Postgraduate Certificate in Education Secondary Initial Teacher

 Education Biology with Science with QTS

This is a strand of the PGCE Science course where you will specialise in Biology. If you successfully complete this route you will be in a strong position to gain employment as teachers of Biology and general science to KS4.

This course has been designed to train teachers to practise as a subject specialist teacher for the secondary age range (11-16). You will be assessed against the standards for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) across the age range. You will also often gain experience of the 16-18 age range, although they will not be formally assessed in this phase.

This course is active and practical allowing you to develop professional competence through work undertaken in schools and in the university. You will work with young people, develop expertise in your specialist subject area, share and discuss educational issues and study relevant educational research. The course is just the beginning of what we hope will be a process of continual professional development throughout a challenging and rewarding career.

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 whilst facing some of your own is certainly a challenging yet fulfilling task.

Once you have been offered a place on a PGCE Secondary Science course you will have an opportunity to boost your subject knowledge in Biology with one of our Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses before starting your PGCE.

Careers

PGCE programmes include 60 credits assessed at Masters level.

As a trainee teacher, you will be joining a modern and well-regarded programme to train to teach across the 11-16 age range and gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).

Entry requirements

Applicants normally have:

• An undergraduate degree, or a recognised equivalent qualification, with at least 50% in a subject related to what you want to teach. This is typically 2:2 or higher but we will look at all applications against the demands of the programme.
• GCSE grade C/4 or above in English Language and Mathematics, or equivalent. We do not accept Level 2 Key Skills, Functional Skills or Certificates in Adult Numeracy and Literacy as alternatives to GCSEs.

Our PGCE programmes include a high level of placement based learning and working with children. We would encourage all applicants to get as much relevant experience of working or volunteering with children to help prepare them for this crucial element of their programme.