About this course
- Entry year: 2012/13
- Course code: W1X1
- Applications: GTTR
- Level: Postgraduate
- Department: Education
- Campus: Frenchay
- Duration: One year full-time
- Delivery: Full-time
- Study Abroad: No
- Programme leader: Simon Huson
Introduction
The Secondary Postgraduate Certificate in Education is a one academic year (36 week) course that trains graduates to be secondary school teachers of Art and Design.
The PGCE programme has been designed to train teachers for the full secondary age phase (11-18). Trainees are assessed against the standards for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in two key stages, normally KS3 and KS4. In the first half of the autumn term, some trainees may seek to change this to Key Stage 4 and post-16, this will be subject to discussion with the Programme Leader.
Art and design stimulates creativity and imagination. It provides visual, tactile and sensory experiences and a unique way of understanding and responding to the world. Pupils use colour, form, texture, pattern and different materials and processes to communicate what they see, feel and think. Through art and design activities pupils learn to make informed value judgements and aesthetic and practical decisions, becoming actively involved in shaping environments. They explore ideas and meanings in the work of artists, craftspeople and designers. They learn about the diverse roles and functions of art, craft and design in contemporary life and in different times and cultures
The course is active and practical allowing trainees to develop professional competence through work undertaken in schools and in the University. Trainees work with young people, develop their expertise in their 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.
Our Secondary PGCE programme has recently been graded Outstanding by Ofsted (2011).
Find out more about what PGCE Secondary Education at UWE has to offer in terms of teaching quality, staff expertise and your student experience.
Structure
Content
The course is part of the Department's programme for Initial Teacher Training. Units studied are:
- Enabling Learning
- Meeting Curriculum Challenges
- Becoming a Teacher
These units are studied in both the school and the University-based parts of the course, the work on each site being complementary.
The course is designed to help you develop an awareness of the purposes and possibilities of different approaches to art and design in the school curriculum. It aims to enable you to develop pupils' ability in the visual and tactile elements of art, including the development of young people's skills to research and use evidence to generate ideas, and to interpret such ideas in practice. You will learn how to achieve this in accordance with Health and Safety requirements. The course will help you to develop this teaching competence in contexts involving a range of media, in two and three dimensions, and using IT, drawing on the richness of art from different cultures and periods of history.
During the course, consideration will be given to the National Curriculum GCSE and to post-16 courses including AS, A-level, and to the rapidly expanding vocational area of the art and design curriculum. Learning to teach involves a wide range of other skills including the development of young people's ability to communicate and justify their ideas and decisions in art and design, and more generally to develop their language across the curriculum as a whole. It also involves learning how to assess, report on and record young people's progress and how to recognise under-achievement and exceptional performance in the classroom or art studio. You will have opportunities in both university and school environments to develop these skills as well as those that relate to managing pupil behaviour in order to secure effective learning, both in the classroom and in schools more generally.
Whilst at the University, you will have access to the studio and workshop facilities of the art and design department in the Department of Education. These include studio and workshop space for a wide range of 2D and 3D activities. There are two large painting and drawing studios, a black and white darkroom, a printmaking workshop for silkscreen; relief; lithography and etching; ceramics hand building studio; electric wheels; indoor gas and electric kilns. There is the opportunity for development of existing skills and areas of interest, together with the facility for expanding their current portfolio of skills through practical curriculum workshops, assisted by the studio staff.
Hear what our students think about their time at UWE.
Teaching and learning
The course is split between university based study (12 weeks) and school based study (24 weeks). The university based blocks look at educational issues related to Art and Design teaching, and the role of Art and Design in the school curriculum. Examples of sessions include:
- Developing a rationale for teaching Art and Design
- Subject knowledge workshops in a wide range of media, including ceramics, screenprinting and photography
- Writing creative and motivational schemes of work and lesson planning
- Planning a school visit
A comprehensive series of seminars and workshops provides opportunities to extend your understanding of a range of pedagogical methodologies within art and design, such as how best to explain, demonstrate, ask questions, support students' progress in your subject and much more, through a reflective approach to your own practice. You will be introduced to the latest ideas and resources for teaching art and design, share and develop a wide variety of teaching approaches and learning activities and become aware of the wider subject community that is made up of art teachers and art educators through the National Society for Education in Art and Design. You will also have the opportunity to develop your subject knowledge through a range of university based workshops, and will be able to select one new area to investigate and produce a range of personal work for exhibition during the course.
