PGCE in Primary Education (5-11 years) with recommendation for QTS

THIS COURSE IS NOW OPEN FOR SEPTEMBER 2024 APPLICATIONS.

The Brunel University London ITE Partnership Curriculum is an ambitious curriculum which has been developed with our Partnership Schools, and our accredited provider, Bath Spa University. It is a carefully sequenced and integrated curriculum which comprises 8 components:

• Professional behaviours and responsibilities
• Subject, pedagogical and curricular knowledge
• How pupils learn
• Planning for Learning
• Adaptive teaching and inclusion
• Assessment of pupils
• Managing behaviour and the environment for learning
• Pupil health and wellbeing

Throughout the programme you will gain, apply and refine your knowledge of teaching, pedagogy and classroom skills. A blended approach to learning has been adopted which provides face to face teaching as well as time to access key materials online and opportunities exist for you to meet and learn from current classroom practitioners.

As part of your academic award, you will undertake assignments which will contribute 60 credits towards a Masters award. These assignments are informed by the relevant research literature and theories that will complement and enrich your professional practice whilst enabling you to develop your subject and phase expertise.

School teaching is an intensely rewarding yet challenging profession. The opportunity to help shape children’s futures is both a privilege and a responsibility.

Brunel’s PGCE in Primary Education is designed to prepare you for work with pupils aged 5 to 11 years. The course covers all Key Stage 1 and 2 of National Curriculum subjects: English, Mathematics and Science, Computing, Physical Education, History, Geography, Religious Education, Art, Design and Technology, Modern Foreign Languages, PSHEE and Music.

A high-quality and coherent curriculum has been designed with oversight by Bath Spa University and across the partnership with Brunel University London. It is underpinned by the same foundational concepts and principles, taking account of the Quality Requirements from 2024 and Core Content Framework components. The focus of your studies will be on the principles and methods of teaching and learning delivered through core modules, together with compulsory, practical school-based teaching placements. Your progress will be assessed in both areas.

Your placements will typically take you into partner schools or other educational settings in and around London for at least 120 days in block placements in two or more different contexts working with a school-based mentor with an additional 20 days of ‘Intensive Training and Practice’ in line with the DfE 2024 ITT Criteria.

A Brunel PGCE with recommendation for QTS (made through Bath Spa University) is a recognised symbol of high-quality Initial Teacher Education. You'll benefit from our partnerships with educational institutions and local schools. Many of our students go on to work in our partner schools and many more are employed in schools where they undertook a placement. Our department is ranked 1st in London for graduate jobs and further study (LEO 2023). As well as excellent feedback from partnership schools and student-teachers, additional significant external validation of the strength of initial teacher education provision at Brunel, came from Ofsted in June 2023. There is wide recognition of the positive impact our provision has on the teaching careers our alumni and the schools they work in

Upon successful completion of your course, you will receive both the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and recommendation for the Qualified Teaching Status (QTS) through Bath Spa University.

The PGCE in Primary Education course content will equip you with a critical understanding of the issues and theories that impact upon classroom practice in teaching, learning and assessment of 5 to 11 year olds.

The taught part of your course will be structured around three core modules:

• Education Studies I
• Education Studies II
• Education Studies III

The course is structured to balance the taught elements with independent professional learning activities (PLAs) of which your placements will be a key part in relation to the Teachers’ Standards for Qualified Teacher Status.

This course can be studied 1 year full-time, starting in September.

A Brunel PGCE with recommendation for QTS through Bath Spa University, is a recognised symbol of high-quality Initial Teacher Education (ITE). This is demonstrated by Brunel’s outstanding employment rates over time and feedback from Brunel alumni student teachers, our partnership schools and Ofsted inspectors.

Brunel PGCE graduates have gone on to work in our partnership schools, and many in schools where they undertook a placement experience. This allows the department to retain links with former students and often they become school-based mentors for Brunel PGCE students. The department also has a network of alumni in positions of responsibility in schools across the country.

After you graduate, your relationship with Brunel doesn’t stop there. As alumni, you can remain involved in the Partnership in a range of ways including mentoring, and can also sign up to receive invitations to Brunel public lectures, Department of Education research seminars, events and steering groups, to ensure you continue to develop through a community of professional practice within, and beyond the school in which you work.

If you decide to pursue further study after your PGCE course, (perhaps an MA, a taught Doctorate of Education or a research-based PhD), you will be warmly encouraged by the department with the opportunity of discounted fees as a Brunel graduate.

Our conditions of entry to the PGCE Primary programme require that applicants have:

• An undergraduate or postgraduate degree. Normally this should be a 2.2 classification or above in preparation for Masters level professional study.
• English, Maths and Science Grade 4 (C) or above, or equivalent at GCSE level. Applicants would normally be expected to meet the GCSE requirements at the point of application.

To further strengthen your application, we also recommend that applicants have:

• An informed personal philosophy on the aims of primary education, drawing on relevant reading and research;
• An understanding of statutory requirements for primary education within the state school sector;
• An awareness of recent government policy or initiatives in education;
• Recent and relevant experience of primary school education in England, either team teaching or observing with experienced teachers. This should normally be pre-professional teaching experience where you have had the opportunity to develop relationships with a group(s) of pupils over a sustained period of time;
• The ability to communicate effectively in both spoken and written English. If selected for interview, you will be expected to interact effectively with university tutors and school colleagues, and demonstrate the potential to form positive and productive relationships with colleagues and pupils in schools and in professional learning contexts;
• An awareness of the Teachers’ Standards (DfE, 2021);
• An enthusiastic and energetic approach which communicates clearly your commitment to teaching and working with young people.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), Childcare Disqualification and Prohibition Orders

As a provider of Initial Teacher Education we have to have regard to the Department for Education’s statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education, when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

We ensure that all student teachers have been subject to an Occupational Health check and an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) criminal records checks, including a check against of the children’s barred list. The Department for Education has published statutory guidance on the application to schools of the Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2009 and related obligations under the Childcare Act 2006.

We undertake our responsibility to ensure that the student teachers are not, therefore, disqualified from childcare or that the student teacher has obtained a childcare disqualification waiver from Ofsted. We also check that candidates are not subject to a prohibition order for teaching issued by the Secretary of State.

More information about the Occupational Health check, DBS application, costs and further guidance can be found here, alternatively email DBS@brunel.ac.uk for more information. Detailed information about DBS costs can be found in the Required equipment section below.

• IELTS: 7 (min 6 in all areas)
• Pearson: 64 (59 in all subscores)
• BrunELT: 68% (58% in all areas)
• TOEFL: 98 overall (min 20) 

The PGCE Primary Education course carries 60 master’s level credits and requires you to successfully complete three formally assessed pieces of academic work during the year supported by a portfolio of evidence.

You will be assessed through various teaching and learning methods which typically include lectures, seminars, workshops, group work, portfolio preparation and simulation of classroom practice.

Qualified Teacher Status is achieved by meeting the government’s Teachers’ Standards. During both the school-based work and university provision you will build your knowledge and understanding of what it means to be a teacher and put this into practice. You will work with your tutors and school-based mentor to develop an evidence-base for this in line with the Teachers’ Standards, which will be assessed.

The master’s level credits you earn on your PGCE will provide an excellent foundation for future academic and professional study.