Teaching Professional Graduate Certificate (PGCE) Further Education and Skills level 6 – C6260

Our two-year, part-time course is validated and certificated by De Montfort University. The course will introduce you to aspects of teaching, learning, and assessment to enable you to develop your work as a teacher, trainer, or tutor. This course is for those working or wanting to work with students who are aged 16 or over, including areas such as sixth form, further education, offender learning, and adult and community education. After successfully completing the course, you will be eligible to apply for QTLS (Qualified Teacher in Learning and Skills status).

The Level 6 Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) is available to candidates who have already achieved an undergraduate degree. This doesn’t have to be in the subject you want to teach so long as you have significant industrial experience or a minimum level 3 qualification in your specialist teaching area.

Over the two years, you will study five core modules which include two teaching practice components and a further 2 optional modules.
The course aims to establish knowledge whilst developing your practical skills associated with teaching, learning, and assessment within the further education and skills sector.

Applicants who intend to teach in high priority subject areas may be eligible for a Department for Education bursary. Please see Additional Costs section below.

Year 1

First-year modules include:
1. Teaching my subject – this core unit will develop your understanding of the curriculum as well as ensuring and maintaining subject expertise.

2. Learners and Learning – this unit will encompass pedagogical theories and give you the opportunity to understand how your learners learn and how you can support them in their own learning development.

3. Teachers and Teaching – what makes a good teacher? In this unit, you will explore how working with and learning from other teachers will develop your own practice. You will learn about the importance of planning and delivering lessons effectively. This unit will also cover the development of resources to meet learners’ needs, especially those with special educational needs.

4. Professional Practice e-portfolio Part One – the purpose of this module is to provide you with the pedagogical experience to develop knowledge, understanding, and skills relating to the planning and delivery of effective teaching, learning, and assessment within the education and training sector. You will undertake microteaches to your peers and be observed teaching in your own organisation. An e-portfolio will be created for you and you will be expected to upload a range of documentary evidence that support your teaching development. A checklist of the contents of your e-portfolio will be provided at the beginning of the course.

Year 2

The second year of the programme encourages you to build on the knowledge gained during year one and explore a wider range of concepts in greater detail. In particular, an emphasis is placed on independent learning and professional enquiry with regards to teaching, learning and assessment within your own specialist area.
Modules include:
1. Effective digital and online pedagogies – you will learn how to build up your personal digital skills in order to manage digital delivery of your teaching. As part of this module, you will be expected to undertake several hours of teaching online with your current cohorts. As in Year 1, an e-portfolio will be created for you and you will be expected to upload a range of documentary evidence that support your teaching development. A checklist of the contents of your e-portfolio will be provided at the beginning of Year 2.

2. Professional Practice e-portfolio Part Two – progressing from the understanding and knowledge gained in part one, you are expected to demonstrate further competence in creating and maintaining an inclusive learning environment.

3. EITHER Managing behaviours in a learning environment OR Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (options offered to be decided by the course team at start of year 2).

To enroll on this course you will require the following:
1. GCSE grade C/4 or Functional Skills level 2 in English and maths (international students may be required to attain an overall average IELTS score of 6.5)

2. An undergraduate degree (or higher)

3. Minimum level 3 qualification or significant industrial experience in your specialist area if not covered by your degree*. If you are unsure about this, please contact the team.
*Those intending to teach academic subjects would usually be expected to have a degree in their subject specialism. Those intending to teach in professional or vocational areas would usually be expected to have a professional or industry qualification and experience of working in their respective sector. There is a general expectation in the sector that a teacher should be qualified to at least one level above that at which they intend to teach, hold the highest level trade qualification available or have particularly substantial professional experience.

4. A minimum of 75 hours teaching per year should be arranged prior to starting the course. This should be teaching to groups of learners aged 16+ and will take place alongside your study on this PGCE course. These teaching hours can be found after you have been interviewed but you will not be able to start the course without them being in place. We may be able to signpost you to relevant organisations after interview has taken place. You will also be expected to undertake a further 50 hours of CPD per year. This could include shadowing other teaching staff, attending standardisation meeting, undertaking staff training and observing your peers’ teaching.

5. Evidence of a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) enhanced check.

Applicants who have been residents overseas for three months or more over the last five years must provide a criminal record check for that country. The Home Office provides guidance on applying for criminal records checks for overseas applicants (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants).
You will be required to attend an interview with our admissions tutor where you must provide evidence that you have the appropriate qualifications/experience for the course and a career in teaching.

Assignments vary from essays, written assignments and presentations to practical teaching observations and professional discussions. A strong focus is placed on the practical development of you and your classroom performance.

Tuition fees

Total Fees: £2900.00

Additional Costs

Tax-free bursaries will be available to trainees who are training pre-service (i.e. before entering paid teaching employment) to teach high-priority subjects in the FE sector in England.

The eligible subjects and bursary values are set out below. The bursary is paid in installments across the two years of the course, as long as you continue to meet the eligibility criteria, which will be discussed with you if you are offered a place on the course.

£30,000 – Mathematics, Science (including chemistry, physics and biology), Engineering (and/or manufacturing), Computing
£15,000 – Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
£15,000 – English (capped at 100 places)

Disclaimer

If the course is longer than one year the total fees are for the first year only and further fees may apply in future years. All fees are based on a ‘home’ learner status. Please contact us for information on overseas fees.

For more information, please see our course fee disclaimers page.

Learn more about fees

Once you have completed the course you will be a fully qualified teacher in the post-compulsory education and training sector and will be able to apply for QTLS status. You may wish to move on to take a subject specialist qualification in literacy, ESOL or maths, or progress on to an MA in education.

You will be contacted to attend an interview if required, or you will be sent a conditional offer according to the entry requirements for the course. You will then be invited in to enrol for your chosen course of study.