Personal support
We recognise that embarking on a new course of study can sometimes be quite a challenging undertaking. You have three main sources of support and information from the University during the course: firstly there is the Group Tutor in their subject area, secondly you are allocated a Personal Tutor and thirdly you can get support on a range of issues from the Department Student Adviser.
Find out more about our academic staff, their teaching expertise and research interests.
Assessment
In order to pass the course, you are required to pass each unit. You are assessed on a number of written assignments and also on classroom practice against the standards specified by the Secretary of State for the award of QTS. Before the end of the course it is recommended that trainees take the computer-based QTS skills tests in Numeracy, Literacy and ICT which are set by the Training and Development Agency (TDA).
Special Features
Placements
24 weeks are spent on placement: a total of eight weeks in one placement during the autumn term and 16 weeks in a second placement during the spring and summer.
As well as teaching, the programme includes contact time with a Senior Professional Tutor and a Subject Mentor, directed study time and personal study time.
There is an opportunity to spend time in a primary school and some students may also visit other institutions, such as special schools or colleges of further education.
Fieldwork
We work closely with other Bristol institutions, such as the City Museum and Art Gallery, and Arnolfini. Both of these centres support our work through seminars and practical workshops using their facilities.
Careers/further study
The Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) programmes now include 40 credits of assessment at Master's Level (Level M). For candidates who opt not to attempt the requisite credit at Level M, a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education will be available as an alternative award.
Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA)
For general information about teaching as a career, including teachers' salaries and the professional standards set out by the TDA in 'Qualifying to Teach', contact the TDA by calling the teacher information line on +44 (0)845 6000 991 or visit the website www.tda.gov.uk.
For information about the national curriculum and subjects taught in secondary schools, visit the National Curriculum online www.nc.uk.net.
Hear from past UWE students about how studying here has enhanced their career prospects and opened up new opportunities.
Entry
Entry requirements
Applicants normally have:
- A good honours degree (normally 2:1 minimum) with at least 50 per cent in a related subject (relating to the subject you want to teach)
- GCSE grade C or above in mathematics and English language (University tests in mathematics and English language may be available for some applicants)
- To have spent a minimum of 1-2 weeks in a classroom observing art and design being taught in a comprehensive school within the previous two years. If you wish to study Art and Design you will be required to bring a portfolio of work to interview.
Additional requirements
Applicants must pass an initial selection process and short-listed candidates will be interviewed at the Department of Education. Entry is subject to satisfactory interview to assess professional suitability and subject to successful medical and Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) clearance. If you would like information regarding issues that could disqualify you from teacher training, please contact us on +44 (0)117 32 83333.
TDA Standards and requirements
Following the review of Standards and Requirements for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) by the Secretary of State in 2007, the Department of Education has designed its full-time courses to be compliant with the latest standards and requirements. For information on the latest standards please visit the TDA website.
General Teaching Council Registration
Please also note that since 1 September 2008 anyone commencing a course of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) in England leading to the award of Qualified Teacher Status is required to be provisionally registered with the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE). You will need to complete a suitability declaration to enable the Council to identify any reason which may prevent registration. At the point of the offer of a place on an ITT course at UWE, you will be sent a GTCE Suitability Declaration form which will need to be completed and returned to the University. Providing that this declaration meets the requirements you will be recommended to be registered with the GTCE. The Government has announced a proposal to abolish the GTCE but until Parliamentary legislation is enacted registration is still required.
For further information on Provisional Registration and the suitability assessment please visit the GTCE website.
Fees
For details about fees and the UWE Bursary, please see our fees and funding web pages.
How to apply
Please apply online at: www.gttr.ac.uk.
For further information
Page last updated 14 December 2011