Further Education PGCE

Overview

If you are interested in teaching a diverse range of students in the post-16 sector, this full time, pre-service PGCE programme equips you with the knowledge and practical skills you need to teach your subject specialism in the following education settings:

• Sixth Form Colleges

• Further Education Colleges

• Adult and Community Learning

• Prison and Young Offender Education

The programme will help you to develop the professional skills needed to teach in the post-16 sector and provide you with an enhanced understanding of the qualifications taught in the sector such as GCSEs, A’ Levels and vocational qualifications as well as adult literacy and numeracy and Access to HE programmes.

You could be eligible for the highest range of tax-free training bursaries.

In addition to developing your professional skills, you will be able to demonstrate a secure understanding of your subject specialism (‘subject-ness’) and the academic and/or vocational contexts in which it is taught.

Through research-informed, socially just and inclusive pedagogy, you will also develop an enhanced understanding of what effective teaching looks in the education sector you train in (‘sector-ness’).

Many of our trainees go on to gain employment with the college or learning provider they trained with. As our UEL alumni have progressed in their teaching career, many have also taken on a mentoring roles for our PGCE trainees.

Course modules

Year 1

Pedagogy and Professional Practice Core Module

This module is designed to develop your understanding of pedagogy and its impact on learning within your subject specialism.  It will introduce you to different theories of learning, strategies for teaching and assessment, which will enable you to plan lessons and develop your practice to teach confidently within the context of your subject specialism.

The course will provide opportunities for you to reflect on your knowledge and select one area of development to improve your expertise, and to contribute to developments at your placement. 

Active Enquiry and Intervention: Impacting upon Learner Progress Core Module

The aims of this module are:

• To develop knowledge and understanding of critical thinking, reflective practice and educational research;

• To develop an awareness of action research - its processes, practices and relevance for reflective educational practice and change;

• To develop knowledge of pedagogy, through primary research and the critical evaluation of theory and literature;

• For trainee teachers to carry out a classroom intervention informed by reading and research activity and to reflect critically on the process;

• To demonstrate a practical appreciation of evidence-informed teaching;

• To identify appropriate classroom strategies to develop learning and teaching which are informed through educational research, evidence and scholarship.

• To apply classroom strategies informed by scholarship to a specific educational context and setting.

College Based Learning Core Module

The module requires you to produce and maintain a portfolio of evidence of your progress and development through the training year. This evidence is gained progressively through the teaching you do in placement and the reflective practice you engage in on an ongoing basis.

What you'll learn

• Pedagogy and Professional Practice (30)

• Active Enquiry (30)

• College Based Learning (60)

Please be aware that this course is currently being updated in line with DfE changes to this teaching qualification. Module content may vary from the current information. The framework and end qualification will stay the same.

How you'll learn

Theory and practice are interlinked throughout the course; you will have the opportunity to develop your skills through hands-on teaching practice while completing written assignments to demonstrate your understanding of the principles of teaching.

You will also engage in self-reflection and evaluate the teaching of others to develop and enhance your professional teaching skills and subject knowledge.

The course begins with an intensive training period of university-based taught sessions before you are inducted into placement. The majority of the year is spent in one placement with one day a week at university but you will also spend a minimum of 20 hours at a second, complementary placement to gain a broader understanding of the different settings within the sector.

We work with a wide range of partnership colleges and learning providers in the East London and wider London area to give you access to the best placement experiences and mentoring to support you in your training year.

How you will be assessed

Course work in three modules:

• Pedagogy and Professional Practice (30 credits)

• Active Enquiry (30 credits)

• College Based Learning (60 credits)

Successful completion of the three modules will result in a Level 7 Post Graduate Certificate in Education (Further Education) qualification.

60 of these credits may be carried forward onto further postgraduate level study e.g MA Education or MA Leadership in Education.

Your teaching placement experience*:

From September 2024, you will be required to teach a minimum of 150 independent teaching hours (at least 100 hours have to be in your subject specialism). You will also be required to undertake 100 hours of ‘placement experience’ which could comprise of meetings, training, observations of other teaching, student assessment activities and extra-curricular involvement.

You will be supported by a UEL tutor as well as a subject specialist mentor and a pastoral (‘local’) mentor in your placement throughout the year and, between them, they will carry out 10 lessons observations. Your placement mentors will also submit a termly review report of your progress.

On successful completion of the course, trainees are eligible to apply for QTLS as a member of the Society of Education and Training. Please note that UEL does not confer this status but will support you in your application.

*We will provide support in finding you a suitable placement with our partnership colleges within the London area. Whilst we will make every effort to source a placement close to your home, please note that you should be prepared to pay for and travel anywhere within the wider London area and up to 90 minutes each way. If you have a provisional placement agreed or have a preference for a particular college, please make this known at the application/interview stage.