Education (Postgraduate Certificate in Education)

The Primary PGCE team is very much looking forward to welcoming you to The University of Manchester for the start of what will undoubtedly be a very rewarding year of training and teaching!

You will be able to register online from 29th August and your university teaching timetable starts on Monday 4 September. Key dates are as follows:

*Trainees will follow the same pattern of Christmas and Easter break dates as their placement school. The dates on this table are indicative only and may not be the same for all schools. We do not advise booking holidays/flights during this time until you know which dates your placement school will take for the Easter break. 

Before the start of the course, you received a pre-course handbook with reflective activities and initial course information.

The main course handbook will be available for you to download from the VLE Blackboard, after registration.

If you still have any outstanding documents to complete or send in, please do so as a priority as this can delay your registration in August and subsequent access to the VLE Blackboard and email.

All of our university-taught course curriculum sessions will be on campus with the exception of a few whole cohort lectures which may be online.

The first week includes some crucial sessions such as an introduction to your assessment and assignments for QTS, safeguarding in schools, professionalism, effective learning environments, and an introduction to the PGCE curriculum.

You will also have your first teaching sessions in maths, English, and science.

Core trainees will meet your university professional tutor and tutor group colleagues.

School Direct (SD) trainees will meet the University School Direct lead.

I am delighted to welcome you to the Secondary PGCE course here at The University of Manchester Institute of Education (MIE), a vibrant and diverse community of staff and students working on educational research projects in classroom pedagogies, inclusive education, mental health, disadvantage and poverty, educational leadership, as well as in teacher education and development.

Much of the research and scholarship that goes on in MIE is with and for teachers and trainee teachers.

The PGCE course that you will soon be joining is recognised as outstanding by our trainees and by Ofsted, and also by our many school and college partners in the North West.

The course is embedded in practice and is part of a successful, energetic, and committed academic and postgraduate community.

Week beginning Monday 4 September

Core PGCE trainees should aim to organise a five-day primary school placement this week, and complete the Primary School Placement assignment.

If you find this placement difficult to arrange at this time, it can be completed at the end of the course, or sometimes during one of your vacation weeks.

School Direct trainees will be contacted by your lead school, with details of arrangements for this week.

Monday 11 September

This is the first day of the University course, marking the beginning of an initial, focused period of just over three weeks of preparing for your first main placement.

Much of the Secondary PGCE course is organised around subject groups.

You are training to be a teacher with a particular specialism, working with your peers and with specialist staff in that subject - but you are also training to be a teacher with wider professional responsibilities, and so another important strand of your training, Educational and Professional Studies (EPS), will take place in cross-subject groups.

Whilst EPS and some elements of your subject course may take place online we expect most sessions to be face-to-face this year.

Your subject leader will be sending more details of the session course shortly.

You will find information and suggested pre-reading for both your subject and for the EPS strand available on this site, as well as a subject knowledge audit to help you focus your subject knowledge development (you may have received this already).

To become more familiar with the course, its requirements, and the timetable, please read through the PGCE Secondary Handbook.

The specific subject handbooks will be available for you to download from the VLE, Blackboard, once you have registered for the course.

For information on how to use Blackboard, you can watch this video.

I look forward to seeing you on Monday 11 September.

Dr Rosa Archer
Course Director, PGCE Secondary
rosa.archer@manchester.ac.uk

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Our students offer insights on their experiences at The University of Manchester in the resources below. 

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• AMBS student blogs