you to develop critical responses to these concerns in sophisticated, innovative and creative ways. Key learning activities of the module are practical teaching experience and the engagement with other specialists through collaborative practice. The module is assessed through a Teaching Portfolio and a Conference Paper dealing with teaching and learning in the specialist subject.

Curriculum and Context

This module will develop your critical understanding of policy and issues relating to curriculum development in lifelong learning. You will explore the impact of policy on curriculum development and draw on appropriate evidence to evaluate curriculum practice and discuss possible improvements. The module will cover the internal and external factors that drive curriculum change and consider key contemporary issues in lifelong learning that impact upon curriculum development and design. It aims to engage trainees in critical reflection on the policy and practice of education and training for lifelong learners. The module promotes an analytical and reflexive understanding of the factors that inform curriculum development and delivery in lifelong learning provision.

https://hrc.ac.uk/our-courses/professional-graduate-certificate-in-education-pg-ce-further-education-and-skills-level-6/

A range of assessment methods and types are used throughout the duration of the course and include:

• Written submission

• Peer assessed presentation and micro teach sessions

• Pebblepad portfolio containing a teaching log, wider activities, mentor meetings and a profile

• A final assessment involving a 30 minute oral discussion relating to any aspect of professional practice

• 10 observations of teaching, the majority of which should be to a group of at least 10 learners.