PGCert in Education (PGCE)

Student teachers are known as interns during the PGCE course.

At Oxford, interns are prepared to teach in secondary schools (11-19 age range) in one of the following subjects:

• English
• geography
• history
• mathematics
• modern languages (French, German, Spanish, Mandarin)
• religious education
• science (biology, chemistry, physics).

The programme has been developed with colleagues from Oxfordshire partnership schools and covers the key professional skills of:

• lesson planning and preparation
• assessment, recording and reporting
• responding to individual learning needs
• classroom and behaviour management.

This is a full-time course which will involve travel to your placement school, although most partnership schools do lie within the Oxfordshire county boundaries.

The greater part of the autumn (Michaelmas) term is made up of 'joint weeks', in which time is spent both in your first placement school and at the Department of Education. The spring (Hilary) term  consists primarily of an extended experience at the same school. For the summer (Trinity) term, you will move to a second school, which provides an opportunity to consolidate and extend your understanding of teaching and learning. Between the two mainstream school placements, you will also spend one week in a special school or specialist base, developing your knowledge of effective approaches for young people with special educational needs or disabilities, so helping you to teach in more inclusive ways. 

There are two interrelated course components: curriculum subject work and the professional development programme. The curriculum tutor leads University seminars and liaises with the school-based mentor to co-ordinate subject-focused classroom activities. The mentor provides guidance and support and gradually increases the intern's teaching responsibilities. The professional tutor in school co-ordinates school-based activities related to teachers' wider professional roles (eg pastoral responsibilities) and liaises with the University-based general tutor, to plan seminars related to school-wide policies and practices. University tutors and guest specialists lead the University-based components of the professional development programme intended to develop an understanding of educational policy and of whole-school and cross-curricular issues. 

Experience and reflection underlie the whole course with the emphasis on you as a critical learner, considering a range of perspectives and testing your own ideas within your practice. You are encouraged to take responsibility for your own professional development and develop your own philosophy of teaching and learning.

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Department of Education and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. 

Interns are supported in their professional development as teachers by both a university curriculum tutor and general tutor as well as a mentor and a professional tutor in each school placement. Academic guidance for assignments is given by curriculum and general tutors. 

Assessment

Interns’ developing practice as a teacher is reviewed at regular intervals, in three-way meetings between the curriculum tutor, mentor and intern, informed by a wide range of evidence and ultimately assessed against the standards for Qualified Teacher Status. Each intern also completes three written curriculum assignments, two of which are formally examined, as well as one Professional Development Programme (PDP) assignment – also formally examined – about a wider educational issue. In all assignments, interns are expected to integrate practical investigation of pedagogical or educational issues through their own practice and school-based   research with reading of research, policy and professional literature.

Successful completion of the examined assignments at master's level carries 60 M-level credits, which may be built upon to achieve a full master's degree. All three examined assignments must be passed at master's level for the award of the Postgraduate Certificate in Education with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), provided that your practice also meets QTS requirements. Those who pass the assignments at Honours level will be awarded a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education with QTS - provided, again, that your practice meets the required QTS standards.

Graduate destinations

The numbers of interns going into teaching at the end of the course is high with most interns having secured a teaching post in a state-maintained school. As of October 2021, 90% were employed as a teacher or seeking teaching roles. 61% were working as a teacher in the state sector. 30% were working in a partnership school.

Resources

The Bodleian Education Library, located at the centre of the Department of Education, specialises in material on Education and related fields. As well as a print collection of books and journals, the library provides access to a wide range of online resources. The library also houses a collection of teaching resources in support of subjects covered by the department's secondary PGCE courses.

There are computers and printers/scanners within the library plus all main teaching rooms are equipped with a range of IT facilities including data projectors and students are able to practice teaching with SmartBoards in some rooms. Interns are also able to make use of the IT facilities of their college.

College preference

The colleges accepting students on the PGCE vary according to the subject:

PGCE (Biology) - TT_6B_X1

PGCE (Chemistry) - TT_6C_X1

PGCE (English) - TT_6E_X1

PGCE (Geography) - TT_6G_X1

PGCE (History) - TT_6H_X1

PGCE (Mathematics) - TT_6M_X1

PGCE (Modern Languages) - TT_6L_X1

PGCE (Physics) - TT_6P_X1

PGCE (Religious Education) - TT_6T_X1