Teaching English
Postgraduate Certificate in Education Secondary Level (11-16 years with post-16 enhancement experience)
Organiser and Tutor: John Gordon
Previous Trainee Comments
- "Excellent course"
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- "I felt utterly prepared"
- "helped me redefine my former teaching experience"
- "the curriculum course opened up a sense of creativity and inspiration"
- "excellent comprehensive coverage of current issues in English"
- "school-based training is very good"
- "the content of taught sessions is excellent ... a strength of these sessions is the emphasis of what works in the classroom"
PGCE Course Overview
The Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), one-year, full-time, Secondary course prepares graduates to teach in secondary schools (age range: 11-16 years with post-16 enhancement experience). The course is assessed against 'M' Level criteria - leading to Qualified Teacher Status and 60 credits at Masters Level.
This is an interesting, often very demanding but tremendously rewarding age group to work with as pupils mature from early adolescence to adulthood. The course is designed to equip you to teach your main subject and to make an effective contribution to the work of schools beyond your subject.
The UEA partnership scheme has attracted national and international attention for its successful close inter-weaving of school and university-based work. It provides you with the opportunity to engage in the systematic study of theory and current good practice both in schools and in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at UEA. The PGCE course has received a series of excellent grades in OfSTED inspections.
The 36 week long course includes an extensive 24 weeks of placement in two of our partnership schools near, or within reasonable distance of, your home. This emphasis on practical teaching provides you with a broad range of teaching experience in different schools.
At university sessions you will discuss experiences with others on the course and learn more about the theory and practice of teaching. Expect to be involved in a range of teaching methods, including lectures, seminars and practical workshops.
Subject Specific Information - English
The course aims to provide you with the grounding you need to become an effective, creative and realistic classroom practitioner within the current context of English teaching and in preparation for the changing background beyond that and into your later teaching career.
The course sets out to help you develop your own pragmatic philosophy of teaching in relation to the practicalities of the curriculum and - most important of all - the needs of pupils in the classroom. The curriculum programme, the professional development strand and your school placements constitute a trinity of mutually supportive elements that offer the practical and theoretical foundations needed to teach English well.
Additional elements include sessions led by guest speakers, and visits to the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, Norfolk Children's Book Centre and GCSE seminars. In addition, the course includes a strand of ICT-oriented study, with access to PowerPoint, CD-Rom material and the web.
The course pays great attention to the organisation of English classrooms, including the management of pupil behaviour, for stimulating and enjoyable learning.
Qualifications and Experience
The standard of applications to the course is very high. Successful applicants have joined us from diverse backgrounds and a great variety of experience. We welcome applications from good honours graduates in English or related subjects that foster similar aptitudes (for example, in textual analysis or knowledge about language) as a significant proportion of the programme of study. Recent trainees have also had experience in the fields of Media Studies, American Studies, Cultural Studies, Linguistics, and Drama. In addition, some applicants also join the course with prior professional experience. All applicants are encouraged, where appropriate, to describe the nature of their professional experience and how it relates to the English curriculum and teaching more broadly.
We prefer applicants to have some experience of working with young people, which might include experience in areas such as TEFL teaching, classroom assistant work, training of school-leavers, or private tuition. Click on the link to access further information about how you can gain school observational experience. You are advised to make clear your experience on your application.
Applying to UEA
If you feel you have the relevant skills, a passion and enthusiasm for the subject of communication in the English language (literary or otherwise) and feel you can demonstrate a commitment to the learning of pupils across the 11-18 age range, we would welcome an application from you.
A strong application is likely to make clear to us how your experience and qualifications make you suitable to teaching in the broadest sense, but also how you believe you can contribute to children's learning in English. A brief observation visit in a secondary comprehensive school and an awareness of the content of the English National Curriculum should help you identify the knowledge, skills and experience relevant to the application. You should indicate in your personal statement details of your completed observation visit(s) or make clear your plans to make one. We ask about observation experiences at interview, and it helps immensely at that stage if your visit was recent and afforded opportunity to see experienced teachers of English at work. We also expect interviewees to have accessed and reflected upon the details of the National Curriculum for English at key stages 3 and 4.
We are confident that entrants to the course will have a challenging, stimulating and enjoyable year. All of us in the partnership look forward to working with those who can demonstrate both the potential and desire required to become enthusiastic, reflective and confident teachers of English.
We consider applications throughout the academic year, but applicants should be aware that there is great competition for places. Clearly, as interviews take place through the academic year, the scope of places available for offer gradually diminishes.
Application Procedure and Selection Process
All candidates starting the PGCE in 2013 are required to pass the professional skills tests before starting the course. More information can be found via the Teaching Agency website.
Candidates are required to apply via the Graduate Teacher Training Registry (GTTR). This is the central "clearing house" which deals with all applications for PGCE courses across the country. Application forms for 2013 entry are available from October 2012.
Candidates are required to supply an academic referee as their first reference if they have completed their studies in the last 5 years.
Primary candidates are advised by the GTTR to make their application by 1st December 2012 - however please note that we will be accepting applications (through the GTTR) after this date if we have vacancies.
There is no specified deadline for Secondary candidates. However, all candidates are advised to apply as early as possible in the application cycle.
NB: You are advised to ensure that your principal referee is available to submit their reference immediately upon request (usually electronically via GTTR). Your chosen institution will not receive your application until the principal referee has submitted their reference. Please see the GTTR Referee Guidance for information on selection.
Candidates are encouraged to prepare thoroughly. Application forms should be able to demonstrate not only your depth of subject knowledge but also your enthusiasm and commitment to a career in teaching. We recommend that you familiarise yourself with our PGCE Teacher Training Prospectus and the information available from the Teaching Agency and related educational establishments. These sources will help you to gain knowledge of the current issues facing teaching, specifically in the subject area for which you are applying. During interview you will be expected to be able to answer questions about these issues, and what has prompted your desire to choose teaching as a career.
Candidates are normally chosen on the basis of their application form, references and an interview.
Training Incentives
TA Training Bursaries are available for the PGCE Secondary English course for entry in 2013.
Click on the link to access further information about Financial Information.
Career Opportunities
Many of our trainees are appointed to teaching posts in Norfolk and Suffolk. Career opportunities within secondary teaching are now far wider and more diverse than ever before. Within a few years of beginning teaching many are able to gain promotion to leadership positions within their subject or for pastoral responsibilities. There may also be opportunities to become an Advanced Skills Teacher (AST), this allows effective classroom teachers to gain recognition for their excellence in the classroom without needing to move to more administrative positions. After experience of middle management successful teachers can progress to senior management as Senior Teacher, Deputy Head or Head.
Secondary Teaching Information Event
Our next Secondary Teaching Information Event will take place in October 2013.
In the meantime, if you have any queries, please do contact the UEA PGCE Admissions Team.
Further Enquiries
If you would like to discuss your application further please contact us by email: pgceinfo@uea.ac.uk, by telephone: +44 (0)1603 592855 or write to us:
PGCE Admissions
Room 0.20, School of Education and Lifelong Learning
Admissions, Recruitment & Marketing
University of East Anglia
Norwich Research Park
Norwich NR4 7TJ UK
Online Prospectus
Our PGCE Teacher Training Prospectus for September 2013 entry is available to download in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format.
Thank you for taking the time to view this website. We hope it has given you some idea of what we have to offer and that, if you are thinking of training to be a teacher, you will consider applying to us.
