(Secondary) Physical Education PGCE

Intro

Our (Secondary) Physical Education PGCE leads to the award of Qualified Teacher Status for the 11–16 age range and offers enrichment opportunities to teach age 16–18.

We will equip you with the skills and knowledge to become a confident and competent physical education teacher. Our course focuses on an alternative approach to teaching physical education, emphasising physical activities and non-traditional team games, alongside the usual competitive team games.

Our teaching graduates' benefit from excellent employment rates that are consistently above the sector average. Plus, we’ll continue to support you as an early career teacher.

At Brighton you’ll train to teach with an Ofsted ‘outstanding’ provider and be educated by an expert team.

You’ll gain practical experiences in two carefully selected schools – we have over 600 placement partners offering a variety of opportunities in large, small, urban and rural settings.

At university you’ll learn in our extensive sport and other facilities.

Brighton is one of the UKs largest teacher training universities and has been educating teachers and leaders for over 100 years.

Course structure

Teaching will take place on the Falmer campus where we have extensive sport facilities. The Falmer campus is currently being redesigned. 

When studying with us at the university, you’ll experience and learn how to teach practical physical education through The A-list of physical activities. These include physical activities considered to be less conventional compared to more established types of activities. The A-list includes the following non-conventional physical activities: 

• Alternative – Physical activities that depart from or challenge traditional norms and are considered to be non-traditional in a UK context such as tchoukball, kin-ball and korfball.

• Adapted – Physical activities suited to pupils with additional learning needs but that can also be practiced by all pupils within secondary schools such as boccia, goalball and new age kurling.

• Artistic – Physical activities related to cultural and artistic forms of dance.

• Aesthetic – Physical activities that are creative and involve a combination of movements requiring precision, fluency and control such as urban gymnastics, cheerleading and trampolining.

• Aquatic – Physical activities that take place in or on the water such as swimming, synchronised swimming, water aerobic dancing, water polo, life-saving and personal survival.

• Athletic – Physical activities that require physical skill, agility and stamina such as street surfing.

• Adventurous – Physical activities that require precise problem-solving and decision making skills such as orienteering and climbing.

• Aerobic – Physical activities that are sustained and require low to high intensity such as jogging, rowing and cycling.

• Anaerobic – Physical activities that are non-endurance activities involving speed strength and power such as sprinting, jumping, and throwing.

The university works in partnership with schools and colleges to provide a high quality programme of support, ensuring a sound relationship between theory and practice.

You will benefit from undertaking two placements in two schools or colleges, spending two-thirds of your year teaching, under supervision. You'll also have the opportunity to visit additional schools or colleges as part of the Peer Observation programme.

Our tutors and mentors will advise and support you throughout each placement. You will receive comprehensive feedback during this time, enabling you to see what you are doing well and where you might need to improve.

You will have the opportunity to organise group activities which reflect contemporary expectations of physical education teachers and the individual needs of pupils from diverse backgrounds. 

The campus is excellently equipped with multimedia training materials, giving you the opportunity to develop your confidence and competence in the use of ICT. Our multimedia suites are regularly updated to keep up with technological advancements in classroom teaching provision. 

Activities which you may take part in or organise yourself include:

• Disability Sports such as Boccia, New Age Kurling, Goalball, Sitting Volleyball and Wheelchair Basketball.

• Year 7 transition day with a local secondary school.

• Year 10 V-Cert revision day with a local secondary school.

Areas of study

This course covers the national curriculum range of content for physical education. You'll experience practical and theoretical modules that are based upon research-informed practice by the route leader, Dr Gary Stidder, who is an established academic and active researcher in the field of physical education.

The course also includes health-related exercise, the use of new and emerging technologies in physical education, thematic teaching and learning in physical education, inclusive practice in physical education and the teaching of accredited courses in physical education.

There are four strands to this course: subject study/subject education, education and professional studies, school placements and professional practice.

Course content is kept up to date with changes in local and national initiatives and legislation, so you can be confident that your working knowledge is based on current theory and practice.

The education and professional studies strand gives you a thorough understanding of the learning process itself, including an appreciation of individual differences.

The study of the principles and practices of learning and teaching is through both school and university settings, allowing you to develop practical competency supported by analytical skills. By the end of the course you will:

• refine your understanding of pedagogy, including an appreciation of current and emerging educational theories and debate

• understand how to use and adapt teaching, learning, management and assessment strategies in order to meet the varying needs of learners

• understand how the progress and wellbeing of learners is affected by different influences and know how to take account of the principles of equality, inclusion and diversity.

The subject study/subject education strand builds upon your existing expertise in your specialist subject and provides you with the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge and understanding of the subject in the secondary school context. You will consider the learning and teaching strategies that are relevant to physical education. 

The subject education module is specifically related to teaching PE in school, while the subject study module enables you to take your subject specialist studies to an increased depth. 

The school placements/professional practice strand is intrinsically linked to all key strands of the course and is designed to enable you to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to thrive as creative, informed and critical professionals.

You will engage in target setting and action planning, and reflect upon your learning in order to make improvements as you progress through the emerging, embedding and enhancing phases of trainee teacher development towards meeting the Teachers’ Standards and the award of Qualified Teacher Status at the end of the course.

School-based training

Ofsted identify our approach to training in schools as a key strength of this course, with an excellent balance between university tuition and school-based training.

You will spend a minimum of 120 days on school-based activities, with your training shared between the university and the partner school. 

Your school-based training will include observing teachers, working with individual pupils and groups of pupils, team teaching and independent teaching. Your training will also entail completing specific subject tasks and developing your knowledge of school policy and effective practices.

You will maintain a professional training portfolio and be supported to review your work critically and analytically as well as to set appropriately challenging targets. We will also develop an action plan with you to identify strengths, development needs and actions, so that your practice is continually developing.

Key aims of the school-based training

• Advance the development of your professional attributes, skills, knowledge and understanding.

• Provide practical and specific experiences that enable you to critically analyse your professional practice and take responsibility for your own professional development.

• Enable you to work collaboratively with colleagues in order to develop an understanding of the ways in which the attainment, development and wellbeing of all learners can be achieved with a unified support and teaching system.

• Provide opportunities that enable you to adopt a creative and constructively critical approach towards your practice, supported by appropriate reading and research.

During your school-based training, university tutors, school mentors and teachers will support you and take shared responsibility for your professional development.

Your progress will be observed and assessed throughout your placement by university and school staff, followed by feedback sessions to discuss your development. Your e-portfolio will also be evaluated as part of the overall assessment.

Organising your school-based training
Our Partnership Office will organise the school-based training for you. Each year we organise over 2,500 placements for our students. We work hard to ensure that you have placement opportunities that will give you valuable and varied experiences in the area of education in which you are interested.

How it works
We will ask you to complete a placement information form when you start your course, and will use this information to match you to a suitable placement. We will consider your previous experience, travelling distance, the age ranges you wish to teach and your current needs.

Once we have matched you with a placement, the team in the Partnership Office will confirm the placement as quickly as possible with the school or organisation. They will then contact you with the placement details. Almost all of our placements will be with partner schools or organisations in south-east England, most of them in East and West Sussex.