PGCE - Secondary - Art and Design

Teaching approach

• School experience in a range of settings
• Professional Studies sessions in school and at University
• University-led workshops, lectures, seminars, fieldwork and guest lectures
• Study of key texts and supplementary reading
• Participation in high-level professional discussion, peer presentations and debate
• Directed studies, case studies and problem-solving tasks; development of practice-based competence and skills of critical reflection through guided individual mentoring during placements
• One-to-one academic and personal tutorial support including access to our excellent Library services and first class Firstpoint services.

Contact time

There is no typical week on the PGCE course - every week is different. Your time will predominantly be spent on school placement (a minimum of 120 days). When you are not in school you will be in university attending either subject sessions (typically 180 hours across the course) or professional studies sessions (typically 110 hours across the course). For school direct professional studies is primarily delivered in school.

A typical week in university will be 30 hours face to face taught sessions. Some of these sessions will be in your subject groups (subject sessions are typically 18 hours) and some will be in mixed subject groups (professional studies are typically 12 hours).

Typically, university contact time will be structured around a range of teaching, learning and assessment methods including

• lectures
• workshops
• peer group activities
• seminars
• directed reading
• independent research
• directed study
• presentations
• tutorials
• fieldwork

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, during the university taught weeks you are expected to undertake personal self-study of around 7 hours per week. Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework assignments and presentations. Self-study time will also be spent planning lessons and assessing pupil work.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including The Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Duration

• Full time – September – July (3 terms)
• Part time – September – December (4 terms)

Timetables

Timetables are normally available one month before registration. Please note that whilst we try to be as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week; and some classes can be scheduled in the evenings.

Teaching staff

You will be taught by a teaching team who have expertise and knowledge of teaching and learning in schools. Tutors are all experienced teachers and many have worked in advisory roles for local authorities, examination boards and professional associations. The expertise of university tutors is very strong, and informed by recent and relevant pedagogical research. Many tutors have an academic writing profile having written or published books. You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles. The partnership team includes teachers working in our partnership schools.

All members of the department are permanent members of staff. All have Qualified Teacher Status and been practicing secondary teachers. All staff are Senior Fellows or Fellows of the HEA or working towards.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments.

Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessments. Assessment methods include a range of coursework assessments such as essays, portfolios, and presentations.

You will be assessed in the following ways:

• 1 Annotated learning resource
• 1 Reflective commentary
• 1 Critical literature review
• 1 Digital presentation
• 1 Viva voce
• 1 Electronic portfolio

You will receive feedback assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.